During a recent walk I noticed a hornet’s nest in a neighbor’s yard, its size proof of the industry that had occurred beneath the leafy canopy of warmer months. Whether the hornets had toiled away quietly or amid the discordant hum of their own labor, I cannot say. Hornets are not popular in suburbia. That they’d managed to persevere at all alongside wary citizens, leaf blowers, and pesticides was an accomplishment.

I love November, the way it mutes October’s color wheel in a mauve, watercolor wash. November holds the starkness of winter at bay so that autumn may enjoy a graceful exit. It’s a liminal month, a time of edges, borders, and becomings. Being my birthday month, I decided it is also an auspicious time to launch my personal website.