She can come across to us as being extremely capricious. One day she’s warm and filled with sunshine, and the very next day she can jolt your body with a blustery chill.

Some describe her behavior as unpredictable, while others say she can be nice, but she can be nasty, too.

On her good side, she brings to the world an interesting array of proclamations beginning with days marked for both known and unknown Christian saints. She checks off the box of another day for us to spread kindness throughout the world.

She’s also very much into the afterlife and runs a festival of souls that honor our dearly departed. She puts aside a day for political elections for voters to choose the candidates whom they want to represent them.

Another one of her priorities is paying tribute to our veterans who have served and sacrificed for our country. She reminds us to take note of the allies’ victory over Germany in World War II. She makes a big deal about the men in her life, but then she warns us to pay attention to the infant mortality rate.

One of her special days is when she encourages us to do scientific and medical research for those afflicted with pneumonia or diabetes.

She preaches tolerance and understanding of cultures as well as an appreciation for diversity. She carries a weird interest in things that are common, but not worthy of anyone’s prolonged attention, especially when she posts World Toilet Day and the need for improved sanitation, or she pays tribute to a guy named Philo Taylor Farnsworth who invented the television.

Children of all ages are important to her, and she’s a staunch supporter of passing laws to protect women from becoming victims of domestic violence.

Every year when she returns, we senior citizens think back to that tragic day in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas, Texas. Just a week later, she allows us a day to renew our faith in humanity when we express our gratitude to family and friends on Thanksgiving.

Throughout history, writers have had much to say about her. E.M. Forster wrote, “The house was very quiet and the fog pressed against the window like an excluded ghost.”

Oh, the fog! It can get so thick when she’s waving her wicked wand across our windshields while we’re driving. Visibility can be near zero, but we must move along and rely on the many experiences we’ve had traveling through the intense gray-out, an all too common occurrence in the Poconos.

Cynthia Rylant wrote, “This is the time of the year when some birds move away and some stay. The air is full of goodbyes and well wishes.” Those birds leaving have a long journey ahead and those that stay know they will be facing the challenges of the long winter ahead.

The circle of our lives is managed by the days of the 12-month calendar. What goes around will come around again, as do our habits and behaviors that we adjust to meet the demands marked upon the monthly pages of every year.

Her timely presence gives us the taste of homemade chicken soup, the soothe of hot chocolate and the alluring scent of fresh-made bread and a slow cooker beef stew. Roast turkey and apple pie à la mode hit the spot, which lessens the gloom and doom we might often see outside our windows. ‘Tis also the season for pumpkin everything: pumpkin pie, pumpkin cake, pumpkin lattes and pumpkin ice cream, just to name a few.

Yet, despite her attractions, there are those who feel betrayed by her transition from autumn into winter. Poet Beatrice Crane expressed her melancholy about this time of year:

“She scatters with her hand

The leaves dried up and brown,

The few that yet remain

From gay October’s crown.

Her eyes and dark and sad,

Sad for the dying year,

And often in the mist

There falls a silent tear.

Beneath a cheerless sky

The trees are standing bare,

The fog has risen thick

And she is no more there.”

Our first snow that can fall this time of year usually coats a thick layer of dead leaves that lie across the roadways. Mother Nature is preparing us for the beauty and the beast. The beauty is the delicate pure white snow falling onto autumn’s decay and the beast will be the heavy winter snowstorms we will have to dig through in the next few months.

During these days, there lies a great anticipation for what’s happening in a few weeks, the most celebrated time of the year when Christmas and the holiday season will once again be upon us.

Of course, this column has been dedicated to November, our 11th month of the year.

Although, this month has unique attributes, the poet Mehmet Murat Ildan wrote, “There is October in every November and November in every December. All seasons melted in each other’s life.” Through his words, the poet says each month of the year is a mirror for mankind. Each of us is unique in some way. but we have many common traits among us. too.

November proudly offers us Election Day, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day. For her entire month, she acknowledges child safety, adoption, Native Americans, novel writers and she has also been named Peanut Butter Lovers’ Month.

But wait … there’s more about November.

She gives us Cookie Monster and Sandwich Days, International Tongue Twister Day, Vanilla Cupcake Day, Teddy Bear Day, Odd Socks Day, French toast Day and Clean Out Your Fridge Day. And, should you expect that November wants all our days to be happy ones, well, that is just not so. On her 19th day of her month, November gives us Have a Bad Day Day. That’s also the same day as her World Toilet Day, so she has a good sense of humor, too.

Let’s make the best of every day in November because before too long, we’ll all be singing: “Fa la la la la, la la la la” when season’s greetings arrive at our winter’s doorstep.

Email Rich Strack at richiesadie11@gmail.com