A Delightful Day in November

Dear Reader,

How is your November going? In Boston, the weather is all over the place! In many parts of the U.S., one can joke that the four seasons can blow through in a week’s time. In Boston, this exaggerated notion is as true as hyperboles can possibly be. The day before Halloween it snowed (more here) and then one week later it was sunny and in the mid-70s. While consistent weather is nothing more than background noise, remarkably good or bad weather can make a big impact on one’s day. Recently, one of my ordinary November days turned extraordinary all because of a bout of good weather.

On this November morning, I set out to pursue my fitness goal (more here) and jog a few miles. I’m not jogging much these days because of the cold, however, on this morning the weather was an unseasonably warm 60 degrees. I changed into shorts and a t-shirt and easily broke a sweat in this heat wave 😉 .

Seeing that the weather went up to a shocking 77 degrees(!!) by midday, I decided to take a walk around Arlington, MA. Arlington is a town which feels both connected to and separate from Boston. The town is easily reached by Boston buses and the subway is just outside the town limits. One of Arlington’s hidden gems is the bike path, which runs parallel to the main street, Massachusetts Ave, but is tucked away behind the shops and houses. While I was not on my bike on this day, I walked along the path through this autumnal wonderland. Seriously, though, the trees along the path rise and arch in a way to create a tunnel of vibrant foliage. On sunny days, I often choose to jog along the bike path as it is wonderfully and consistently shady along the whole stretch. Today, the leaves on the trees were yellow, lighting up the gray day. It is so easy to enjoy your surroundings when there is beauty in every direction.

As I left the bike path, I took a right onto Lake St., passed the elementary school, and came onto Massachusetts Ave. At this intersection sits an ice cream shop, a donut shop, a pizza place, a movie theater, a hair salon, the public library, and a restaurant called the “Town Tavern.” The cozy, quaint feeling of the town is overwhelmingly sentimental. What a community to live in! Most of what one could want and need is all right here in this little stretch of land in the town of Arlington. Feeling upbeat today, I decided to make a stop in Arlington rather than just mow through as I usually do.

I stopped at Thrive Juice Cafe, which was closed to indoor seating due to renovations. I looked up at the menu tacked onto the window and was disappointed to learn that most items were unavailable (smoothies included). They were mostly only serving juice on this day. I chose the “Happy Root” juice, which listed “carrots” as the first ingredient. I paid, took the bottle, and was surprised to see a deep magenta liquid within it. The taste was a ginger-y beet juice — simultaneously tangy and sweet. My gripe with labeling for juices and smoothies is that it is hard to tell what the primary flavor is. While the order of the Happy Root ingredients was “carrot, apple, beet, ginger, lemon” the flavor, in my opinion, was 50% beet and 50% ginger. Upon my first swig, I was already regretting spending $8.50 for this! (What a fool I am.) However, while I was not a fan of the juice, I couldn’t let this teeny-tiny experience mar the beautiful day.

As I turned back toward home, I thought about how lucky I was to be able to walk freely through this charming little town and to buy over-priced juice without much deliberation — during a pandemic no less. When it is 77 degrees outside in November in Boston, the little things like tangy, “mis-labeled” juice do not matter so much. All in all, it was a beautiful day.

I wish you too will find all the beauty that November has to offer.

Love,

Raven