The temperatures are starting to drop below zero every night, and the other day it was trying to snow outside. The garden is often tinted with frost as we look out over breakfast. On clear evenings the moon reflects on the snowy tops of the mountains, under a starry sky that seems to suck heat from your face as you look up.
November has come and gone and winter is definitely here, destined to get colder and colder for the next couple of months. Meanwhile, inside the house, we haven't put the heating on yet but the low temperatures are still a degree or two over 20. When the sun shines, it gets into the high 20s around midday with all that solar radiation.
On the last day of November, we put away the thin blankets we've been using since summer and got out the winter futons. In the old house, the stoves came out and the thick futons went on at the beginning of October. By now we would probably have added a blanket on top, and hot water bottles inside. We'd be facing icy corridors, and a real struggle to get out of our warm cocoons in the morning. In the new house, the kids sometimes jump out of bed before the sun even comes up.
