It's Looking a Lot Like Winter

Drizzle, drizzle: I wake to the ozone smell of rain. There are few simple pleasures in life better than lying in bed, snug and warm, listening to the rain. Later, as I walk to the post office, I navigate soggy clumps of leaves and slippery sidewalks where mud has made the surface treacherous. The temperature hovers around 9 C, which is unusually cold for our daytime winter weather (though positively balmy for those of you from colder climates). What people forget is that our houses are made of stone and lack central heating, so we rely on little space heaters. Sitting and working in front of the computer, I feel my fingers and toes start to go numb.

Return of the sheep: We take pity on Nadine and give her back her sheepskin rug. She snuggles down onto it and instantly gets a glazed, almost drugged look. My cat gets high on sheepskin. She looks like a queen, calmy surveying her domain from atop her regal perch. OK, her domain is the view of the dripping garden, and her regal perch is a sheepskin rug draped over the corner of the sofa, but...