Notice new blue roof. If all goes well this week, the addition will be framed. I am looking forward to being able to use the back door again, after a couple weeks of taking the scenic route through the garden. The back yard has a new shape, which opens up possibilities for more landscaping…

Yesterday I sieved cooked pears and cooked the mush into pear butter, with some orange zest, brown sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. What perfume! I set bread dough to rise near the warm simmering kettle, then shaped rolls and cinnamon buns.

I am still hanging laundry on the line. Still picking a few green beans and zucchini for my supper, and tomatoes for salad. Everything is slowing down though. The hours of darkness are about equal to the hours of daylight, and a person wants an extra quilt on the bed along with heater cats.

There is a flurry of housecleaning as I anticipate keeping this place being closed up for months. I will want clean windows and shower curtains. I even spent time out in the horrible dirt-floored shed, sorting stuff to be recycled. Somewhere out there is a plastic bin with my winter parka and snowmobile gloves. I don’t want those now, but soon I will.