It’s peaceful here. Lots of snow on the ground and only the odd car driving by. I hope your day is as quiet and cozy.

I’m not sure what happened this month, I must have needed to hibernate a little.

Thanksgiving was lovely, quiet at home with M and the fuzzies. I made cranberry sauce on the wood stove,

while the cats took their couch duty job very seriously.

We went to Texas to visit family and were fed and watered and given a baby to hold and tickle – all good things. My flight home was bumpy and slightly delayed but there’s nothing like a holding pattern for a beautiful view.

It’s good to be home. I had two cords of firewood delivered and they need to be stacked. This year the wood may stay in the giant pile under the tarp, given the number of items on my to do list. I’m having to let go to imperfection.

Sometimes while I’m washing dishes I catch myself thinking about firewood, or insulation, or who’s going to plow my driveway, and I wonder who this is, thinking these thoughts. What happened to city girl? I’m happy here with these concerns but I do wonder what happened to the New Yorker part of myself, and where on earth this country girl came from.

Every time I carve a pumpkin I think that the activity will be more difficult than it is, and I fail to plan before cutting.

This year I started by cutting out the eyes and then the nose, at which point it looked a lot like a kitty and I considered whiskers. No, I thought, I’m going to give him the toothy grin; if he looks friendly, so be it.

Then instead of cutting out the negative space between his teeth, I removed half the triangles, giving him a shaggy upper lip. That’s when I remembered that I’ve done this before. Several times. Hello again, Mr. Furry Lip. Out to the porch you go…

I had visits from a scary wrestler, a fairy, a witch, a football player (“DO YOU HAVE ANY CANDY?!”), a bat, and a teeny princess riding a unicorn.

No one mocked my pumpkin.

The painters have stripped the woodwork down to its bare self, removing years of paint that was so built up it looked like alligator skin. I wonder when these boards last felt the sun and rain. They look beautiful and are in great shape.

The front doorway looked so good stripped down that I had to take off the gnarly aluminum storm door immediately, it clashed so much.

With the paint off you can see details like this patch repair made with sheet aluminum. And the replaced boards showing that the kitchen windows used to be larger, below counter height.

Already they’re beginning to paint – soon the house will be wearing its new look.