always at sea level: Week 15 - This Is December?

The page on our calendar is telling me it's December and not a day goes by without someone on the radio informing me that it's only 20,19,18....days till Christmas.

Emails pop up in my inbox announcing fabulous holiday deals enticing me to buy buy buy. The boxes of accumulated holiday decorations have been brought down from the attic, a Christmas crafts book, a cookbook of decantant desserts, another of appetizing appetizers plus several more of cookies, cakes and candies are stacked on the table beside my seat, to be thumbed through looking for new ideas and calories to consume. So all the telltale signs of it being the 12^th month are evident, all except for when I step outside. I won't go as far to say it's balmy but with temperatures of 7c at night and a high of 8c through the day, grabbing a jacket to run down to the crew shack, the basement or out on the deck to capture the fading light on the distant hills, isn't always necessary.

Into our 3^rd month here already, a daily routine has shaped up. It hasn't much varied from year 1 or 2 but we never get bored or feel confined. Mornings are coffee and computers, than lunch, tidy up, take a ride on the bike. Maybe a walk around the property, down the dock or along the beach if it isn't pouring and like last year there is wood to chop - unlike last year though we are doing it to stock the wood pile and not for our immediate use as a source of heat. Almost daily Mike will pick up the axe and split 3 or 4 rounds, I'll carry it to the basement to stack and cut some into kindling. I almost look forward the cold wintery day with the wind howling outside while we sit in front of a roaring fire.