SweetPotatoClaire: bundled up, hunkered down

Winter is being pretty bold around here lately, as I know it is in many places. We've had a lot of snowy, very cold, windy days. The inhabitants of this home have spent the majority of these days near the fire, drinking tea, eating soup, napping, playing, reading, practicing walking, practicing talking and watching movies. One of us has also been trying so, so hard to convince Ziggy that she really doesn't pose a threat to him, but he's maintaining his attitude of wariness, for now. (For extra fun, try to guess who's doing what!) Of course, there are also trips to swap out chicken water and bring in wood to feed the almost always burning woodstove, and the occasional errand running and library stock-up..... but mostly, we are just hanging around in various stages of being either bundled up or hunkered down. Sometimes both. I like it. I also realize that these (many consecutive) snowy cold days are a bit easier to love if you find yourself a) not working and b) without school-going children. I am grateful that I currently fall into both of these categories. Of course, I do work, just not for a paycheck and not outside of our home. It also helps that my boss is more than happy to let me have all the snow days I need.

This is what our days are looking like:

Ziggy has been spending roughly 22 out of every 24 hours here, safely curled up on the back of the couch where those little hands can't reach...yet.

....but there is proof that he occasionally ventures out, and it is fun to see the patterns of his comings and goings

Our woodpile is shrinking, though thanks to our Arborist-in-Residence program, is still impressive. (and it is safely tucked away in the woodshed that said arborist built this summer with wood that he salvaged from an old barn that was to become fuel for a training burn.... the same barn provided the wood for our beautiful dining table)