Cold and dark

It's cold here on the East Coast this week.

Last night the temperature dropped to 27 degrees (-2.7 for all you Celsius folk out there) after a day of rain and high winds. The wind chill was in the teens when I woke up this morning. Today the high was only about 10 degrees above freezing, and tonight is going to be just as frigid as last night. This kind of cold is highly unusual this early in the year.

I don't mind the cold; in fact, I kind of like it. I run on the warmer side naturally anyway, and with plenty of extra weight padding my body, too, freezing weather just isn't that big of a deal. I lit the fireplace this morning for the first time this year, reviving last winter's habit of drinking my morning coffee by the fire. That was kind of nice. I just hope the weather is this cold the week before Christmas, when I'm hosting my book club's holiday meeting/party. I'd like to be able to turn on the fireplace for picturesque effect, and serve pretty mulled wine to drink.

Last year's mulled wine.

What I'm not liking right now are these short days. I can't wait to pass the solstice so that the days will slowly start to lengthen again. This is the part of winter I dread each year.

Speaking of dark, I'm reading The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. The first 50 pages or so are very disturbing, but I couldn't put it down. I'm about a quarter of the way through now and it's fascinating, but still very dark.

What's the weather like where you are?  Are you reading anything good to pass the time on these long, dark, cold nights?

Frigid weather, first fires

It's cold out today, unusually so for this time of year. From the very beginning, this month has been setting records for winter weather. On Nov 1 a city an hour west of my home got snow---the earliest snowfall in something like 150 years. There has been frost almost every night since. Then, night before last, the temperature dropped to 18°F, breaking records for this time of year. Nights that cold rarely happen in January, much less November.

On frigid nights like these, I'm grateful this house has a fireplace. Nothing makes you toasty warm and comfortable like a good fire, and the flames always seem cheerful. Being able to have fires this early in the year has been one advantage of the cold, cold weather. Any extra cheer on these long winter nights is most welcome. I've found that a small glass of rum laced eggnog sipped in front of the fire doesn't hurt either!