Winter is Coming

I've lived up here in the Frozen Northlands for more than 35 years, you think I'd be used to our seasons, our weather, and all of the other things that accompany the progress of time through the northern portion of the United States. We get extremes of temperatures - both high and low - during an average year. We get rain in December and snow in October and we get too many days of grey skies, but those that dawn without the clouds are an intense blue and are breathtakingly beautiful. We're solidly into our season of cold now, but it hasn't come quite yet.

My shirt was inherited from my father-in-law and
is in lavender tones. Pendleton shirts, if cared for, can
last for a lifetime. They're warm, well made, and
really lovely. They're also expensive - I wouldn't buy
one for myself, so it was nice to have it come my way. 

For example, on Wednesday (my day off) I was running errands between loads of laundry. I started the day out wearing my cold weather gear, but by the time I was going to the grocery store at 10:30 am, I was dressed in a t-shirt and a long sleeved Pendleton woolen overshirt - no coat at all. It was 37F (2.7C) degrees outside, and I was walking through a cold light misty rain without a coat. I shook my head and thought, "OMG, I've turned into a Minnesotan!"

Winter is coming - no way to avoid it. It's a beautiful
time of the year, but one that I'd rather avoid. Maybe
I'll look into being a snow bird after I retire - a nice
time share in Arizona might be perfect - LOL. 

We did get one snow before Thanksgiving so our holiday looked lovely with white lawns, but the roads were open, snow-free and easy driving. Now that the snow is completely gone and we've had a week of day temperatures over freezing to get back into fall mode, that's going to be ending with a thud next week. The cold is coming! From Tuesday on, our highs will be in the teens and twenties, and our nights will be in the low teens. Darn! We're not quite to single digit temperatures yet, but, as is said in "Game of Thrones," "Winter is coming!"

This is all too true, unfortunately. I'm too busy to get to the
Art Museum to see the exhibit that I really want to see, and
January will be tight. But I'm still going to try. I want the cultural
part of Minnesota too. 

I'm adding my signature and putting my chop onto the back of my holiday cards, and then they'll be in the mail. I got a lovely card from Linda Hoyland in England in the mail yesterday making a fabulous start to my holiday decorating. I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend, I'll have to work. This Sunday will be the first of three when I'll have my store open for limited hours for holiday shopping. Ick!