Here are a few things we’ve been up to:
A quote from my recent reading (listening):
If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deed, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago
It’s dark at 4:30 these days and it’s rained a lot lately. But we’re over halfway through November and my girls are already counting down the days until Christmas. I’m trying to spend time on my days off doing things that make me feel productive and fulfilled. I’m taking a multivitamin with a good amount of Vitamin D. I’m taking the dogs for walk and we’re playing a lot of music at home.
Tell me what it’s like in the rest of the world! Are the days incredibly short and dark where you live? What do you like to do to keep the world around you cheery?
Karissa Reads Books 
Oh my goodness, I remember oobleck! What a weird thing. Delighted that kids are still doing that. Days are short here, and have been largely cloudy, but today it was both *much* colder than before and a bright blue sky—the kind of day I try to fill up my soul with when they arrive, against the near-ubiquitous cloud. Even on bad weather days, getting outside for an hour-long walk always helps my mood. Also, being physically cosy is so important to me in the wintertime, especially after 10 awful winters spent in poorly insulated British houses (often Victorian or postwar conversion flats). We’re now in an ex-council flat from the ’70s with amazingly thick walls, and surrounded on most sides by other units, which really helps keep the heat in. Hot water bottles are still the best, though.
Oobleck is so weird! I’d never seen it until last year. It’s a good rainy day activity. We’ve had lots of rain here but a couple of sunny days. There was one last week on my day off and I took the dog for a long walk and it felt so good. I walk a lot – either taking the kids to school or going to work and it does make a big difference in how I feel, both physically and emotionally. In the dark afternoons and evenings, lighting has become very important to me.
It’s almost summer in my part of the world and I’m in shorts and a t-shirt. The next few days are expected to be hot, with 36 degree Celsius forecast for Saturday.
I’m going for walks early in the morning.
You’re making me jealous! We have something they are calling a “cyclone bomb” in our forecast. Lots of rain and grey skies here. I know the heat can be oppressive too though.
A bomb cyclone sounds ominous. I hope it passes over without incident.
I generally like the heat but today is too hot. We’re lucky that the skies are cloudy, if the sun was shining it would be absolutely roasting out – I’m hiding inside with all of the blinds drawn.
The days are very short and dark here too, with sunset around 1600. Still, we’ve had a few days recently of very bright, clear weather and hard frosts, which is probably the type of weather I love best, so I have tried to get outside in it! Unless it’s absolutely pouring with rain I make an effort to walk into work at this time of year instead of getting the bus, since that seems to make a difference to how long the day feels. Towards the end of November is when I let myself start to do Christmassy things (I’m going to see the Nutcracker with a friend at the end of the month this year). And this autumn/winter, I am making a sort of journal quilt by hand-sewing a quilt patch every weekday with something that reflects a highlight of the day – sounds a bit mad, but seeing the quilt get bigger is proof that the dark bit of the year is actually going by!
It’s dark at around 4 pm here too and some days it feels like it never fully gets light, with the rain and cloud. It’s felt like a very rainy November. I try and walk every day and walk to work when I can but the rain has made it trickier. Your quilt sounds very cool – I like the idea of something tangible to document the year like that.
Yes, to both dark and rainy. It snowed one night, but now the snow is gone. We do puzzles and plan to put up Christmas stuff soon. We’ve already received a Christmas card. I think given the sad atmosphere of the US, Christmas in the form of cards and twinkly lights coming early doesn’t bother me a bit. I love your photos; the rainbow, washing machine, and be real are all fantastic quality.