Cold night

For every easy day, it seems we need a long night. I bet on the weather yesterday, spent a long, busy day in town, and I lost - weatherwise. It was cold all day, and colder at night. We had to walk in (frostheaves are making pockets all up and down our road), light the fire, fix the damper - which refused to open and burn hot for hours to get warm - but never cozy. I didn’t bank the stove, stayed up late checking it, and woke often to keep feeding it. Poor Seth, who worked from 5am to 6pm yesterday, woke again at four to leave for another long day.

I burned through most of our hot wood in the night, and so this morning - when it warms up a bit, I’ll be out scrounging for things in the woods nearby and beating the bottom of our woodpile to break logs free from ice. But even the dark nights have stars - last night Yarrow slept like the good kind of baby, nestled down in her own bed for hours and hours; an despite all odds, I’m not tired. So life is good, but I might wait a while yet before spending a day in town again.