Winter Approaches Slowly

Yesterday morning the thermometer read 12.5 degrees. Cold enough to wear long underwear on our predawn walk with Kodi. Our headlamps lit up the frost-coated leaves and grasses, the ice particles sparkled like diamonds in the early morning darkness. Stars sparkled in the windless, clear air. Cassiopeia low in the northern sky, the Big Dipper overhead. The waning crescent moon in the southern sky. No sounds except for our own breaths in the cold air.

In the cold morning the ground felt hard and crunchy from tiny frost heaves. As the day warmed the ground thawed again. By nightfall the temperature had risen to 40 degrees. By the calendar winter arrives on Thursday. It has been slow in coming.