Summer For Breakfast, Winter for Dinner

Here's what AOL says about weather in me,Mavis-ville today:

Wednesday: Showers early with strong thunderstorms developing by the afternoon. High 69F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%.

Wednesday night: Showers ending early, then partly cloudy overnight. Low near 35F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%

Okay, did anyone notice that temperature change of -- 34 degrees!!!

It's very dramatic outside. We just met backyard pals Jamie and Arbor on the front porch -- the boys in short sleeves, me with bare feet (Arbor too, of course) -- and it was nicely warm except when the big gusts of wind came through, blowing pine needles all over us.

From the forecast, we will be needing to add on layers as the day progresses.

Perhaps I should have seen this coming. Monday afternoon, I looked out the kitchen window to see my first "Snow Bird" of the season. Here's an example:



Dark-eyed Junco
Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus)







I was surprised because the weather has been so mild, but I guess he knows better than I. Reminder to self: check the whereabouts of the snow shovels!

There was drama last night too. Here's the view from the hallway looking into my Palace.

This was taken with a flash, so you could see the outline of the loft for context. Imagine how brilliantly bright this was shining into the dark house! I almost wonder if it would be better to forget about adding the pickets to the railing.

Blissfully, I didn't have to get up during the night, but I know from experience that Old Mother Moon would have been framed in the bathroom window around midnight. It's these kinds of things that make me TRULY appreciate an old house. There was certain care given to the siting of a house. For instance, the back of our house -- which faces north -- has no upper windows to allow entrance to the cold wind. Of course, there is also zilch insulation in the walls, so by today's standards we have huge heat loss. Nevertheless, they used to consider working within the confines of nature, as opposed to building in spite of nature.

I guess some still do, but that's probably for the rich folks or those totally off the mainstream, like Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. Check them out! This is definitely on my list of lifelong dreams. Ahhhh, to have complete order in a perfectly structured, defined inside space, placed on a wild and free landscape. Dreams..