5 am and I’m awake. The house is 18 degrees and it is 1 degree outside. The dogs are still in bed with E. I have taken my turn with the four online scrabble games I’m playing. I’m losing in all of them. You tell me a word I can make with… IIIOAEQ…….. sigh.

I’m finished my Christmas baking. Yesterday’s rum balls are in the freezer along with all of the other yummy looking goodies. I am reminded of the Greek proverb …… A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade the know they will never sit. But we shouldn’t ignore the dieting women in society who bake shortbread and roll rum balls whose sweetness they know they will never taste…

The islanders have enclosed the open area beside the fire hall. It now provides a large secure equipment storage area accessible only from inside. Skilled carpenters put the addition on. Then E and a few others came in to help with the plumbing, electrical and siding. The addition is complete and the equipment has been moved from the main hall into the new storage room. Some will no doubt appreciate the added elbow room at the New Years dinner/dance. Nothing worse when you are two stepping to Delilah than bumping into a Scotty’s water pump..

These clear sunny days continue to bring colder temperatures and calm waters. At night the cloudless skies are pitch black without the intrusion of lights from summer residents on the nearby island. Yet………There is something inherently wrong about seeing a gorgeous starlit sky when you sit down with

your morning coffee.