Going home

My dogsitting gig is over today. This is a really nice place and the dog is a sweetheart but I'll be glad to get home again. I once inadvertently started a dogsitting business on the side when I lived up north and I forgot why I stopped taking gigs in the winter. It's because no matter what the weather, the pup needs to get out for a walk and I'm telling you the last couple of days were a challenge. One day it was raining and raw and yesterday the wind was howling at about 30mph. Even wrapped up to the max in my old winter duds, including the indispensable silk longjohns and cashmere pashima, I was freezing. I'm amazed I haven't come down with the sniffles yet. Today is better so far. Sun is out and the wind is down so I expect our last walk will be almost as pleasant as the first one if it holds up through the afternoon.

Mostly, I miss my deck with the unimpeded view of the sky. I missed the light show this week. That's Venus and Jupiter dancing with the moon. I hear from those who were lucky enough to see it live that it was stunning. Where I am, the clouds only half cleared last night and there's so many trees, I never saw the moon at all, although the absence of streetlights here did make for fine viewing of the stars I could see. I could just make out Orion through the forest. So there's that but I'm looking forward to seeing the planets tonight from my own little perch here in the south.

Meanwhile, Avedon tells me advent doesn't officially start for a couple more days but the advent calendars are already up on-line. Advent calendars were always a big part of our Christmas tradition when my daughter was young but I don't buy the paper ones just for myself. The on-line ones are fun though and Avedon collects the links every year. I'm a traditionalist so my favorites are the St Mary Margaret and the Liverpool Museum versions, but you may like the more modern ones better.

Anyway, I can't get enough of them so if you find any while you're surfing the intertubes, please do leave me a link in comments.

[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]