Well, I now own four new extremely expensive tires. Ugh, but also a relief, as the car already feels and sounds so much better on the road. To be honest, I haven't, till this point, put much money into tires for this car . . . although my previous car used to eat tires, so you could say that I have preexisting tire angst. Anyway, the deed was done, the painful bill was paid, and then I went to the grocery store and tracked down the varied and expansive ingredients for black cake. Thus, today, at long last, I am ready to bake.

Tom worked all day yesterday on the shed, which I am now going to refer to as the barn. It is really much too nice to be called a shed. He installed the sliding door over the woodshed addition, he built door and window casings, he painted trim. Every step is beautiful, but that sliding door is particularly satisfying to look at. It's made from the same cedar boards he planed and notched for the rest of the siding. Stained a pale transparent grey, it is austere and elegant and every bit a fine barn door.

I assume he'll be out there again today. Winter is crawling closer and closer, and soon snow will stop him in his tracks.

Sunday morning, late November. Up in the homeland deer hunting has paused for the day, as state law requires, though everyone who has not gotten a deer yet is becoming anxious about their empty freezer. Tomorrow I'll be heading there, eager for wood fires and venison and chatter with friends--lamplight, the radio playing low, the sound of water diverted from a spring, trickling through an open kitchen faucet so that it doesn't freeze up overnight.