i was away for the weekend and when i came home, the first paperwhites had opened. i started the bulbs in september, to have them bloom by x-mas... oh well. they are handsomely tall, though. two or three times the height i expected. must have been too dark for them. i like the scent, but in all honesty it is a blend of smoked sausage and horse manure at times. every now and then i get startled and think something is burning in the kitchen.

dots are fun but i prefer the random ones to the traditional polka dot pattern. i found these leggings at a sale and wearing them makes me feel like some little, exotic animal. my other favourite flurry of speckles is the wool throw i bought in october, to ensure at least some snow:

this has been my best friend all through the winter, it really isn't true that you can't buy happiness...

i know, i know. it's ridiculously, over-the-top bizarrely gorgeous.

over the weekend, winter arrived. snowfall always delights me, but after such a long wait that i had lost faith already, it was especially thrilling. it's a bit of an adjustment since the temps plummeted twenty degrees almost overnight, but now there is squeaky snow underfoot, morning skies are seriously pastel-hued and the full moon makes even nights glimmery. this has really lifted my mood.

i felt the need to record the changing of the season, that's all.

winter's a bit different this year. everywhere, apparently. it's strange to read the news about all the extreme weather elsewhere, when here it's so meh. damp and dim when it's not drab and dark. it's really starting to get to me. if only it would freeze, at least. i'd be a whole new me. alder buds are having the winter blues, too. i adore the colour on them.

due to the all-permeating darkness i am having trouble letting go of the yule tree. i figured, since i'm not christian, i can skip the epiphany rule and wait until the evil nuutti comes to take it all away on the thirteenth. the tree is only a scrawny, tiny thing and the string of lights is its sole decoration, but it feels like the only thing that is shiny and bright right now.

i didn't do much over the holidays but i did bake gingerbread. i bought pre-made, gluten-free doughand it was surprisingly good, but it was hard to tell when the cookies were done, because they were lighter in colour than normal. but for the first time ever, i didn't burn the first batch in the oven! i made the white icing too runny, which was a disaster, but i really liked the vintage hue of green that i got from using spirulina powder instead of food colouring.