We had an early supper with the rest of the cassoulet with Dale and Stephen on the 25^th.  It was a very pleasant evening.  Then we got up at 5 in total darkness the next morning, as we do every year on the 26^th to drive into Boston and environs for bargains. First to Lord & Taylor’s for me, Brooks Brothers for Ira.  Then Bloomingdales far more briefly.  It’s generally not for me, except for sweaters.  I saw one simple black dress that I thought was nice, but it was on sale for $750.  I can’t imagine paying more than one tenth that price.  I let go of it in a hurry. This is the only time of year either of us sets foot in a department store. Then out to Wrentham to the outlet malls.  Lunch there.  Then trudging through the mall in search of sales for what we need.  I needed a cheap digital watch, chocolates from Godiva and Lindt outlets, underwear and face cream.  Then home, exhausted.  I find shopping much easier on the internet when I have to do it. It was sunny and clear in the morning but clouded over as we were driving back.By evening the storm began. It was all rain for us, but flooding downpours and high wind.  The temperature was mild here, over 50.  When we drove to Orleans in the morning, a birch tree was down on our own road almost blocking it and an oak had come down on the way to town on Pole Dike Road.  Heavy rain continued on and all through the day and night, but the wind did not abate until evening.  We always worry about losing power and having trees come down, but we didn’t lose any trees this time. Just branches. Now it is clear and sunny again, very blue sky with cotton candy clouds, the sun so low that it gilds all the bare branches of the maples and oaks.  Still near the shortest days and longest nights of the year.  I haven’t heard the coywolves lately. The deer are around all the time, avoiding hunters. I don’t begrudge them nibbling our shrubs although I was sorry they ate all the Swiss chard.  I see red foxes every other day.  When the coywolves are here, they kill or drive off the foxes.  I prefer foxes. It rained again hard last night.  Mice have been coming in – we live in the woods, after all – and causing great excitement for the cats, at least three of them.  Efi is too old to hunt and Sugar Ray is a pacifist who has never hurt so much as a moth.  Puck the Abyssinian is generally the one who locates the mice, and then Xena and Mingus get involved.  They had a jumping mouse early in the week that was very hard for them to catch as it runs up walls and stays near the ceiling – but eventually Xena caught it.  Yesterday there was a regular mouse under one of the radiators and in between sessions of Xena and/or Puck trying to get at it, little Mingus stood guard on the bathroom rug.  Then it got into the hall and they pulled all my NACLA reports out onto the rug.  Sometime during the night, Xena killed it. We have a standing rule that if a mice survives all night and is still alive in the morning, we catch it and put it outside. I am not doing creative writing but rather working toward the miniresidency I’m doing January 11-13 in Amherst for a synagogue there,  The Jewish Community of Amherst.  I have a speech to write for Friday night that I started today. The earlier part of the week I put together a reading for Saturday night and found examples and wrote exercises and my opening lecture for the workshop on Midrash I’ve giving on Sunday.  It’s a lot of work but interesting.  When I’m done with that, I have to get back to sending out some of the new short stories I’ve been writing. And I hope to settle down to write some poems. We still have a few Brussels spouts, lots of kale and some greens in the garden, but it’s supposed to go below freezing for an extended period this coming week, so I doubt they will last much longer.  We dug some parsnips and all the remaining leeks this week, so they’re in the fridge.  It’s the time for stews and hearty soups. We have been eating turkey and mac and cheese.  All foods for winter as it settles in.