Huddling in Winter

So far it's been a lovely week off of house-hunting.  It's amazing how much more time I have when I'm not surfing real estate websites and just THINKING about our next place to live.  Not that I'm being very productive with the extra time -- surfing book, movie, and politics websites instead...  

I went to a book signing on Thursday night -- Kanha was with her dad and I got a night out of the house, hurray!  --  for an author, Lily King, that I met through Waynflete, Kanha's new school -- she's a parent of one of Kanha's new classmates (and a great writer, serious but readable fiction, www.lilykingbooks.com, check it out). While there, I bumped into a small Waynflete crowd, and the conversation veered toward Portland real estate.  (OK, I haven't completely stopped thinking about a new home.)  The woman I sat next to had recently bought a house that sounded perfect -- a block from the school, very old but charming by description, 1700 sq ft or so, little backyard -- which she only found by living in a tiny apartment with her family of five for a year until she heard through the West End neighborhood grapevine about this great house that some elderly man was about to move out of and might be available for sale soon.  

So perhaps Kanha and I will be huddled in our one bedroom apartment for a little longer than I thought.  

Today we drive up to LL Bean and buy brand new cross country ski equipment.  I've always said that if you live in New England, you better love a winter sport because otherwise you're going to have the very bad blues, in your heart and on your lips, for five months a year.  Downhill skiing used to be my passion but I've gotten older and it's gotten pricier -- so I've relegated it to an occasional indulgence and am hoping cross country skiing will take its place.  I have a $75 gift certificate saved from my birthday last May (thanks to my brother Dan and his family! -- good Mainers who know the value of LL Bean) and am ready to plunk it down.  Winter will be here sooner than I hope, I suspect.