November Temperatures

Ken and I have both been saying how warm it was this past November compared to last year. Since we keep records of our daily highs and lows, I thought I'd do a little comparison. In both cases below, if you really want to read the charts it'll be easier to click on them for a larger view.

Here are the actual highs and lows recorded at our house for the month of November, both for 2005 and 2006:

November 2005 & 2006 highs and lows.

Since that chart is a bit busy, I computed the median temperature for each day (the mid-point between high and low) and charted that for both years:

November 2005 & 2006 daily median temperatures.

You can see that while November started out warmer last year, it quickly plunged into coldness. Here we are now in December and the warm trend continues. Of course, "warm" depends on your point of view...

Sunrise, Sunset

Or, in French, le lever, le coucher (du soleil). I know that Ken puts a lot of these on his blog, but I thought I'd give it a try as well. The sun is low in the sky these days and it makes for some dramatic rises/sets.

Sunrise on 19 November from the kitchen window.

Above and below: sunset from the bedroom window on 27 November.

"One season following another... laden with happiness and tears."

Laurie Plays in Anniston

Our friends in Alabama , Evelyn and Lewis, introduced us to their friend Laurie who came to visit us in 2005. While she was here, Ken took her to the Château de Montrésor where the tour guide showed them a piano that was once played by Chopin. When the guide found out that Laurie is an organist, he offered to let her play the piano, which she did.

I wish I had been there to take a video, but alas, it was one of those moments that didn't get recorded. However, this past October we had the good fortune to visit St. Michael's church in Anniston with Laurie where she was able to play the church organ, and I got it on video!

St. Michael's in Anniston, Alabama. Is putting an American flag in front of a church a new thing? I don't remember seeing that as a kid...

With no further ado, here's a short clip:

A few of the windows in the church:




We really enjoyed Laurie's playing and hope you do, too!

Not Closed [4]

Number four in the Open Series.

Photo Du Jour

A car glides through the vineyards out behind our house on a fall day. Fall has been nice this year, although we missed a whole month of it when we were in the USA. Nonetheless, November has been unseasonably warm and we've enjoyed the leaves that hung on for a while before turning scarlet and golden and falling to the ground.

They're nearly all gone now, but we are still having unseasonably warm weather. It's been raining a lot, which is good because we need the water. I expect we'll pay for this with a nice cold snap before too long. I wonder if we'll have snow this year?

I'm Not A Republican

Yes, it's true. I took the quiz:

You Are 0% Republican

If you have anything in common with the Republican party, it's by sheer chance. You're a staunch liberal, and nothing is going to change that!

How Republican Are You?

I don't have a word of the week prepared for today. I'll try again next week!

Eggplant Curry

Last summer, when we were harvesting eggplant from the garden, we made many eggplant dishes. Among them was an eggplant and tofu curry, which was delicious. There was so much that we froze half of it. I had also made nan, an Indian bread that goes well with curry, and froze half of that, too.

So this past weekend, in between eating the Thanksgiving lamb and its leftovers, we broke out the curry to give us a nice change of pace.

The eggplant and tofu curry is served!

We made some basmati rice to go with the curry.

A cucumber and yogurt salad was a refreshing side to the spicy-hot curry.

Home made nan with toasted black sesame seeds... yum!

We washed it all down with a Côtes du Rhône nouveau. A November treat!