Only One Day Left in German Literature Month!

Our weather swiftly nose-dived into deep winter around the 15th of November. And how busy we were all of a sudden: prepping the car and truck, clearing snowshoe trails of debris left from early November's rain and windstorms, prepping the snowblower, searching for and hastily unpacking and washing all winter clothing and gear--not to mention the taxing physical adjustment from moist, warm temps to extremely cold temperatures. Unusual cold for November, truly! And our oil burner is not working up to snuff and needs replacement.

Don't get me wrong; I adore winter. But my muscles go haywire when the temperature changes are abrupt and deep.

I'm saying all of this as a moan and groan that my participation in German Literature Month fell far short of my hopes. Less time to read, and in a busy teaching month, that's a significant, and a to-be-mourned over lack.

I'm still trying to finish a book that's due for comments by tomorrow: Flight without End by Joseph Roth. I still have 90 pages to go--sigh! But I'm enjoying it immensely. I need to conduct more research into Roth's life and check into his other novels. This novel is extremely interesting, and I've also found the protagonist's involvement with the civil wars in Russia following the Russian Revolution fascinating.

I have also not finished Julia Franck's West, much to my horrified dismay. The novel is deeply compelling, but I just haven't had the time to devote serious attention to it past the first three chapters. My loss! But I'll be catching up with everything left unfinished in the next month or two.

On Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving Day, we received a foot of snow on top of the few inches we've already accumulated. Time to get out in the snow before climate change or a warm-up ruins it. So Saturday's photo of cross-country skiing with friends at Garnet Hill is here. I'm the big one on the right of the photo.