I put the light duvet on the bed today. Still no overnight frost, though; we should have had that before Thanksgiving.

This is my new gadget: Trudeau Sparkling Wine Stopper. Unlike most of the gadgets I have acquired over the last few years, I actually bought it in a local shop.

The collection of cardboard boxes in my garage has reached peak, so I will have to spend an hour I will never get back breaking them down for the recycle collection on Monday. I'm shocked -- shocked, I say! -- at how much stuff I buy on line these days, every single item painstakingly packed up, usually in a cardboard box. If the garage is full of boxes, I have been letting my fingers do too much walking through eBay and Amazon.

And then I run out of filters for the cats' water fountain. Guess where they come from? Yep -- Amazon.

Sigh.