It’s snowing. It had to happen, and now here it is. Winter is here. We are in winter. Yay.

And it’s cold. Luckily for us, it’s not sub-zero cold the way it is in some places. We’ll get that soon enough. For right now, though, twenty-five degrees is plenty cold. Even when we’re all bundled up in our heavy coats, we’re still shivering after just five minutes’ exposure to it. “Tell me again why we moved to Wisconsin?” B asked me yesterday morning, while we were walking at a brisk pace back to the car after breakfast.

The surest sign it’s winter: The cat is wedging herself in between us at night, making a little pocket in the quilts where she can stay toasty warm, and she won’t leave it no matter how much we toss and turn. If she pops out while one of us is rolling over, or goes off to visit the bathroom, she waits until we’re done, then burrows in again, purring like a diesel engine.

My lumbar region can hardly wait for me to start shoveling the driveway so it can take up where it left off last winter remonstrating me for neglecting to keep my core muscles in shape. I’m hoping the yoga classes two nights a week will keep those complaints to a minimum this season.