The Daily: 10 November 2025

This was the first weekend with no garden tasks. I had every intention of writing pages of prose and poetry. But did I?

Nope…

Instead, I had a weekend off. I made six pints of apple butter. Roasted a pie pumpkin and turned that into ginger pumpkin soup. Also made another round of spiced pumpkin seeds, since I seem to be out already… Did the usual cleaning and laundering. Had to fix a hole in one of the back door draft blockers. The stuffing was coming out of the sheep head. Which worked well for Hallowe’en, not so much for the rest of the year. Baked a loaf of bread, maple-sage whole wheat. I seem to be in a rut with that one. I keep saying I’m going to do something else this week, but then my taste buds start driving. It’s such good bread! And either the maple syrup or the dried sage seems to act as a preservative. It lasts all week without getting tough and chewy. It may also be that I’m making long loaves instead of boules and they fit in the Bee’s Wrap bread sack. The wax does tend to keep bread fresher.

On Sunday, I woke up to snow and dark skies, reminding me that Early Winter is here. Something about that inspired me to get serious about the holiday shopping. I have two nieces and a nephew who are still in the presents years. And one of the nieces also has a birthday in mid-December. (My nephew and I are both January babies. He’s a week ahead of me and nearly 50 years behind…) I ordered books from the local bookshop, bought a customized art supplies box from the local toy shop, and found a couple wood toys for the toddler from what appears to be an old hippy up in Cabot with a bandsaw and a lot of love.

I don’t often advocate shopping online, but this hybrid of ordering it and then going to pick it up seems to be a good system. They don’t have to be open when I’m off work (which is a real problem for mom & pop stores… let me tell you!). I can take all the time I want waffling between this and that and oh! look at this adorable thing! And I’m still shopping local and avoiding shipping. Of course, they must have a website. Or at least an order form that can be emailed. But these days, a small retailer is more likely to have a website or Etsy shop and no brick-N-mortar premises than the other way round. And Etsy is doing this neat thing now where you can search for local retailers. I don’t know what it’s like in other places, but Vermont has so many Etsy vendors they’ve divided it up by county. (I still ended up going to the places I know… mostly… because I’m a creature of habit.)

I confess that the weather is one of the main reasons I decided to shop online and pick things up later. Because, yeah, there is snow here in Vermont. It is vacillating between wet snow at 31°F and misting rain at 33°F. It’s mostly just water floating in the air, sometimes somewhat solid, sometimes somewhat gaseous. There hasn’t been more than a half inch or so of accumulation, and it usually melts in the afternoon — when it turns to rain. But it’s just enough to be a cold, drippy mess. And my house is so warm and cozy.

Fortunately, the ground is still warm enough that it’s not turning to ice. Yet. That might change this week. After another day of straddling the freezing temperature, the temperature is supposed to drop. It’s not supposed to be above 26°F for the rest of the week. (Rest of the year?) So, my walkway is likely to be ice by this time next week. Have to go buy another huge box of baking soda. I use that instead of rock salt as it not only does a better job of keeping things liquid, but it is better for my plants, my shoes, the wood porch steps, and anything else that comes in contact with it.

This early cold makes me wonder what January is going to bring. There are already indications that the polar vortex is getting droopy. We might be in for a cold winter.

As long as it’s not too wet, I think I can deal with the cold. Many of the things that I did over the summer to mitigate the loss of my neighbor’s maple tree shade are also keeping the heat in my house now that it’s cold. It was mostly just hanging linen sheers under the curtains and on the few windows that had no curtains. But that little block on air flow made a big difference. I can almost see recouping the cost of the fabric and tension rods within the year. (It already made a dent in the AC use over the hot and sunny summer.)

But if it’s cold and wet, I’m not going to be happy — however, I think Vermont will be. That’s a tough one though. Too cold, and skiers don’t come. Too wet, and travel becomes impossible. We need a moderately snowy and reliably frozen, but not Arctic, winter. Probably too much to ask for in these days of weather extremes… which is why the ski resorts are doing so poorly. Though the snow last week brought out the die-hards itching for that first downhill of the season.

There are other factors in the skiing industry forecast for this winter. There are indications that Canadians are not crossing the border as much as they did pre-insanity. Canadians constitute up to 30% of the tourist traffic in northern Vermont, and in places like Jay Peak 80% of those north-of-the-border season pass holders have cancelled. A nearly 30% drop in traffic is going to hurt an already hurting industry.

Then there is the current travel malaise. Even if the weather remains fair, it’s going to be a difficult holiday travel season. If you have plans for flying at Thanksgiving, best be coming up with alternatives. Like maybe Zoom. And don’t think that your airport might not be one of the affected ones. It’s all the big ones. And if it’s all the big ones, it’s everything. In fact, even tiny Burlington International has seen cancelled flights, the most significant being the United Airlines commuter to Newark, NJ. But Vermonters don’t go places (though we do love our trains…). The bigger problem is that nobody will be able to get here…

With this many flights cancelled, it will definitely be a long while after the government gets its act together before travel is restored. And… well… remember 9/11? Flights were only grounded for three days — granted it was ALL flights — but it took months to get going again. And it took three years for air traffic to recover. Mostly. At a lower level, anyway. So even if the government shut-down were to relent soon (which is finally looking hopeful), it could be January before the airline industry is back to normal. Burlington-New York commuters might be rethinking their lifestyle… And holiday skiers will not be coming from places far away.

I think it might be time to admit that the tourist dollar is becoming a rare and unreliable quarry. Of course, most of the big Vermont resorts are no longer owned by Vermonters, so there is an element of schadenfreude in their foundering. But those resorts employ Vermonters. And there are whole towns that are built to separate tourists from their money. Stowe wouldn’t exist without skiing. Killington’s demise is going to take out much of south-central Vermont. Though maybe the housing prices will finally come back into reasonable territory. (Yeah, probably not… those exorbitant ski chalet McMansions aren’t owned by Vermonters either… and never were…)

I suppose when the last resort gives up the ghost, most Vermonters will just do what they always do. Shrug and move on to something more pressing… Like getting the winter tires on the car. Making sure the wood pile is big enough. Baking bread.

Which is another local gift I bought today. King Arthur Baking Company has an on-demand cookie decorating class… In my family, December is cookie month… so… There will be cookie classes.

And that’s the news for this week…

Hope you are able to take a few hours to enjoy your season whatever it may be.

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©Elizabeth Anker 2025