Latest news of this week: it is cold. During the day it goes well – from 11 o’clock and on it is fine. Bright blue sky, nice and warm in the sun, fine. Until about 5 o’clock, because then the sun starts to set, and it gets very cold.

For us it is very cold. At night it is minus 2. Bad! All thumbs down. New Ice Age?

(Excuse the high Trump-level in this. I still have to get used to going back to normal civilry.) At night it’s not really the problem, at least for us. With three warmwaterbottles in a nice warm bed (with the window still open for the fresh air – healthy!) everything is fine.

(“Three warmwaterbottles?! Three?!!” – yes, a human has two feet (two!) and a belly!)

In the evening in the warm room of the bathhouse, where the spontaneously flowing, warm mineral water serves as underfloor heating.

The challenge is more in the morning

Before you are able to face these harsh conditions, you have to gain courage. I’m an early riser, but not right now.

And everything has to be taken care of: the chickens have to be locked up at night because weasels have been spotted. And they’re hungry. The dog is getting older, so she has to be tucked in. The newly planted male kiwi, which has forgotten to drop its leaves this fall, has to be covered in plastic or it will freeze to death.

The taps should be turned on very gently in the campsite’s toilet building, because even if the pipes run above it, it would be very annoying if they freeze to pieces. I have no experience with it, this is the 2nd winter in 23 years that it has been so cold.

Very busy with it all!

The working day has been reduced to 11 to 4. Fortunately, I have a gene somewhere that regulates my hibernation, because sleeping 10 to 12 hours a night is absolutely no problem in winter. That makes a difference. We live right on top of nature here, so you notice much more extreme weather conditions than in the city.

There is something very cozy about it. It reminds me of a very harsh winter in the Netherlands a long time ago – everything frozen, the streets practically impassable, the highways completely snowed under, the whole country in calamity.

And then suddenly: spring!

Is that climate change? Or has it always been the case? I don’t know anymore. I remember my oldest leaving a note on the kitchen table (when I ONCE was not there for ONE afternoon, and he didn’t know how to turn on the heating; only 8 years old):

“I turned on the cooler to warm my hands, it was so cold!”

The child has always been good at leaving pointed messages … all kidding aside, in ONE week it went from Incredibly Cold (for us, now) to Wonderfully Soft Weather.

Okay. Weather wise we have had the worst weather. On to the spring light!