It's cold. Minus 23 today. The days are drawing in, it's light at 8 am and dark at 6 pm, but by November 30th it will be dark all the time. The sun won't come up again until the 11th of January. And then, according to those who have been gleefully telling me this, it will come up above the horizon at noon, and then promptly set again ten minutes later. Stuff to look forward to.

We had turkey dinner yesterday, courtesy of foodmail. I discovered that our oven is smaller here, and the enormous turkey only just fit in it. But it cooked beautifully and we've got masses of leftovers. Last night Rachel and I were thinking of what to make with them: turkey waffles, turkey smoothies, turkey cheesecake, turkey oatmeal, turkey-and-custard... But we did pretty good, for where we are, I made stuffing with our own bread, we got cranberry sauce, and although the only potatoes available were tiny they roasted up nice.

Our parkas are all here, and just in time. Mark's Work Wearhouse in Yellowknife managed to get them to us in three days, and so we're all warm when we venture outside now. The locals have been muttering darkly about frostbite, looking at what we were wearing.