The leftovers from the Christmas dinner are all eaten and gone. The final days of 2023 have been a mixed bag of frost, sunshine, snow and rain. The sun creeps down behind the horizon sometime after 3 pm and it doesn’t appear again until almost 9 am. We passed the winter solstice just before Christmas so now the days will slowly but surely get longer again.

We are spending the “in-between days” at the summer house on Orust to avoid the crackers and fireworks in town that scare the hell out of Cooper. We will be here for New Years Eve and celebrate with old friends.

There is a full moon lighting up the frosty landscape when we arrive. It’s cold and crispy outside, nice and warm with a crackling fire inside. The next day is there is no wind and the sun is shining brightly low over the horizon. We take the ferry to Stenungsund to stock up on provisions and top up the charge on the Polestar. While we are waiting Cooper and I walk along the waterfront park, try not to slip on the ice, and enjoy the views.

Mathilda, Siri and Edde arrive from town and we warm some glögg and walk down to the water in the setting sun. It’s perfectly still and water is a perfect mirror, interupted here and there by floes of ice. The glögg tastes great but barely warms. The full moon rises slowly as we walk back to the house.

It snows during the night but by the time we get out of bed it’s beginning to thaw and turn to slush. A light rain on top of that and it’s like walking on oil. I barely get outside the front door before I’m on my arse writhing with pain. I spend the rest of the day indoors.