Does this look "normal" for mid-November? Except for the lack of high snowbanks, it looks more like January as we drove down West Shore Road this morning.

As promised, we got pictures as best we could of the pond - without getting off the beaten track, and while on-the-move. The first two ponds are solidly frozen over, but the big pond is frozen only part way. The northern end, which is not as deep, freezes over first, then usually a strip down the east shore, before the deeper end. You can see the ice is just past the islands and the water looks a little different - no ripples, which could mean there's a skimming of ice there. The whole pond may be frozen if the prediction of single numbers tonight and tomorrow night is correct. It's only 17 above zero now and seems to be heading downward, so I think it will be a cold night; but not as cold as Saturday night.

Danville was pretty quiet, but kind of chilly with the wind. We got the winter tires put on, did some errands while we waited, and we stopped at Bentley's for coffee. Honestly, it seemed more like the middle of winter - snow in the street, sidewalk shoveled and salt doing its job melting the ice, and cold like January. At that, today was warmer by quite a lot from yesterday. Still . . .

Just now I thought I heard something strange going on outside and it turned out to be fireworks! This happens often - all year long, actually. I'm not sure who sets them off randomly like this, but it usually happens on weekends, but usually earlier in the evening than this. Someone down on the pond is celebrating something special, I guess. At eleven o'clock at night, I wonder how neighbors feel about it - if there are any close neighbors. We can certainly hear them, but it isn't loud enough to be annoying. Just puzzling sometimes when everything is normally silent under a blanket of snow. I guess it's a kid thing - or a "kid at heart" thing. These days hearing what could be gunshots is a little unnerving and it takes a few moments to be certain it's fireworks and not something terrible happening - again. It's nice that someone is celebrating instead of displaying a bah-humbug attitude at the troubled world around us.