I’m afraid that NaNoWriMo has stolen all of my words. I’ve met my daily goal (1,667 words) on each of the eight days of the “contest,” but some days only just barely and the effort is leaving me tapped out.

Today was another glorious day up here in Norra Västerbotten. The weather has been so beautiful–sunny, clear, and warm–that I can hardly believe it’s November. We haven’t had a snowfall yet, and most night’s it’s not even freezing. I want to enjoy it while it lasts, so this afternoon Olof and I put Tage in his stroller and the dogs on their leashes and went for a walk out in the fresh air.

As usual, Åsa followed along and, as usual, scared the hell out of me with her traffic-dodging escapades. I always tell myself that I’m going to make sure and put her in the house before I leave for a walk, but I invariably forget until I hear her yowling plaintively behind me, at which points it’s obviously much too late. She tends to trail a bit behind us, and at one point during the walk there was a large tractor between us and her. It wasn’t close enough to any of us to be cause for concern, but the noise scared her and she held back. When we continued, though, she braced herself and sprinted past the tractor to catch up with us. I told Olof that she would totally make an incredible journey if ever we moved far away and somehow left her behind.