I called my son before writing that last post, by the way. “May I write about your experience for the blog?” I asked. “Blog away,” he said. My daughter has learned to preface some things with, “This is NOT for the blog.”

I also realised, after a week with someone from Vancouver, just how gruelling cold weather is. Poor Chris ended up wearing his own coat under an old, too-big duffel coat of mine, its huge hood falling over his face, looking like a strange medieval monk in green Doc Marten’s. And still he nearly froze. I, meanwhile, am feeling more and more sedentary and sluggish, wanting to lie around eating toast and snoozing. And winter just began yesterday! The bears have the right idea.