The coming week appears set to bring daytime temperatures back into the twenties. Conditions should remain calm but largely overcast, with light snow on most days and heavier amounts expected on Friday and again on the final day of the month. It looks to be the sort of week where the world takes on the appearance of a snow globe. If you have not seen one, a relative newly arrived in this country recently showed me such an object, it’s a small winter scene enclosed in glass, where, when shaken, the snow drifts down and settles again. I am told these may soon be available for purchase here.

Many students and residents have been ill or are now recovering after the past week. I wish them a quick return to health. Harry Helmerson departed last Tuesday with a dog team for a trip into the interior and stopped to speak with me on his way out, offering advice on dogs and suggesting that I learn to mush and keep a team of my own. The Backlund Brothers of Lakeview Dairy were delayed this week when the radiator on their truck froze, though the trouble was confined to a single small pipe.

Nearly a month after my arrival in Grand Marais, this will be our first full week of living in a snow globe. Nordic wisdom says that you stay because you said you would. All the warmth shown to me last week at LeSage’s Restaurant has made that decision easier. Though slightly embarrassed to say so, I must thank Miss Fjell for buying me a cone and inviting me to appear in costume with her at the Grand Masked Ball on Saturday.