>Yesterday, I added another layer of clothes, a thick woolen shirt between my t shirt and heavy sweater. The morning was clear and bright after a rainy day, but it was not long before the clouds closed in and blotted out the sun. I drove in to town to take our new puppy, Lulu, to the vet for a checkup.   Down at sea level it was warm and sunny, and we seemed to have left the cold behind, but when we returned home, I could feel ice in the air. It was, I felt sure, snowing up in yayla. 
After night fell, I went out to close the chicken coops and my breath billowed in front of me impressively. Coming back into the house, which suddenly seemed the warmest place on earth, was a cozy reassurance. Later, burrowed deep under the covers reading a book with Ali and Baki’s deep sighs of sleep in the background, I listened to the rain and could hear a sudden change in its texture, a wet slapping against the window pane. Sure enough, as I peered out through the skylight, I could see that the rain was frozen.
I wonder how our pea and broad bean seedlings will weather this new development; they have pushed up through the earth so bravely, but are so soft and succulent looking, it seems too much to hope that they will soldier on until the spring. The banana tree will no doubt wilt with displeasure at this latest assault. Still, it died to the ground last winter and grew back three times its original size come spring, so maybe there’s hope for our legumes yet.