The wind blows around Island houses these days, rattling old panes and knocking at front doors as if it, too, would like to come inside and get warm by the wood.

There are eight principal directions for the wind to blow, but mariners divide the distances between these directions into four others, making thirty-two points, also called rhumbs. Thirty-two rhumbs on a circle, in the form of a star, is known as the mariner's compass.

No matter. The howl and rattle of the winter wind is a sound that says a pot of hot tea with a delicious book and a warm wool throw snugged around the legs on the couch.

It's a good and comfy sound.