At the direction of her lazy husband, elderly Mary must make preparations for the winter months in a frenzied crescendo of activity - bottling fruit, oiling snowshoes, pickling vegetables, chopping firewood and salting hams. Erik Blevgad's glorious watercolours perfectly capture Bodecker's unique wordplay. We see Mary becoming redder faced and more dishevelled with every task completed, until her exasperation at her husband's orders spill over into delightful revenge at the end of the story.