Tag: winter

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I Don’t Have To Go Out

All the familiar sounds of winter.

Snow plows clearing the parking lot and streets.

Tires spinning on icy pavement.

People scraping an inch or two thickness of ice from their windshields.

The silence of no bus coming.

The deadly silence of no train coming.

The north wind howling and angrily shaking my windows.

Ice pellets clunking on my balcony.

Me making another pot of tea, munching a shortbread cookie.

Hey look, I’ve spent most of my life battling winter trying to get to jobs I hated. Long commutes. LONG commutes. Hours to go a couple of kilometers. Non existent buses. Walking miles. Freezing. Hungry. Tired. Wet. Miserable!

So I don’t have to go out now. I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.

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Blues and Blahs

There is only one way to overcome these nasty winter blues (or any depression for that matter). No it is not cookies, although I do admit, they help in a pinch.

Nope, the only way to beat the blahs is to try something new. Yep. Get out, even it is really cold out, go some place new.

Go for a walk, with your camera.

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Go to the mall and try being really nice; talk to an elderly person sitting all alone. Purchase someones groceries for them, take someone out for lunch. Even if you get rejected it’ll be a new experience! Maybe even give you a laugh – later on. Maybe much later on . . . ahem. Just don’t take rejection personally. Some people are more nasty or depressed than you! At least you got out for a while.

If the great outdoors makes you shiver by just looking at your boots in the vestibule, and the thought of digging your car out of the snow, or worse, waiting for the bus (ugh, don’t get me started on that!) then do an indoor activity. If you can’t overcome the revulsion of being outside, cold and possibly wet too, then you have my permission to stay inside! But don’t just hang around and annoy the cat.

If you really want to do nothing, then meditate. You’ll probably fall asleep. I usually do.

But to break the self pity party scene you will have to do something that gets your nose out of your navel.

Take a free on-line course in something you never heard of before or know absolutely zip about.

Watch a movie or read a book that you thought would never interest you. Pick a subject that is new. Listen to music you never heard. Get out of your comfort zone.

Try a craft you have never done before. Make something for the animals in Australia.

Doodle. Draw or write something silly.

This is a good practice all the year.

Learn, experience and grow.

But cookies are still a good substitute when you really can’t get out.

Shortbread with a big pot of tea. With a good book. While the storm rages outside.

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Living in a Sieve

John Cleese when asked why he went to the United States, replied, he had vowed that once he was able, to never be cold again.

I too have made that vow, but have not had the success of Cleese to do it.

Instead, I have an indoor winter coat.

It was once an outdoor winter coat, but being white, it looked terrific for about a month and then needed some serious cleaning.

So I retired it to where it would stay clean but still have purpose. To wear in my drafty apartment, where there are so many places the air gets in, it is like a sieve.

Living in a sieve is not so bad in the summer, I do not need air conditioning. I love my apartment because I have a big balcony and a very soothing view. But, damn, is it cold in here in the winter!

I have taken all the drastic measures to keep a north wind out; sealing the windows with plastic and tape, stuffing them with towels, blocking them with foam board and finally covering them with heavy duty curtains. I do what I can. The indoor temperature seldom gets above 70F, it hovers around 62-65 no matter what I do, usually for several months.

So I have my indoor winter coat.

You do what you have to do. I like where I am, but if I could afford better, I would – providing it has a nice balcony and view!

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Spring

Desperately waiting for spring.

For now I immerse myself in doing colourful pictures for our next children’s book, the bright inks making a snow white-out day somewhat more tolerable. I try not to look out the window at the grey drab dress of the day. Instead, I’ve got a comical moose to paint to make little ones laugh.

The winter put a serious mood on me, so I fight back with my inks and colour pencils. The delight of my life is to create and give flesh to my friends inspired poetry.

As the days get longer my spirits lift, despite the fact winter does not want to go. This has been a long winter. Very long. The cloud of gloom is rising, and there I still am, underneath, happily writing and drawing, waiting to open a window and usher in green.

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February BLAHS

By far the most agonizing part of my year is the one long month in three parts, January, February and March.

January begins with a tease of extreme temperatures, from near absolute zero to tropics. It thaws and freezes in daily cycles. February decides to be eye ball freezing cold mixed with some nice bouts of freezing rain and truck loads of snow, so that when March arrives we have four feet of slush.

February is particularly hard on my nerves with overcrowded, never on time or no show buses, that frequently get stuck in the snow, and our city is turned into a parking lot at rush hours. My 5km commute can become 3-4 hours of agony. It wasn’t always this bad, but the city’s poor transportation management is to blame for a large portion of it now.

I get tired of lugging not only myself, but half my wardrobe with me everywhere I go, layering is not a fashion statement, but a necessity. Dressing for extreme cold and deep snow puts a whole new perspective on ‘just popping over to the corner store’. You must prepare before you go out, and this can take up to a half hour. And bringing home even a jug of milk and a loaf of bread can seem like hauling a load of bricks, the weight of such is proportional to the distance you must travel. It increases by at least 10 pounds for every block you walk.

Salt leaves its trademark white undulating lines on boots and coats. Gravel and sand soon make a pathway in your house.

The only reason why I go out at this time of year is to go to some place warm, as my apartment is often very cold. I have an indoor winter coat that I sometimes have to wear. This is the plight of many fellow apartment and condo dwellers in our city. We build buildings and infrastructure with a California spirit and neglect the reality of our harsh winters. Our ridiculous laws are also rather optimistic; must be 72 F during the day (seldom attained) and 68 F at night, which translates to 60 F in reality because it never reached 72 F during the day (why do they turn it down at night?!). No need to turn on the heat until October 12th and off it goes by April. The only thing that is warm on many a Thanksgiving is the turkey. Perhaps this is a clever ploy to keep us going to work. Otherwise we would realize we are nuts to go out and stay home.

The upside is, we are heading towards spring, instead of away from it. The days are quite noticeably longer. Every once in a while the sun comes out and you can feel its increasing strength. And lo and behold! I saw some very brave or crazy song birds have returned.

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A Nice Idea

My cat Sam has a favourite toy which he has secretly stashed at least 50 of them somewhere in the apartment.  Every couple of weeks I buy him another one or two, and they also disappear in a short space of time.

He also has a good supply of pens, pencils and erasers, specially selected from my studio.

Like cats, we humans are collectors, we develop a fondness for an item and then have to have every possible form of it.  There are collectors of toy pigs, cat figurines, spoons, books, match boxes, Santa Claus dolls, you name it, people will collect it.

But collections can begin because we forget.  There in the store is an object that would be great to have, you buy it, and discover you already have it, maybe 2 or 3 times over already.

When you are young you can remember everything you possess, even the cans of food in your cupboard and paperclips on your desk.  Not when you age a bit.  Now I understand why I found 5 of any given item in my Mom’s house.  Why I find the same in mine.

I went through phases of deliberate collecting of favourite things, like most people do at some point in their lives.  Eventually you find a like minded collector and happily hand it all over to them.  My collections now happen because I forget, or I am winter stock piling.

When you get older, winter stock piling is not just a quirk, it is a necessity.  There are power outages, ice storms, illnesses that can prevent you accessing even the simplest of things.  Stocking up on heavy items before the snow falls is a good idea, like kitty litter, and necessities like toilet paper.  You have to be older to understand this.  I used to think my Mom was nuts doing that.  Sorry Mom!

The accidental collections are what bring me a good laugh.  When I get home with that prized kitchen gadget, tool, art supply or toy and discover I already have it, I laugh.  If it was an expensive item I can force a chuckle.

Fortunately I always find an eager recipient to relieve me of overstock, or I donate it to goodwill.  As money gets tighter I do far less of what I call ‘excited shopping’ and try to stick to my list.

In all fairness to my forgetfulness, I remember items I use frequently.  I think you only need to worry if you start buying toasters and refrigerators, things you use every day.  Or bring home a new spouse or another kitty because you forgot you already have them, and thought it would be a nice idea.