This can be a tedious time of year for me. With the holidays behind us and not much to look forward to for several months, I have to work hard at not going stir crazy. I looked up stir crazy to see what it really means. Apparently the term was first used among inmates in prison (stir is a slang word for prison). It referred to a prisoner who became mentally unbalanced because of prolonged incarceration. Now we use it to refer to someone who becomes restless or anxious from feeling trapped in an environment that is static and boring. And I do feel trapped – trapped in winter, trapped indoors. Winter was slow in coming and now it seems to be toying with us. Punching in with a few bitter cold days and an inch or two of snow then sliding away to just above freezing and dreary rain.
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| A sun pillar at dawn on Wednesday. |
I have my methods for staying sane during the winter doldrums. I read. I find good books and I devour them. Right now I’m in the first volume of Winston Churchill’s six-volume History of the Second World War. Someone gave me the full set years ago and I’ve never read it – until now. I’ve read other books by Churchill. He is a brilliant writer and an insightful historian. I love reading history. These six volumes should keep me engaged for a few weeks.
With the weather so gloomy, I don’t go for long walks these days. It’s been a soggy and muddy winter so far. In winter I’d rather hike in the frozen forest than trudge through mud and soggy leaves. I do take walks around the yard regularly. I like to keep my eye on things. Like today when I found deer tracks in the snow throughout the orchard, flowerbeds, and gardens. And any morning when the sunrise looks promising, I like to go across the road and walk along the bank above the beaver pond.
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| Sunrise at the beaver pond on Friday. |
Winter is also the best time for stargazing here – that is, when the sky is clear. We live in a place renowned for its dark skies. There are no big cities nearby to interfere with the stars. I’m always up before sunrise and I often go out when the sky is clear to see the pre-dawn stars. Right now there is a great opportunity to see the planets just before sunrise. From the 20th of this month through the 20th of February, all five visible planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn will be visible in the eastern sky before sunrise. If you’re interested, here’s link to a site that explains it – http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury.
I also spend a lot of time watching the birds at my feeders. Some days we hardly see any, but when the weather turns, when the snow comes, they flock to the feeders. The last couple of weeks, in addition to the regular crowd, we’ve had several dozen pine siskins and last week some common redpolls – lovely little birds we only see in winter and then not every winter. I find it very therapeutic to sit and watch the birds.
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| A female cardinal. |
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| Blue jay. |
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| House finch. |
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| Pine siskins. |
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| Hairy woodpecker. |
Some days, when winter is at its worst, the only thing I can think to do is plan. I sit down with paper and pen and I make lists. I list the things I’ll need to do when the weather warms. I list the ideas I have to improve my gardens. I list the seeds I’ll need to order. I calculate the dates for starting seeds. My lists change as new ideas come to me. I have big plans for 2016. Hay bale gardening. New chicks. Improvements at the barn. Growing kiwi vines on a trellis. Starting a new raspberry patch. Trying Japanese squashes. Re-queening my beehive. Learning how to use a scythe to cut the orchard grass. So much to look forward to.
But stuck here in the middle of January, with all of February and most of March and probably part of April still to go, winter seems endless. And tedious. I know the season serves a vital purpose. The garden needs to rest. The fruit trees need the cold to form buds properly. But I get increasingly restive as it drags on and on. If winter arrived on December 21st with the requisite cold and snow and then left promptly on March 21st I wouldn’t mind it at all. But it never follows the calendar rules. And despite its occasional glories, I grow weary of it.
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| A cold morning. |
