I wonder how the hibernaculum is?
It's still lovely, thank you for asking. And it will continue to Easter Sunday as I have previously decided. I know most people will be feeling heartily sick of winter and are happy to welcome spring. I'm happy to welcome spring, but winter has been very different for me this year.
Don't get me wrong: it is lovely to see spring. It's just that it was also lovely to see winter revealing its treasures too. Back in the autumn I realised that if I spent winter wishing for spring, I could be wishing around a third of my life away. Instead I would try and see winter as different and yet still good.
I watched clouds, raindrops, snow and also bright sunny days and very windy ones. I loved getting out when it was sunny and was happy to remind myself on foggy days that I had a perfect excuse for knitting and listening to a book. I decorated my sitting room with (LED) candles but I fetched snowdrops from the garden and daffodils from the supermarket and gloried in them.
I cooked soups and casseroles, fish pies and warming tagines. I drank lots of coffee and fruit and herbal teas and had salads only occasionally. I welcomed friends and was happy to visit or meet them in a local hostelry but I also relished my solitude.
Some days I felt low but I could observe myself non-judgementally and have an occasional duvet day, confident that things would be better the next day.
Quite honestly, the main change was in my attitude and, maybe, my beliefs. Winter is what it is. I am who I am. We rubbed along very well.
I struggle towards the end of autumn, because winter is just around the corner, I find it hard to appreciate the colours and change in scent and sky because of my apprehension towards winters arrival. I do try very hard to appreciate the colder months, but here in a soggy grey north, it isnt often that beautiful and tends more to the rain and mush. So, spring is such a relief and much needed!
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel - I could have written the same thing a year ago.
DeleteHow wonderful that your decision to appreciate winter for what it is helped so much. Happy spring to you and may it be filled with spring joys. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you. And yours too.
DeleteSpring is finally here in mid-Scotland and I had a lovely few hours in the garden last week. Clocks forward this weekend and the days will seem longer and hopefully milder. Catriona
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your Scottish spring.
DeleteI remember being astonished by pictures David Hockney had created of a lane in Yorkshire, at how much colour he had found in the apparently grey and sullen hedgerows. I discovered that the colours were really there if you looked, which transformed all the long weary driving through lanes in winter.
ReplyDeleteYou're so right, quite a lot of winter dread is in the mind. Your hibernaculum has been an inspiration!
Thank you. I hope so.
DeleteIt’s now Autumn here and I’m planning to take a leaf out of your book and have a hibernaculum myself this year. But first I have a visit to relatives at Easter and then an extended trip to friends in Japan. But I rather think a hibernaculum like you’ve had will be what I need when I return to solo life chez moi.
ReplyDeleteMargaret from New Zealand
I look forward to hearing how you find your hibernaculum to be.
DeleteI normally embrace winter as a time of craft, reading, enjoying the comfort of home, sadly this year has been a struggle, so I am more then ready to embrace spring and the great outdoors.
ReplyDeleteSorry this year has been a struggle. Better next year - yes?
DeleteI live in Michigan USA where spring is still several weeks away (never mind the calendar! I am 85 years old this week and do not mind the blustery weather that much as mostly I can choose whether or not to go out into it. If Ido, I know my trusty lawn care guy has salted or shoveled my sidewalks and driveway and I am relatively safe. Nevertheless, I am also conscious that other property owners or retailers may not be as prudent, so I choose my outings well. I have elderly friends who bemoan the snow and cold, but I usually say we have lived here many years (for me, 64 years) and I refuse to put my life on hold just because it is snowing., etc. If it is too nasty to be outside, I have many years of experience on finding something worthwhile to do, whether it is reading, knitting, TV or putzing around the house. I have little compassion towards people who complain of being bored.
ReplyDeleteWell done you!
DeleteI think you're on to something in how you've treated winter this year.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping so. I'm certainly not dreading next year.
DeleteI decided that complaining about our winter weather was counter productive to my peace of mind. So instead I focused on what could be done in the house during that time. Worked wonders.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Great, isn't it!
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