Reading about winter

 

Maybe someone would like to know what inspired me to take a different view of winter.  I hope so as I'm about to tell you.  None of the articles or books I list has entirely explained my own hibernaculum experience but all have helped. 

I read "Worried about winter? 10 ways to thrive – from socialising to Sad lamps to celebrating the new year in April"  back in November 2024 but didn't do much about it.  I've added a link so you can find this article in The Guardian.  It's about a book written by Dr Stephanie Fitzgerald called The Gifts of Winter.   And I enjoyed the book.

"Winter is coming, but don't panic!" was another article in The Guardian, this time in November 2025.  The main source for this one was  Kari Leibowitz who wrote  "How to winter".  Not as helpful to me as The Gifts of Winter but I still enjoyed it.

One widely recommended book in, "Wintering: the power of rest and retreat in difficult times" by Katherine May.  It didn't do much for me though.

I've included links to the articles and to the books on Amazon UK.  Actually, I listened to the books rather than reading them - my knitting has come on a treat!

Spring is sprung, the grass is ris'

 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.  

Maulifuffing check-in

It's nearly six weeks since I mentioned maulifuffing but I'm sure many of you have been doing your best for the great sisterhood.  (New readers may not know that maulifuff is an old Scottish word for a woman devoid of energy, who would happily do nothing for hours on end or a woman who appears to keep herself busy but achieves nothing.  The masculine equivalent is maulibum.)  

Even longer ago I said one of my hibernaculum projects would be to sort the dining room.  In the proud tradition of maulifuffs the intention was good but the activity was zilch.  Or rather, there was a lot of activity in dumping more and more stuff in there.

So, for the next seven Mondays, I shall do a maulifuff report of how little I have achieved.  On present showing, it will be very little.  But I may raise a few rueful smiles.

HAF

 aka How about February?  What is planned?  What is hoped for?

First of all, I shall be very busy leading worship.  My dear Friend E has gone on a cruise all around the coast of South America, lucky lady.  This means Plan B comes into operation meaning I have one Sunday "off" per month.  Unfortunately when I saw another friend M in Brigg I thought she looked rather ill, so I'm stepping in to take her service on the "spare" Sunday this month.  I've also got a funeral booked and am speaking at the funeral of someone with whom I have been friends since we met in the sixth form fifty seven years ago.  And there's a couple of midweek things I am needed for.

The Mermaids aren't swimming at the moment but we are helping to make up jigsaws ready for a special event in May.  I am useless at jigsaws.  The other Mermaids can confirm that.  

I've planned three meals out but there may be more.  One is  to celebrate the Silver Wedding Anniversary of a couple I married.  That is a very special joy.  

Jack is coming today to do a couple of small jobs.  He's threatening to write a blog post.

I'm still in my Hibernaculum Project.  My new mindset on winter has been very successful.  I won't say I will be sorry when spring comes but I won't be dreading next winter.   

Oomph

Oomph, or rather the lack of it, has long been at the heart of my problem with winter.  It's the season when my when my Get-Up-and-Go goes on holiday  It's not that I have nothing to do - far from it! - but I can't work up enthusiasm for doing any of it.  

But the surprising thing is that it is all OK.  I didn't feel guilty, I just didn't do much!  I didn't worry about it, I didn't let it get me down.  I just listened to familiar audiobooks and did my knitting and enjoyed meals I had previously batch cooked.  

I think that my hibernaculum project has "given me permission" to be like this.  I don't need to judge myself.  I have time to love myself.  I can tell myself "This too shall pass" but I don't need to speed it on its way.

I don't know why I wrote about the lack of oomph in the past tense: today is another knitting and audiobook time.  Hope you too are having a contented day.

A word I knew already!

 

"The gifts of winter" by Stephanie Fitzgerald has introduced me to some wonderful new words but today I want to think about a word I knew already.  Self.

I didn't expect to find Self among her "words of winter" but there it is.  At first I just skimmed past it but I found I had to go back, re-read and think.  

Dr Fitzgerald suggests that winter is the season of the self.  She calls us to consider self-love, self-compassion, self-connection.  It's a time for us to give ourselves permission to focus on ourselves and to permit ourselves to be authentic.  We can get caught up in the busy-ness of life but the slower rhythms of winter give us the opportunity (as I mentioned yesterday) of making sure our bodies and souls are in harmony.

Father, thank you for making me just as I am.

Thank you for my uniqueness and purpose.

Help me to value who you created me to be

and to use my life to honour you.  Amen.

A word from Japan

Yutori, as "The Gifts of Winter" tells me, is a Japanese word meaning space or room to breathe.  

Winter is a good time to slow down, forget rushing (especially when Christmas has been and gone) and appreciate the world around us.  That sounds like the very essence of winter in my hibernaculum.  It's a time of very deliberate slowing down and making sure my body and soul are comfortable with each other.  

The Japanese even have the concept of yutori education, with more integrated study time and less curriculum content. The aim is to balance intellectual, moral, and physical education.  

Another word

Finding lovely new words has been one of the joys of this winter.  I wouldn't have the time (or maybe even the inclination) to relish words in the summer.  And Stephanie Fitzgerald's book "The Gifts of winter" has introduced me to another word, trygghet.

Trygghet is a Swedish word and it's about a feeling of safety and security, especially when the weather outside is "challenging".  Coming in from weather like that it's lovely to give a deep sigh and relax.  Yesterday was a miserable rainy day here and I was so glad to shut the front door and settle in front of my (electric with flame effect) fire.  

Words

 Sorry about my absence - I've been a bit short on "oomph" the last few days.

But I've been reading "The Gifts of Winter" by Stephanie Fitzgerald.  So far I have found this to be the most helpful book for me.  And she has introduced me to a new word - confelicity.  Isn't it a lovely word!

And it's a lovely concept.  It describes the joy we can feel at someone else's happiness.

I've noticed several people trying to reframe winter for themselves, rather like my hibernaculum project.  Sue from Suffolk wrote about a local hibernaculum and Sam wrote her winter thoughts.  In my quiet, rather pensive days, I have found joy in their explorations too.

Deliberately seeking joy in someone else's happiness is a delightful thing to do  so I shall cultivate confelicity.  

Half time in the hibernaculum

 I started my hibernaculum project on my birthday, back in October, and plan to finish on Easter Sunday.  That's a total of 165 days.  Today is the halfway point and seems like a good time for a review.

First things first.  Why did I start this project?  What do I want from it?  Well it seemed to me that I have spent the last few years wishing several months of each year would get out of the way so I could enjoy the summer.  I wouldn't say I have seasonal affective disorder, but I definitely get the winter blues.  I decided I had to change my expectations of winter.  I didn't want to dread it, feeling that I wanted it over.  I wanted to make it a good time, maybe as good as summer, but in a different way.

I'm not alone in feeling this way.  Since I started to make an effort to think differently about winter I have found quite a lot of books and newspaper articles on how to winter.  The main thrust seems to be to get out into nature, enjoy time with friends, and be cosy at home.  Getting out is a bit tricky as I increase my pain levels if I get cold but I do my best.  I make sure I have meet-ups with friends at least once a week in person and I use video calling a lot.  I have definitely made my home much cosier with a new fire and lots of LED candles (which I have kept out even though I have put the Christmas stuff away)  as well as throws for when I am sitting down.

But it was the discovery of the word "hibernaculum" which has had the most unexpected effect.  It has helped with my mindset and made this into a very positive period.  I'm not using it in its usual modern sense of a place where animals hibernate (humans can't hibernate) but rather its original sense of winter quarters for soldiers.  It was where they took time out from looting and pillaging and instead trained, maintained their equipment, did a bit of socialising and probably a bit of thinking while they relaxed.  I'm never into looting and pillaging but I have a home to maintain, things to learn and a social life to pursue. 

I still feel much more lethargic than in summer.  I sometimes look at cold drizzly days and long for June.  So many things need to be done!  However, so far, I think the hibernaculum project is a success.  I think that I may even be enjoying the winter.  

Happy to be indoors!

 

I hadn't planned on going out today which is fortunate as we have a covering of the white stuff and a not-very-hot forecast.  The covering is very light but it's still snowing now.  Lincolnshire has escaped the harsh weather which has affected so many areas but, even so, I am happy to stay in my hibernaculum.

As a child I used to long for snowy days.  I don't remember our school ever being closed because of bad weather.  We weren't allowed to play snowballs in the playground but sometimes we could build snowmen.  The school rule was that we had to have indoor shoes whatever the weather, so our wet shoes would be abandoned in the cloakroom.  The minimum heating would be 60F or 15.6C which would be reckoned as rather cold today.  

The first winter I lived in Caistor (2010/11) we had very heavy snow and delivery services didn't come into our little cul de sac.  I had lived in a village which had problems every time we had snow, so I have always had a good pantry, but after three weeks the menu had become "unusual".  Even today I have a very good supply of tinned food and a picnic stove in case we have power cuts.  I would hate to have to open the freezer and let the cold air out!

How's the hibernaculum?

 After a few days away it's lovely to come back to my own home.  Holly Dog makes me very welcome but I still like my hibernaculum best.    

Today is the day I take down the Christmas decorations and reclaim normality for my home.  It's lovely when they first go up and it's lovely when they first go down.  The door wreath will stay until tomorrow to be taken down when I chalk the door for 2026.  

The weather doesn't look encouraging for trips out but I have brilliant stores and have no intention of going anywhere.

I've got books (especially audiobooks), lots of knitting wool, lovely things to do.

How's the hibernaculum?  It's great!

The Daft Days

They're more usually called the Twelve Days of Christmas around here but in Scotland (apparently) they are also the Daft Days.  There's even a poem called The Daft Days by Robert  Fergusson.  I've read it but can't recommend it!   

They are convivial days with the New Year right in the middle.  They are the time to reflect on the year which has passed and maybe make plans for the coming year.  Holiday companies seem very keen for us to do this!

I am spending some time sorting my finances, sorting my cupboards, sorting my diary.  I'm giving thanks for the year which has been, as I plan the year which is to come.  

I'm writing thank you notes or making thank you phone calls.  I'm putting away the lovely things I have been given.  I am enjoying my hibernaculum.  

And I plan on being very lazy.  How about you?

Thoughts from my hibernaculum

 I don’t know if it’s just because I have decided to do a hibernaculum project, but I have noticed more and more books and articles about wintering.   I may write about some of them sometime.

So much of our conversation about winter is about how miserable it is, but I  started with the basic idea that winter is good, that it can be used creatively, that I need to adjust myself to its rhythms.  And I read about Roman soldiers who went to their hibernaculum, their winter quarters, and did winter things.  They maintained equipment, trained, had time to socialise and probably time to think.  It was a good time, an essential time both for their own welfare and for the good of the army in which they served.

Some animals hibernate while others enter a state of torpor when they sleep for short periods while food is scarce and they need to conserve their energy.  I do sleep more in the winter than the summer but I don’t really go into torpor (still less do I hibernate) but maybe nature tells me to conserve my energy a little in the winter.   I plan, reflect, sort things both mentally and physically, and maybe reminisce with old friends.

Those soldiers of old maintained their equipment and I am trying to ensure that when summer comes, I have everything I need to go on spontaneous days out or to do things in my garden without fretting about things I haven’t done. 

 

There's a surprise!

 

The weather forecast mentioned the possibility of snow but I didn't believe it.  But it happened.  The first snow of the season.

And I love looking at it.  Just looking at it.  I don't want to go out in it.

I can look at it from my cosy house.  I'm well dressed.  I have eaten a hot breakfast.  Lunch will be cooked and I have vast quantities of soup ready in my freezer.

I've got a huge credit on my energy account so putting the heating on doesn't worry me.  My hibernaculum is cosy.

I shall spend the afternoon getting a batch of scarves fringed and ready to go for the benefit of others not so lucky.

Snow seemed a lovely surprise for me.  It isn't so for others.  

(I wrote this post yesterday but my problems with Blogger continue.)

Little treats

You'll probably have realised by now that I am trying all sorts of things to make winter a good time this year.  I've even started a scrapbook called "My Hibernaculum Project" so I can record my experiments, successes and failures.  I'm recording my decluttering and I'm recording my treats.  And I'm having a treat right now!  

I have a friend who lives in Leicester and a friend who lives in Peterborough and for many years I have met up with each of them a couple of times a year in Newark.  They don't know each other so these are separate meets ups.  It's further for me to travel than it is for either of them but that's OK.

Anyway. last year I explained to both of them that it is becoming a little tiring and I asked if they would mind if I planned things so I could stay one night in Newark and see one friend on the first day and one on the second.  Both were happy with that so I tried in the spring this year.

This time I decided to make more of a break of it so I came to Newark yesterday and I'm having two nights here.  I shall do some Christmas shopping while I am here and enjoy being looked after in an hotel.

It was good to anticipate, I'm enjoying the treat as it happens and I shall enjoy looking back.  Treats are great for keeping me happy during the winter.

So, how's the hibernaculum?

 The hibernaculum is coming on nicely, thank you for asking.  

Fantasy hibernaculum

I've made my sitting room extra cosy with the new fireplace and "pretend" fire.  The electric throw which I bought a couple of years ago helps, and I have reduced the amount of stuff which is visible. I already had a set of LED candles and I've ordered a second set.  The overhead light rarely goes on and I rely on small lamps.   It's all very calming.  

Fantastic hibernaculum

I'm trying to get rid of stuff and had a fantastic opportunity.  One of my friends has an adult son who is autistic and who enjoys making things.  He wants to make some "borrow bags" for our local green refill shop and was very happy to take some of my surplus fabric for the purpose.  I've given him enough to make a very lot of fabric bags.  I win (the fabric has gone), he wins (he can make things) and the shop wins (they discourage plastic bags).  So it's a happy hibernaculum.  

Hibernaculum:-  winter quarters for Roman soldiers; a place for over-wintering plants; the lair of a wintering animal.

Bye bye October!

 

At the beginning of October I said I expected it to be a "thin" month with little happening.  Oops!

I dog sat eleven nights during the month.  Holly Dog and I are becoming very good friends.

I met up with friends via zoom as well as in real life.  

I took one service and preached at another.  And after preaching I went to a harvest supper.  Very nice too.  

I went to a candle decorating class and a needle felting class.

I booked a cruise!  Not happening until 2027 but it's booked.

I celebrated my birthday and will continue to do so for several weeks to come.  

I decided to create my very own hibernaculum and bought a cosy fire as a starting point.

And, all in all, I had a lovely month.  I hope you did too.  

Hibernaculum

Maulifuff is a word which has definitely grabbed me, but another word I want to appropriate is hibernaculum.  It's what Roman soldiers used to call their winter quarters but these days it also means or a place for over-wintering plants, or the lair of a wintering animal.   The web has lots of information on building hibernacula for wild animals but I want to use the word for the lair of a wintering Mary.

I've acquired a new fireplace which has certainly made my sitting room feel more cosy.  I won't be using real candles but I hope to acquire more LED jobbies.  Last year I treated myself to a heated throw which will soon be in use.  It's not only cosy, it's also a very energy conscious way of keeping warm.  

My next task will be to tackle the dining room so I can use it as a sewing room.  I'm not the only person who uses "spare" rooms as dumping ground but I am pretty good at it.  My hibernaculum can't just be pretty and cosy: come the spring I want to know that I have used the time well.  

Feeling excited

 

I've booked a cruise!  I haven't cruised since 2009 when I went to see New England in the Fall.  I'd promised my Mother that I would use some of the money she left me to take a special holiday and when I saw that one which started on my birthday and was aboard Queen Mary II, I felt it had my name on it!

And I've wanted another cruise since I retired but the finances, covid, my health and everything else, made choosing very complicated.  I can't fly/cruise because I need to take quite a bit of stuff to cope with my disability.   I saw a cruise to Canada, the North West Passage, Greenland and Iceland which I really fancied but at the time I couldn't get all the ducks into a row.  And it hasn't been offered since.

But it made me think about visiting the Arctic Circle.  And when I saw a cruise advertised to see the coast of Norway and sail to at least 78 degrees north, I decided to go.  (The Arctic Circle is 66 degrees north.)  I've lived in the tropics: now I want to go as far north of the equator as I can.  

It's not until 2027 so I have a lot of time to feel excited.  The anticipation will help my wintering.  

(And yes, I do realise that the clip art is of the Antarctic, not the Arctic!  But I liked it.)