It seems like from November to April I never get warm. Not really warm. Not barefoot warm. Not can’t remember what a sweater is for warm.
That’s what I’m talking about. So deep into summer I’ve forgotten about that sneaky April cold snap and haven’t yet begun to dread the end of the growing season.
HOT.
I do like it hot. I always think, when it’s at its hottest, if only I could soak this in so deeply that it would last until January.
But it’s gone as soon as that unseasonably cold day in October, like a cheap handwarmer.
Now, looking down the tunnel of a new winter, these are the things that keep me going:
Cold hardy lettuce
Kale
Garlic sprout!
Beautiful spinach
Warm nest eggs
And pretty girls
These, plus heaps of compost that steam on frosty mornings and gardener’s methadone, the seed catalog, will have to do for the coming months.
What keeps you going?
My houseplants. I keep them outside in the summer and they love it. In the winter, they create a haven in the basement. Haven is a large comfy couch, good lighting, and a huge photographic wall hanging of a tree with the sun streaming through. My large, lush plants flank the picture creating as much of a green scene that is possible in a basement. I talk to them about how nice it will be once it is spring and we can all go outside again.
I hear you about the cold during the winter. I am writing this from a scalding hot bathtub. It seems that it is the only place which can give me the direct heat and humidity which remind me of mid-day summer sweating.
My seed catalog arrived today. I’m bouncy!
What keeps me going? I continue to be driven by many diverse, interesting, even eclectic hobbies, but what keeps me coming back here, to your site is your wonderful photography. You take some remarkable pictures. I especially love your Macro-Photographs. Maybe someday this winter, when the daylight hours are short you could write something about your Photography skills? What type of gear do you use? Camera? Lenses? do you use your tripod? Are your pics digital or are you still using ASA film? (I switched from a Nikon FE2 to digital a couple years ago). In my opinion your Photography skills are quite good, I love your and your readers recipes, (especially the ones that incorporate the produce we grow) and your fine feathered girls are very pretty.
TinMan
It is amazing how plants can grow in this weather. I’m not a gardener but I enjoy your posts and wish I’d done the garden lasagna. Maybe I still will. I keep a picture of my favorite outdoor recreation place, Sam A. Bake State Park in Missouri, and dreaming about going back helps me through the dreary weather. It was dark here (north Alabama) yesterday before 5 p.m.
For me, what keeps me going is learning to love the winter! It is pretty cold here in the winter (not today though since it is above freezing) and I try to get outside and enjoy skiing, hiking, snowman and fort-making and just plain playing! My favourite thing is bundling up (definitely need snow pants and proper boots) going for a walk with the dog in a blizzard. Usually it isn’t THAT cold (when it is really cold, it tends not to snow) and it is like an adventure.
What else:
Real homemade hot chocolate (no premade or packaged versions for me)
Peering out the window during a storm and feeling warm and toasty inside
Warm Stew, Baked Beans, or Spicy Chili with crusty bread
Watching my dog dive under the freshly laid snow (if he loves it, I can too)
What keeps me going is my handmade T-shirt blanket. Warm, cozy, comfortable and the fleece backing is oh-so-warm!
I prefer to stand directly on a heat vent while I highlight madly in my seed catalogs with a cup of coffee or 5… I hate winter, it’s so not my friend <3
Seed catalogs!! Those and snips from potted herbs, the goodness of home-preserves, and dreams of digging in the spring soil. Winter is a good time: it refreshes and rejuvenates.
Um, is it bad that I LIKE the cold? I live in Florida, and I melt all summer long. I treat summer a lot like you treat winter: dreaming of first sign of a change in the weather while parked securely in front of a climate changing devise. In my case, it’s the air conditioner. So, why do I live in Florida? Because the people who matter the most to me wanted to move here. So, here I am. We are in the middle of an unseasonable cold snap with a frigid wind blowing. It’s AWESOME!! Makes the coffee taste even better!
MAKING THINGS keeps me going!
Its easy right now because we are in a Holiday Month – and I can make my own Xmas Wreathes and Xmas tree stands – no need to buy all those holiday decorations!!
I’ve been busying myself making these holiday decorations because my prospects for gardening are NIL for now. I can barely keep the indoor green guys happy these days!
Hm, perhaps I should warm (cold) you up with a little video of my place on our first “snow day” today. I guarantee you it will make you feel warm and toasty to know you don’t live here. 🙂 It was the coldest, windiest day this season. The sound in the background is Georgian Bay – wicked waves and wind today.
http://denise70.blogspot.com/2010/12/first-snow-day.html
Denise–Whoa. Can’t imagine. It’s going up into the forties later this week. I will count my blessings.
Try living in NW Ohio! Brrrr…. in the teens all this week and snowed horozintal these past few days!
A down comforter and fleece sheets are a great start. Love to wake up when its 0 outside, 60 in the room, and toasty-as-can-be in bed.
Last Sunday out in these parts around Fargo, I was ice fishing at 14 below (without any windchill factored in). Nearly caught my limit and had a great time. TL, I guess you would not have enjoyed it.
For those who enjoy the cold season, we do not enjoy being cold, but keeping ourselves appropriately warm. There is a Norwegian word hygge, it’s a verb. To hygge yourself cannot be easily conveyed in english- it literally translates to to cozy yourself, meaning to have a cozy, snug, warm, fun time. For those of you who demand to walk around in the sun in shorts (or whatever) year round – you probably just never get the great feeling of hygge-ing yourself and your family and enjoying a satisfying warm self-created peace. Maybe some people are just born with it.
I agree with Denise: snowshoeing, skiing, hiking, backpacking are all great ways to make yourself warm in the winter.