Dealing with the winter blues

I'm still trying to understand what the winter blues even are. I just came back in from skiing with my son.

The worst part was when the lifty yelled at me, but I wasn't doing anything I hadn't done half a dozen times before without comment, so I'm not terribly affected.

Just reminded here of the Summerfolk Monday Blues. It's a song referring to the day after a popular weekend folk festival in Ontario. It was in Owen Sound. Not sure if it still exists.

paradox3 said:

Not sure if it still exists.

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It does. Early bird sales for this year's festival just ended and there's a fundraiser planned for later this month.

Imagine folk ups ...

chansen said:

I'm still trying to understand what the winter blues even are. I just came back in from skiing with my son.

The worst part was when the lifty yelled at me, but I wasn't doing anything I hadn't done half a dozen times before without comment, so I'm not terribly affected.

Click to expand...

Imagine you do no winter sports, imagine that your vehicle is not a winter type (it's a long story, but I drove to work today with snows on passenger side summers on drivers side and it was a very fecked up experience; got fixed tonight, which entailed me outside aiming a flashlight for an hour after working all day, Tired, gumpy, sick of winter and snow and vehicles. Now I need to acquire two low-profile winter tires and arrange back strut re-placement.

I hate winter and I hate cars.

Being an outdoors winter enthusiast certainly helps with getting a good amount of endorphins. I am not. I do snowshoe but we haven’t had enough snow to use them without looking silly. The snow -rain-ice changes have kept me from hanging out with my friends and family ( last night I prepared supper to finally see them- and the rain turned to ice and a 10 car pile up made everyone have to go down our main highway- took me 15 minutes to go one kilometre and then I headed back for 15 minutes in frustration. It took my daughter in law 2 hours to get home after work, which was the same stretch of road, 30 km. So I was again just hanging out with the cat. Hoping the roads are better around noon and try again.
Luce’ suggestion of “learning as an antidote “ is a good one. I got a bunch of books from the library, wanting to learn about the trans canada highway as well as Nova Scotia history. Got this book called “ Nova Scotia history in 50 objects”. The author has picked 50 every day objects and written about their use in the past in the context of history. Three pages per object. So I learned about a spade used by the Acadians to cut a special grass they used to built the dykes with. When the Acadians were deported, the English that they attracted to take over their land, had no clue how to upkeep the dykes and they deteriorated. Got so bad, that they actually got some Acadians to come back to teach the English how to do proper maintenance. Then there is “ the sword of Captain William Bishop”. The Bishops being a well known farmers family here next door to where I live. So their ancestors were one of those English families brought here to replace the Acadians. The came from the States. William had fought in a war before. (7 year war). Then privateering American vessels sailed into the Bay of Fundy. One of the residents noticed and got 28 men together and fought those privateers, William using that sword. It was known as The battle of Blomidon”- Blomidon being the local landmark. The privateers couldn’t get away in time because of the strong tides in the Bay of Fundy.
Faszinating, especially because it includes places and names that a re current, but one never knew about the background.

Endorphins ... alien entity? May draw up some endogeneity as a measure of irregular ration leading on to irrationality as a topic of draw ... passions? What a line of etude ...

I, too, find learning things an antidote to the sadness that might accompany the grey days, the lack of contact with the earth, the relative lack of socialization compared to the summer months.

I sorta get this by habit. Most of the year, on Tuesday nights, I lead a "progressive theology" group. I have to come up with something for us to do for about 40 Tuesdays a year. It always involves learning something, so I am blessed (albeit sometimes also trapped) by it. We're currently working on the only LTQ (Living the Questions - a progressive adult curriculum resource started by two American Methodist ministers) series we have never done (most of them we've worked through at least twice) - Capital Punishment, led by Sr. Helen Prejean, a favourite of mine. Our group is small, and elderly, but keen, and they keep me on my toes, with questions, and links to other resources.

Also, my little retirement job. I am processing groceries. We talk about food, ingredients, how to use them differently. It's very interactive and often quite educational.

Living the Questions was a good resource when I engaged with it.

Out of the Question and (Right) into the Mystery was an excellent read!

Some took it as just a left over ... remnant?

I remember my mother had winter blues. She came from Britain, and never got used to the rural Ontario winters.
And in the 1970's, very few people had snow blowers. So there she was, a mother of a toddler and baby, stuck at home all
day, trying to watch the kids and shovel snow at the same time. No wonder the sight of snow-covered landscape and -35 mornings
filled her with anxiety and despair.
I grew up with rural Ontario winters. I wouldn't say that I go around singing that song from "Frozen," that "the cold never bothered me anyway."
But I accept winter as part of life. And it doesn't change my routine that much. I swim in a pool, three times a week, all year round. I walk the concourse in a arena, all year round. And I especially love the dazzling bright sun, shining off the snow. And I love seeing the birds at my feeders, the blue of the blue jay, the red of the cardinal. and the black markings of the chickadee all the more beautiful in the dazzling snow backdrop. And I can't imagine an Ontario winter without my snowblower, my snow tires, or my AWD drive car. (And those things might have made all the difference to my mom's Ontario winter experience.)

Nice to see you @GO3838

GO3838 said:

I remember my mother had winter blues. She came from Britain, and never got used to the rural Ontario winters.
And in the 1970's, very few people had snow blowers. So there she was, a mother of a toddler and baby, stuck at home all
day, trying to watch the kids and shovel snow at the same time. No wonder the sight of snow-covered landscape and -35 mornings
filled her with anxiety and despair.
I grew up with rural Ontario winters. I wouldn't say that I go around singing that song from "Frozen," that "the cold never bothered me anyway."
But I accept winter as part of life. And it doesn't change my routine that much. I swim in a pool, three times a week, all year round. I walk the concourse in a arena, all year round. And I especially love the dazzling bright sun, shining off the snow. And I love seeing the birds at my feeders, the blue of the blue jay, the red of the cardinal. and the black markings of the chickadee all the more beautiful in the dazzling snow backdrop. And I can't imagine an Ontario winter without my snowblower, my snow tires, or my AWD drive car. (And those things might have made all the difference to my mom's Ontario winter experience.)

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Thanks for reminding me of the beauty of winter today!

Then there is the white-out effect ... like erasure in the mind ... since the psyche is nonexistent ... what happens when the metaphysical vanishes?

There's a counter force ...

Remembering listening to my partners Grandmother sharing her history. They lived on a farm and were using horses for getting around. Most winters there was a baby in the family so Grandma and the kids couldn't travel to town. Gtandpa, and maybe the oldest boy would set out with a shopping list. One particularly brutal winter Grandma didn't get off the farm at all. She didn't see another woman between November and April.

JayneWonders said:

Nice to see you @GO3838

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Yes, absolutely!

GO3838 said:

And I love seeing the birds at my feeders, the blue of the blue jay, the red of the cardinal. and the black markings of the chickadee all the more beautiful in the dazzling snow backdrop.

Click to expand...

Yeah, with the view I have of our yard from my home office desk, I see a lot of birds. I'm so glad some of them stick around in the winter. Eagerly awaiting Spring, though, or at least some warmer weather. With our current cold snap, even the winter birds aren't around much.

And adding my greetings to the rest. Nice to see you again. We just had an old friend pop in on another site where I hang out, too. It's a nice feeling.

Well thank you, everyone, for the greetings! I feel a bit like the Prodigal Son.
Although I honestly have not been squandering time and money like the Prodigal Son -
I've just gotten out of the habit of checking Wondercafe2. I'll will try to get back in the habit of checking
out Wondercafe2.

We are much smaller than we used to be but this is still a cosy and quirky place to hang out @GO3838

Waste not want not ... then there was Will Son the soccer ball ... he was blown away as a castoff!

Was that erraticism?