Bone chilling cold. Sweaters wrapped tight are a bulky armor. The news is full of places with worse complaints, like five feet of snow in Buffalo, NY. My short commute is dark but dry. Soon it will be crunchy, slow and slippery. The ten minutes of pure joy, driving over the back mountain to watch the sun set over Monadnock, is a memory.
So senses become focused on the close at hand, the minutia of wrestling wood into the house to burn, the gloves now necessary to grip the freezing steering wheel for the trip home. I love driving into the garage and smelling wood smoke. Dogs and cats who are used to spending their time outside in the sunshine are wagging and meowing by the door to get out into the chill. They do not stay long but they can never seem to coördinate their arrival back at the door. Precious minutes are spent opening, closing, opening closing and keeping an eye out for the really old ones who will give you one shot then lie down and freeze to the deck waiting…
A couple came into the store today. He soon retreated to their car while she sampled cheese and we talked. Her husband is deeply, darkly depressed and she has never felt that monkey on her back. I sympathized as I spent many years chemically dependent on my happiness. She is focused on changing eating habits and bringing more natural elements into his body to cure his mind of its darkness. I know it takes a gentle shift of thinking habits as well.
Some senses sharpen with age, others soften. I am irritated by the loss of simple things like vision; but the heightening of other senses is a fair trade. Seasonal depression is rampant, the lack of sunlight drives many of us into a funk. I can’t imagine how people North of us get by with whole days without daylight.
‘Tis the season of drying and cracking; fingertips and lips are most vulnerable at first. The atmosphere is dry and parched. Doors that swelled shut all summer now fly ope with alarming ease.
The cold brings a clarity back to life which the lazy, hazy days of summer smudged over. I feel a different warmth.
Therapeutic Misadventures 
You love your seasonal changes… this year it’s rapidity was staggering! I am sure Ms. Bunyan is primed and ready though. As for drying and cracking…. get some coconut oil (extra virgin, un refined) and put a LITTLE bit in your hands (it looks like Crisco in the jar), rub hands together until it turns to an oil, then spread on hands, feet, face, body. It is NOT oily which is a surprise. Anti bacterial, anti fungal…. good for doggie hot spots too…. Not to mention cooking with! Perhaps you could make small tins of this stuff in the store and sell as a winter staple!
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Great tip, Thanks!! I do rub the butternut squash seed oil into my hands at work. Every tablespoon is 40% vitamin E and you would think that would help. Switching to wearing gloves while washing dishes too. Argh, winter is so dry…even my hair is less curly!
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The coconut oil works in your hair too….just a little does wonders. It really is amazing one stop shopping…. great on the face too… hard to believe it is not oily !
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I can sympathize with the winter funk. I’ve been in my own for the last several weeks. Bundling up to go outside seems more trouble than it’s worth, This year, fall seemed to pass me by almost unnoticed and now into the drabs of winter – could be worse – I could live in Buffalo!
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Fall was fleeting and glorious. This season demands more as we settle into the sensory deprivation. But there is beauty here if we look deeply and carefully enough. You have a Therapeutic Adventure ahead of you, Laura. Soon your bones will be warm and you will be surrounded by green when you head West!!
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I just heard that Buffalo is up to 8 feet with at least two more expected. I never thought I’d feel lucky to be in New Hampshire in the winter, but I do after hearing that. I have friends who live near there and I don’t know how they stand it.
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We hunker down and look forward to 50 degrees next week! Count our blessings we aren’t in a “State of Emergency” and life goes on, right??
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When I saw the news of all the snow I wondered if you were getting some. Seems like yours is still to come. Depression is a hard pit to climb out of, especially in the dark winter days. I’ve suffered myself and somehow that makes the moments of happiness all the more precious. I have some lip balm from Burts Bees made from beeswax, it’s wonderful for chapped winter lips.
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No snow yet, just bitter cold. Depression is impossible for some to imagine, for others it is a way of life. You can’t just “snap out of it” but you can claw your way back to balance.
LOVE Burts Bees products! Glad you found some on your side of the pond. I also like Badger products!
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Reblogged this on uvirfarms.
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