Winter Woes

/ Ann Coleman

DSC00118Self pity comes easily to me in the winter.  I don’t like cold weather, and because my volunteer job entails walking shelter dogs three times a week in any and all weather, I spend way more time out in the cold than I want to.  Even when I am inside my warm house, I am constantly plagued with dry skin, chapped lips and random shocks from static electricity.  We have a humidifier, but from what I can tell, its main job is to fog up our windows. Even our wood furniture suffers, drying and cracking unless I’m diligently polishing it with lots and lots of lemon oil.

I hate having to put on a jacket just to take my trash out.  I hate how much longer it takes me to get dressed in the winter, especially if we are going somewhere nice:  slacks, shoes, socks, sweater, scarf, coat and gloves all need to be coordinated, and that’s far too much trouble for someone with my  feeble fashion sense.  Summer is so much easier, because then all I have to do is put on a pair of capris, a nice top, and some sandals, and I’m good to go just about anywhere.

IMG_0945And I especially hate the way I have to constantly supervise my dog whenever I let her out in the winter, because she persists in believing that those frozen treats she keeps finding (and eating) in our back yard are chocolate popsicles.  They aren’t.  More than once our neighbors have been treated to the sight of me charging out the back door late at night, clad only in my flannel pajamas, yelling, “Don’t you dare eat that, you dumb dog!”  Lest you think I’m making too big a deal of this, I’d like to point out that if we do let her have her “snacks,” she eventually throws them up in our house, and always on my good rugs.  So the vigilance continues…..

But then, in the middle of the cold and dark month of January, along comes a beautiful, sunny day with a high of sixty degrees.   A day in which I can take a long walk around our neighborhood wearing only a heavy sweater; a day in which I can climb up the ladder to take down our last Christmas wreath in complete comfort, and a day that reminds me that Spring will, eventually, come and thaw everything out.  I know that today is just a reprieve, and that another cold front is on its way (just in time for the weekend, according to the weather reports), but I’m still deeply grateful.

It doesn’t matter whether we have the relatively mild winter we’ve enjoyed so far this year or the horrible cold, snow and ice we endured last year, winter will always be my least favorite season. So a day such as today is a reminder that, even in the darkest and most difficult times of our lives, there will be welcome reprieves, both small and large, that make it easier for us to believe better times are coming.  It’s often the little things that can give the most hope, I think, if we can just allow ourselves to appreciate them when they come into our lives.  Spring may not be coming for several weeks, but unexpectedly, a spring day is here, right now.  And I intend to enjoy it as much as I can….just as soon as I’m done cleaning the back yard.

 

 

31 thoughts on “Winter Woes”

  1. Awww…well, this is why I’m not unhappy I’ve moved to a warmer climate. I don’t miss what you’re saying here at all! Including the tasty brown treats the dog eats…. 🙂 Now my cold days are 60 and already I have to wear a jacket because I’m freezing. Everyone laughs at me! But that’s why I came, because I’m always cold !! Well, one reason I came anyway! 🙂 I’m thinking of you fondly.

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  2. Lovely post Ann. Enjoy the reprieve while you can. We’ve also had a reprieve here in Melbourne. After days of scourching heat yesterday we had a cool change and blessed rain. Such a contrast but I know exactly what you mean.

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  4. Well, the cold is connected to most favorite and my least favorite things about the winter. Hugging my wife for warmth is in the plus column. Getting up and taking a shower is in the minus one.

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  6. I laughed out loud with the humidifier line. And next to the chapped lips, the thing I absolutely hate about being inside in the winter is the static electricity. I can walk by just about anything and my hair stands on end like something out of a horror movie. I was so happy to find someone else saying that! Nice post.

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  9. I know I’m the minority here but I LOVE WINTER!!!! Can’t imagine living in Florida or anywhere else that doesn’t have seasons. Reasons that I love winter include: I love snow, fires in the fireplace, baking cookies, winter food (such as soups and stews are way better than cold pasta salads of summer), wearing sweaters, not being sweaty, snuggling, no pressure to do yard work, clear blue skies, and time to slow down. My thing is that we can have only one season to complain about…mine is summer. Yuck to heat and humidity. However, I do like sandals. Here in Missouri we do spring and fall very well. We have WAY too much summer these days for my taste. So until spring pops, I am a very contented winter woman.

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    • No worries, Dee…I know lots of people who love winter, too! Most of them are good at winter sports, such as skiing and ice skating, but those activities are not a good choice for a klutz like me! But I do see the attraction of what you listed, although I reconcile that by eating winter food and baking cookies year round. I completely agree about snow, though. I love to watch it come down and the way it blankets everything in sight. But then I want it to melt the next day, before I have to shovel it! As they say, “different strokes for different folks,” and diversity is always a good thing! (Plus, maybe we could make a pact: you shovel my snow, and I’ll do your yard work!)

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    • No one is going to say “Booooooo!” Dee but me. Soup is grand, and the fireplace sexy, and snuggling can give the baking a rise, but the winter sun is a dark switch thrown, while ice bumps and grinds to injure any trip the light fantastic…not to mentioned the minus of windchill whistling pass the boneyard. However “heat and humidity” should be relegated to an equally low level of the inferno. That proffered;

      Nice response contented winter woman.

      Regards,
      Doug

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  10. Each puppy dog winter, here in inner city Chicago, brings me closer to pronounced pneumonia. So each year I promise anew. Summer in Asheville, North Carolina…Winter in Arts and Crafts, Arizona.

    Stay warm Coleman.

    Regards,
    Doug

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    • You have my sympathies, Chicago winters can be brutal! And I think your proposed scheduled sounds very good indeed. If I ever win the lottery, I’m going to buy a nice beach-front condo on Sanibel Island, with palm trees all around. And I’ll head down there every year on January 7, and stay until March 15. I supposed I ought to start buying lottery tickets one of these days….

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  11. Try wrapping a cotton scarf around your face to cover your mouth and nose when you go out in the cold. It’s made a huge difference for me, I don’t get dry skin or chapped lips (but I do get weird looks).

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  12. I laughed out loud at your first line and kept nodding with each additional line you wrote because I don’t like winter for all the same reasons. I love the freedom of milder temps and I don’t like the confinement of colder weather. I realize you make your pie with whatever is in front of you but it doesn’t mean I can’t complain if all I have are peas.
    Funny post, Ann..:)

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    • Thanks, George! I have a few friends who really love winter, but it holds very few attractions for me. Sitting in my living room, with a fire in the fireplace and watching snow gently fall is one, and no bugs in another. After that, I’m stumped! And we are definitely allowed to complain if all we “have are peas!”

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