From Where I Sit

By Pat Spilseth, Columnist

A huge full moon was high in the sky this morning when I walked outside in the early morning darkness to get the newspaper. What a treat to see the gold globe after so many days of fog and gray clouds! Surveying my lawn of green-gray and no white snow, I miss the prints of bunnies and deer, even a stray red fox, cavorting on the lawn during the night. The birds are back, even the long absent cardinals, now that the feeders are full. The ravenous nuthatches, cardinals and wrens devour the seeds as fast as the feeder is filled!

Late January is a quiet time of year. We get restless at the lack of snow…we’re used to skiing, skating, ice boating and walking on the lake. Winter activities are being canceled this winter due to warm temperatures, melting snow and thawing ice. Fishermen are upset as they can’t get their ice houses out to fish and retreat to the solitude and stillness of their man caves.

It’s the time of year when we hibernate, retreat from the rat race of entertaining and just relax and sleep more. Bears do it. So can we! It’s winter…what are we supposed to do with long, dark nights and short cold days? Carbs and home-baked sweets are on the menu at my house. It’s called hibernation.

Yes, I’m totally lethargic. My days are lazy with later awakenings, cups and cups of coffee and more than one sweet roll, baking pastries and making soups or hot suppers filled with carbs. Winter is NOT lettuce weather; I need substantial sustenance.

Books are piled high on end tables and my nightstand. As I slurp soup at noon, a book is propped against two others, just in case I get bored with the one I’m reading. So many books; lots of time to read. Though it’s too early to go to bed at 8:00, I find myself retiring to my bed, piled high with down comforter and wool blankets. I can read until 10:00, later if I have a riveting thriller.

Don’t despair! A faint hope of spring arrives with February. Hyacinth bulbs are sprouting with their heady fragrance. These happy plants are a perfect solution for me to imagine that it’s springtime when I buy a few to brighten my house. Though February 2 can be cold, wet and gray, it’s Candlemas Day, the day to light candles in our homes and relax in the candle glow. See how different the world seems without electricity to blur the distinction between night and day.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote that we should delight in “everyday’s most quiet need.”

We speak of winter’s stillness, its silence and darkness, a season of hibernation, a season when everything dies a little. In the poem “January” John Updike wrote about winter’s lack of sunlight.  “The days are short/The sun a spark/Hung thin between/The dark and dark.”

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To contact Pat, email: pat.spilseth@gmail.com.