From Where I Sit

By Pat Spilseth, Columnist

Bears do it. So can human beings! It’s winter…what are we supposed to do with long, dark nights and short cold days? It’s called hibernation.

When winter rolls in, temperatures drop. Food becomes scarce for animals. Many birds migrate to warmer climates. Thank goodness my favorites, those brilliant red cardinals, stay in my yard to feed at our bird feeder off the kitchen window. They bring lively color to a colorless winter day. Other animals survive by hibernating: They find a place to spend the winter that is warm and safe from predators. Chipmunks, woodchucks and bats sleep so deeply that they appear to be dead. Their body temperature drops as low as 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius).

Some animals who hibernate, such as bears and raccoons, go into a shorter, lighter period of slumber called torpor. All hibernators need to eat extra food to store up fat for energy during the long winter. Even cold-blooded animals, such as frogs and snakes, hibernate during the winter in mud or under rocks.

When spring arrives, the hibernators slowly begin to wake up. We humans seem to have more energy when spring arrives. Animals have just enough fat energy left to leave their burrows, caves and other safe places to go off in search of food. When daylight increases in the spring, humans usually don’t sleep as much as in the winter. We want to get into the yard and plant a garden, take walks and get the dock in the lake. Our energy is renewed.

On this cold, windy, winter day, I’m totally lethargic. Currently, my days start with later awakenings, cups and cups of coffee and more than one sweet roll. I bake pastries and soups and serve hot suppers filled with carbs. Winter is NOT lettuce weather; I need substantial sustenance.

Books are piled high on end tables and on 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 eight, I find myself retiring to my bed, piled high with a down comforter, pillows and wool blankets. I can lie back and read until 10, later if I have a riveting thriller.

We often complain that winter is cold, windy, bleak and awful. We speak of winter’s stillness, its sense of silence and darkness, a season of hibernation, a season where everything dies a little. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote that snow is a “poem of the air, where the troubled sky reveals the grief it feels.”

In his poem “January,” John Updike noted winter’s lack of sunlight: “The days are short/ The sun a spark/ Hung thin between/ The dark and dark.”

Don’t despair! A faint hope of spring arrives with February. Hyacinth bulbs are sprouting; their heady fragrance at the grocery store tempts me to purchase not only one, but several bulbs. These happy plants are a perfect solution for me to pretend it’s springtime in my home. Cold, wet and gray, February 2 is Candlemas Day, the day to light candles throughout our homes and relax and bask 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.”

It’s almost February; spring is only a few months away. Days are longer; nights shorter. Sleep and dream so when spring does arrive, you’ll awaken from your winter hibernation and have the energy to create those beautiful gardens you dreamed of all winter long. 

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