Winter Comforts

Winter arrived here about 3.15 this morning when it blew in from the Atlantic and decided to shake, rattle & roll just about everything it could find; if it wasn't battened down it was flying................................the ferries have been cancelled as the sea is too rough to sail (force 10 storms!) and so we really are cut off from the mainland. It's great :-)

Today isn't the worse weather we've had; far from it, but after such a long spell of mild and unseasonal warm weather (plants and shrubs budding again as though it was spring), this cold north Atlantic blast has been a bit of shock to the system and has meant the thermals are getting an airing!

I'm convinced in a former life I was an old grizzly bear - all I want to do at this time of year is eat, eat, eat and sleep, sleep, sleep! And I'm cantankerous and growly like an old bear too - my husband John is wondering where the two horns growing out of the top of my head have come from.

I wonder if people living in the far reaches of the northern hemisphere really could hibernate for the winter? I'd be the first to volunteer. I'm craving carbohydrates - I've cleared the shelves in the village shop, chocolate biscuits, peanut butter, bananas, ginger cake, and apricot jam to go with the mountain of warm toast and lashings of melting butter! (And that was just lunch).

In this modern world of 24/7 living, with artificial light available whenever we want it, I wonder if we are doing ourselves a disservice by constantly being on the go. The seasons serve a purpose for all things and we ignore them at our peril. Spring is for rebirth; summer is for growth; autumn for harvesting and reflection and the winter is for rest and recuperation.

I say let our minds, bodies and souls rest a while; eat and sleep this winter; be kind to ourselves and reap the rewards next spring with renewed energy and vigour.