This has been a long winter. I can’t imagine living in Nova Scotia, Canada – where folks are still expecting several more months of bitter cold temps and snow. It’s a beautiful place, and the flora impressed me mightily – but they truthfully have only about 4 months of warmer weather (certainly not ever hot like here in north Georgia) and then it is cold again. Compared to them, I have it super easy. I mean really.

Still, to my mind it has been a long winter. It blew in cold and fast in October this year, whereas in previous years it would be mid-December and my friends and I would be wondering when we’d be needing to think about running the heat during the day.

Since it came so early, and was so cold so quickly, I didn’t manage to get my Fall tasks done. Trimming back the perennials after the first few freezes, raking leaves, spreading mulch, and getting pansies in the ground have all had to slowly get done on a few warmer days during the winter months, and I am still very far behind before I can start getting things prepared for Spring.

Winter does have its place, and I truly appreciate the chance to work on projects indoors that never have a snowball’s chance of getting done in the summer, when I am busy growing, weeding, picking and preserving all that wonderful food – or simply enjoying the warm weather and sunshine. This winter I have learned how to crochet, and have successfully made a scarf for a friend, and am partway through my first afghan. I’ve also found time to do some of my usual “nesting” as we slowly settle into normalcy around this house. I’ve painted a reminder, Arts and Crafts style, over the doorway in our dining room that reminds us to live in the moment. I’ve already found having this visual reminder to enjoy every moment of our lives very useful, as my husband and I both tend to get caught up in the million things that need doing, and forget to take a moment to appreciate what is beautiful all around us.

I love the warm coziness of my living room, with a nice little fire crackling in our woodstove and the teakettle steaming away on top, and I love curling up in a chair and reading a book. Not that I’ve managed to do that very much this winter, but it has been nice.

However, I am tired of it being winter. I miss seeing green outside. Indoor plants do help, and some of them have improved mightily with the attention they receive when they are my only babies to care for. Yet, I am tired of being cooped up, tired of being cold, a little tired of carrying wood indoors to feed the stove, and tending said stove several times a day.

My body is ready for fresh fruits and veggies, for sunshine and that gardening-earned tan, ready to turn soil and grow nice little plants. I’m ready for birdsongs to wake me in the early hours, to not dread getting out of the warm covers, for sunny days. I even am ready to pull a few weeds. How’s that for getting desperate?

Soon. It will all happen soon…