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Post by lagatta on Feb 9, 2011 2:09:41 GMT
Looking out the window at snow just fills me with a feeling of helplessness and despair. Of course I try not to give into that. The plants coming back to life with the longer days help a bit, as does the large ficus tree that takes up a good bit of my dining room/kitchen. I'm sure there are other strategies. Yes, I do force myself to go out for fairly long walks. No, I don't like winter sports.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 10, 2011 0:52:47 GMT
Oh gosh, LaGatta ~~ I've also been affected by grim weather at times. It's particularly painful to read of this happening to you, since you work at home and are thus in the house as part of work much of the time.
What about some low-key redecorating ~~ could you get into that? Sometimes moving the furniture around, pulling out previously retired bits of bric-a-brac, putting a lamp under a picture, etc. can really engage ones attention. The tweaking process can be fun, and the feeling of having a new space and fresh start can give your spirits a lift.
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Post by mich64 on Feb 10, 2011 2:13:59 GMT
It is time for a thaw to revive us I think Lagatta. Usually we get an unusally warm couple of days that gives us the energy to carry us through the winter and we have not gotten one here where I live. It sounds like you have not gotten one either. You know when the sun wakes you up, and it feels warm on your cheek. You can hear water overflowing the eaves. You open some windows a crack and, you hear some birds singing. You see people out, just for a walk. You find yourself on the porch with a broom, sweeping the winter away. You know, Spring is just weeks away.... Spring is coming, it would be nice if it would hurry up though!Mich  |
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Post by Kimby on Feb 10, 2011 5:57:34 GMT
A chickadee was singing his "fee bee bee" love song the other day. That seems to me to be the first sign of spring. He's been silent the past few days, though, as winter has roared back to life with the 7th heaviest 24-hour snowfall on record....
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2011 7:32:28 GMT
I am generally not affected by this, but I have noticed that I am becoming quite impatient for spring this year, and I really appreciate the longer daylight hours as well. I will be happy in a few more weeks when I will actually wake up during daylight.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2011 12:39:04 GMT
Up until about a week ago,I wasn't able to ascertain if my overall malaise was due to recent events in my life,or as the OP suggests. I'm still not sure. I do generally go into a funk of sorts come Daylight Savings Time because it puts a major cramp in my late afternoon activities,bicycling being one of them,and the limitations the early darkness places on this. I gradually transition though. However,in talking to several people,it has become very apparent that due to the erratic nature of this particular winter weather patterns here,everyone,is in a funk.  It's particularly difficult to just hunker down as it were,when it's 70F one day,and 28F the next. |
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Post by Kimby on Feb 10, 2011 17:12:40 GMT
At least you GET 70 degrees now and then, casi. Some of us are lucky to see highs in the low 40's for another month or so, then gradually creeping up into more tolerable temperatures. I can't imagine getting my bike out for another 2 months, minimum. Really hard-core bicyclists put studded tires on their bikes around here. The rest of us just drive.
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Post by lagatta on Feb 10, 2011 17:34:56 GMT
Oh, I certainly hope I'll have my bicycle out within a month. I certainly cycle at 40Fs (even at -5c) if there isn't a lot of snow or ice. I don't think metal studs are allowed here on any road vehicles - my bike shop knows a guy who caught a fine for it.
bixa, I have been doing a lot of housecleaning, and clipping the plants; putting the cuttings in water on tables.
casimira, in May-June I get up VERY early, with the sun, for early bicycle rides.
good to hear that k2 doesn't have this problem so much - Paris is north of Mtl, and often gloomy. Amsterdam is MUCH worse. I'm probably going there next week. That is a classic case of "changer le mal de place" - I don't think they have snow any more - they did have more than us until very recently - but there will be less sun. Hopefully a couple of sunnyish days and a good walk or even a bicycle ride if I have time - I'm there for work, not pleasure.
I recognise that my initial sentence could have been disturbing. It was an accurate expression of my mood, but I wasn't remotely suicidal or even into self-harm (such as drinking or eating too much).
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2011 18:22:28 GMT
Somebody at the office told me today that "winter is coming back next week." I couldn't find any definite proof of this, other than indications that temperatures are dropping a bit on the Météo France site. If winter returns to Paris, it will certainly return to Amsterdam. Today is incredibly mild, and I got overheated on a Vélib.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2011 21:32:58 GMT
At least you GET 70 degrees now and then, casi. Some of us are lucky to see highs in the low 40's for another month or so, then gradually creeping up into more tolerable temperatures. I can't imagine getting my bike out for another 2 months, minimum. Really hard-core bicyclists put studded tires on their bikes around here. The rest of us just drive. Yes,but,this is a double edged sword psychologically Kimby. At least you know when winter starts what you are pretty much in for....winter weather,cold...Here,it can and very often does remain in the mild temperate zone,but,with increasing frequency of the last couple of years,record breaking cold, frigid, arctic, freak temperatures,none of which our houses or landscape is equipped for. |
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Post by Kimby on Feb 10, 2011 23:13:29 GMT
and you're just wusses, too! ;-)
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Post by lagatta on Feb 11, 2011 15:04:25 GMT
casimira, this is also a problem in Western Europe, even in places that typically have very mild temperatures. One is REALLY cold in an ancient stone building in Perugia, during a bitter cold snap. Umbria (which you have seen in fumobici's pictures, as well as the adjacent part of Tuscany) has steep hills, so it always gets some winter and a bit of snow, but the home heating is not adequate for a deep chill and those buildings are designed more to protect from summer's heat than winter's chill. On sunny days, we'd go OUTSIDE to warm up.
The snowy Superbowl in Dallas was quite the affair!
This is why "global warming" is more accurately referred to as "climate change". It does involve an overall warming, but its main feature is extreme temps, sometimes cold ones, and strange precipitation patterns.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 11, 2011 15:56:49 GMT
I was not worried about your overall mental health, LaGatta, but your OP did raise an important question. What does one do to relieve the glumness when Spring is still too far away?
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Post by Kimby on Feb 11, 2011 16:01:06 GMT
I hear Fairbanks, Alaska, has a very high rate of alcoholism. That's one way people cope with cabin fever....
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2011 19:57:27 GMT
One of my colleagues today was talking about her light therapy device, which gives off 14,000 watts (she says). She usually acts as though she is floating on a cloud, so who knows, maybe it works.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2011 20:05:22 GMT
I was not worried about your overall mental health, LaGatta, but your OP did raise an important question. What does one do to relieve the glumness when Spring is still too far away? I know, I wasn't worried either,Lagatta. It does make a huge difference what one does in this interim transition time ,where the body naturally slows down,how to not overeat,overindulge in what we commonly refer to as comfort food,can be difficult to do,and why so many people gain weight during the winter months. Whereas some weight gain is appropriate,proper continued exercise is also important to maintain. I put on music and dance on inclement cold days confined inside. Then,to wind down,curl up with a good read before sleep. Yes,today,the sun is out,shining bright. It is indeed warmer outside than it is here in the house which is why I should be off and running out for a bike ride right now!!! |
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Post by lagatta on Feb 12, 2011 0:27:38 GMT
Kimby, what you say about Fairbanks is true of all far-northern regions, and it isn't just because of the deep social problems afflicting many Indigenous peoples, whatever the climate, or the monumental screw-ups in Russia (one might say Palin is another sort of screw-up...). It is true even in prosperous Scandinavia. But obviously drinking far too much makes people glummer still, as well as the other obvious social and health risks.
Up north here, another serious wintertime health problem is tobacco. The houses are built to resist extreme cold, with triple glazing, and among Aboriginal people, there is a lot of overcrowding (very high birth rates, for one thing). Hence the dangers of second-hand smoke are very real.
I dance around too, casimira. Fortunately the neighbour downstairs works a steady day shift, so I can take a dance break without thinking I'll be pounding on someone's head (hundred-year-old and more buildings are not often very well insulated in terms of sound).
casimira, I need reading glasses now, especially in the evenings when eyes are tired. Eventually I'll figure out how to read without them poking me in odd places.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2011 15:27:08 GMT
My eyes tire too,moreso than they did before my posting days I've noticed. Not quite enough to merit reading glasses but, teeter tottering. I also have terrible night vision,terrible, and no corrective lenses for it so the optician tells me. I take a Bilberry herbal supplement for it and it really does seem to help.It was used in WWII by RAF pilots during the Blitz. Well, our meteorologists are saying,and have teased us before with this,but,say this is the last of our cold,and a warming trend will continue. Fine by me,just in time to get out and start prancing the streets for Carnival.  I have heard that the UV lights for SAD syndrome do work on some people. I'm not quite that desperate to try and create an artificial UV atmosphere,and they are quite pricey if I recall correctly. |
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Post by lagatta on Feb 13, 2011 0:47:02 GMT
casimira, you are certainly my age (50s) and I suspect you would do better with very mild reading glasses. I only need the lowest correction too, and can do with pharmacy ones, though I should go in and get my eyes checked for other possible problems.
Very interesting, the history of the Bilberry herbal supplement. Must contain a lot of vitamin A and other micronutrients.
A friend of mine has the UV lights, though I hate blinding artificial lights so I'll just try to get as much natural daylight as possible.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2011 17:09:23 GMT
No matter how hard I try from year to year to adjust to the early darkness I always fall into a funk. Being an early a.m. person I can appreciate the early sunrise,but,come 5p.m. and it's already dark,I have so much difficulty with it psychically. I hate it.  |
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 7, 2011 17:17:42 GMT
It's pretty dark here by about 3.30pm now.
I'm also an early am person. Always have been since I had to get up at 5.45am as a teenager to do a paper round.
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Post by spindrift on Dec 7, 2011 21:56:32 GMT
I have not adjusted very well to the light fading early in the afternoon. Add the cold to this and I'm hardly able to function. I abandon any attempt at housework if I have not done it by lunch time.
There is, indeed, a perceptible chill in the air although I have had my heating on most of the day.
Of course my large Victorian windows (original & not double glazed) do not help matters. I tend to go to bed early taking my laptop with me.
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Post by Kimby on Dec 8, 2011 0:14:08 GMT
Cheer up everyone. Only a couple more weeks till the Solstice and then you can see the days getting longer day by day.
This time of year is hard also because of the holidays, which are supposed to be cheerful. So when you're feeling like a grinch anyway, it only makes it worse that everyone else is (pretending to be) happy!
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Post by rikita on Dec 8, 2011 21:00:41 GMT
oh yes i am so much looking forward to the solstice, and then each day checking online how the sun sets maybe a minute later the next day...
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2011 8:16:16 GMT
I suppose that living in the "City of Light" is what gives dark winters no hold over me. This city is beautiful after dark.
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Post by mich64 on Dec 9, 2011 18:08:04 GMT
I believe Kerouac has indeed found a cure. Cheers, Mich |
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Post by lagatta on Dec 11, 2011 14:51:38 GMT
Kerouac, you have a point. I've always enjoyed Christmastime- New Year's in Paris; somehow it isn't depressing and I'm heartened to hear that such also applies to someone who lives and works there. Even when I'm in Paris for something work or study related, it is sort of a half-holiday just to be out and about afterwards, and to see old friends. And except for some of the stuff you show on Les Champs, most of the decorations are not garish, but in fairly good taste. While we don't have the really wanton excess one finds in certain other corners of North America which shall remain nameless, there are examples of something truly horrible and tacky - those inflatable Santas, polar bears etc taking up all of a tiny Montréal front garden.
spindrift, I guess that since your house is listed, you have to keep the original windows? I shudder at single glazing in England. Where I stayed in Amsterdam before the institute moved, they had single glazing, not very well kept up either, as the building was being sold and the new owners were just going to keep the shell. Utterly frigid with the damp cold. (New place has modern double-glazed windows).
I have a really hard time with the early sunset and feel an utter lack of energy in the evening. I'm also an early riser and always have been, but am getting up in the dark these days. I spent six days working at a conference at a city-centre hotel, and the conference room I was working in was actually in the basement, so I was in the dark or artificial lighting all the time, though I did make sure to go out for a good walk at lunchtime (I only ate a small sandwich and salad; a heavy meal puts me to sleep while working like that).
It has been fairly warm by our standards and when there aren't any traces of ice on the roads, and I have time, I do get out for a bit of a spin on the bicycle around lunchtime, and run a few errands.
kimby, normally I loathe Christmastime, but I've been managing to pretty much ignore it. I did walk out of a shop where I was looking for a top, because of the loud, obnoxious Christmas music, but there isn't too much of it in my neighbourhood.
Why does everything have a bit of spandex now? I was looking for a 100% cotton top, no 2% spandex or whatever they put in it. Grrr.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2011 10:35:43 GMT
I guess I have to just do what Kimby suggests and start patiently waiting for the Solstice to arrive and counting the days as they get longer.
The arrival of the holidays only compounds my blues. The increased amount of traffic with people out shopping,the blaring music...it's all too much for me.
Yesterday,while on a morning bike ride through Audubon Park I encountered Christmas music being blared through a speaker system quite close to one of my favorite rest spots. F me!!
Even at home,the nearby church has holiday music coming from the bell tower. I love the ringing of the Angelus,but,followed up by taped Christmas carols and hymns seems a bit much.
If I have to drive somewhere in the evening the traffic is awful because of people "rubber necking" to see the Christmas light displays in front of the mansions on St. Charles Ave.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 12, 2011 16:11:04 GMT
Today it is sunny and well above the freezing point - wanted to make sure any lingering black ice melted, and of course checked my e-mail to see whether I have any urgent work to get done. Heading out soon on my bicycle soon to run errands (will I ever find a long-sleeved 100% cotton top, moderate v or scoop neck, ideally in a very fine rib-knit?)
Casimira, how tacky of the church - if they could assemble an outdoor choir that would be another matter all together. It really wants me to stay in and not shop, even for the things I need.
I may treat myself to an espresso at a nearby café...
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Post by spindrift on Dec 12, 2011 19:44:28 GMT
My small wood-burner is the saving grace in my house. I shall stock up on fire-lighters, kindling and logs before the holiday starts. Over here there is minimal re-stocking for two weeks during the Christmas season. Everything seems better if there is a fire burning in the grate.
Lagatte I actually do not know whether my windows could be replaced. My house is not 'listed' but I don't think I could bear to change to double-glazing. I'll have to put up with what I have. When I moved into my house some ten years ago I did have Victorian window 'experts' who took each window out, re-strung and balanced them all and replaced any cracked panes, so they don't rattle any more.
This afternoon I spent several hours in a garage whilst I had new tyres fitted and aligned... I noticed that I was far colder than if I had been up at high altitude in the mountains.
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