Is anyone else beaten by the dark and the cold

Ditto -
Tell me about it!
Those long evenings meeting parents after a full day teaching. Trying politely to explain that Shuggie/Cudge/Jade/Elvis/Klara/Beks/Lindy/ Laraztheme/Lora-An (sic) is a lazy, spoiled anti-social, manipulative bullying brat with an ego in inverse proportion to ability.

But there were those few absolute gems who almost made up for it!

[ 12. December 2006, 11:27 PM: Message edited by: Dave W ]

 

I seldom feel like doing house work, although they obviously have to be done. But I seem to relegate them in the gaps in between doing my favourite things: resting, handworks (I can go on with those for hours ), reading, browsing on ebay, online shopping for food, planning what to cook, planning my next journey to Italy and more recently, making cakes...
I can hardly call myself the ideal housewife, I am afraid !

 

Hmm well I spent last winter off work and missed it - I got fed up. Yes there are some jobs to do but not a lot when its wet and cold. Heart disease is a bummer but it made me realise what I had been taking for granted. It wasn't teaching I was fed up with but all the poo ( hey we have automatic censoring here ) that you shouldn't have to put up with. Went back and threw myself in so much that I wore myself down and went down with a virus infection - got another ticking off from the doc for that.
While I hate the wet and cold I would not do without winter. I love the changing seasons. After Christmas my hellebores should be germinating and the shoots are already up on the snowdrops and crocuses. You get shoots and flowers that are so different from what you get in summer. I have tried to collect some scented winter flowers and the fragrance wafts so delicately on cold still winter air...and I like those nice crisp winter days with a clear sky, but not too cold, not like the poor Americans get. I can imagine the appeal of a Mediterranean winter, but not their summer. I would miss not having a British winter and they seem to be getting shorter - I thought last winter was a bit long. Quite often things are really moving normally in February and I love our long British springs.
Just think.....not long to December 21st and then the days start getting longer - Whoopee!!!!

 

Not been out since the weekend before last, Dug compost into all my beds & pulled a muscle in my back so done nothing since...

 

It doesn't bother me I take it as it comes was out 2 days on the run in torrential rain just put my wellies and my wet suit on and get on with it I am in the process of putting up a 20x10ft polytunnel at present so too much to do to let the weather or light put me off,how do they go on in Norway when its dark for months on end?

 

I have no idea if this would work for you, but when I get home, well after dark, I have been bundling up, putting on a headlamp, and getting myself out into my garden.

The conditions are hardly optimal since it's also been raining a fair bit, but there is also a lovely feeling of solitude that I don't get from being in my garden during the day. And as long as you're dressed for it, there is nothing on earth as magical as being out in the rain.

 

:D :D :D
I hope you don't frighten the neighbours!

 

Wow. I think I have been put to shame ha ha.
I never thought of putting a light down the garden. Can imagine what the neighbours would say if they say me digging by lamp. They'd want to know what I was burying.

When we first moved here it was just totally grass and so I just had to dig a small border straight away to get some colour in.

The man next door came out and then his mobile rang. I could hear what he was saying (but didn't tell him that ha ha). It was his wife asking what I was doing and he was giving her a blow by blow account of my digging on the other side of the fence. Eeh bah gum some folk eh!

 

I find that I have to have a plan and try to stick to it, even if I go into the garden for an hour or so and do something worthwhile I feel that the day hasn't been wasted. Wrap up warm and get out there, I too have been known to garden in the rain, niehbours probably think I'm mad but who knows they are might be right!!

Although I don't garden in the dark like SacredLion I do like to gaze into the garden from the open kitchen door, we have a light which lights the garden up, preferably with a glass of wine.

To have a structured plan seems to work for me and to achieve at least one thing during those dark days.

:D

 

I don't do any gardenining in the wet because my soil is waterlogged clay. If I stand on it I shall ruin it. I too, hate the miserable dark dismal days, but my cure is to go for a walk. I love walking in the rain and I love the sound of heavy rain on my waterproofs - especially when it drums on the hood. I walk with my dog by the canal or in the forest and when it rains I have the place to myself. I do appreciate though, that many women can't do that because they feel unsafe. The dreadful murders in Ipswich would scare anyone!

 

I just wish we could have some real winter with cold clear crisp starlit nights without all this infernal rain we're geting at the moment. I can still manage plenty of gardening during the daylight (when the rain doesn't bother me too much) although the ground is getting waterlogged now but I really miss being able to go out and skywatch after dark.

Possible chance of an aurora tomorrow night and the weather is a real poot!

 

Having suffered with SAD syndrone for years in the UK, I don't have that problem any more! :D :D

Frogesque ... looking forward to some more of your fantastic pictures so I'll be praying that you have some clear skies!

 

Thanks LoL but it looks like it will need more than prayers!

 

I miss getting out and getting dirty on these dark wet nights too my garden is so small that i know that i will catch up when things dry out and there is some light