Cold! I have to admit that for the first time since moving to Mist Cottage, winter feels relentless. I think this is contextual, two years of isolation, an ongoing undiagnosed health issue, and watching helplessly as a country is violently invaded (the Ukraine by Russia), the dipping temperature seems a mere harmless manifestation of the chaos around us, but one we can safely become emotional about. And so I am emotional about the cold weather, heartily tired of it.
And of course, by this afternoon the thermometer will rise 18C to a relatively warm -1C. My emotional outlet will be no more. Then I will have to be cautious about where these emotions wander off to, and will attempt to find a healthy outlet for them. Attila says that everyone where he works seems grouchy, on edge, so it seems I am not the only person in the area needing to seek balance.
Today the container issue in the kitchen will be tackled. Containers are highly valued here. Plastic milk bags, frozen vegetable bags, fresh fruit and vegetable bags, margarine and sour cream tubs, and all manner of glass jars, are washed, dried, and stored away for future use. These item accumulate from November until June. In June the garden harvest slowly gathers steam into the summer and fall, and the majority of those containers are filled for the freezer, or with dehydrated foods, for next winter’s food supply. Come next November the cycle will begin again.
This process involves storing containers as they are emptied and cleaned. A mesh bag is kept hanging at the top of the basement stairs where the empty containers are placed. When the mesh bag is full, it is transported to the basement, where the containers are sorted and stored in totes until needed again. The mesh bag is currently bulging, and in need of attention. This is one of those jobs that is ignored until a juggling act is required to accomplish an addition. This morning, as a plastic container bounced down the basement stairs, it became apparent that it was time.
Worldly
Weather
Updated on Fri, Mar 4, 7:15
-19 °C
FEELS LIKE -23
Partly cloudy
Wind 5 NE km/h
Humidity 71 %
Visibility 28 km
Sunrise 6:40 AM
Wind gust 7 km/h
Pressure 103.2 kPa
Ceiling 10000 m
Sunset 5:59 PM
Quote
“I’m a bit of an abstract figure that people can project their fantasies on; it’s pretty much what we all are, otherwise we wouldn’t be stars, and people wouldn’t be interested. But people project things on you that have nothing to do with what you really are, or they see a little something and then exaggerate it. And you can’t really control that.”
Salma Hayek
1966 –
I hope your weather improves there soon. (You don’t want to know that it’s in the 70s here and our front door is open.) Maybe some pleasant music streaming would help? We love a classical musical station out of Portland.
Hi Maggie,
Sorry that you are feeling down. Hoping that things improve so emotions can improve. Maybe you can find some little pleasures to at least momentarily divert yourself from all the negatives things happening. I know during the dark, cold months of winter flowers help brighten my mood. Maybe you can mail order some bulbs that you can force. Write poetry and share it…this is a sneaky idea since I enjoyed reading your poetry. 🙂 Read a funny book. Reading, music and my two cats keep me sane. Hope you feel better soon, Maggie.
Love,
Eileen
Joan, here it is two days later and the temperature is just above freezing… seems tropical!! 🙂 Wow, in the 70s, it sounds heavenly, and the open front door, it is coming here too, I know it is. I tried the Portland classical station online, and it plays for less than a minute, then stops. I think it is a memory issue on my computer, I really must clean up my harddrive! Thanks for the tip!
Hello Eileen.
Thanks for your kind thoughts, and such good suggestions! I love flowers in the winter months, with not going into shops it hadn’t occurred to me, I’ll have to look and see what I can find online! Reading a good book is very uplifting. I’ve just updated my library borrowing software and downloaded a book, Cloud Cuckoo Land. Not really light reading, but very engaging, and so well written. Ah, cats! Love them. Every so often I look at the local shelters, but the hoops to jump through discourage me, and I back away. Attila isn’t keen to have a cat. He loves them too, gets very attached to them.
Love Maggie
Hi, Maggie! Well, we’re mostly moved into the new house. Just a few things left at the cottage. I’m so glad we down-sized going from the house to the cottage. Made things so much easier.
Happily, though the new house is smaller than the cottage, it has a larger living/dining room. The new place only has 2 bedrooms and the cottage had 3, but the square footage is probably similar.
We had our first fire in the new gas fireplace, today. This is one of the few things that we splurged on, with the new place. I love fireplaces and fires. And we’re thrilled with actually having drinkable tap water, again. Clean, treated municipal water is an amazing change from pumped well water that has almost no pressure. Especially when showering.
We made it up to 5C, today. We may actually make 10 or so tomorrow but the winds are supposed to be fierce, with possible gusts up to 90kph.
Hello Teri! Congratulations on your move! Your new place sounds lovely, so nice to enjoy the fireplace. I hear you about the tap water, we love being on municipal services. I understand about poorly functioning utilities. I am still in love with our thermostat, a miraculous device, after heating with wood. The same kind of weather here, high of around 5C, tomorrow reaching 10C or warmer, and high winds. I still hope to sit on the back porch tomorrow, despite the rain and the wind, it will depend on which way the wind blows.