The Season of Nothing

Anika was looking out the window yesterday at the rather dreary view, and said, “There’s nothing on the trees, and nothing falling from the sky, and nothing pretty. It’s the Season of Nothing.”

I agree with her. I love every season, except late fall.

Early fall is fantastic. I feel light and joyous in early fall. But late fall does me in each year.

Especially last year. Last fall, I crashed – physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally, I ran into a brick wall, and there I stuck.

Time-change happened, and it was as though someone flicked the switch off in my life, and everything went dark. It sucked, and then I wrote this post about it.

There were a number of reasons for it – the isolation of being at camp in winter, the lack of sunshine in the dark little house we were living in at that time, Ben being gone on a 10-day missions trip right during my weakest stretch, the stress of trying to decide if we were going to leave camp.

Oh, what a dark, horrible time. I look at that list, and I still almost want to just curl up in the fetal position.

It was not a good fall for me.

But someone in their sheer brilliance once decided that Christmas should be in December, right after the Season of Nothing, and thus I was saved.

My parents showed further wisdom when they said, “Come stay with us in sunny Florida for three weeks while Ben is gone on another missions trip in January.”

After those three weeks of Florida sunshine, and a happy reunion with Ben, I was ready to handle life again. Spring was on the way.

And it certainly didn’t hurt to be planning our new home – I was dreaming a light, bright, open, airy dream, and before I knew it, spring arrived.

In spring and summer, it’s hard to believe a lack of sunshine could make me so crazy. And it’s a breeze for me to get through early fall, in all its brightness of orange and yellow leaves.

But when that nasty wind blew all the leaves off the trees a week ago, and ushered in “Ugly Fall”, I could feel myself slipping. November is coming!

I felt fear coming right along with November’s approach. I also felt dread – I was scared to go back to that place!

So the other day, I decided I just wouldn’t go back there. I will not let this fall be dark.

This is not last year. New year, new approach.

I am telling you now that November will not get me down without a very big fight this year.

Fortunately, there are a whole bunch of things which can be done to help with the winter blues. Last winter, I discovered a few things which were very helpful for me:

1. Using a happy light. We bought a blue light from Costco last fall, but I’ll have to do more research on it, as I’ve since heard that blue lights can do damage to the eyes, and it’s best to use a fluorescent happy light.

2. Getting outside. Every single day, no matter what the weather.

3. Being with people. Fortunately, living in Niverville will make this winter a lot more social for me. It’s hard to get used to the busy schedule we have in comparison to the pace we lived at camp, but I think it will really help me to get over my November slump.

4. Lots of lights and color.The Christmas decorations are going up early this year! Ben doesn’t like early Christmas decorations, but he actually brought up the topic of outdoor Christmas lights on his own the other day. I think he’s desperate to do anything that will help me cheer up for the month of November, and avoid a repeat of last year!

I need something to anticipate. I need something bright, warm, and exciting.

I think I’ll go candle shopping….

Much to my delight, one of my favorite health blogs posted a wonderful list of ways to deal with winter blues, so I will be trying a number of new ideas this winter, as well. I’ll let you know which ones work well! Except for #6 on the list. If #6 works well, you won’t be hearing about it from me. We don’t talk about stuff like that on this blog.

And now I’ll go paint some leaves with my girls, or buy more pumpkins, or find some way of getting some color and excitement into this gray, rainy day.

Any good ideas out there for getting through the Season of Nothing?

Slow Down For Spring

Happy First Day of Spring!

I’m kinda glad it’s “official”, aren’t you?! Anika sincerely believes that the weather (and life in general, really) will be dramatically different, now that the calendar says it’s spring.

We’re celebrating.

We went for the first stroller ride of the season.

We played on the play structure, and Kaylia ran through a snow drift in her flip flops.

And we ended up at the lake.

We decided to truly celebrate spring by practicing the fine art of jumping pictures.

And I’ve been thinking about soaking it all in. Oh, that smell in the air. It smells like spring, and evergreen trees. The sun is so warm, and Kaylia’s toes are so bare. These days, it’s good just to be alive.

I am so, so thankful that my “job” involves teaching my girlies to love spring. We play in the sun, and I try to teach them to notice. To slow down, and notice the little things, like the smell and the way something feels, and all the little things that are so easy to take for granted.

I loved this post about learning to slow down to notice, and to fully live:

“The frogs have returned, the frogs and their song.

 Why does the trilling in the throat of a frog do this wondrous thing inside of me?….

That sound. 

A symphony of sound, trilling low and deep, fills the spaces between the trees, lifts us too.

It is like the water, a looking glass of trunks and limbs, like the water itself croons.

With the everyday eyes, I can’t see the singers at all. It takes time for eyes to adjust to stillness, and only the slow really see….”

I want to have eyes that adjust to stillness. I want to truly see spring with all of its wonder and beauty.

It’s time to go slow, and leave behind “everyday eyes”!

Spring = Happy

What?? What is going on outside?!

Just like that, the snow is gone, and fake spring is upon us. I don’t believe for a second that this weather is going to last, but I will enjoy it while it’s here.

It is the kind of weather that makes you pull out bright rubber boots.

It makes you run for your dolls…

and go play house in the bush.

It makes you look up, up, up, as you breathe in that fresh spring air.

It makes you splash in puddles (because you are never too old to splash in puddles.)

And it makes you wander home reluctantly, because going inside seems like such a shame….

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Know what else is a shame? My camera. It’s smoking. For real. If we use the flash, a puff of smoke shoots out the top. What is up with that? Ben is hoping it will explode in his hands. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen, seeing as I am the one using the camera about 90% of the time, so it would be my hands that would get exploded on.

Part of me is sad. Broken camera = sad.

But…that means we have to buy a new one! Shall I follow my frugal self and my practical husband, and buy another little point-and-shoot? Or shall I follow my dreams and the encouragement of my husband (despite his practical side), and put all of my Christmas and birthday money into a fancy shmancy camera that would give me lots to play around with?

Any camera opinions out there?

Oh Weekend, How I Love You

Weekends are wonderful, yes?

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The weather was unbelievable, and it was so, so good to have Ben home for a day off. These days, most of his days off are spent going into the city to prepare for our big move, or he doesn’t take days off at all, to bank them up for the future when we know we’ll have to be gone from camp.

But Sunday was just a wonderful, relaxing, stay-at-home-all-day kind of a day.

There were pancakes in the morning.

(Kaylia wouldn’t show her face for the picture, so I got her under the table instead!)

There was a picnic in the living room.

There was reveling in the spring weather…

…and one last sled ride in the disappearing snow.

It was pretty much perfect.

On top of all that relaxing, Ben even had time for loading up all eight boxes of stuff I’ve purged in the last few weeks, to ship off to MCC. Yesss!

So pretty much, purging is the theme of my life, and you’ll probably be hearing a lot more about that this week. My new passion…

I’m working on a list of all my most practical purging tips and tricks, in case you’re wondering. In the meantime, I hope you had a most fabulous weekend.

Beautiful Spring

Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world.  ~Virgil A. Kraft

I Love Spring

“Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!'” -Robin Williams

I really, really love spring. I love the smell in the air, I love the mud, I love the puddles.

Although I grew up on a farm, it would be a fairly inaccurate description to call me a “farm girl” at heart. My sisters were out on the tractors and combines, but I just wasn’t into that.

But I still loved growing up on the farm. I loved being outside, and living in the country. Whatever “farmish-ness” was not passed on to me from my dad, he definitely made up for in teaching me how to appreciate nature.

I feel like spring is the season that brings out all things natural in me. It makes me feel like those years spent growing up on the farm are not very long ago. We would explore every puddle, flood every boot, dirty every article of clothing.

And my favorite part? I don’t remember my mom ever saying one negative word about it. She kept a very clean house, but I never felt like getting dirty was looked down on. And my dad downright encouraged it.

I want my girls to experience spring in that environment. It is time to party. It’s time to get dirty. Oh, the sights, the sounds, the smells! Everything is new and fresh and exciting!

Have fun getting dirty!

Beautiful, Wonderful, Fake Spring

I think everybody in Manitoba is kind of giddy about the weather right now. And it really feels like spring. But we all know it’s not. There’s no way this is going to last until April.

But that does not keep me from feeling extremely happy about dripping water, warm sunshine, and just that “spring feeling” in the air.

Ben came in from work for a few minutes yesterday afternoon so that I could get outside and take a break from taking care of our sick little girl (who seems to be doing much better this morning). It was AMAZING to get out of the house, and enjoy the beautiful afternoon.

It doesn’t really bother me that it’s not here to last, because we know that the real thing is just around the corner!