I've got a confession to make. A big one. January, you're bringing me down.
I'd say lets call it quits, kaput, finis, I'm out of here.
But to where?
And what's the point. You would still be here when I get back, if I left.
Remember when I was quoting my neighbor's wonderfully optimistic version of winter.
Well…and here he always pauses,"you've got November, that's almost done, and then you have December, which is Christmas, and then you have only January to get through, because by February you are looking forward to spring…so that's winter."
My neighbor is a retired farmer, and he's lived here forever, so he does know what he is talking about…
When I wrote that post, I really truly believed him. And I think that he believed it too.
But for some reason I think this year is throwing us for a loop.
You know those mornings when you wake up, stumble out of bed, and open the curtains to let the light in?
In some far recess of your mind you realize it's cold in the room, and not that bright outside, but you just ignore that.
Until, you realize that it's not summer.
And there is a couple of feet of snow outside still. Maybe it's slightly less now, with the warming up a bit, but still, it's a lot of snow.
If you have ever seen a pile of snow in a parking lot slowly melting away in April…you will realize that it's not going anywhere fast.
And that when it finally does go, it will go at it's own pace.
And that might not be fast enough for me, or my neighbor.
My gardens are buried, all that hard work of digging, spreading, building, raking, and planting is for naught…there are nothing but billowing mounds of snow left.
I'm a gardener, through and through, in my heart, and in my head. And now…I've got snow gardens.
January, all your fault.
Your fault.
And your friend February, isn't any better…I think that the two of you are in cahoots.
Certainly!
So January Joy…I'm having a hard time finding you, and I know that I was all happy, and confident that I could make it through the entire month just happily sipping hot chocolate, and clicking away at snowballs…but I was wrong.
In fact there are days when I am thinking what was I talking about? January is a bitter, annoyed, mean kind of month.
And if I have to take one more photos of a snow bank…well I, I… I will throw my camera into it! Of course I wouldn't do that… I had to dig deep for a while, look inside, figure out a strategy to make this work. A way of getting through it… Winter isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.
How do you get through it? I'm shooting vignettes, playing with my collection of pretties. Old tarnished silver spoons, antique glass, books, postcards, birds nests. Anything that inspires and nurtures my creativity. I'm playing on Instagram, the community, and quality of images there is awesome and inspiring. January I will not let you get me down. Life is too short, I'm eating the only for company cookies! And I am taking photos, even if you give me dark days. What are your tricks for getting through these dark and dank months.do you go outside, do you shelter inside? Redecorate, redo, plan your garden, delve into those colorful gardening catalogues, lose yourself in a good book? Watch a movie? Oh popcorn…hot buttered, caramel popcorn…yes my mind wanders, sorry about that. Must have been the hot chocolate, and the only for company cookies. January Joy you are mine!
Contains: 100% Canadian content. Original images by Jane Vandervoort
