I have hit the February Slump. I have become a Grumbling Slug, succumbing to over-use of electricity and over-consumption of fat. This very day all that has to stop!!!
I took a funeral years and years ago for a woman whose family, so her next of kin told me, spent their summers in England but over-wintered in Italy in the sun.
One of the best ideas I ever heard.
I have had a number of vague dreams along the lines of “If I could do everything differently . . .”
In one of these scenarios I live in a trailer under a huge tree, in a woodland holiday trailer park. The capital outlay on housing is tiny, there are site fees but no council tax; and the requirement (as it’s a holiday home) of living in it only ten months of the year, moving out for January and February, obliges me to also keep a time-share apartment in the hottest most exotic holiday destination I can find – palm trees, silver sand, azure skies, glorious seas . . . I can see it all . . .
Meanwhile, deep in the English drear it is almost morning. Sitting in bed in my flannel pyjamas and vest (English vest – underwear – not a waistcoat!) with a fur as well as a fleece blanket on top of the very warm down quilt Mama gave us in the nick of time this cold winter, blowing my nose (or should I say "blowig by dose"), I have opened this card that has been waiting. Here it is on the nightstand by our bed in the still-dark morning, in front of the Gruffalo calendar that lets you know just how childish I am.
The Badger left it on our bed when he went back to Oxford yesterday.
Must be a honey-badger.
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I got this to improve myself. Along with some inspirational CDs that I could play while I fell asleep, so I would go on improving long into the night. I thought they hadn’t worked as I seem to be just as selfish and crabby as ever, but maybe the CDs had a subtle influence, subliminally causing me to be altruistically generous and that’s what made me give this away.
17 comments:
"...obliges me to also keep a time-share apartment in the hottest most exotic holiday destination I can find..."
Love it! :-)
I have been determined to beat the February slump this year by following the Waldorf tradition of celebrating absolutely everything, preferably with candles. And, in that spirit (something I never usually say, believe me): Happy Valentine's Day! Beautiful Roses and Conscious Chocolates (Google them) to you!
Good Morning Ember!
You have a Gruffalo calendar...oh that is my favorite story :) My middle son gave me the dvd for Christmas and I just enjoy everything about it!
Don't worry so much about the crabbiness you are experiencing, I have gone through them ( lol!), I believe is the anticipation of Spring that is filling our minds and hearts of late.
Peace be with you this day my friend,
m.
It is -16 with a wind chill of -30 here. I can't complain because we have had a very mild winter so far and by this afternoon it will be up to -3. I am wearing my silk long johns today though. They help a lot. We have electricity, which is more than our many of our neighbors on the Magdalen Islands have, and even though the house is cold we can be comfortable without too much effort. I shudder to think what we would be going through to try to keep a small portion of the house at a livable temperature if we had no electricity, having done it before. The people on the Magdalen Islands could be without electricity for weeks.
Hello friends! :0)
I Googled those Conscious Chocolates, Donna! "Organic raw handmade chocolate delivered straight to your door," eh? Hmmm . . .
Hi Maria! Yes, we saw "The Gruffalo's Child on the television this Christmas, and I loved it - haven't yet seen The Gruffalo, but we have both books :0)
Yikes, Slippyroad - 16!!! Brrr!!! Keep a hot water bottle with you at all times! But you'll be pleased to know that the tourist website for the Magdalen Islands says "Winter in the Îles de la Madeleine is the ideal time to discover the fine art of living."
I've always rather liked February. Just at the time of year when you're feeling the cold and pinching the pennies, along comes short February, where payday rolls around that much quicker and, before you know it, it's March and Spring is coming!
It's January that I find hard. Long, cold, dull and often financially difficult. But that's over now. Hooray!
:0) And it began to feel like Spring today, I thought! x
I just ran into this and thought of this discussion.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2012/01/30/146080892/winter-doldrums-got-you-down-have-some-hygge
Well, how interesting! I wonder if that's where our word "hug" originates?
I have found it is impossible to be crabby whilst listening to Taize on YouTube :-D
:0)
Oh ...and any day that Amazon tell me they *may* deliver The Hour Before Dawn by 5 March is a good and happy day in my book :-D
A quick line to say I am still reading ~ just not a lot of internet time at present. I particularly love the cricket choir & get a buzz every time I see someone else has found it & loves it too!
The day it arrives I shall be unavailable to all :-D
:0)
Hi Ganeida! Waving! x
Hygge sounds similar to gezellig.
Well, I thought so too, only without the holiness element. I wondered if the origin of gesaelig was gesael-hygge - ie hygge with some sael thrown in.
I don't think so, because 'ig' is just what you find in Germanic languages instead of 'y' at the end of adjectives (eg lovely would be lovelig). It used to be used in Old English (and possibly Middle English?) and there are still place names in the north that reflect it. We've had that influence from the Germanic tribes who settled here and from the Vikings.
Then again, it's always possible that this is an exception!
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