It's time to read and vote for your favorite article in the 2013 Write-Off Contest! The four finalist's articles are featured in the May 13 newsletter and can be found through this link. Hurry! Voting ends May 18.
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Thank you for such an inspiring an beautiful story as I fight the winter blues myself this time of year. This year especially with the loss of my precious father who passed away suddenly 9 months ago.
Made me laugh out loud, because I also have a vast reservoir of fabric stashed, and a pair of daughters, and organizational issues...can we talk about the bushel basket of photographs that I MUST do something with? (Latest plan:big collage frame for the Kodak moments of my life, grab-bag of the rest, to be discarded after the girls pick through them. I used to make albums, and then I realized that no one ever, ever looks at old family movies or albums.)
However my winter blues are a lot shorter than yours, because I live in central Texas, where we are six weeks from spring and ten weeks from the onset of our hellish summer. I think I suffer more from ohGodwillthis summer-ever-end.
So today is the appointed day to by golly plant some seeds in little compartmentalized memorial gardens...if I can find any left from when the giant yellow rodents (we have yellow labrador mixed breeds that are working hard at chewing the house down from the garage inward) discovered the seed packets in my gardening drag-wagon. It's best not to linger on the thought that IF the seeds sprout, and IF I get them successfully planted, the yellow rodents will almost certainly dig them up in a flurry of crazed dog-hollow making. Sigh. Enjoy your moderate summer, and cast a sympathetic thought our way.
Prairielaura, I differ with you in the fact that if you HAD lost a LOved one the way I lost my father you would have very different thoughts on old pictures, homemade movies and precious memories left behind, because that is ALL YOU HAVE.
I'm glad I was able to touch you all and cheer you a bit.
If prairielaura and I are on the same page, I think perhaps the photos etc. that she's planning on disposing of come under the heading of "why did I take this picture of total strangers?" and "oh, my heavens, my high school senior trip!" All of the total strangers (and a few people that I wish had been total strangers) ended up in the trash, along with my senior trip. We weren't what you'd call a close class - one reunion in 35 years, and it was one too many!
Anyway, I truly am sorry to hear of your losses backspace and Sharron.
Thanks, Kathleen, and I did truly love your article. It took me years but finally I was able to toss my mother's college scrapbook with its photos and momentos that I did not recognize. The only thing I kept was a Hershey's chocolate wrapper...it was huge and had a 5cent price on it. I had to keep that one. And of course I kept pictures of my mother.
Well after a couple of weeks of northern NY like winter. My hat is off to you. This twas totally terrible.I want my sweet Arkansas winter back.
I fight depression all year long but this time of year is worst. I continually look for signs of green.
Also have the tons of fabrics i can't bare to part with.Along with lace,yarn,ribbons and buttons.
Have a great Gardening year everyone
Vickie
Enjoyed your writing very much. Can I dare say that I am a little jealous. I live in Hawaii which is warm and blue skied much of the time...even in winter. It can get tedious and we never get a break from weeding and trimming the quickly growing vegetation. I would love to hunker down for a cold white winter...well for a few days anyway. :o)
I just read your article and really enjoyed it. I just noticed that it was written in 2008 when I started to post here. Was that really two years ago?? Time really does fly--even when you have had a loved one to "go Home". My own beloved DH passed away on Nov. 12, 2008. Having my flowerbeds, which he helped to establish, has made it easier for me. Even when it is cold, I can walk outside and look around and see my DH's handiwork. He enjoyed working in the flowerbeds -- deadheading the roses was actually a favorite job of his.
Like Vickie(see her post above), I live in Arkansas and our winters are usually short-lived. However, this season we have had a much colder winter than we normally do which made your article especially appealing at this point in time. I have "been there and done that" as regards almost everything you mentioned, especially with the fabric. Fortunately, over the past few years I have more-or-less conquered my pack rat tendencies and have been able to get rid of most of the accumulated "junk" in my house. "One man's or woman's junk is, indeed, another person's treasure." It is a big relief, believe me, to know that I actually have extra room in my closets!
As far as keeping all those old family photographs is concerned, may I suggest something that has worked wonderfully for me? I have been going through my photo albums from years past. I have scanned the photos which are especially meaningful and I now have them safely stored in a Picasa web album. Even if my computer were to crash, I will still have access to these photos on the web. Also, rather than flipping through an old photo album, I can view the enlarged photos in a slideshow on my computer any time I like. I have given many of the older family photos of my DH's parents, grandparents and great-grandparents to his family members. Yet I still have them on my web album and can enjoy seeing them anytime I please. Many other old photographs which really have no meaning to anyone have seen the bottom of the wastebasket. LOL
Anyway, thanks again for your article. It is still relevant today and will be, I rather imagine, as long as there is winter. :o))
Cando and Marsue, we've been thinking of all of you who aren't used to this weather - We laugh a bit the first few days, but when it goes on like it has (and the poor farmers in Florida!) we feel bad for you. It is hard enough when you know it's coming and are prepared. When it just pops up now and then, it can really be awful - like when we get a hot summer (hot: anything over 80). I'm glad you enjoyed reading my 'old' article!
Stellamarina, what can I say? I hate to admit it, but I think I'd be lost without the seasons, even winter, although having one that's a bit less intense might be nice!
I'm so sorry for your loss, Backspace. I can only imagine how you must feel, thinking of losing my parents very often.
For Seasonal Adjustment Disorder (SAD), there are "light boxes" available. I think we got ours from a "junk" catalog??? The bulbs are "like the sun" and, sitting under one for a few minutes a day helps one overcome SAD. Yes, it's a "real" psychiatric diagnosis!?!?! My daughter has it.
We have what the children of friends call a 'happy light'. From what I've read, it's not necessarily the color of the light, but the intensity. And Vitamin D.
