After the bright Christmas season winter looms long and dark here in Maine. I have learned ways to make the months pleasant. I find myself visiting my favorite local green house often, breathing in the warm, oddly tropical air and the scent of dirt and growing things; basking in the warmth from the sun and the wood-fired heater. A trip there sends my brain tripping along to gardening dreams, and reminds me that spring is coming.
I also bring flowers in the house. They are a splurge that borders on a soul necessity for me. An orchid delights on the table in the front room, paper white narcissus are blooming in an antique tureen on the kitchen table, and tulips glow under the oil painting of my daughter as a toddler. I pour over gardening catalogs, plotting what we will try to grow when the ground thaws, and study the hatchery web pages, gleefully choosing what variety of baby chicks to order for April delivery.
Meanwhile I cook hearty winter foods like beef stew and creamy soups, enjoy the dancing flames in the glass fronted wood stove,and indulge in projects around the house. Sometimes I get into the winter groove so deeply I grow a bit nostalgic when the first signs of spring show up in bird song and bud swells. But I get over that!
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