Thursday, January 8, 2015

Winter Club

I have been super worried about winter this year because despite all the plotting and scheming and condo-purchasing we did, we are still looking at the long downtown commute for most, if not all of January, and maybe into February.  And naturally, after a fairly good-weather Christmas break, we are now getting more snow and supercold temperatures (plus just nonstop bad news generally because that happens sometimes and apparently this is Some Times.)


Solution: Winter Club.

Winter Club is not yarn, though yarn can be involved, of course (!)  Instead it is a strategic approach to each work week, with special attention given to the weather, and accommodations made for other hardships and any tragedies that may arise.  They tend do do that without warning, have you noticed?  At least with the weather, you usually have a heads-up for what's coming, so you can arrange a treat or a break here and there.

Bad weather = a ramping-up of Winter Club activities.

Good weather = small Winter Club activities plus cosy preps for Bad Weather.

Activities and accommodations are geared toward whatever inspires happy moments.  For example:

A date for hot chocolate
A long sit with an escapist book or movie
A special meal that heats, and scents, the whole house as it cooks
Use of a designated 'Winter Club Blanket'
A night walk in the snow which is not the result of a dead battery
A movie date, indoors or out
Exclusive Winter Club nest with comfy chair and lighting
Home baked cookies

These are coffee chocolate chip cookies... the aromatherapy alone is amazing

Basically - all ordinary stuff that you plan for, instead of just doing on impulse or as a non-event.

In Winter Club, when you step across your fifth lake of slush trying to cover three blocks from A to B and finally get a soaker, you can remind yourself that later on that same day you are going to be having a hot bath with a good book and then putting on dry socks.

Or when you tidy up around a comfy chair at home on a nice evening, instead of being bored and annoyed you can remind yourself that you are banking this tidy moment to withdraw, with interest, the next evening when you know you will be coming in cold, wet, and exhausted from shoveling out the ton of snow that's forecast for that day.


Probably the most important feature of Winter Club is this allowance for time for oneself, however possible.  Some days fill unexpectedly so that even sleep gets curtailed, and it seems like there is no room for Winter Club except in your heart.  Still: there are usually small opportunities and it is worth taking advantage of them.  Last night, for example, I tucked in a completely irresponsible break for tea and these cookies after a visit to a funeral home, only to learn a couple of hours later of another sudden death.  I am so glad I took that time for these particular cookies, which punctuated every happy moment of my childhood.  I am also really, really ready for everybody around me to start having a great year with nothing bad happening whatsoever. 

Speaking of the people around you: in theory, one could expand the Winter Club plan to include as many as you like - moving beyond your household to extended family, or office buddies, or friends in your neighbourhood.  You'd be looking out for each other then, knowing who's going to have a stressful day and having a plan to help them recover from it afterward if nothing can be done to make it a bit easier.

After all, not everybody has to be out in every storm! and not everybody will have wet boots to dry on the same day. But probably one person will have time to bake cookies.

And if not, you can always drop into Purlbee for the ahhhh of gorgeous, inspiring photos.  I know I will because Yum.


I hope your day is so great you don't even need to think about Winter Club, but if it isn't, I hope it gives you some good ideas.  Either way, I'll see you tomorrow!


ps: you can find the recipe for the cookies at the bottom of this post from my old Procrastination Diary.  enjoy :^)

2 comments:

Darlene said...

Recipe please. They sound WONDERFUL!!

Mary Keenan said...

They ARE, Darlene :^) I updated the post with a link to the recipe at the bottom. Have fun!