Winter blues.

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Mon Oct 12, 2020 11:28 am

Does anyone have any tips for coping with winter? I think Belgian winters are similar to Portland/Seattle winters in that they are wet and grey all the time with an occasional cold snap, but it also gets pretty dark up here. I have lived here for 12 years but I am still not any good at it. I come from a desert; I don't really get sentimental about cozy sweaters or drizzle. What silver lining should I look for? Do you have any practical ways of fending off the winter blues?

alexshred420 · Post by **alexshred420** » Mon Oct 12, 2020 11:59 am

I've lived in rainy places my entire life (Southern England, Portland, Anacortes, Vancouver BC) and for some reason, I guess I've just learned to enjoy the rain? When I'm in a desert I often think about how quickly I would die without access to water and that helps me appreciate the cold wetness of the PNW more, and how it helps to keep the air clean and fresh.

One thing that honestly helps me is realizing that water is life and that all of this rain leads to more life, clean water, etc. I love drinking nice water out of the tap. I also love snow, going snowboarding, snowshoeing, being in a hot tub in the snow, going for a sauna, etc. Are any of those things you can do in Belgium? Any access to a fireplace? Those can be nice on cold nights.

We also made a little gym/yoga area in our house that we can use this winter so that we can stay in shape during the long rainy times. Just a little bench and yoga mats and weights, but I feel like that's going to be super helpful especially because we're not going to be able to hang out with friends outside much.

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Mon Oct 12, 2020 12:15 pm

Seconding many of Alex’s recs. Sauna and skiing are true lifelines in the winter. I also focus on winter as a time for reading, piano playing, movies, puzzles, candles and records in the evenings and involved cooking projects.

I get very cold easily and appropriate outfits changed my life... I spent so many Portland winters freezing on my bike in tights and wet canvas shoes before I wised up and outfitted myself properly. Silk long underwear, proper boots, many top layers, rain gear. I just didn’t have the money for those things until recent years, so that comfort is prohibitive for many.

One year I bought an outlet timer and set up a big SAD lamp so that it would turn on at 6 AM. It really helped me! Getting out of bed in the dark is rough stuff.

infopetal · Post by **infopetal** » Mon Oct 12, 2020 12:18 pm

plant-based vitamin D3
aerobic exercise (ideally swimming for me, but will be trying to jog this year given difficulty of pool access during COVID-19 times)
working through prestige television you've previously missed
hot baths/heating pad

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Mon Oct 12, 2020 2:00 pm

I second baths, if you have a tub. That's a special evening activity that makes me feel really great.

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Mon Oct 12, 2020 2:13 pm

Lighting in general is so important. Have a wide assortment of lamps in different spots with the right colors and intensities of lightbulbs. I like to have some lights for illuminating my work space really brightly, others to read by, some for certain times of day, etc. Color-changing LED light bulbs with remotes are less than $10.

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 9:58 am

Thanks for these. [mention]alexshred420[/mention] I am happy to say my great (more or less) daily yoga experiment has stuck since going to back to teaching in the classroom. I am hoping that continuing the habit into the darkness will ease said darkness. It definitely helps me feel like a whole person.
[mention]marijke[/mention] I definitely have gotten better at dressing. My blundstones have taken me through FIVE falls/winters of daily wear and show no sign of letting up. I have been going over rain coating options that I want to make, including a potters apron made of rain proof material for wearing on the bike... Anyone have any more good rain-biking tips? So far I like zero of the options even though I bike to and from work every day.
[mention]infopetal[/mention] Just started taking D!! Prestige TV is a great idea. I used to do a full Twin Peaks rewatch every few winters. It has been years. Maybe it is time? Though I still haven't seen The Sopranos, Six Feet Under or Deadwood, all of which seem prime for winter viewing.
YES to baths. I didn't have a tub OR an oven for a while and it made for bleak winter nights with my chilblained feet soaking in a soup pot. NSFW: It was the cat's favorite drinking water. I have guilt about baths and water usage but it's starting to feel like a small price to pay?
[mention]RCH[/mention] I Had Not Thought of Colored Lighting is going to be a chapter in my memoir!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 11:11 am

Why are cats so weird? Mine loves to lick the wet tub after I get out of the shower.

I also second colored lighting! I love to pick my color depending on the days mood- deep blue aquarium, green forest, dim red lantern. This fall I want to pick up one of those bulbs that makes a spray of light sprinkles, kind of like a dance club light.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Wed Oct 14, 2020 8:12 am

Our cat Issey also loves to lick the bathtub clean of shower water. Sometimes after I have a wash I like to call to her, “get in there, that tub’s not gonna lick itself!”

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Wed Oct 14, 2020 10:30 am

What if it did though?

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Thu Oct 15, 2020 10:14 am

David wanted to lick ME when I came out of the shower after coconut oiling myself. She went after my coconut water sometimes. That girl loved coconut!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Thu Oct 15, 2020 11:01 am

David also loved crunchy snack foods! When I cat-sat her she would always go for an open bag of chips or granola. Crunchy lil doggy.

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Thu Oct 15, 2020 11:18 am

<3 <3 <3

Chips and crackers were her favorite foods. Tortilla chip, potato chip, goldfish cracker... she had to have that crunch, God bless her. I always figured she developed a taste for chips and fried foods in her life on the streets. (I would rinse off the salt first, loll)

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Thu Oct 15, 2020 12:55 pm

It is my experience that all cats love chips! Which is extra funny because their stupid little needle teeth are not built for crunchin’

infopetal · Post by **infopetal** » Thu Oct 15, 2020 10:18 pm

[mention]m o l l y[/mention] last winter I methodically worked through The Crown. initially started it as a way to bond with my mom over the holidays but ended up enjoying it much more than I expected having ZERO interest in British monarchy. there's one episode where Josh O'Connor sulks around Aberystwyth for an hour and it's perfect.

in keeping with the prestigious-dramatic-slash-period-mood-piece theme also recommend My Brilliant Friend, perfect to induce meaningful winter cries pining for the sunny beaches of Ischia!

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Fri Oct 16, 2020 10:51 am

Yes, I second My Brilliant Friend for winter blues banishing! Loved the books, was afraid of the show not living up to the books but the it is gorgeous. So many cobblestones and handmade shoes and languorous yet emotionally fraught days on Italian beaches.

[mention]infopetal[/mention] Have you read the new Ferrante? I'll give it a go after I get through some biographies stacked up, but I'm skeptical... not sure why.

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Fri Oct 16, 2020 12:40 pm

I'm interested in the new season of the crown, about Diana!

I've been to Aberystwyth, it's very VERY lovely and weird. Remote. I might watch the older seasons just for that moment.

infopetal · Post by **infopetal** » Fri Oct 16, 2020 1:09 pm

[mention]marijke[/mention] not yet but I hope to! I have recently been making an effort to buy fewer hardcovers since I find them unpleasant to read ([mention]yourfriendclaire[/mention] team paperback!) so I'm at the whims of finding a friend to loan it to me, the currently 21-week library e-book queue, or the paperback release. I've only read the Neapolitan Novels so have no idea what the rest of her oeuvre (heh heh) is like. have you read anything else?

also I agree on the show doing relative justice to the book after having been initially horrified to hear it was being adapted, seems like they really got the right people involved. I was so psyched to see Alice Rohrwacher directed the island episodes of the second season after having just watched Happy as Lazzaro.

alex · Post by **alex** » Tue Oct 27, 2020 12:11 am

https://www.seattletimes.com/life/outdo ... id-winter/

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Tue Oct 27, 2020 3:24 pm

It's 79 degrees in LA right now and I'm SHIVERING inside my poorly-insulated home. I had to sit on a hot water bottle during a Zoom call.

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Tue Oct 27, 2020 4:59 pm

That’s straight from LA Story, when Steve Martin says “night temperatures will dip into the 60’s, please keep your cats indoors tonight.”

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Tue Oct 27, 2020 5:33 pm

oh damn, I loved LA Story so much as a kid- does it hold up?

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Tue Oct 27, 2020 6:17 pm

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Wed Oct 28, 2020 9:34 am

[mention]infopetal[/mention] Team hardback! For longevity. I haven’t read anything else of hers, though in a classic gaffe I suggested a friend read The Days of Abandonment not long after a difficult break-up. I have an unfortunate habit of recommending good things at totally inappropriate times. I took a close friend to see Honeyland the month her mother died.

But WINTER. It’s coming. I’m sort of excited? I prepared this year with a lot of socks and silk long johns and wool things. I carry a small down blanket around the house with me. Always cold, even in summer.

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Wed Oct 28, 2020 9:37 am

In other winter news I saw nog at the store a week ago.

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Wed Oct 28, 2020 11:30 am

Oof, nog is hard. So creamy and yet so boozey...
It reminds me though that it is also the season for hot wine in a cafe, served with a speculoos cookie. If cafes ever open again.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Wed Oct 28, 2020 1:14 pm

Way to Belgium, Belgium!

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Wed Oct 28, 2020 5:29 pm

Winter number three in MI. I couldn’t spend time with someone even if I wanted to, and there’s no more David. It stays cold in my bedroom and the sun sets so early.

I’m gonna have the blues!

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 4:59 am

alex wrote: ↑Tue Oct 27, 2020 12:11 am https://www.seattletimes.com/life/outdo ... id-winter/

This seems like good no-nonsense advice. I am very good at finding excuses to stay inside and almost always feel better after forcing myself to go outside, even if it is just to walk around the block to buy a cabbage or go to the bakery. If nothing else, my house feels warmer when I get back.

My main homie, Korn, has taken up juggling. He learned how to juggle pins (clubs?) this summer and is now working on mastering 4 balls. He said it is a good way to warm up when he has a stubborn chill, if that is something that interests anyone...

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 2:23 pm

[mention]RCH[/mention] we're here for you, Bocko!

alex · Post by **alex** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 11:08 am

I am a fairly experienced juggling teacher if anyone has questions

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 11:56 am

[mention]RCH[/mention] hibernation time! Do you have squishy slippers??

I taught myself to juggle as a young person living months at a time with my grandparents in a mining town outside Yosemite. I cut a broomstick in thirds and taped empty 2 liters on the ends to make "clubs" and learned with those. When I convinced my mom to get me real juggling clubs I had to learn again cause the weight distribution was all off. Nerd! When I landed at Reed I saw a juggling club meeting and that got me off juggling. Judgy nerd!

Learning is a good way to while away indoor time. I have my 5 juggling balls that used to belong to my dad, but I've never tried to learn 5. Mostly cause I never got 4 consistently. What are the hot tips for 4 and 5 [mention]alex[/mention]?

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 12:02 pm

Omg I want to juggle now. I learned in first year mime class in high school—we had to juggle to pass our final exams—but I’ve not picked it back up.

Big slippers are good. I used to have some huge bunny ones, where’d they go?

I’m going to lean on this thread through the rest of the year. I’ve done such a good job of not losing my marbles but I’m pretty sure it’s time to lose some of them.

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Sat Oct 31, 2020 1:41 am

Lean on we!

alex · Post by **alex** » Sat Oct 31, 2020 10:16 am

[mention]marijke[/mention] OK SO. Not to pierce the illusion for any non-jugglers, but 4-ball is just two in the left and two in the right, asynchronously. For me, the trick was really working on the two in the left as its own thing, since my right hand is much more coordinated and can do it already. Then, with two-in-the-left dialed in, it was much easier to get both hands going at once. The balls do outward circles, and should stay on a "flat" plane...so they pass to the side of each other, not in front or in back (a good trick for that is to practice while standing directly in front of a wall).

Five ball has long been a nemesis of mine, ive been able to do it when i work at it, but haven't done sustained enough practice to be able to just go with it. If I were to start juggling again (its been ~15 years since I did it with any regularity) and try to learn 5 balls I would: 1) make sure my equipment is good, tennis balls are a little too big for 5 balls, so maybe would need to get real juggling balls, and 2) not just start with 5, but similar to 4-ball just really drill in on the hardest parts, which is probably again consistent throws and catches with my left hand, so basically just throw a ball from my left hand to right hand with a nice high arc like a five ball pattern would have, and do it like a billion times, and then do the same for catch. Five ball is tricky because you have to look high enough up to see where the balls are parabola-ing that you can't watch your hands to help with the catching, so you really need that consistency in the throws and ability to catch with just the slightest peripheral cues.

alex · Post by **alex** » Sat Oct 31, 2020 10:16 am

maybe "practice a lot" is not that hot of a tip

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Sat Oct 31, 2020 11:38 am

I am in awe!

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Sat Oct 31, 2020 12:34 pm

[mention]alex[/mention] I will pass this 4-ball info onto korndog. I have a feeling the flat plane bit will be especially eye-opening. I know a problem homie has is that they either fly outward too much or they hit each other in the middle.

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Sat Oct 31, 2020 1:07 pm

[mention]alex[/mention]
Yea, I know the two in each hand part and I can sort of do it, but it’s the illusion I never got down. It’s tough to get them in the same plane without crashing into one another.

alex · Post by **alex** » Sat Oct 31, 2020 5:32 pm

Yeah [mention]m o l l y[/mention] the flying outward thing (and then having to run forward to keep up with your own pattern) is a common thing because people will try to throw the ball in front of the incoming ball rather than to the side of it.

[mention]marijke[/mention] if you can get asynchronous the illusion should take care of itself. maybe try just one in each hand practicing the async start (throw throw catch catch), or the standing against the wall to force the "plane".

You can do it woohoo!

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Sat Oct 31, 2020 11:37 pm

Thanks for all these hot tips [mention]alex[/mention]! I'm gonna see if I can get the 4 going. Breaking it down to the smaller part is always the right answer... true in piano too. Practice the left and right hands separately first.

One thing I loved to do as a child, and still love to do, is lay on the floor and throw a ball straight in the air. Goals are as straight up as possible and to "kiss" the ceiling. If you kiss the ceiling and don't have to move your hand to catch it on the way down you've truly won.

alex · Post by **alex** » Sun Nov 01, 2020 12:02 pm

[mention]marijke[/mention] keep us posted as to your progress.

Me and some buddies have often, when in the world, played a game called "hit the thing", where you gather some pebbles, pick a thing (sign, tree trunk, rock, etc) and try to "hit the thing". Even better if there is something you can try to get the rock into like a can or bucket. Maybe this is just basketball.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Sun Nov 01, 2020 2:45 pm

Love a game like that. On tour we used to call it a “very good challenge.” Some very good challenges also involve stacking things, walking along tight places or fallen logs, and throwing things into other things.

alex · Post by **alex** » Mon Nov 02, 2020 12:04 am

Yes fun

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Thu Nov 12, 2020 1:06 pm

Had a sort of revelation: I think part of why winter is a bummer is because I'm not excited about my winter clothes. Dumb ol ' jackets, ratty sweaters, the same 3 pants...

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Thu Nov 12, 2020 1:23 pm

Molly, find a cozy coat that you love!!

The two jackets that get me through the cold winters:
1) oversized oil-treated cotton duster that makes me feel like Roland Deschain, the Gunslinger
2) huge fleecy blanket-like coat that goes almost to my feet and has a Western-themed design, including lil pistols at the pockets

Do you want a nice hat that has fur flaps you can pull down? Or pretty gloves? Or beautiful scarves? Or... tights with silly patterns that go under your pantalones?

Problems that can be solved with clothes are great problems to have.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Thu Nov 12, 2020 5:10 pm

This is such a good advice. As they say, there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes!

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Fri Nov 13, 2020 1:35 am

lil' pistol pockets! I need to put away my linen and sew up some fine wool.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:20 pm

Some things I'm implementing to stave off winter 2020 sads:

- Learning chess
- spicy noodle stir-fries
- punk rock music
- Brisk autumn hikes

alexshred420 · Post by **alexshred420** » Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:27 pm

@yourfriendclaire wait, isn't Los Angeles sunny and in the 70s most of the "winter"?