Post-Holiday Blues

The tree and decorations are put away for another year. The house looks bare, a lot like the world outside. No leaves on the trees, the shrubs dormant, the snow has melted enough to reveal the brown grass and dirt from the construction next door, the sky is Michigan-in-January gray. I really don’t like this time of year.

In November when the gray skies start, we have holidays to look forward to. In January, what? I guess we can look forward to spring. Spring that won’t be here for another three months. Or longer.

What do we do as we wait for spring to arrive? Hide out in our caves. If it were up to me, I would stay indoors . . . and watch movies. Hah. Bet you thought I was going to say write. That, too. I am working on the third book in the Outer Rim series. But I love my movies and television series. Thanks to accidentally getting Amazon Prime (I forgot to discontinue after the free month), we’ve been able to get old television series. Lately, I’ve been OD’ing on Stargate SG-1. (I didn’t know when I started that there were ten seasons. Holy cow!) I’ve had to “bribe” myself into writing in the morning. The reward is watching TV in the afternoon . . . after Hubs drags me to the fitness club.

Oh, yes. We go out in the snow. We grew up driving in this stuff. Not during blizzards, of course. A great benefit to being retired from regular jobs. We don’t have to join the idiots who forget they need to reduce speed in bad weather. But snow-covered roads don’t stop us. Our little cul-de-sac and parking lots present the biggest challenge. Baby steps, I tell myself as I walk from the car to a store or restaurant. I sure don’t need to fall and break my arm or wrist. How would I write? One handed? Yikes. Better to stay in my cave. If only Hubs didn’t get cabin fever.

Just saw this wonderful picture from George Takei. Perfect.

What do you do in the winter? Hibernate or brave the weather and go about your regular routine?