# Cold and Dark



## Stephanie Logan (Dec 17, 2009)

So I am battling my annual bout of Seasonal Affective Disorder. I get so whiney and weepy during the winter solstice "season". I can't seem to remember how warm and colorful it was just a few short months ago. So I find myself looking at the photos I took of my gardens last summer, when Taco would come out with me and explore around and under my plants while I weeded and deadheaded.

This is the front garden by the driveway:






I had some killer morning glories in this backyard bed. This was Taco's favorite garden to hang out in:





This was my impatiens bed:





View from the back patio; Taco liked to lay on the warm bricks, and then when she got up to walk away she would leave me a little present:





Front yard (north side) bed:





Our backyard is a fun space to play soccer or throw a frisbee:





I know it's not much compared to places like California, Texas and Arizona where it never freezes, but I am not quite jealous enough of you fair climate gardeners to move away from my beloved, high and dry Colorado! I know it will once again be warm, and life and light will come back to the earth, but boy it's hard to cope with these cold, dark days!


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## Meg90 (Dec 17, 2009)

I swear, winter is terrible. I don't know how people can like this weather. In WI it gets dark here by 4:00 now, no joke. The sun is already starting to set as I type this at 3:03pm.

You have a beautiful Garden Stephenie!


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## Isa (Dec 17, 2009)

Wow Staphanie,
Your house and your garden are beautiful!!! It must be so nice to sit in the backyard and look at all your flowers and look at Taco walking around or sitting in the sun . Thank you so much for sharing


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## dmmj (Dec 17, 2009)

I am no expert with this disorder, nor do I suffer from any type of seasonal disorder as such, but couldn't you hang up bright sunny pics all over your house to help lighten the mood? I am sure some californians xould provide great pics for you.


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## Stephanie Logan (Dec 17, 2009)

dmmj said:


> I am no expert with this disorder, nor do I suffer from any type of seasonal disorder as such, but couldn't you hang up bright sunny pics all over your house to help lighten the mood? I am sure some californians xould provide great pics for you.



That's a great idea!

Thanks for the belly laugh.


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## alfiethetortoise (Dec 17, 2009)

Have you tried taking a good supplement with vitamin D and omega oils? I had a university lecturer who swore by them in the winter. In any case, enjoy the photos of your glorious garden, because Ava will probably head straight for those flower beds in which the case they won't be looking like that next summer


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## Stephanie Logan (Dec 17, 2009)

In February they will still be brown and dead, alas! 

But if the sun is out we can take her to play anyway, and if there is snow we will make some snow ice cream or sit in the hot tub!  

At least the days will be lengthening in February...


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## stells (Dec 17, 2009)

I love the dark cold nights.... sitting indoors all cosy with the central heating going.... and then a nice cold bed to get into.... nothing better....


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## Shelly (Dec 17, 2009)

Stephanie Logan said:


> So I am battling my annual bout of Seasonal Affective Disorder.



Where do you live?


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## Kayti (Dec 17, 2009)

You're garden is so beautiful!
I despise the winter too. When I move after school, I'm picking someplace where it never gets below 60!


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## Maggie Cummings (Dec 17, 2009)

Oh man your garden is beautiful...I also love Morning Glories and put some in pots all around my deck and the dark purple blooms are just beautiful...Why don't you try either taking a nap with a UVB light on you, or just sit and read a book using a UVB light...it works for the tortoises, why wouldn't it work for you??? That's what we do here in Oregon, we have 7 months of gray, rainy/frozen yucky weather. I am a native Californian, born and raised in the sun and I get mean and nasty with all of this gloomy gray crap happening...


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## ChiKat (Dec 17, 2009)

Your house and garden are gorgeous!! So pretty 
I can't wait until it is SPRING and Nelson can roam around outside. I got him in August so he wasn't able to be outside much since it got cold quickly.
I definitely get a little mopey in the winter...I am soo much happier when it's warm and the sun is shining!


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## Stephanie Logan (Dec 17, 2009)

maggie3fan said:


> ...Why don't you try either taking a nap with a UVB light on you, or just sit and read a book using a UVB light...it works for the tortoises, why wouldn't it work for you???
> *********************************************
> Where do you live?



Maybe I should just climb into Taco's cage and nap next to her.
****************************************************
We live in Centennial, a suburb of Denver. We really do get quite a lot of sunshine; in fact we are one of the sunniest states in the country. It's just that during this time of year, the sun stays low on the horizon all day, and then like Meg said it goes down by about 4:30 in the afternoon, and it doesn't rise again till 7:00 a.m. It's hard not to be tired and cranky all the time. It helps to get on TFO and divert my attention from the gloom.


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## terryo (Dec 17, 2009)

Stephanie your house and all your gardens are so beautiful! It is freezing here in NY now and my flower gardens are so dead looking....that's the only way I could describe them now. But I have to say I love the change of seasons. I can't imagine doing Christmas shopping with shorts and tank top. It just wouldn't feel like Christmas to me. And just think we have something to look forward to .....I have lots of bulbs and seeds ready for the Spring planting of the flower gardens, planing and planting the veggie garden, (I'm making a lasagna garden this year) planing my boxie pen....just great things to look forward to. Winter also gives me some time to catch up on my reading.


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## Jacqui (Dec 17, 2009)

Love your flowers!

I use to really dislike winter because it meant the finial end to all of my beautiful gardens. They always put on their most wonderful displays, just as the first frosts would hit. Drove me crazy. Then after becoming a truck driver and seeing how others have it (like CA, NV, FL) I changed my mind. While I do get a bit envious of their blooming plants in the middle of winter, they lose so much of the glory of fall color spectaculars and without that enduring that long period of no garden, nothing competes with seeing the first crocus blooming out of the snow, buds slowly opening and spring bringing everything back to life. I have grown to fully appreciate the different awe moments each of the four seasons have to offer by seeing glimpses of a life without such drastic seasonal changes.

So many of you are complaining about the early darkness and while I am not a fan of that, what I do like is it adds more time for me to gaze in wonder at the winter sky filled with sparkling diamonds temptingly just out of my reach. 

Winter brings cold days that allow you to curl up under a warm quilt made of memories and enjoy reading a book without thinking, "I really should get up and go do yard work...".

It's time to watch out the window, as snowflakes glide gracefully down to earth coating the ground with glittering freshness and flocking the trees.

Or to go for a walk in the newly pristine world, that the snow has made seem so pure and serene. There is a magical silence in that winter wonderland scene that nothing else can duplicate. The snow coating the ground hides all the plain, barren brown and grays, that have been left behind after the last hurrah of fall. In it's place is a softness of gentle curves and dips. Dead plants suddenly once more have a beauty and the ability to awe us, as the snow and ice make them into artistic crystal masterpieces.

The red of the cardinals seem to scream out in contrast to the snow, as they fly into the yard looking for sunflower seeds in the feeders. Only in the winter, do the wild canaries wear their most festive party feathers of joyful yellow. Winter brings even the shyest of birds flocking to the busy feeders and allowing you to enjoy their antics.

Winter is for picking up handfuls of snow to throw down somebody's unexpecting neck or start a snowball fight. To stick out your tongue to catch snowflakes with childish abandon, as they fall or to simply catch them on your mittens, to enjoy their special unique patterns before they quickly melt away.

Winter is a magical time easy to overlook it's beauty because of our dislike of cold and dark, but once you look past that you can start to see it's special charms.


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## tortoisenerd (Dec 17, 2009)

Many people around me only think of "good" weather as sunny and warm. I think of "good" weather as anything but a blizzard or other type of weather preventing me from going about life. I love the clouds and drizzle of Washington. I think the mindset can help some people. Lots of activities can only be done in winter. Also, I'm more of an indoors person. Works well!


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## Stephanie Logan (Dec 18, 2009)

Jacqui said:


> Winter brings cold days that allow you to curl up under a warm quilt made of memories and enjoy reading a book without thinking, "I really should get up and go do yard work...".
> 
> It's time to watch out the window, as snowflakes glide gracefully down to earth coating the ground with glittering freshness and flocking the trees.
> 
> ...



Dang, Jacqui,

You ought to be writing poetry! What lyrical musings and vivid descriptions!

You almost have me convinced that winter is more than the blunt edge of mortality chipping away at my normal optimism and cheerful disposition. And, like terryo, I do enjoy reading without the nagging guilt of unfinished yardwork...I do wish it didn't have to last SO long, though.

I've told Fred we need to find a timeshare in the Bahamas or Hawaii or Australia, to get away to for the months of January and February each year.


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## Yvonne G (Dec 18, 2009)

Winter doesn't get to me, but when we've passed the vernal (?) equinox and the days start to get shorter, that's when I start to get depressed. I love the longer days of summer!


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## Shelly (Dec 18, 2009)

emysemys said:


> I love the longer days of summer!



Me too, I get so much more done around the house.


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## alfiethetortoise (Dec 18, 2009)

I do love summer, swimming in the lakes, hanging around at the local fair's. But i also like winter, cups of tea by the fire, frosty mornings, sledging. However, i do think that those elf and safety insectors have gone too far this year by replacing those christingle candle's with glow sticks!


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## dmmj (Dec 18, 2009)

On a personal note, I can not stand the cold, I will take warm and toasty any day.


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## DoctorCosmonaut (Dec 18, 2009)

I'm the opposite, while I don't enjoy below freezing, I can't handle anything over around 81 degrees Fahrenheit or I just want to die.


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## Stephanie Logan (Dec 18, 2009)

DoctorCosmonaut said:


> I'm the opposite, while I don't enjoy below freezing, I can't handle anything over around 81 degrees Fahrenheit or I just want to die.



Lucky. My husband's got a naturally high body temperature, too. In fact, he's such a natural space heater that he not only has to put up with my cold feet parked on his butt all night, but all four of our cats will make themselves comfortable on various other body parts, so that Fred will wake up and be pinned down to the bed like Gulliver on the beach!


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## Jacqui (Dec 18, 2009)

DoctorCosmonaut said:


> I'm the opposite, while I don't enjoy below freezing, I can't handle anything over around 81 degrees Fahrenheit or I just want to die.


That's kinda me too! I figure with the cold you can always add more clothing or cuddle under more blankets, but when it's hot, you can only remove so much clothing.  Worse is heat and humidity.


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## DoctorCosmonaut (Dec 18, 2009)

My perferred climate contrast sharply with my Redfoots... Good thing we don't sleep together lol


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## BethyB1022 (Dec 19, 2009)

DoctorCosmonaut said:


> I'm the opposite, while I don't enjoy below freezing, I can't handle anything over around 81 degrees Fahrenheit or I just want to die.



Agreed! What I really can't stand is high humidity though.

When I lived in Alaska I used to get kind of bummed out by the really short days in winter. But, at least I got to see the sunrise every morning (at 11 a.m.)! I always look forward to the equinox because that means longer days, and I do enjoy the sunshine. But, cold- bring it on! I even kind of miss 40 below ...kinda...


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## Madkins007 (Dec 19, 2009)

I dunno, Jacqui- your poetry did not quite move me. I'm sitting here in Omaha wondering why the heck I live in a place where my Red-foots would not survive being outside much of the year, where I have to artificially provide light so much since our days are only what, about 38 minutes long now?

Its not that I want to get away from winter altogether, I just want to try someplace other than where the main settlers stopped because the horses froze in place. 

I was looking at a video of 'the gate of hell'-a burning gas crater (http://izismile.com/2009/02/05/the_gates_of_hell_22_pics_2_videos.html) and thinking "that looks warm!"


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## dmmj (Dec 20, 2009)

Warm thoughts, warm thoughts. Sorry just saw pics of all the snow you back easters are getting.


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## Stephanie Logan (Dec 20, 2009)

Madkins007 said:


> Its not that I want to get away from winter altogether, I just want to try someplace other than where the main settlers stopped because the horses froze in place.



Hahaha!

I drove through Nebraska last summer, and it's a very pretty prairie state, but that humidity must penetrate right into your bones in winter...brrrr!


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## bikerchicspain (Dec 20, 2009)

I love your house and garden, i would love to move to the states, When i was in Colorado i love boulder so beautiful and the suurounding areas,but unfortuntey they dont do green cards for the Brits.someday eh!!


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## sammi (Dec 20, 2009)

Your house is BEAUTIFUL. I dream of having a house like that someday, with an awesome garden similar to yours! I've never been to Colorado, as I'm stuck here in California [so unfortunate huh?] but I'd love to make a trip out there sometime =]


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## Stephanie Logan (Dec 20, 2009)

sammi said:


> but I'd love to make a trip out there sometime =]



If you do, PM me ahead of time so we can have you over. You can meet Taco and we can skype (sp?) between her and Ernie.


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## Stazz (Dec 21, 2009)

Well I for one cannot stand Winter !!! I know its needed, but phew, not for me !!!! Your garden is SOOOOOOO beautiful Stephanie, so colourful!


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