TAKE IT EASY ON YOURSELF
It's easy to feel blah in Winter..
I mean just looking out at my backyard makes me want to migrate.
HOMO ESCAPEONS: Welcome to an Autodidact's egregiously oversimplified pleonasmic emporium of hodge-podgery
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Asstronomically, winter officially starts in 2008 on December 21st.... the winter solstice thingamabob, but in reality, "Winter" starts November 1st.
Oddly enough the Celts figured this out Centuries ago when two Druid Dudes who had holidays named after them, Sam Hain and Al Hallows, realised that if it is freezing, snowing, and only light out for 7 bloody hours a day, it must be f*cking Winter!
Now it feels like the Earth is further from the Sun in Winter but believe it or not, it's supposedly 3 million miles closer in December.
What screws everything up is that the Earth leans slightly on its axis....
the precise angle of the tilt is 23 degrees and 27 minutes off the perpendicular to the plane of orbit..whatever the hell that means?
23 degrees off the perpendicular sounds exactly like the angle I like to sit when I watch TV and Blog during the Winter months... coinky dink?
I think not.
Like most people trapped in a Northern Town, I suffer from a sinister, depressing, Oh GAWD take-me-now sense of gloom during our 7 months of Winter.
To ease the discomfort, sometimes I like to sing one of the best pick-me-up songs ever recorded..
check out Jim Carrey's doppleganger Nick Laird-Clowes?!
He said "In winter 1963
It felt like the world would freeze
With John F. Kennedy
And the Beatles."
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I know what you mean..... remember my blog posts of a few months back? Serious case of "SAD" there :P
ReplyDeleteAsstronomically- you know how I love puns-
ReplyDeleteWell, it's up to Mrs. HE to keep you warm. Frigid weather like that- ugh!
As much as I hate snow it does brighten up the place when it's dark enough to persuade anyone it's ten pm when really it's only 2.30pm
ReplyDeleteYes Pete - snow is the equivalent of painting a north facing room white.
ReplyDeleteGloomy black clouds are the worst for SAD.
Well, that music was depressing for a start. Try to cheer yourself up by listening to, for example, the Cliff Adams Singers, as they Sing Something Simple.
ReplyDeleteBAH-Humbug!!!! I think I could make peace with snow and temps just above freezing. But I cold never make peace with ice and sub-zero temps! I won't, I tell you!!
ReplyDeleteHey - just noticed you've put instructions for including a link in a comment here, just above. Way Cool! Thank you! I've always wanted to know how to do that! Now I know where to look the next time I want to do such! I already knew how to bold and italicize, but the formula for including a live link always eluded me! Too much formula for my feeble mind to remember!
This is a good song.
ReplyDeleteAnd here I thought people love the snow...what with all those happy songs about walking in a Winter Wonderland, or Let it Snow, or dashing thru the snow on a one horse open sleigh.
I suppose after a while, you'd want to be a Snowbird,
Spread your tiny wings and fly away,
And take the snow back with you where it came from on that day.
The one I love forever is untrue,
And if I could you know that I would fly away with you.
i was expecting The Carpenters. I am CRUSHED.
ReplyDelete(love that song!)
Personally I skip the gloom and go into hibernation mode. Especially when I have essays to do - Sleep it off, I say...
ReplyDeleteWow, they don't make hair like that anymore do they?
Donn, how can you get so depressed when it is blindingly brilliant outside here????
ReplyDeleteThe sun blazes in the heavens when it is this cold in Winterpeg, and I, for one, am never depressed by the lack of light.
I may be partially frozen, numbingly cold or an icicle, but never SAD. It just pisses me off....
A fine tune, sirrah. But who was the introductress? I don't think I've ever seen a woman look so good in incontinence pants.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that blast from the past. I'd totally forgotten about that song! It was definitely a good list here on this SNOWY Vancouver day.
ReplyDeleteIn London we just have more rain than usual and - if you're really lucky - a bit of sleet. But the darkness is gloomy indeed. Thank goodness for the radio and telly programmes about food.
ReplyDelete"coinky dink? " - oh, I must use that expression as soon as I can - tomorrow. Will my American colleague understand it?
ReplyDeleteI'm going to practise saying it all night - should it be falsetto or said very seriously or - do tell me.
"coinky dink?"
ReplyDeleteAnother Donnnnnnnnnism.
Perfect post, although let's admit, it did warm up significantly today.
Is that a fact that the sun's actually closer but it's because of the planet's frickin' axis that we're freezing our balls off up here?
Time for another get-together next week to explore this and other ridiculous theories.
all i want for christmas is a hot young long haired boy,, just like that lead singer,, thats blind as a bat and loves me just the way i am.... is that so f*ing much to ask????
ReplyDeleteBrrr. In my book (or, maybe I should say in my part of the world) winter runs roughly from December 1st to the last day of February.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine being any colder than I am right now...
ReplyDeleteI.Would.Not.Survive.Period.
But that song, my friend, is awesome. I've always digged on it... even the remake is excellent.
Happy holidays, Donn!
astronomically... we dont get snow here. the closest i get to ice is at the skating rink. tough i dont skate.
ReplyDeleteand winnipeg being dead cold, i hope u have enough wood for fire brother.
hows xmas shaping up?
oh clever use of Time Lapse Photography there, Donn!
ReplyDeleteahhhhhh, isn't it pretty?
but where's your 'Santa, Stop Here' sign?
Winter isn't nearly as harsh in Montreal as it is in Winnipeg and I'm already ready for it to be over. It seems the older I get, the less winter I can tolerate before complaining.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should travel to some place warm for a short while.
Sorry - not really a comment, but Happy Christmas/Solstice etc (since I don't seem to be keeping up with blogs at present). Hopefully I'll have more time to catch up with everyone in the New Year!
ReplyDeleteSam Hain and Al Hallows
ReplyDeleteI am sick of lord of the bloody rings.
I am sick of bloody rings. Time to slaughter the animals and hold up for a few months.
STACE
ReplyDeleteThe one good thing about living in the 21st Century is that there is a myriad of pseudo-scientificky labels to attach to our emotional state.
Enduring Winter here in the Polar Regions makes me more than sad..it makes me angry..so it's Seasonal Anger Disorder.
GEL
I concur about Mrs HE and her contractual obligation to keep me warm...I'll make sure that she gets the message.
Winter might start on December 21st down in North Carolina but it has definitely been here since November 1...anyone who argues that needs their head examined.
CYBERPETE
Having darkness fall upon the land at 4:30 in the pm only magnifies our misery. When everyone gets up and goes to work it's dark and by the time they get home it's dark...so we turn into Mole People..once you make it back to your nest you just want to Cocoon.
VICUS SCURRA
You find that song depressing? It's not exactly send in the Clowns? Perhaps a little Acker Bilk is in order? It warms my heart just putting on the ole bowler and vest.
ETERNALLY CURIOUS
There is Winter and then there is WINTER!
One of those movie Winters with people frolicking in the snow in a little sweater and matching scarf would be quaint...but when I get dressed to go out, I look more like an astronaut or deep sea diver!
EROSWINGS
ReplyDeleteAh Canada's little Snowbird..Anne Murray is a national treasure.
Actually many seniors (like my dear Mama) become snowbirds and migrate South to the USA in order to escape the worst portion of the Winter. These retirees head for Texas, Arizona, Florida, and California for a couple of months to complain about the heat down there instead of the cold up here.
FIRST NATIONS
On the day that you were born
the angels got together
and decided to create a dream come true
so they sprinkled angel dust upon your head
and golden showers upon you too
dee-de-lee dee-de-lee
that is why...
OK now I need to get another song stuck in my head..
bloody Carpenters!
FATHORSE
I find it quite interesting that the first Asians marched across the Alskan Bridge to nowhere in order to escape the Tyranny of the First Red Bolshevik Scourge (25,000 years ago) but couldn't find a safe place to hibernate..because the great Cave Bears had already taken the best caves and hibernated until Spring when they began eating the First Asians.
If they would have killed all the Bears while they were hibernating..D'OH!..they wouldn't have had to move down to the great plains and south america?
PONITA
I'm sure that it is Sunny on PLUTO too but that still doesn't make it any better when it's -500K at high noon!
I admitted that I am far more BITTER and ANGRY than sad...seriously considering emigrating to the Playboy Mansion.
GORDIE
That was the talented and funny Teri Garr who was in tons of Movies in the 70/80s..Young Frankenstein, Close Encounters, Tootsie, Mr Mom..she is a Peach and one can only hope that incontinence pants are makin a big comeback!
just think if it was warmer you could have mud instead.
ReplyDeleteI HATE MUD
I have Mud Fever
it's worse than snow and sticks to more things
Merry Christmas :)
xx(XX)xx
ANDREA
ReplyDeleteNobody forced to endure our Polar Conditions could EVER forget that song.
Speaking of oldies I'm listening to Young & Restless by Prism and One Gun by 54-40!
SPENTRAILS
Hi there how are you enjoying the implosion of the global financial market?
I loathe extended gloomy grey rain soaked days as much as I detest our mind numbing Polar deepfreeze!
I need to live in dee tropics Mon.
ZED
What a wonderful surprise to welcome you to my Bah Hum-Blog.
Yes coinky dink must be delivered in an ear piercing crystal shattering shriek!
Since the recent evisceration of my man-ovaries I can do little else but speak in a falsetto.
I sound like Mickey Mouse now.
WINKY
Yes apparently that is true although it offers SFA in the way of consolation to those of us trapped in our regularly programmed Ice Age.
Global Warming..bring it on!
PAISLEY
HAHAHAHA!
No that isn't too much to ask and furthermore it should be mandatory and paid for by the government.
HAHAHA!
Good luck with that you deserve it.
CITIZEN DEL MONDO
ReplyDeleteSounds like you live in a Capraesque Pleasantville? I suppose you see George Bailey, that compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman, running about yelling Merry Christmas to everyone.
Wanna trade?
CATSCRATCHY
To be quite honest I don't know how we survive? At any rate NASA could grab anyone off the street here in Whateverpeg and shoot them off to either a gawdforsaken frozen planet or a smouldering molten orb deep in outer space.
It's ridiculous.
btw: Which remake are you referring too?
GHOSTY
Funny you should ask..I'm actually quite concerned about getting enough wood these days.
It seems that I may have had one too many of my wires snipped.
TMI eh?
PROJECTIVIST
HA! Santa isn't daft enough to live this far North..all of those images of his workshop are filmed in the soundstage in Houston where they simulated Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon.
ANNA
As luck would have it I am off to Mayheeko in a few months. I will bewilder the hotel staff with my Spanglish and inhale Coronas by the bucket.
dunna-nunna-dun
dun-dun
dun-dun-nunna-dun
My Corona!
LLEWTRAH
ReplyDeleteHow very thoughtful of you. I realise that you are up to your eyeballs in extra projects and hopefully you will have more time to squander out here next year.
Merry Chrismakwanzakkuh to you too.
OLD KNUDEY TOOTY
Damn straight..and thank you for picking up on that.
I have no idea how the early parsimonious Scottish settlers ever survived living in those sod-huts out in the middle of the bald tundra-prairies with nothing but their drafty kilts and a keen sense of humour to help them make it through 7 months of Winter? Of course they did learn how to bury themselves up to their arse inside giant Beaver.
Not to mention the threat of being devoured by marauding bloodthirsty Cave Bears, stampeding herds of Wolly Mammoth, and erratic but regular raids by those bloody do-gooder Mounties who smashed their whiskey stills.
Damn!
Won't a trip to your new IKEA bring cheer?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, can't figure out why the hell I live in Canada... maple syrup?
ReplyDeletetmi. tmi?
ReplyDeleteAaargh mate, if it's any consolation summer is being spent in jumpers and gumboots here.
ReplyDeleteNot quite bumchilling but wet and cool. The rain is nice though.
A chilly time for all the world in relativity..?
I am still laughing over the vegemite escapades.
It is seriously beautiful food.
Seriously. :-)
Did Stace tell you what it is really made from?
Pam
At least our investments are safe. Mr MADE-OFF-with-it-all is taking care of that side of things.
ReplyDelete10.2 inches of snow and 12 due again by morn. Talk about trapped in a northern town!
ReplyDeleteYou may be more north than I, but I feel your pain and here the haunting voice of depression. Now add that to my car being totaled 2 weeks ago and I say we both need a drink.
Ahh, but then I think of you and a mutual acquaintance and I am thankful to be breathing and smiling. Head on collision, someone was looking after me Homey love, just bumps and bruises. Was it you and our acquaintance?
Smile love, with a heart like yours I would hate to see it sad.
Soft love,
T
Good for you, amigo! Where in Mayheeko? And will it just be you and your good-lady-muher? Or will el nino (sorry, I don't know how to get the tilde on the n) be joining you too?
ReplyDeleteThe Scandis use the long cold winters as an excuse for depressive behaviour and consequent alcoholic indulgence, but I've never met such a relentlessly cheerful lot as the Canadians. So that's that theory shot out the water then.
ReplyDeleteHave a great Christmas Donn, I'm sure you can summon up some goodwill on the day!
i love dark skies.
ReplyDeletetoo much sun from where i come from. sweaty bodies. er..
I actually watched a show and that unusual tilt was caused by a huge impact with an asteriod and they (rocket scientist I guess) theorized that the impact was so huge that the moon was formed from a chunk of the earth.....life would not be able to exist without that tilt.........so the show said. Interesting.....I am in the doldrums my self and it will really get bad after the Holidays
ReplyDeleteIn England winter is like living inside a grey bag. A bit of frost and sunshine is exciting.
ReplyDeleteSx
A humankind begins sneering his perceptiveness teeth the first chance he bites out more than he can chew.
ReplyDeleteA humankind begins icy his insight teeth the initially time he bites out more than he can chew.
ReplyDeleteTo be a good charitable being is to procure a amiable of openness to the mankind, an gift to trust undeterminable things beyond your own control, that can govern you to be shattered in very extreme circumstances for which you were not to blame. That says something remarkably outstanding relating to the get of the ethical passion: that it is based on a trust in the uncertain and on a willingness to be exposed; it's based on being more like a weed than like a jewel, something fairly dainty, but whose very precise attractiveness is inseparable from that fragility.
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ReplyDeleteVex ferments the humors, casts them into their proper channels, throws eccentric redundancies, and helps species in those secretive distributions, without which the association cannot subsist in its vigor, nor the incarnation act with cheerfulness.
ReplyDeleteDistress ferments the humors, casts them into their adapted channels, throws off redundancies, and helps feather in those confidential distributions, without which the fuselage cannot subsist in its vigor, nor the man fake with cheerfulness.
ReplyDelete