Late-winter blues

Gee, I hope nobody gets the idea that I'm just singin' the blues ... that's not my intent at all. To me, the blues, as a genre of music, reflects down-to-earth, everyday experience that, while not always exciting and uplifting, is nevertheless worth thinking about. Yes, anything worth thinking about has something to do with the blues.

Now, in late winter, when the fasting time is upon us, there is a subtle change in the air that is well worth noting. Yes, it made sense that, at least for us here in the northern climes, that a period of fasting be introduced, for there was a time when our stores of food that got us through the winter would be coming to an end. Spring was coming, to be sure, but that was a time of preparing and planting. Late grasses, like field lettuce (or lamb's lettuce, or rapunzel, for those of you familiar with fairy tales) would be available, but it would still be awhile before the first berries would become available, strawberries generally, and that would be after Easter anyway.

This is a time of change, though, if you choose to see it. The days are getting longer ... well actually, we are experiencing more daylight hours (for as long as I can remember days only have 24 hours, both summer and winter) which most of us take to be a positive thing. There are still a lot of cold days, the wind can be particularly biting, and it can certainly be wet, but in between, sometimes even for a few days at a time, it can warm up enough that we find that we have loosened our scarves and maybe even unbuttoned our coats. Yes, things are starting to loosen up after winter's firm and chilling grasp.

The only reason I mention it at all is that I realize how many people don't notice these things at all, unless we remind them. Our modern lives are pretty much divorced from nature, and we don't relate very well to it anymore. We jam ourselves into urban areas, do our hunting-and-gathering at the local supermarket, have fruits and vegetables of all kinds all year round (I still don't like seeing strawberries in the produce department in December), and so we have, for the most part, simply lost touch with the natural rhythms that once guided our lives ... or at least the lives of our forebears.

There is a natural rhythm and flow to nature, and it is one that we're not the better for when we ignore it. Electric lights are wonderful things, don't get me wrong, but they have driven us to an always-on, always-doing, always-working lifestyle, and we lose sight of the fact that periods of retreat, of quiet, of relaxation and reflection, can also be very positive influences in our lives. It is possible to put a bit more rhythm in our lives (which is, just in case you were wondering, not the same as routine: going to the gym on Tuesdays is routine, strawberries after Easter is rhythm), but it means being a bit more aware, not just of the world around us, but of the natural world as well.

Think about it. Get a new groove.