While autumn is the favoured season of many, it is also the precursor to our dreaded Northern winters, which often creates a sort of chaotic sprint to prepare for the next six months.
When I lived in the city, this moment of panic only lasted a few seconds, as I only had to wonder briefly about a) how I would find parking and b) how I would pay for the parking tickets that I would surely accumulate. Taking up residence in the Chateauguay Valley has changed my perspective a little, but not by much. But the issues I have to look forward to dealing with are a little more adventurous. Ensuring that my car will be able to make it in and out of a driveway that is liken to a hiking path is my number one concern. Second to that comes me trying to figure out how I’m going to ensure that the water doesn’t freeze over in the barn (it most certainly will, and I will be out there in the middle of winter, about to give birth, crying over a block of ice while a herd of chickens clucks sympathetically around me).
While parking is no longer an issue for me, winter does bring its own challenges for every individual. Everyone has to hustle and bustle to get everything ready for the inevitable snowfall, putting everything into a spin. On the upside, it does ensure that, once the snow is here, everyone spend a little more time with each other—and whether or not this is a welcome situation, it is still a wonderful thing. (Ah, the holidays.) So short of shovelling a few walkways and ploughing a driveway or two in the bitter cold, winter can be a time of rest if you let it. So take a moment and embrace the things you cannot change, and just be thankful that your to-do list will likely cut in half over the winter even if it feels like you’re roughing it in the Arctic.
