Summer Hibernation

“Seasons change and so do I, you need not wonder why”

-The Guess Who

Ever since I moved to Northern New York, where the winter nights start at 4:30 in the afternoon and the summer days end at 10:00 in the evening, I’ve wanted to be on a bi-seasonal schedule. Winter lasts for six months up here and is one of the snowiest in the continental United States. It’s when you hunker down, sleep more, read more, eat more – hibernation at its finest. Its brother, summer, is a festival of long days, time to catch up on many projects as well as stopping to enjoy pauses and moments of sitting outside and visiting nature.

When I was a pastor, the pews were full in the late fall, winter and early spring – empty in the summer. The people of this region had an internal yearly clock. Take advantage of the short season of fine weather and long hours of daylight. When the dark and cold months come – turn your attention indoors.

So, for the first time I choose this year as the jumping off point for my bi-seasonal lifestyle. Blogging, creating on the computer, time spent fretting about Twitter, Facebook or producing content will pause for a season. Like those scorching summer days, when I lived in the south, where it was too hot to even move – a form hibernation comes over you.

Each season, in its own polar opposite way, produces life.

See you again, when the first flakes begin to fall.