Single digit temperatures have returned to the weather forecasts for Toronto, and people are starting to suit up in scarves. I even saw people wearing gloves. Winter is coming. Eventually. It's not here yet, but I might as well get ready for it!

I've been accumulating quite a collection of winter tips and experiences. Last winter worked out pretty well. What will I try this year?

2014-09-12 Things to tweak or try this winter

• More consistent exercise
• Growing plants indoors: the new Hacklab has a skylight, and I might be able to use the tiny window ledge in our bedroom too
• Less consulting and more writing
• Proper sewing: I'm going to get the hang of this eventually! It's a good skill to have. I can work on finally finishing those box cushion covers.
• Flashcards, learning: Japanese, Cantonese, Latin; development (maybe build Android apps?)
• Lots of cooking and fresh meals
• More vacuuming and tidying up, since I'll be home
• Hacklab, maybe twice or thrice a week?
• More organized reading: book notes, sketches, blog posts
• Regular sleep
• New drawing workflow: index cards, sketchbook?

I think it's time to get a new coat and a pair of winter boots. Oh well! I didn't find anything I liked in last year's end-of-season sales, so I guess I should probably reconcile myself to paying full price or close to it.

I liked last year's idea of thinking in terms of longer nights, since I do tend to divide my activities into day (work, writing) and night (relaxing, drawing). Maybe I'll play with that some more.

Hey, maybe the Canadian citizenship grant includes cold tolerance. Always wondered why W- and J- think ice cream season is all year long!

Coming back to cold weather was not particularly fun, but I'm learning to deal with it. I've got the thermals, the sweaters, the jackets, the scarves… There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to figure out how to cope with winter. =) Anyway, here are some tips for people who are new to Canada or other cold places:

Canadian winter tips

If you like this, you might like my 2009 blog post with some more notes on what makes winter better.

Other winter notes: My insulated winter boots have sprung a leak. I still have a pair of leather boots and a pair of rubber boots (in bright red!), so I think I'll make it through this winter. I shopped around for a replacement pair this weekend and didn't find anything I liked, despite the sales. I was thinking about whether I should get a pair for when these boots wear out, but I'll probably move away from wearing insulated boots and move towards thick socks and hiking shoes or regular boots instead. It's also a good time to see if I can repair the boots I have. Oh well!

The transition from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time is always a little shocking. Suddenly the sunlight’s gone by 5 PM. It always used to make me feel a little colder, a little odder. This year, I’m playing around with some mindset shifts that might do for Standard Time what renaming “winter” to “baking season” did in terms of my happiness. =)

(Click on the images for a larger version.)

Since my consulting engagement has flexible hours, I can arrange my schedule so that I commute during off-peak hours, and I work from home three days of the week anyway. Sunlight is important to me, so I go for a quick walk at lunch. This means that on the days that I work on-site, I’m not too tired when I get home in the evenings, and on the days I work at home, I have time to go to the library or run other small errands.

That frees up the evening for writing, drawing, learning, coding, and all the other things that fill my discretionary time. Having a long evening means I can break it into several chunks of useful, focused work, while still taking care of chores. It feels pretty relaxed – almost freeing! Maybe this will become something that will help me look forward to shorter days.

Mornings are worth playing around with, too. I thought about shifting more of my waking hours to the morning because it often comes up in productivity advice, but I like being able to sleep in a little. That said, I also like lining things up so that I can gain momentum in the morning, and the bright sunshine is nice to enjoy.

This mindset shift looks promising. It breaks down yet another one of those barriers to making the most of life year-round. How do you deal with shorter days? Any tips?

This winter feels a lot milder and happier than the others I’ve been through.

A large part of that comes from being able to work at home. I like being able to opt out of snowstorms.

Fleece bathrobes, fleece sheets, fuzzy socks, fuzzy slippers, gloves, handwarmers, apple pie, warm milk… Things might not give you happiness, but they can certainly help.

Cats and their quest for warmth.

Cooking, baking, preserving, sewing, writing, drawing — hobbies for those indoor days.

Love.

So maybe it wasn’t seasonal affective disorder after all, just the need to adapt.