Winter...

The first day of Winter 2015

It is a cold, cold Winter here in Tasmania. The first day of Winter was decorated lavishly by Jack Frost, and the days following were even more artistic, but standing outside in pyjamas taking photos wasn't high on my morning agenda after the first day.

I am on the electricity war-path again this Winter, as our cold-weather electricity usage is disgracefully high, mostly due to our terribly inefficient electric heating system. Now, I have no intention of forcing the dear little petals to shiver in the cold all Winter, but I also have no intention to keep on heating the whole house. One of the more wonderful things about being a single parent is not having to negotiate with another adult about living conditions. When we were renovating The Man was quite keen that the whole house be evenly warm all winter. Granted, this is a fairly typical expectation in a cold climate, but not one I subscribe to. Quite apart from the electricity bill, I like living in a house that has cold parts and toasty warm parts. Part of the joy of warmth is the contrast with cold. If all of the house is an evenly warm 21C all winter where is the sheer gratitude of gathering in a warm room, enjoying cuddling around the fire or making the kitchen a warm cave of baking and glorious hot stew smells?

So this winter I have refused to turn on the underfloor heating in the bathroom. It is ridiculously expensive to use, and my reasoning is that in the bathroom you are either in a hot shower, which keeps you nice and warm, or you can keep your feet warm via an advanced technology popularly known as 'slippers'.

In the living room I have draped blankets over the back of the couch for snuggling under. One of them is a lovely pure wool picnic blanket, which I decided was not doing enough work, so now it is a couch blanket. Pure wool is amazing! You do not need space heating when snuggled under a wool blanket to read a book.

I am also powering along with my crocheted afghan rug. It may not be finished for some time yet, but it will definitely be ready for next Winter!

Getting a dog is also an excellent winter warmer. Brisk walking or reluctant jogging with the dog for forty minutes or so keeps us warm for at least an hour afterwards. I guess chopping wood has the same effect.. maybe next year? I do not have a good record with sharp things.. Anyway, the dog is also an excellent hot water bottle, and sleeps under the covers with the girls.. I have given up on trying to mandate where the dog sleeps. I figure graciously ceding control is more dignified than fighting a losing battle..

I am also perfecting the art of bed making for winter. One of my pet hates is heating in bedrooms. I love a cold, fresh bedroom, and am totally in favour of the nineteenth century passion for keeping a window open as much as possible in a bedroom.

However, again, the contrast is important - a wonderful warm and toasty bed is vital, because it is hard to sleep when you are cold. First, it is important to insulate the mattress, because a lot of cold air comes up under the bed and straight through a box spring mattress. Here in Tasmania I find it useful to have two quilts - a light summer one, and a warm wool one for winter. In winter I use the summer quilt for insulation. So the layers go like this - summer quilt, held in place by the mattress protector, then covered by a delicious flannelette sheet. Flannelette is one of the great inventions in my opinion. Nothing more cosy on a winter's night.. I know this is starting to sound like the princess and the pea story, but bear with me. Next is the top sheet (flannelette of course) then a thin cotton blanket, then the winter wool quilt. The reason for all the layers? Air gets trapped between them, and warmed by your body heat, so a number of layers is always good. THEN (did you think we had finished? Winter nights are really quite chilly, and the bedroom is COLD, remember), a wool blanket. These are always turning up at op shops, and are brilliantly warm. They are also gorgeous folded up on the end of the bed, and perfect for snuggling under when sneaking away to read in the bedroom during the day. Last of all, when it is really cold, we need to resort to 'the double doona'. Another quilt, this time from the spare bed, is folded up on the end of my bed at the moment for cold night emergencies.

Now, this may seem like a lot of bedding palaver, especially when multiplied by all the beds in the house, but it makes bedtime a sheer joy of toasty cosiness. When I was a little girl I used to love visiting my grandma in the winter because she possessed the secret of making up the cosiest winter beds - heavy with thick blankets and old fashioned bedspreads which felt so wonderfully safe and secure. I think I have now finally managed to replicate that feeling with my current bedding regime:)

So several boxes have been ticked so far this winter - using less electricity. Tick. Making the house more cosy. Tick. Increasing our capacity to live in a world that sometimes gets cold. Outrageous, I know, but in my opinion, so much more satisfying than living in a climate-controlled box. Tick.