Stacey Seaside

Baby it’s cold outside.

Yes, even in Mykonos.

Watching winter storms pummel the US,

I wanted you to know that

it is definitely NOT

all sunshine and blue skies in Mykonos in the winter.

This past week, we hit a high temperature here of a whopping 5 Celsius/41 Fahrenheit.

Now to those of you reading this while still digging out from snow and facing windchill factors of -31 Celcius/-24 Fahrenheit, you’re rolling your eyes at my cold weather complaint.

We are just fortunate to have less of the cold stuff and not quite so extreme.

It even snows here. At least once, even if it is just a dusting the last few winters.

And then of course there is the vicious and violent wind.

When it blows and the temperature has dropped, it is bone chilling cold because of the inherent island dampness.  

Yes, we definitely have cold days.

Freezing, frigid, miserable days, like this past weekend.

So don’t let my boasts of sun-drenched beaches all to myself and lengthy swims in crystal waters mislead.

During the last couple of day, I wore long pants, warm socks, three layers of outer clothing and a winter coat.

And stayed as close to the space heater as possible, positioned directly under my desk, without frying my toes!

Grey and sombre days filled with wind and rain, force us indoors.

We have few options when it is wild and wet.

Large, welcoming, spacious venues are limited for hosting activities and remaining warm.

Cafe or Restaurants–just a handful–offer sedentary activities of consuming food and drink. 

The only other indoor options are the gym for a workout with equipment, a dance class or a yoga practice.

There are no indoor shopping malls, bowling alleys or running/walking tracks.

So you stay home–usually in your small, but warm space.

For those of us used to being out in nature on a daily basis–swimming, walking, hiking, gardening–by day three, cabin fever has set in big time.

Forced indoors with no option for a walk along a quiet rural road or a regular swim at the beach, I become impatient, moody and outright depressed.

The walls seem to close in.

Although I could busy myself with refining the draft of an article whose deadline is dangerously close or surfing the internet for research for an upcoming project or travel or cracking the spine of the Victoria Hislop book I purchased while in Athens weeks ago, I do not.

I am angry and frustrated because I want to go outside –but to what?

Eventually logic and gratefulness wins out over my inner tantrum.

Grey begets green.

When the skies open up and dump their water, our barren, arid lands that have sported grey-beiges since June transform to a lush green.

Clover spreads across open fields forming plush carpets.

The countryside looks more like Ireland than what we would recognize as rocky, beige Mykonos.

Even the most inhospitable environments host the growth of new plant life.

So our place of Blue morphs to Grey. And Grey brings Green.

Residents tend their land, naturally watered by the rain. Flora and fauna sprout un-coaxed to life. Residents tinker with flowers, trees, vegetable gardens.

Livestock peacefully graze on the fresh clover and other greens that spring up at their feet.

The animals of the field and the farmyard get a break from the scorching sun of summer, basking in the soft light of winter, peaking through the grey clouds as they chew their fresh meal.

I take comfort in the grey even if my favorite color is blue.

Making lemonade from lemons.

Finding light from the grey skies.

Grey begets green.