Hibernation

It's getting to be about the time of year where the fall/winter doldrums are driving people nuts enough to get out of the house. October and November are two of the most difficult months of the year due to the clouds and drastic drop in temperature. The first year that I was here I was completely unaware of the concept of hibernation. I knew bears did it - I didn't realize that people did. After about a month of needing constant sleep and copious amounts of coffee, I mentioned to a group of people that I could not stay awake! Responses such as "oh, I know what you mean, I slept in until 1pm today"... "Weren't you supposed to work?"...."yeah, but I slept in until 1pm!" and "oh yeah, you're hibernating" followed. The changes in amount of light can really mess with your body. I've experienced summer insomnia where I have happily gone to bed at 2pm every night for months and easily made it through the days without needed any down time. Then October hits and I'm ready to sleep the winter away. Its an interesting phenomena in this little town where fall begins to end and everyone hides in their houses for about a month and half without seeing another person other than work (If you're lucky enough to have it) or the (liquor)store. In the end of November a magical thing begins to happen. People start to emerge from their houses like the Grinchs' Whos on Christmas morning and begin to sing and dance and have events here and there. Seriously - this town is full of musicians and if they have a place to play, play they will. People start to cook unnecessarily large amounts of food, bake and craft. Here is a potential week in Atlin during this time: Yoga (2x per week), Waffles (a weekly event Saturday morning at the T.'s house - everyone is invited) BINGO!, curling, sewing saturday morning with D. at the Teen Centre, Dinner at the Inn, Craft fair, Thrift store sorting, Thrift store shopping (from 2-4 on Fridays), snowshoeing with the ladies, Chili at the Rec Centre lounge, Beers at the bar, Search and rescue practice, Fire hall meetings, PAC meetings, Joint Clan Meetings with the Tlingits, and churches of three denominations if you are so inclined. If you plan on heading to any of these events, I strongly advise that you say hello to everyone you come in contact with, even if you don't know them - you wouldn't want to be labelled as rude, would you? Welcome to our small town in the winter!