The definition of season is:
A division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region.
The seasons on Cape Cod are a little different. I feel as though there are three seasons here. Winter, high season, and off season.
We are in the winter season. That season, to me, begins January 1 and runs until May, Memorial Day weekend to be more exact. The "high season" runs from Memorial Day weekend until Columbus Day weekend in October, and then "off season" runs from late October until the end of the year.
Winters here can be long and dreary. The tourists and second home owners are long gone, lots of gray days, many seasonal businesses closed until spring and the weather is, for the most part raw. You know its coming every year, but somehow we forget. I am not a, " I love the winters, and quiet " kind of person. I love the 9 to 5, being able to go somewhere without needing to call to see if they are open first kind of person. I love being busy. I shift my studio work, paperwork, designing new ideas, creating, sourcing and networking to the winter months. The time always goes by fast for me.
I do draw up a plan. I know what these months are designed for and what I want to accomplish. There are not enough hours in the summer and fall to plan, design, make samples, contact my retail partners to give it the time it needs. So, instead of dreading the winter months, I use that time to get ready for the new season.
I wonder if the ideas will ever stop coming, they don't.
I wonder if I will struggle to fill my days, I don't.
I've learned to find my Happy Place in a quiet, winter season on Cape Cod.