Friday Five: Staving off the Gloom

Sally says: "Candlemass is past, and Christmas is well and truly over, here in the UK February looks set to be its usual grey and cold self. Signs of spring are yet to emerge; if like me you long for them perhaps you need ways to get through these long dark days. So lets share a few tips for a cold and rainy/ snowy day..."
1. Exercise, what do you do if you can't face getting out into the cold and damp? The treadmill at the Y is becoming my new friend. I decided I simply had to get more active so that I could keep indulging in all the great food that R cooks for us, and getting out and walking Maggie is just not an option when its snowy blowy and slippy. So I've been challenging myself to go faster and farther while listening to an assortment of upbeat mystery music R downloaded onto my i-pod.

2. Food; time to comfort eat, or time to prepare your body for the coming spring/summer? Oh food! My never-ending love-hate relationship, now complicated by the fact that I am being regularly fed by a truly fabulous cook! In the past, dinner was toast, cereal, popcorn....now it's more likely to be real food, good food....food I want to eat! But there is this pretty dress I need to wear in a 99 days that must fit!!!! So therein lies the battle. And it's complicated by the fact that it is winter and I think there's something genetic in those of us in the colder climates that just wants us to bulk up for warmth in these winter days!!!

3. Brainpower; do you like me need to stave off depression, if so how do you do it? Oh yeah, the SAD bug bites me every year. I have been known to say that I've thought it would be perfect if I could go into hibernation right after Christmas and wake up, oh maybe around Valentine's Day. I try to remind myself a lot that it is the SAD brain talking when I feel negative and cranky and hopeless about life and the world. I try to get lots of rest and generally take better care of myself than I used to, I try to be grateful, to escape with books and movies and silly addictive computer games, and other positive pastimes that make me feel better about life and myself. I count the days till Spring! Oh, and eat chocolate as necessary.

4. How about a story that lifts your spirits, is there a book or film that you return to to stave off the gloom? Anything fluffy and escapist will do. Love stories, things with happy endings. I love the Jan Karon series and like to either read or listen to them and return to them now and again to revisit the lovable, quirky characters in Father Tim's world.

5. Looking forward, do you have a favourite spring flower/ is there something that says spring is here more than anything else? I love the daffodils. They are so bright and brave and cheery. And of course around here, tulips are often the first hardy things that appear, so we start the tulip watch right after the robins show up. That reminds me, I have heard a few birds the last couple of mornings. It's been quiet out there and its nice to hear them again, even if I do think sometimes they are asking one another what they were thinking to move here!

Bonus; post a poem/ piece of music that points to the coming spring......http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSw7CcAXPWk