Ten on Tuesday......In the Bleak Mid Winter

Joining up today with Ten on Tuesday over at Carol Knits.......Today's Topic:

Ten Ways to Make Winter Less Bleak

Let me preface this by saying that I have always been a fan of January and February.  I find gray weather conducive to prayer and reading.  But it is true.....long around the third week of February and into March I start wishing for color, earth smells, and sun.  So, here are a few things I came up with to make those times less bleak.

1.  Learn new recipes for soup and bread.

2. Make a retreat.  

3. Spend more time just sitting in the middle of the florist section at the grocery store and breathe in the smells.  Buy one or two exotic flowers.  Or better yet, a bunch of daisies.

4.  Read poetry........Keats, Hopkins, Frost........Newman.

5.  Be in a play or go see one.  They are very fun and exciting.  Live theater is a great lift for me.  When I begin directing my spring play, my spirits get lifted almost immediately after auditions.   There is something about live theater where anything can happen...like flying in a prop plane as opposed to a jet.  

  

6.  Take a day and go to a botanical garden.  There is something so amazing about walking the outdoor paths among the leafless trees and the black, empty ground and then turning into the warmth of the Mediterranean House or the Climatron and finding yourself in a rain forest or in the lush garden of a Roman Villa.  When we are starved for color, that is where we go.  

7.  Take hikes.  All sorts of things are going on in the woods.  Birds, animals, and even the wind and sun feel and sound different in the winter.  Take pictures of a spot in the woods and go back later in the spring and take the same picture.  It is pretty amazing what happens over time.  Life is prolific even when it is sleeping.  

8.  Read Jane Austen.  She is witty, romantic, and sensible.  A great lift on a gray day.


9.  Go to a very small restaurant and order something you have never eaten before.

10.  Try new teas and get a few new tea cups.....preferably with flowers on them.