Staving Off the Gloom: Friday Five

Sally offers us a RevGals Friday Five on surviving in the midst of winter:

1. Exercise, what do you do if you can't face getting out into the cold and damp?

We've got an elliptical exercise machine in the basement, as well as a pretty extensive set of weights (PH is a fitness fiend), so I tend to use those items through the wintertime.Of course, sometimes I just look at them and think about exercising.

2. Food; time to comfort eat, or time to prepare your body for the coming spring/summer?

Mostly healthy eating, with an eye toward what is in season. Some comfort foods, though, especially on a day like today when we are housebound and the snow is falling hard (we are expecting between 20-30 inches over the next 36 hours0.

3. Brainpower; do you like me need to stave off depression, if so how do you do it?

Lots of reading, lots of work. I'm not very subject to seasonal depression, but when it hovers, I exercise, cook, read, pray.

4. How about a story that lifts your spirits, is there a book or film that you return to to stave off the gloom?

Really just silly situation comedies and such. Right now I'm reading the very funny and poignant "Mennonite in a Little Black Dress"by Rhoda Janzen...I recommend it highly!

5. Looking forward, do you have a favourite spring flower/ is there something that says spring is here more than anything else?

I love to see the little white snowdrops flowering in March, and the crocuses not far behind them.

Bonus; post a poem/ piece of music that points to the coming spring......

Just thinking about the Easter portion of the Messiah does it for me!