Winter of our discontent

by chuckofish

I’m feeling mighty discontented at the moment.  I had most of my post completed when Edge crashed and I lost everything (why does that keep happening to me?). That, coupled with my laptop’s snail-like speed and apparent unwillingness to complete tasks, has damaged my calm. But I will fare forward!

Yesterday’s snowstorm dumped a good foot of snow on us — ugh. In the event that readers are also getting tired of winter I have a few suggestions to restore morale.

a. Watch 1970s reruns of The Match Game in honor of long-time panelist Orson Bean, who died yesterday when hit by a car. He was still going strong at 91. 

My DP and I spent many a long, boring summer day watching that show and yucking it up over Mr. Bean’s witticisms. Rest easy, sir.

b. Bake something wonderful and take it to work to share. Food is a great morale booster. One of my colleagues brought this cake in last week. A friend had made it for her birthday! Can you imagine?

It was as delicious as it was beautiful!

c.  Pamper yourself. I bought these face masks hoping, if not to improve my hag-like appearance, then at least to hydrate my skin. I’ll let you know how it works.

I also  bought these little ‘Fit Kicks’ to wear to Tai Chi, where the floor is super cold and (let’s be honest) not the cleanest. They come in jazzy colors and prints, but I’m an old fogey so gray trim is as wild as I get.

d. Do some light reading. Reread a favorite book, find a new series or peruse a picture book. My BFF recently sent me the first book in a series by Imogen Robertson.

A murder mystery set in 1780s England, the book seems to be historically accurate, is well-written, has good characters, and held my interest throughout. I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of volume two which I ordered as soon as I finished the first one. The series seems perfect for my current mood. Right now, I need books that I can depend upon to (1) keep me engaged, (2) have consistent, likeable characters, and perhaps most important (3) NOT use the historical setting as a political platform. Okay, the main female character falls on the anachronistic side of authentic, but the author is not too heavy-handed and did not annoy me. We’ll see how volume 2 goes.

e. Try something entirely new. Many universities have online classes available for anyone to take. Yale offers some interesting looking ones. If you want something more hands-on, why not take up knitting, embroidery or sewing? YouTube has loads of how-to videos. I know that finding the time is hard, but I am a great example of how all work and no play makes us dull!

Writing this post has restored my calm and I am now ready to start my day. I have three sets of committee minutes to type up and the 2nd Punic War to master. You know, the usual….