Friday Five: Gloom before Spring

Sally says at RevGalBlogPals:

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?
Lately it has been raining and even one day was immersed in fog so that I have not felt like going out to walk the puppy Maisie. It was so exciting last night to see the clouds parting, and today the sun is shining!

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

The past few weeks of cold weather reminded me of my coping mechanisms when we lived in RI and NJ--I would cook and bake! I found the coziest, almost mushy, chicken recipe to cook in the crockpot this week: I’ve Died & Gone to Heaven Chicken Slow Cooker / Crock Pot Recipe. CB has even enjoyed it with his oppressive cold. But I need to renew my commitment to counting points with the Weight Watchers program.

3. Brainpower; do you like me need to stave off depression, if so how do you do it?
Since I suffered from clinical depression for years, I take prozac daily, and believe the medicine (and therapy) saved my life. Now in the current issue of Newsweek, the cover and a long article discuss "The Depressing News About Antidepressants: Studies suggest that the popular drugs are no more effective than a placebo. In fact, they may be worse."

I have tried to stop taking prozac, but fall into the flat affect state which deteriorates into suicidal ideation for me. So I continue to take meds.

4. How about a story that lifts your spirits, is there a book or film that you return to to stave off the gloom?
We recently watched "Kinky Boots," which both CB and I love.



5. Looking forward, do you have a favourite spring flower/ is there something that says spring is here more than anything else?
I love daffodils, which I could see bringing forth the message of spring in Bellingham, WA and when we also lived in RI and NJ. I fondly remember the daffodils blooming at the cemetery soon after my dad was buried there in Feb. 2002.

But in TX the wildflowers can be abundant and glorious. However, there have been few coming forth in the past few years because of the severe drought in this area. With all the rainfall this past fall and winter, we are hoping we'll see bluebonnets and other wildflowers in their glory soon.
Bonus; post a poem/ piece of music that points to the coming spring......

The Bright Field

by R. S. Thomas

I have seen the sun break through

to illuminate a small field

for a while, and gone my way

and forgotten it. But that was the pearl

of great price, the one field that had

the treasure in it. I realize now

that I must give all that I have

to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after

an imagined past. It is the turning

aside like Moses to the miracle

of the lit bush, to a brightness

that seemed as transitory as your youth

once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

U. S. Drought, especially TX

Drought Monitor

Rain clouds today, but only 1/4 inch of rain. Last week we had 1/3 inch of rain. This is the most it has rained in over three months. We are over 15 inches below normal for 2009 rainfall here--in south TX.

Memorial Day Weekend

For this Memorial Day weekend our TX children are here. Today DC and his wife AA arrived with their bull dog Sampson. BJ got here on Thursday night with hyper dog Troy, who is staying with us while BJ spends the weekend at a house on the beach with seven friends. Troy is running and running around our backyard, barking at the birds he sees flying overhead.

Tonight we are going to a wedding. I will wear my "uniform," which is a long turquoise dress with a jacket. This is the fourth wedding I've worn it to this year. Since I haven't lost any weight, this is still the dress to wear!
We are having a few thunder showers, with infrequent rainfall. Last week when a thunderstorm came in, we had 1/3 inch of rain. Corpus Christi is in the worst stage of drought: D4 Exceptional Drought. A map of TX showing the drought conditions is here.

With hurricane season starting on June 1st, that may be the only way we'll get enough rain to lessen the drought. But we don't want a hurricane at all.

Record High Today

Corpus Christi, TX had a record high temperature of 96 degrees F. today. Supposedly the "normal" high temperature for this date is 82 degrees F. I would much prefer the latter temp. Yuck, and it is till April. This does not bode well for our "spring" here--or the SUMMER either.

Two friends were at Lebh Shomea for a few days and said that it is brown and dry there. Father Kelly told them that the wild animals, such as javelinas, deer, and turkeys, are dying from lack of water and malnutrition. There really is a drought in Texas.

**There is the U. S. Drought Monitor here. The map shows the drought (or not) conditions in all parts of the USA.

My Quilt!

Today in the Wisdom Class, our church office administrator and my friend, Beverly, came into the church library where we were meeting with a quilt. She unfolded it and told us the story of its creation, and how it grew before her very eyes. Beverly is renown for her quilts; she creates them for her family and for each new rector of All Saints Episcopal Church.

Another friend MB ordered one from Beverly, which turned out vibrantly beautiful. MB has it hanging on a wall in her home. That got me wishing for one of my own, but they're very expensive! So back in January, I decided to start saving all my $5 bills so that in a few years I could get my own quilt.

But today Beverly presented me with this African one! She said that months ago she decided to do this and called and asked husband CB what my favorite color is (green) and something about me--that I went to Zambia in 2006. And this was the result. You can see that the back is as beautiful as the front!

That was such a huge surprise! I never suspected anything while Beverly was talking about it in our class for Walter Wink's book The Powers That Be. Suddenly she handed it to me and gave me an invoice for $5!!

Someone in the class said it should be called "Jan's Joy," but Beverly named it "Rain Dance." On the label she wrote from the Australian Yearly Meeting:

"Even in times of drought, the wellspring of the spirit knows no restrictions."

We are in a drought here, so we need rain. Plus, we're getting to summer weather: 80-90F/78 F each day. The title of the quilt reminded me of the scripture I chose as the theme of the Emmaus Walk I was Lay Director for in JULY 2001:

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
and its leaves shall stay green;
In the year of drought it is not anxious,
and it does not cease to bear fruit.
~~Jeremiah 17:7-8

This quilt will remind me of friendship, the Wisdom Class, how I love rain (I'm from WA State, after all), the Emmaus Walk when I was Lay Director, and my trip to Zambia. What a celebration!