The Solution To The Season
When Collette invited me to be part of this blog hop, she suggested thanking and appreciating all those who have supported authors. Just at the moment though, I’m not speaking to some of my friends and family. Oh, it’s not that we’ve fallen out. It’s just that it’s winter, nerves are frayed, tempers are short, and someone is bound to say something they’ll regret.
The sad truth is winter will strain the best of relationships. Even in Florida, it’s cold, it’s wet, and all that stuff you happily let go of for Christmas, you now have to pick up and carry on with again! For me, that’s school, which I enjoy, and grading, which really needs to be automated! (Insert whine here. Preferably with cheese.)
The solution, according to much research, involves altering your mind set:
But it’s tough to make a mental adjustment when you’re already down, so sometimes a concrete, physical solution helps. The first and most obvious solution is chocolate! Loaded with caffeine, phenylethylamine, theobromine and more cool, mind-altering substances, chocolate can actually give you a mental and physical boost. This fabulous chocolate gift basket is just one of the prizes in this blog hop!
In Florida, it’s also strawberry season. Nearly 300 million pounds of strawberries are grown in Central Florida each winter and strawberries are as big a sport as college bowl games. Every time cold weather threatens, news teams run out to the fields and debate the merits of watering the little white blossoms vs. foam.
You’d think they’d be an easy backyard treat to grow, but that’s not been my experience. They have to be in raised furrows or beds or their roots will rot. Any damp quickly becomes fungus even on the patio in pots. And no matter where they are, the squirrels manage to get them. I wouldn’t mind sharing, but the squirrels always, ALWAYS take one bite from each fruit, leaving me a bumper crop of half-eaten produce!
So I just enjoy them from the fields. Strawberries are natural anti- depressants, loaded with anti-oxidants, vitamins, and minerals. They’re high in fiber, low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium, and the white ones are sometimes safe for allergy sufferers.
In history and literature, strawberries symbolize romance in all its complications. They’ve been associated with the Virgin Mary in medieval and renaissance paintings, but Anne Boleyn was accused of being a witch because she had a strawberry shaped birthmark on her neck. The Norse goddess of love, Freyja, is associated with strawberries.
Strawberries are cute and round, a bright pretty red, and pop right in your mouth like a sweet little kiss. So join the blog hop for a chance at some amazing chocolate, then throw in some strawberries for an extra boost!
kathybryson 