Snow days

How did Australians get so good at making candy?

Lately I've felt very...blah...and I made no secret of that fact. When I was in school and swamped with work, I remember still having the ehergy to do more, more, more. Now that I have a day job that I can actually leave at the office, I'm mysteriously too exhausted to even handle my usual stuff, let alone to take on more. I recently had this conversation with a friend of mine, a fellow overachiever who is experiencing a similar post-degree slump. We lamented our respective lack of zeal and wondered when we had gotten old.

I had an epiphany at the bus stop on Sunday. It's winter. it may not have looked or felt particularly wintery in these parts, but it is undoubtedly winter. In the wintertime, we are told as children, the trees lose their leaves but they are not dead - only resting. Similarly, the cold and dark have driven me indoors and into a dormant state...a time for reflection, recuperation and re-evaluation. There arebig decisions to be made and big changes for which to prepare. And nobody can be "on" all the time - as much as I try to be.

I hereby command everyone to give themselves permission to be a turtle for the winter. What's the fun in always being fun?

As mentioned, Nova Scotia's weather thus far has been decidedly un-wintery As if the Earth herself couldn't decide whether or not it was really time to go into Pod Mode. Chalk this up to conicidence, psychology, divine intervention or whatever strikes your fancy, but by the time I got off another bus later that day, snow was blanketing the ground. I put down my hood, lifted my face to the sky and felt the soft kisses of the fluffy white flakes. Somebody else seemed to have shared in my decision...

It's almost my birthday. Wish me lots of fair-trade, vegan chocolate cake with fudgy icing.