Since moving back to the Midwest from sunny Charlotte, I’ve been slammed again with what most people call the winter blahs. We live between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and gray and brown is the color of winter. This winter has been particularly horrible, with weeks when the temperature never rose above freezing and days of foggy gloom. I could look up how many sunny days we’ve had in January but it would just depress me more. I’m very thin-skinned and going outside involves wrapping up in untold layers of clothes and coats and hats and gloves. I even cover my nose because it turns bright rosy red in the cold.
And I’m totally aware that this is not healthy for me. We need the sun on our skin. Here’s the government link so you know I’m not just making this up: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15585788
And here’s a rather frightening little ditty pointing out what happens if we don’t get enough sunshine: http://www.naturalnews.com/003069.html
Most of us physically crave sunshine for a reason—it’s good for us. And when we don’t get it, we not only don’t get Vitamin D, we’re likely to become victims of Seasonal Effective Disorder or SAD. Take a look at the symptoms listed: (https://health.google.com/health/ref/Seasonal+affective+disorder)
• Afternoon slumps with decreased energy and concentration
• Carbohydrate cravings
• Decreased interest in work or other activities
• Depression that starts in fall or winter
• Increased appetite with weight gain
• Increased sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness
• Lack of energy
• Slow, sluggish, lethargic movement
• Social withdrawal
And if that sounds like you, you probably have more than a case of the winter blahs. So find thee some sunshine, some sun lamps, or a good doctor.
Personally, I like to use my blahs as an excuse to curl up in front of the fire with hot tea and the books I’m judging for the RITAs, but I wouldn’t turn away a cruise to a tropical isle right now either. (probably the reason I wrote my Mystic Isle books!)
And I’m totally aware that this is not healthy for me. We need the sun on our skin. Here’s the government link so you know I’m not just making this up: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15585788
And here’s a rather frightening little ditty pointing out what happens if we don’t get enough sunshine: http://www.naturalnews.com/003069.html
Most of us physically crave sunshine for a reason—it’s good for us. And when we don’t get it, we not only don’t get Vitamin D, we’re likely to become victims of Seasonal Effective Disorder or SAD. Take a look at the symptoms listed: (https://health.google.com/health/ref/Seasonal+affective+disorder)
• Afternoon slumps with decreased energy and concentration
• Carbohydrate cravings
• Decreased interest in work or other activities
• Depression that starts in fall or winter
• Increased appetite with weight gain
• Increased sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness
• Lack of energy
• Slow, sluggish, lethargic movement
• Social withdrawal
And if that sounds like you, you probably have more than a case of the winter blahs. So find thee some sunshine, some sun lamps, or a good doctor.
Once I finish with this box of books, though, I’ll need new reading material because winter is a hundred years long. What is everyone else reading? Anything good?
Or better yet, how do you get rid of the blahs?
Pat, I'm sorry you're SAD. I'm from Seattle so I'm initimately aware of it within and without. I take prescription strength vitamin D supplements. Many people I know use light boxes very successfully. Yoga thrice a week helps me tremendously!!!!
Posted by: Keira Soleore | Sunday, January 31, 2010 at 11:48 PM
Hello. Maine here. Throw in treacherous ice which makes it impossible to walk up the driveway to get the mail, even with ice creepers. The older I get, the more I absolutely hate winter.
We are going on a cruise in 2 weeks! Our first ever.It only took me 20 years to get my husband to think it was his idea. :)We'll go from Tampa to 2 sites in Mexico. I'm bringing books and my laptop and a new black cocktail dress. Whee!
Right now I'm half-way through reading Kate Noble's To Tempt a Saint. She's a new author for me and I really , really love it so far.
Posted by: Maggie Robinson/Margaret Rowe | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 12:26 AM
Oops. That's Kate MOORE. Sorry, Kate. It really is way too early for me to be up.
Posted by: Maggie Robinson/Margaret Rowe | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 12:31 AM
Sherrie, here. Pat, I really feel for people with Seasonal Affective Disorder. Thankfully, I'm not one of them. I'm cheerful no matter what the weather!
Since you asked for book recommendations, I'd like to recommend an absolute gem of a book, one that can be read in one sitting: THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN by Garth Stein. It's a sweet, poignant book about a wise old dog whose owner is a race car driver. The book is written from the point of view of the dog, and it absolutely works! Highly recommend.
If you liked Jurassic Park, you'll love FRAGMENT, by Warren Fahy. A bunch of scientists discover a forgotten island inhabited by fearsome animals that have taken a hard right on the evolutionary ladder.
I just finished Eva Ibbotson's MAGIC FLUTES (thanks to Anne Gracie!), my first Ibbotson. It takes place in 1922 Vienna, about an impoverished princess and a self-made millionaire who buys her castle, unaware that the little wardrobe mistress at the Vienna Opera is the castle's princess.
If you read no other book this year but one, do make it THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN. Sweet. Sweet.
Posted by: Sherrie Holmes | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 01:37 AM
P.S. Sherrie again. I just ordered LITTLE HEATHENS: HARD TIMES AND HIGH SPIRITS ON AN IOWA FARM DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION, by Mildred Armstrong Kalish. It came highly recommended by a literary friend who said she LOL'd all the way through the book. It's the memoir of a woman who grew up during the Depression.
By the way, did you know that if you enter the Amazon site through this blog, the Wenches get credit for anything you buy, even if it's not one of their books? That translates into money which the Wenches can use to cover blog expenses. All you have to do is click on a Wench book in the right sidebar and it takes you to Amazon. From there, you can buy anything, and the credit goes to this blog! Will wonders never cease?!!
Posted by: Sherrie Holmes | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 02:03 AM
It's been hideously cold here in Connecticut, and so I find myself staying indoors way more than usual (which is depressing in itself as I am an outdoor person and love to be active in the sun.)
I may not have SAD but right now a tropical island sounds like heaven! Shall we re-launch that earlier Wench cruise to the sunny Mediterranean and Australia?(all aboard!)
Not that I need an excuse to read, but the weather has been condusive to curling up with a good book. Between my RITA entries and the romance class I'm teaching. I've haven't had time to get to my new TBR pile, but I have been enjoying re-reading old favorites like Northanger Abbey and Regency Buck.
Posted by: Andrea Penrose | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 05:36 AM
Oh, Pat. I so feel for you. I take high doses of antidepressants all year round, but from October to March, I totally shut down. I live in Michigan. In the past two months, we've had 7 days with real sun. Everything else has been gray, foggy, depressing...I sleep any chance I get, I don't want to clean, I don't want to cook, I look for the sweets in the house, I cry when the woman in the commercial for the biggest and best vacuum gets her floor clean, and I've barely written a word on my WIP's because my imagination has taken a cruise to Hawaii and left me behind.
My birthday is coming in another month. I'm cutting out a picture of the light therapy lamp I want, gluing it on a sheet of paper and in big red letters, write: THIS IS THE ONLY THING I WANT FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!! BUY IT!!!
Think they'll get the hint this time? Nah, me either. *sigh*
Posted by: theo | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 08:45 AM
Hey Pat! So sorry SAD is kicking in for you. My dh suffers from SAD, too. Last year, he replaced all the light bulbs in the house with Revel bulbs. That has helped. Another thing that seems to have made a difference (but don't know why) is switching to organic (direct from the farm) eggs. Strange, I know. But if you have a farm near buy, give a dozen of fresh eggs a try. (just remember to wash in soapy water before use) :-)
To recently enjoyed books, check out David Baldacci's 'Split Second' and 'The Whole Truth'. Although far from romance, both offer a wild roller coaster ride.
Nina, hoping theo gets her lamp.
Posted by: NinaP | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 09:50 AM
I actually prefer winter to summer, partly because I think I'll keep better and partly due to growing up in Arizona and getting a lifetime supply of excessively hot days by the time I was 18. My husband knows to attribute my constant crankiness in July and August to the weather and not to him. OTOH, I too get depressed when the skies are grey day after day.
As for books to take your mind off the weather (no matter whether too hot or too cold), I recommend Emma Cole/Susanna Kearsley's "Any Secret Thing". It takes place in Canada, Istanbul, and Portugal. Those who don't like cold can be happy they're not in a place even colder than here and bask in the reflected sun of those places warmer than here. A mystery rather than a Romance, but with a lovely man at the center of the story and a hint of a romance for the contemporary heroine.
I also highly recommend "The Book Thief" by MarKus Zusak. You will cry, but the characters are so wonderful (including Death, the narrator) that you will nonetheless feel refreshed and touched and happy for having known these people at the end.
Feel better everyone.
Posted by: Susan/DC | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 09:56 AM
LOL on crying over the vacuum cleaner commercial! Misery may love company but at least we can laugh about it.
What a refreshing list of reads to add to my list! I think I'll start with the humorous ones though, and save the others for a sunny day. "G"
Have fun on that cruise, Maggie. It just never lasts until spring, sigh.
thank you all for the suggestions. (oh, and I hadn't heard anything about the Revell lights working. Will take another look--have coupon) And keep them coming. I can see I'm not alone out here.
Posted by: Patricia Rice | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 10:13 AM
P.S. I knew as soon as I hit send that I'd got the name of Emma Cole's book wrong: it's "Every Secret Thing". No matter what it's called, it's quite lovely and I recommend it highly -- wonderful characters, colorful settings, and engrossing plot.
Posted by: Susan/DC | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 10:39 AM
Rats! I knew there was something I was missing in my post! I like to escape and one of the most fun ways for me is to immerse myself in Alexis Morgan's Dark Warrior series. It's contemporary, paranormal and her warriors are to die for. I'm eagerly awaiting her newest which comes out in a couple weeks.
Posted by: theo | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 11:11 AM
Pat,
If you do want to try and make yourself get outside, you might want to try an ipod. Music is good if that's your thing, but I chose audiobooks!
I bundle up, load up the ipod with a book I'm dying to read, and only listen when I'm walking in the park. There's lots of good stuff out here, but I go a lot by the book reader as well as who the writer is. My favorites are
Davinia Porter, Barbara Rosenblatt, and Simon Green.
Posted by: Jil | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 11:17 AM
I think I'll try music. Can't listen to people read aloud, but I could really entertain the neighbors by bopping down the street and singing!
Posted by: Patricia Rice | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 03:47 PM
I've had SAD--went to college in Boston, you see, and it was cold, dark and gray for months on end up there. I'm a winter baby and a native New Yorker who is used to snow and mucky winters, but Boston was something else.
Posted by: Annrei | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 04:38 PM
I've been reading "Betrayal of the Blood Lily" by Lauren Willig. It's a combination historical and contempory. This is her sixth book all good reads about spying during the Napolianic Wars, Contempory part with a young lady researching for her desertation and tied to the Wars.
Posted by: Louis | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 05:42 PM
My sympathies, Pat! I don't suffer from SAD, but my DH and oldest DD do. They both swear by exercise. Hubby walks outside during his lunch break unless the weather is wretched, and DD is a figure skater who finds her practice time soothing. Music seems to cheer both them up too. (Rock for DH, indie hits for DD.) I've been known to dance around the house to cheer myself up too. God bless ear buds!
Posted by: Ann Stephens | Monday, February 01, 2010 at 07:03 PM
I will add Boston to my list of places to which I won't be moving!
Yes! Willig is excellent. Already on the growing TBR, thank you.
I know I should be outside, getting sun and exercising, but it's cooolllllldddd out there! So that's part of my problem. I hate being cold. But music, yes. I sit at my desk with my fancy lamp and my music and I get work done. And then I go read a book. Not all bad.
Posted by: Patricia Rice | Tuesday, February 02, 2010 at 04:33 AM
Pat, sympathetic thoughts from a damp, cold and dark UK! I got a light box for the first time this year and it has helped me very much. I switch it on when I have my morning tea and feel much more like facing the day. My dog also helps. I have to take him out for a walk whatever the weather and I always feel better for the exercise. In the evenings I'm currently curling up with Hilary Mantel's book Wolf Hall. It's a masterclass in writing historical fiction. I've learned such a lot from it. Plus she has managed to turn Thomas Cromwell into a very attractive hero!
Posted by: Nicola Cornick | Tuesday, February 02, 2010 at 04:59 AM
Oh, Pat!
You have my sympathy; I, to, feel like hibernating. Here in London it is cold, damp and grey. Still, the snowdrops are beginning to push their way up and there are small snouts of daffodils in the parks.
The lime twigs glow reddish in the wintry sun - when it deigns to make an appearance - and blue tits are hopping about in my lilac tree looking for insects.
Have faith! Spring will return. In the meantime, I salute you over a cup of hot chocolate!
Posted by: Elizabeth Hawksley | Tuesday, February 02, 2010 at 09:47 AM
Cromwell a hero! I'll have to try that, although I suppose I can see the point. Of course, I've read books where Napoleon was the hero and can see through the cosmetics. "G"
Our poor daffodils poked up too early and the weather has been so cold that it even managed to freeze their poor snouts, which is very unusual. But we just learned that if we hang suet in an upside-down feeder, we can keep the starlings out of it! So maybe the woodpeckers won't starve. I can watch four varieties out my window, so I hope they figure out the new feeder soon!
Posted by: Patricia Rice | Tuesday, February 02, 2010 at 10:27 AM
well you have an option ,you can move to Puerto Rico where I live and enjoy all year of complete sunshine.
Posted by: maria | Tuesday, February 02, 2010 at 02:23 PM
Maria, if I could move, I'd do it in a minute! But my husband works and pays the health insurance, so it's not in the cards any time soon. Although we've eyed Costa Rica where our son used to work...
Posted by: Patricia Rice | Tuesday, February 02, 2010 at 03:47 PM
I understand completely. I was driving today, looking over the gray landscape and thinking about painting my living room yellow! This has been a very dark winter for the Midwest. And I have a feeling we will be having a bunch of dark stormy spring days as well.
Good point about the vitamin D, whoever mentioned it. I need to take more, the doctor definitely recommended it.
Posted by: Gillian | Tuesday, February 02, 2010 at 06:30 PM
I'm reading ECLIPSE by S. Meyer, PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF by Riordon, Listeng to THE ERAGON sequel ELDEST in the car, THE ANGEL by Carla Neggers and a Christine Feehan book. Work reading is getting in the way of my personal reading.
Posted by: Patricia Barraclough | Tuesday, February 02, 2010 at 09:42 PM
Ms. Laurens,
For my own fun, I often try to list my Top Ten romance writers. I almost always get in trouble because my list is too long (Top 12? Top 15?) But you're always on it and would never be omitted. I particularly enjoy the emphasis you put on the psychological side of each relationship, the slow, thorough way you show the relationship growing.
The first of your books I read was Devil's story. I can still hear in my head (and feel elsewhere) his saying "Honoria Prudence".
But I have questions.
About Royce not being known to his men in the Bastion Club. These men more or less were all in the same schools at the same time, or had brothers or cousins etc. How could *none* of them know who he was? After all, he was disowned after being at school. And even more to the point, how is it that most of their wives or ladyfriends did?
Also. We are told that Scandal's name comes from "the scandal that never was", in that Sebastian St. Ives came back from some mysterious absence and gave Richard, as a baby, to Helena, who immediately loved him and raised him as her son. Had (shudder) Sebastian cheated on Helena? In the family tree, here,
http://stephanielaurens.com/Cynsters/Cynsters_FamilyTree.html
Scandal is clearly shown as Sebastian's illegitimate son. Could (shudder bis) The Promise In a Kiss have been broken? Will we learn what happened?
Helene D.
Posted by: Helene D. | Thursday, February 04, 2010 at 09:01 AM
Poor Pat! I see another trip to Hawaii is needed. Used to have the SAD thing as well - not so since moving here - basically 12 hours of sunshine year round - 11 on the shortest day, 13 on the longest. Lots to be said for life in the tropics!
Posted by: Donna Brown | Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 11:54 PM