HOW DO WE MAKE OURSELVES HAPPY THIS WINTER

Winter is a dreary time for everyone, and especially for us tropical people. With the cold, the snow, the rain, the gray skies, the icy pavements, the lack of sunshine, the short days... do we need more? Sometimes it seems impossible to make it through winter. We still have to find our own ways no matter what.

The experts call this SAD, as in Seasonal Affective Disorder. It happens to everyone, not just tropical people like us. It happens to people who have been living in climate countries all their lives too. The moods just creep up on you and everything seems downright dreadful. How do you cope, or at least, try to cope?

Here is what we have been doing, or at least, going to try to do :

• Cook! It is after all one of our many hobbies and it feeds us at the end of the day. We have learned how to make bread this winter. And without a bread maker/machine. Why do you need that anyway? We made our own burger buns yesterday. Not too shabby, not too shabby at all. What newbies have you cooked this winter?
• Crochet. It is another hobby. It helps us to relax with its monotony. We love it that we make something useful at the end. It is either a present for ourselves or a dear friend.
• Movies! We are film buffs. More like film junkies. We like to watch everything and anything. OK, not anything. We can be selective but we like to think we watch the better films.
• TV. We do not really like watching telly. Not with the commercials and ridiculous programs like that dancing show with the stars on BBC. What does that accomplish? Give us National Geographic, BBC documentaries, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet and we will be very very happy. Oh, there is 'Locked Up Abroad' tonight on Nat Geo. We love the casting on it. Definitely something to look forward to every night after dinner.
• Series. We catch them every Monday or whenever they air. Totally the thing to look forward to on a Monday. Monday blues? We think not.
• Design! We have been involved in some self-initiated projects and we are loving it. They keep our minds active and we also end up with some unique pieces for our folio. This is a good way to practice those softwares too.
• Friends online. Keeping in touch with friends have never been easier these days with the internet. We are not on Facebook but true friends know how and where to reach us. When we are feeling blue, we know we just have to log into our chat program and there they are. Wonderful.
• Read. We do not read enough, we know. But we have other (better?) things to do. We are not readers. We love our visuals more than our words. So watching something is more attractive than reading. That is at least for us. We still want to read Elizabeth David's books though.
• Plant. It is winter, but we have moved some plants into the apartment. Nothing is actually growing quickly now but they are surviving and still growing slowly. There is nothing more wonderful than to know your plants are not dead in this weather and they are still, slowly sprouting. Slowly but surely.
• Candles. It is cold, dark and dreary. Nothing like candles to create ambience at this time. Mr Washy hates it. He says it is too dark. But give us candles anytime and we will even stop complaining that it is too dark.
• Desserts. We never thought we would say this but desserts. Yes. It is something to look forward to after dinner.
• Date nights. We value our date nights. It is usually Friday evenings. We would cook and open a bottle of wine at home. It beats going out and spending stupid money. A cozy night in is definitely the way.
• Go out? We still have to go out of course. But not when it is aimless. We would go to the city to run errands, supermarkets for grocery, out for a meal, a drink...etc.
• What's more? We shall add them when we think of more.

See, money is not on the list.