winter

The best thing about February…

isn’t Valentine’s Day. It is, however, related.
Around Christmas time, most people become obsessed with oranges – they give you an orange and the story of some little orphan who got the one orange and then shared it with her friends and how it was so tasty and so on about how it’s promoting health because of the vitamin C and yadda yadda. For me, this was always a nice story, but with so much other stuff going on, I didn’t really care or feel the way I do come February.
By February, I’m sick of winter. I’m tired of the rain, the wet, the short days and the long dark nights (even if they are getting shorter.) I’m tired of the cold. I’m tired of people being sick (and in most cases, me being ill too) and I’m ready for a change.
And then comes the week of Valentines. Laugh if you will, but Valentine’s is when you start seeing the cards, the roses, and the strawberries in the stores (all be it at a premium). Only they’re not quite ripe – and don’t catch your attention. However, if you give it a couple weeks, and keep your senses open, you’ll discover….
Fresh, Vine Ripened Strawberries….
priceless rubies of sweetness that burst into your mouth and remind you that yes, somewhere, there is sunshine. Somewhere, it is warm. Somewhere, the flowers have bloomed, the bees have buzzed, and a fruit has grown to be plucked and trucked directly to your tastebuds.
And that’s when I’m tempted. I walk past the display all year – until for 30 seconds, all I can smell are fresh warm strawberries. As the scent envelopes my body, these little gems call to me, through my nose, peaking my tastebuds and making me salivate in anticipation. It seems, at that moment, that I’m suddenly smelling summer vacation – and I have to pause, turn back, and look for the most ripe, fragrant container of perfect strawberries because no matter the cost, they will be mine – they must be mine. I crave them like the sky craves the moon, the plants need the rain or like a bird needs to fly.
Rarely do they make it all the way home. As I eat my precious red nuggets, each one bursting into my mouth with a juicy tart sweetness, it’s like they have a promise of summer, a promise of sunshine and warm days ahead, of feet in the sand and exotic trips to somewhere beyond.
Yeah, it’s the strawberries that do it to me everytime. They make me long for a new season, long for the warm damp earth they come out of, and take me – for just a moment – into the world beyond winter’s rainy gray cold into the vivid sun filled days.
It is for this reason, that I say, the best thing about February is Strawberries.
(PS. Happy Birthday, Angi – BFF – A&A, E&E, BATS, NMW!)
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Sunday, Rainy Sunday

It’s raining. Again.
Yep, it’s Berlin – it’s been raining for 3 days straight. (For those of you in Georgia, experiencing snow – I’m SO JEALOUS I could spit!!!) It’s gray, dreary, and miserable outside – and I have to work. Again. UGH.
What’s funny is that, I’ve been singing / humming since I woke up at 5:30 am to go to work. Despite it all, I’m just in the mood to sing – and I don’t know why. It been bothering me a little bit, and leaving me a bit concerned that I’ve been spending too much time alone.
What’s even more amusing (than the fact I’ve been singing to myself all morning) – as I’m walking to the bus stop, I’m the only one up and outside. All you can hear is the sound of the rain, the patter of the drops on my umbrella, the wind in the trees, and the splosh of my footsteps as they are hitting the cobblestones. The world is that sort of blue gray, and because it’s Sunday, none of the street lights or store signs are on so they are a dark gray against the light blue gray sky. It’s just me, the rain, the wind, and the song I have stuck in my head as I walk.
Then, I round the corner, and there’s this bird. He’s black, silhouetted against the gray sky and just sitting right at the top of the tree. I probabally wouldn’t have noticed him for my umbrella but all of a sudden, he just started singing, and singing and singing and singing. Trills and songs, long whistles and clicks, just as pretty and colorful as you please. He made me pause and look up.
Suddenly, it doesn’t matter that I’m down on the sidewalk, it doesn’t matter that it’s pouring and miserable outside, that no one else is awake, nor that I even have to work. It was suddenly like I knew why I had been singing all morning.
You know – because I’m happy – just like that bird.
I’d have to say that seeing him made worth getting out of bed this morning, the walk in the rain, the weird ponderance on why I was singing, and perhaps even the fact that I have to work again. I feel blessed. I saw a bird sing – and was the only one to hear.
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You know it’s cold when…

You know it’s cold when… (today’s top 10 list)
10. You bundle up to walk the dog and don’t care how you look anymore – as long as you’re warm.
9. The dog looks at you like “do I have to” when you open the door.
8. You kick the dog out the door, but don’t lock it for fear that the metal lock would stick in the metal door jamb and be impossible to re-open.
7. The dog walks on the pavement, picking up each paw, shaking it (to get it warm) and then repeats for each step as he’s walking – while looking back at you like the world is coming to the end. (Remember – I have a husky – a dog designed for COLD weather!)
6. You go back inside and realize you’ve lost all feeling to your fingers, toes, nose, ears, thighs, butt, and forearms – and you’ve only been outside for 10 minutes.
5. The bus driver waits until the last possible minute to open the door and then promptly slams it behind you – closing your jacket in the rubber flap and prompting you to “fall up the stairs” as you try to pull your coat out and show him your bus pass.
4. You wish the weather would just warm up to 35 degrees so you could unthaw.
3. Drinking lukewarm tap water feels like you’re drinking something really warm (hot coffee? tea? hot chocolate?) .. and you can feel it as it goes all the way down and coats the inside of your stomach.
2. You wear tights, long johns, jeans and knee high boots to work yet feel NO requirement to de-layer yourself once in the office (because it’s only slightly less windy inside – but nearly the same temperature as outside.)
AND… *Drum Roll please*….
The Number 1 way you know it’s cold is…..
1. You realize that the fingerless gloves you have worn at the computer desk the last 3 days aren’t keeping your hands/fingers warm anymore so you consider ski gloves – and request a new keyboard so you can continue working….
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