The Funk

Well, it's that time of year again... the winter blues! I could blame Canada, which would be an easy scapegoat, but I think "the funk" (as I endearingly like to call it) will find you no matter where you are. Whether it's below freezing, snowing and I'm sliding around icy sidewalks - or just gray, rainy and blah (another of my favorite descriptive terms) - January and February are not my cup of tea!

My self-prescription? Lots of soup-making, baking, movie-watching, hot yoga, cuddling with Ben and Bosco ... and as of today, Vitamin D supplements, apparently a winter survival secret of Canadians.

The upside? Snow is beautiful! I've never been a big snow person, but it's growing on me. Case in point: a few weeks ago, after a frustrating ski day for me in Fernie, British Columbia, Ben and I suddenly found ourselves alone in a winter wonderland of the sort that I had only seen in ski movies.

It's these moments, when I realize I'm striding the side of the Rocky Mountains, surrounded by pine trees ensconced in fluffy piles of snow, that all the cold and stresses melt away and I find myself thrusting off my skis and throwing myself into a powdery pile of the white stuff, laying down and soaking it all in. Or when I feel the thud of a snowball on my back as I'm coasting down a clear hill, only to turn to see Ben crouched down with a "catch-me-if-you-can" grin, and we take off after one another on skis and snowboard, feeling like kids.