RevGals Friday Five: Pointing Toward Spring...

(Photo of a hummingbird moth in lavender, from my backyard)

Sally over at RevGals offers this Friday Five Meme wondering what to do on a rainy day that points toward Spring...

1. Exercise, what do you do if you can't face getting out into the cold and damp? I have a routine that includes rotating through the week: twenty minutes of core ab work plus bicep/tricep with weights; two twenty minute yoga routines (one for morning and one for afternoon); an indoor exercise bike; and two yoga DVD's with 60 minute and 96 minutes practices. Using one, or a series of these, gives me ways to move when I'm stuck indoors.

2. Food; time to comfort eat, or time to prepare your body for the coming spring/summer? I don't do much comfort eating. But like my cycle of exercise I have a daily "practice" of must have dietary needs: Morning - coffee. After several cups of coffee I usually have a big bowl of plain yogurt with honey and granola. Afternoon: dark chocolate and Earl Grey tea. Dinner: a glass of wine with dinner. Late night: herbal tea and a cookie. Throughout the day - lots of water.

3. Brainpower; do you like me need to stave off depression, if so how do you do it? These days I am totally working hard to stave off depression....exercise is a big part of it. Meditating helps. Blogging is essential. And, hopefully, a good night's sleep.

4. How about a story that lifts your spirits, is there a book or film that you return to to stave off the gloom? Lately: watching movies like "Serendipity" or "Sleepless in Seattle" or, even, "The Count of Monte Cristo" - over coming adversity with humor and love...or reading books: recently "Eat, Pray, Love" and "People of the Book"...but nothing that I automatically turn too.

5. Looking forward, do you have a favourite spring flower/ is there something that says spring is here more than anything else? Tulips, Lilacs, and:

Bonus; post a poem/ piece of music that points to the coming spring......

Spring: Mary Oliver

Somewhere
a black bear
has just risen from sleep
and is staring

down the mountain.
All night
in the brisk and shallow restlessness
of early spring

I think of her,
her four black fists
flicking the gravel,
her tongue

like a red fire
touching the grass,
the cold water.
There is only one question:

how to love this world.
I think of her
rising
like a black and leafy ledge

to sharpen her claws against
the silence
of the trees.
Whatever else

my life is
with its poems
and its music
and its cities,

it is also this dazzling darkness
coming
down the mountain,
breathing and tasting;

all day I think of her -—
her white teeth,
her wordlessness,
her perfect love.