Chase Away the Winter Blues
Don’t have a garden? Research community gardens in your area, or look into volunteering at a local botanical garden. Attend a local garden show or conservatory in the meantime, and make plans to visit a botanical garden or take a spring garden tour when the blossoms begin in your zone. It will be something nice to look forward to.
Planting Time! How to Order From the Garden Catalogs
Then hammer the bottoms of the branches, or cut a 1-inch slit in each one, and put them in a bucket of lukewarm water mixed with floral preservative. Place them in a cool dark corner of the house, and change out the water every day or so. Within about a week, you should start to see color bursting from some of the buds, which means they are ready to be arranged out in the open.
In addition to giving you early garden blossoms, cutting the branches can be helpful garden pruning.
10 Elements of an Inspiring Workout Zone
Under the Tuscan Sun: Explore and settle in Italy’s Tuscany with a brokenhearted Diane Lane.
Wild: Endure a physically and emotionally grueling hike along the Pacific Crest Trail while sitting on your sofa.
The Way Way Back: Enjoy the summer nostalgia in a Massachusetts beach town that seems to be stuck in the 1980s. And be glad you’re not an awkward tween.
The 100-Foot Journey: Immerse yourself in a charming village, with delicious food, in southern France. Movie snacks are encouraged — this one will make you hungry.
Bread and Tulips: Escape your life and wander the narrow streets of Venice, Italy, for 114 delightful minutes.
Romancing the Stone: Look out for giant snakes, crocodiles and Danny DeVito in the jungles of Colombia (though this was really filmed in Mexico).
I’m putting Out of Africa on my own virtual travel list because I’ve never seen it.
If you’d rather attack wanderlust with films that will make you not want to travel one bit, here’s a list of movies with striking scenery that will make you happy you’re ensconced in a throw blanket at home: The Poseidon Adventure, Everest, Titanic, Spring Breakers, Backcountry, Alive, The Road, Dante’s Peak, Deliverance, Jaws, The Beach, The Edge.
This sounds like work, but you’ll know you’re working toward rewards: not having such a rough morning adjustment when it happens, and gaining that precious hour of daylight in the evenings soon. Make plans for how you’ll spend that hour — an evening stroll or bike ride, prepping the garden, patio or porch, or enjoying the last fire pit nights of the season with family and friends.