Hungry for color

There's no real mystery around why this image sang to me today.  It's school vacation week here, and most everyone I know has gone off to sunnier climes -- Mexico, Hawaii, Florida, the Bahamas, Capri, Jamaica -- all those places where the sky is blue, the light is strong, and the colors are clear and bright.

I remember learning, when we lived in Vermont, that the suicide rate there is at its highest in February, when everyone seems to get what we used to call "cabin fever."  And I think for all of us, no matter what the season, there come those times when we grow extremely tired of our own company, when life seems gray and colorless and we just want to be somewhere else.

I could say that running away doesn't really help.  Because when we step off the plane a week later, the sky is still gray, the rain is still driving at the windows.  But somehow the memory of the warmth and color can help tide us over into spring.  So -- if you can't skip off to warmer climes, how will you give your heart a break today?  What might feed your eyes and soul; give you the boost you need to weather the rest of winter?  What can you read, or visit, or create today; what kindness can you do for someone else that might bring a burst of color into both your lives?