At this time of year, I get a serious case of cabin fever and a longing to be digging in my garden.  I love growing things.  You can see from the photo that I have a very large raised bed garden.

Now don’t get me wrong, I really do like snow.  It’s very pretty.  It covers up the dead grass and looks great hanging on the pine trees around my house.  It also adds to the ambience of the holidays.  Snow on the ground at Thanksgiving makes the holiday feel cozier while I’m in my kitchen baking pies.  Moreover, what’s Christmas without snow?  It’s nature’s special holiday decoration.  In my area, when there is too little snow fall in the winter we have problems with our lakes not filling up as much as they need to.  In addition, there are five ski resorts around me and their very livelihood depends on good snowfall.  I just feel that winter lasts too long.  Once the holidays are over the snow should go away and spring needs to begin.

I have found two things that help alleviate winter depression.  The first is planting my own starters.  I have growing tables set up in my garage complete with heating mats under the trays and grow lights above them.  The area is large enough to grow one hundred and eighty seedlings.  At this time of year, I start my tomatoes and peppers.  I live only a hundred miles from the Canadian border and the growing season up here is very short.  If you start your tomatoes outside from seeds, they will be small and green by the time the first frost hits in September.  The only way to have a decent crop is start them indoors and move them outside after the last spring frost, which is around mid-May.

The second thing I have found to battle winter depression and cabin fever is to start writing a new story.  I may be house bound and dealing with miserable weather but my characters aren’t.

My current work in progress is the sequel to my October release, THE KISS OF A ROSE.  The new book picks up about eight months after the end of the first one.  It continues the story with all the same characters and a few new ones.  The title for the second book is, THE THORN OF A ROSE with a release date later this year.

Augustina Van Hoven
Proving Love is Strange
THE KISS OF A ROSE – Now available
www.augustinavanhoven.com
FaceBook | Twitter:  @augustinavhoven

A DISTANT PAST

In 1882, Rose Van Buren loved the wrong man and paid for it with her life. Now, more than a century later, the angel Gabriel has granted her another shot at living. In exchange, she must convince a smart, handsome, up-and-coming lawyer to set aside his lofty ambitions.

A FUTURE PRESENT

Stephen Winship is headed straight for the governor’s chair. He has a brilliant career, solid allies, and a seemingly perfect girlfriend. But night after night he finds himself dreaming of a heavenly beauty, a luminous but long-dead girl. Like some altered Ghost of Christmas Past, she shows him her own tragic tale in order to “save him.” And he’s beginning to see Rose is risking her heart as much as baring her soul. Yet falling for her will cost him everything—and open him up to a happiness he never imagined.