As the vibrant greens of summer begin to fade, making way for the brilliant reds, golds, and oranges of autumn, my yearly countdown to October 1st is coming to another end. Gone are the hot and miserably humid days that make me feel like someone hit the slow-motion button on a remote control.
No more hugging air conditioners for me. Nope. It’s time to break out the bread machine, candles, sweaters, fuzzy socks, and fleece blankets. Oh yeah. And books. Lots and lots of books.
Because it’s finally here!
Welcome back, my old friend, Autumn. Sayonara, Summer. Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.
For those who hold fond memories of my least favorite season, this song is for you. The last verse is for me. It turned colder… Thank you, God. 🙂
(Psst! Shameless plug alert. If you like stories that take place partly in the fall, A Hero For Holly is a great choice!)
Photo credit: Pixabay.com
The only thing I don’t like about autumn is the cold and flu season. But I do love the change in colors on the trees. It’s a mixed blessing. 🙂
It sure is. LOL…I spend half my time in public places wanting to shout at people, “Cover your mouths/noses when you cough/sneeze because I shouldn’t have to catch what you have because you can’t be bothered.”
One thing that helps, seriously, is Vitamin D3. I researched the heck out of it when my doctor tested my level and it was at 12. The bare minimum is 30, with something like 50-70 being optimal. It was the same blood test where my hypothyroidism was diagnosed but you know what? My next appointment was almost a month away. However, the doctor IMMEDIATELY phoned in a prescription for 50,000 i.u.’s of vitamin D – that I was supposed to take twice a week … yet she waited nearly four weeks to do anything about my thyroid.
Personally, I thought she was a quack. A hundred thousand i.u.’s of vitamin D … every week???!!! Yeah, not. The RDA is a fraction of that and I thought she was trying to kill me or something, lol. So I did tons of research, and made phone calls to other medical professionals, and I was surprised at what I discovered.
One, prescription vitamin D isn’t absorbed anywhere near as well as over-the-counter D3. Two, anyone living north of the Longitude (or Latitude??? – never can remember which is which) of Atlanta, Georgia is likely very deficient in vitamin D. Three, you could take 20,000 i.u.’s a day, every day, for months – and probably years – and it wouldn’t hurt you. Four, you’re immune system sucks if your levels are too low. And five, a deficiency can mimic depression and other ailments.
This is a good article on vitamin D deficiency, and the Vitamin D Council (https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/) has boatloads of great information about it.
But the best reason to take it – and I take 5,000 i.u. a day now – is for the immune system. I think the only reason I got so sick this spring – for the first time in two or three years – is because I was doing way too much and getting far too little sleep for too long (like five months).
I’ll apologize in advance if the links are screwed up. I don’t think I’ve ever done them in comments before. 🙂