"When I got as far as the Methodist Church, I was halfway home. I can remember how glad I was when there happened to be a light in the church, and the painted glass window shone out at us we came along the frozen street. In the winter bleakness a hunger for color came over people, like the Laplander's craving for fats and sugar. Without knowing why, we used to linger on the sidewalk outside the church when the lamps were lighted early for choir practice or prayer meeting, shivering and talking until our feet were like lumps of ice. The crude reds and greens and blues of that colored glass held us there." - from My Antonia by Willa Cather

This passage really struck me when I read it a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps it's not just warmth and sunlight I crave in the winter months but color! And I realized how much I wish our church had stained glass windows.

Hmm...where can I visit next winter to remedy the bleakness of winter and get a color fix?

Churches that do have stained glass windows

My favorite yarn shop

A fabric shop

The florist

My grandmother's books on English gardens

A museum - if only the Met could hold an exhibit of Fra Angelico's work every winter!

Or the gift shop where I found this - (perhaps I could justify one or two more as an investment in my mental health!)