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Oh Winter, what can I say!  Yes, my dears, it looks like Mrs. Winter has decided to prolong her stay around here—a little bit longer, a little bit bitter, a little bit meaner, too.  If you pay attention to details and what’s going on around you, you may even see her quietly strolling the garden; the twenty-five foot taffeta train of her winter white gown sweeping off the garden’s floors, and dragging dead leaves and posthumous snows as she moves along. Oh yes, it snowed again a little bit last night and it will continued on snowing today too!

And thus, is has been extra cold around here again, and the sky is steel gray and sunless and the garden is sleeping.  As you can understand, I had to stop my work out there and go back to my usual hibernating mode, and flannel sheets, and flannel nightgowns, and more hot coffee, and pretty coffee mugs. One of my favorite things to do on a winter day is going upstairs to my gypsy room and stay there as long as I can—reading, browsing over my collection of home and garden books and magazines, decorating, changing things around, creating, and so on and on… 

I had always thought that the round table in our theater room was too big and too out of place with the overall atmosphere of the space. It made the room looked too crowded and updated, so I took it out of there and it is now sitting here in my gypsy room—covered under a gypsy mandala to follow the rules here, of course!

This room is not only my gypsy room, you know!  It is also the backstage and changing room of the girls and the napping room of a certain Fisherman!  We all love it here!

It is sometimes my prayer room too, and the room where one of the most extraordinary miracles of my life happened a while back, in a time when I desperately needed God's reaffirmation.  You can read all about it here!

It is so peaceful here, so colorful and cozy! 

The geraniums by the window, are blooming!

I love my gypsy room, and one thing that this happy place has helped me discover is that my soul is drawn to the color orange. Whatever it is when it comes to color, I always chose orange. I’m attracted by the color orange and I am prone to choose it over any other color. I did a little research the other day on something called “color psychology”, or what our favorite colors have to say about our personalities and boy it truly described me!  

This is what I found out about the color orange:   

Orange, the blend of red and yellow, is a mixture of the energy associated with red and the happiness associated with yellow. Orange is associated with meanings of joy, warmth, heat, sunshine, enthusiasm, creativity, success, encouragement, change, determination, health, stimulation, happiness, fun, enjoyment, balance, sexuality, freedom, expression, and fascination.

Orange is the color of joy and creativity. Orange promotes a sense of general wellness and emotional energy that should be shared, such as compassion, passion, and warmth. Orange will help a person recover from disappointments, a wounded heart, or a blow to one’s pride.

The meaning of the color orange is stimulating, vibrant, and flamboyant. While made up of red and yellow, it carries less aggression and fierceness than the color red due to its combination with the calming color yellow.

Studies show that the orange color can create physical effects such as increased hunger, heightened sense of activity, increased socialization, boost in aspiration, stimulated mental activity, increased oxygen supply to the brain, increased contentment, and enhanced assurance. Orange also helps aid decision making, and enhances happiness, confidence, and understanding.

The color orange is a very hot color and often provides the sensation of heat. While orange is a common color associated with summer and the hot sun, often associated with being a main color of harvest and autumn due to the changing color of the leaves and pumpkins.

While orange does stimulate the appetite, it is a common color found in citrus fruit and is often associated with Vitamin C and a healthy diet. Orange is a popular color in restaurants to encourage the feeling of hunger and contentment.

The color orange has very high visibility and is often used to gain attention. It still gets your message noticed without the bold, in-your-face presence that the color red has.