Goddess of the Week: Artio

Image via WikipediaFinally! Spring! And it's not just on the calendar. It's in my backyard. No more rain. No more cold. The sun is shining and the perennials are switching out their dark green leaves for a spunkier, lighter, more fashionable hue. Naturally, we need a goddess!

I give us Artio, a little known bear goddess who made herself at home in the Swiss Alps. I know what you're thinking. A bear goddess? What's so springy about bears? Aren't bears really cranky in the Spring? Aren't bears the last thing you want to encounter while picking wild flowers and channeling Julie Andrews channeling Maria Von Trapp? Won't a spring bear chase and maul you if you get too close.

The answer is, of course, yes. So don't get too close, but do appreciate the miracle of hibernation, and do see how ancient people, in particular, would see a bear's ability to hibernate as something pretty darn mystical. I mean, you go to bed, walk up three months later, get yourself a snack, and you're good. And isn't that what we all do? Winter comes; the days get shorter; you hole up inside and eat carbs, and then--wham--one day the leaves have gone a shocking shade of pea green and you're craving strawberries.

So here's too strawberries! (I'm growing them. I'm hoping to get maybe six.) And here's to spring. I am so ready.

Channel this goddess: When winter (real or metaphorical) is hanging on too darn long, when you feel like you've been hibernating and need to get back to living, when you're getting a little obsessed with carbs: Remember potatoes--my precious--belong to winter.

Need a goddess? I got goddesses! Post a comment explaining what you need or want a goddess to help you out with. Then check back in a week or two and see what you got!

P.S.: I just want you to know that I'm really loving exclamation points of late! They're very spring! !!!