spa treatment

As a kid, I learned about animals and plants beyond my daily sphere from the pages of Ranger Rick and Cricket Magazine. It was from one of those mags that I got a poster of Japan's snow monkeys soaking in hot springs with icicles in their hair. It hung in my parent's bathroom for nearly a decade.

I've just joined a gym, which feels like a a great luxury and a necessity, both. After working out, I have the pleasure of sitting in a hot tub, a steam room, or a sauna, all of which are helping me cope with winter a whole lot better. I've been to the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, swum in the milky springs there with icicles in my hair, soaked in Reykjavik's hot pots, and I believe that warm water has a lot to do with people's radiant health. So I've joined a gym, and when I leave each day, I don't look a whole lot unlike these very relaxed monkeys.