Almost Human

Well, I didn't or couldn't leave the cough in the hall last night.  It had its way with me, waking me up, sending me in search of cough syrup or a drink or another lozenge.  I spent most of today on the couch again, not really coughing much but feeling like if I busied around it'd come calling and when I did cough it was the old familiar rib-wracking cough.  Lovely.  One of these days I'm going to go out and find some ginger brandy which was Mom's remedy.  I don't know if it actually helped her not cough but she swore that it did.  Maybe she had enough "medicine" that coughing didn't bother her.  Sounds kind of attractive, actually.  I've said that I'll sit at a table in a yarn shop in Two Rivers tomorrow for an hour handing out knitting guild info, trying to drum up more members.  I should be fine.  I'll fill my pockets with cough drops and tissues.  I'm quite a bit better, really I am.  It's only a cold, after all.



Part of the reason I felt better today is that the sun shone for the early part of the day.  Clouds rolled in just after noon and it went back to being dreary but it was sunny for a few hours.  Thank heavens.



 




I heard a thumping noise in the backyard and turned around to see a squirrel, spreadeagled, clinging to the screen on the patio door.  As I watched it moved down, turned and came back up, then leaped over onto the seed wreath and proceeded to gobble up or knock down half of the seeds left.  I'm assuming it'll be back tomorrow to finish the job.  The chipmunks were very appreciative of the seeds that hit the

patio.









 

My only accomplishment today was making a batch of WW granola.  I love this stuff.  I put 2 Tablespoons on my yogurt and fruit in the morning, it tastes good and it's crunchy.  What's not to love?


2 May--Odilon Redon, The Palm.  In the dim tent she looks too young to be a gypsy fortune teller.  I sit down across from her, slip a folded ten-dollar bill into her hand, and look around for a crystal ball.  "Place your hands, palms up, on the table."  Her soft voice startles me and I look back into silver eyes tucked under dark brows.  "I want to know..." I say, but she interrupts, "Shh, let me look."  I lay my hands in the pool of light in the center of the table.  She lifts my right hand, leans into the light, and traces her finger over my palm.  "Mm" was all she said.  The fortune teller lays that hand down and picks up the left one.  Again she leans over it and traces the lines.  "Your future is more interesting than your past."  She taps my right hand.  "I don't know when I've seen a more boring past."  I pull my right hand into my lap, embarrassed to have led such a dull life that a carnival charlatan can tell.

It feels oddly surreal to have spent the last three days in the house, in my jammies, on the couch.  Not bad, just odd.  Watching TV, dozing, knitting, coughing, blowing my nose.  Yeah, this week has been a veritable festival of joy.  Hoping for better days.
--Barbara