Bits and Pieces

   John F. Kennedy Rose                           

For the past four or five days I've been plagued by vicious upper respiratory symptoms, made worse, I'm sure, by the dust I raised in the whirlwind attack on my craft room, about which I so cheerfully reported in my last post.  Since I subscribe to the "germ theory" of disease, I assume I picked up the responsible virus/bacteria a few days before I started the cleaning frenzy. Whatever/whenever/however acquired, the resulting symptoms caused an immediate cessation of my cleaning activities.  Although I've not felt ill enough to confine myself to bed, I have dozed, a lot, in my recliner, consumed quarts and quarts of various hot and cold liquids, sneezed and coughed until my ribs are sore, and kept the "Puffs" folks in business.

Missy cat stayed by my side most of the time, not demanding to be outside -- which was a good thing, since the weather was not conducive to outside activities, even for a feline.   Our area, like much of the country, experienced a sharp drop in temperatures from those earlier last week, and on again-off again precipitation.  Just rain here, thank you. Nebraska daughter reported another 2"-4" of snow on her acreage.

A cat has only so much sympathy and patience, and yesterday afternoon being sunny and temperate (in the high 50's) she demanded to be outside.   Having spied a few white roses from my kitchen window, I ventured out with her and found not only a bush full of roses but that my 'wet foot' Iris had bloomed.  (I'm sure this variety has a real name, but Gardening Daughter, who gave it to me, described it only as needing to be in a moist place, unlike many other irises. Adjacent to the back yard water tap seemed to be as good a place as any.) The iris is in a bed next to the wall and immediately under my kitchen window and thus not visible from it.  I'm happy that I ventured out; I would hate to have missed its blooming.

"Wet Foot" Iris

The new leaf growth on my JFK roses has me somewhat puzzled.  The leaves are at least twice the size of last year's leaves and, if my eyes don't deceive me, the rose blooms are at least half again larger.  (See rose photo; that's my not very small hand behind the bloom.) Also, the iris seems to have grown quite a bit taller since last year; perhaps the Christmas snow contained a tonic. 

Tomorrow is also a day.

If You Treat A Cold, It Will Last About...

...seven days.  If you don't treat a cold it will last --- about seven days.

My seven days are up, and except for a few residual coughs and a slightly stuffy nose, my cold is over.  I will admit to "treating" it, although I didn't seek professional medical attention. In addition to my throat and chest, I did rub the bottoms of my feet with Vick's (a remedy suggested by two blog commenters and my son), took a couple of antihistamine tablets during the worst days of my streaming eyes and nose, and followed up with about three doses of dextromethorphan and guaifenesen (also a suggestion by a commenter.)  Along with those tried and true remedies, I drank many, many cups of hot tea, most of it of the spiced variety such as Chai and my favorite "Constant Comment."

For the most part, I just took it easy. Between frequent visits to a steadily diminishing box of tissues and sipping my tea, I managed to read four books: an Aaron Elkins' "skeleton detective" mystery Tiny Little Teeth, and two forensic mysteries and one very informative non-fiction book (Death's Acre)-- by the same authors, Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson.  If you're a fan of gory forensic stuff, I recommend the Bass/Jefferson books; I found them fascinating.  If you are squeamish, those are not for you.

I'm also about one-third through Three Cups of Tea - One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations... One School at a Time, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.  It's a fascinating true story about one man's determination to build schools for desperately poor mountain children in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  I understand that Mortenson has been getting some TV exposure lately (which I missed), although I first read about his book in a monthly book review magazine at my local library. I'm sure you could find a wealth of information about the book and Mr. Mortensen on the Internet, should you be interested in doing so.

Gardening Daughter's husband helped to supplement my food requirements during my self-imposed confinement, bringing me a huge container of chicken and dumplings from my favorite "chicken place," cornbread muffins, and a slab of pizza -- not all at the same time, of course.  He also made a run to the pharmacy to pick up the cough syrup after I discovered that the bottle I had tucked away in the cupboard had an expiration date of 06/2007.  It seems I need to perform a cupboard-wide check on the expiration dates of  OTC medicines. I don't know if expired medications get stronger or weaker, but I'd hate to either overdose myself or waste my time taking something that is completely ineffective.

Now that my semi-annual cold seems to be on the wane, and my energy is slowing rising,  there is much I need to accomplish: more Christmas cards to make, address and mail; gifts to wrap and ship; last minute gifts to purchase, etc., etc.

More later.

More Bits of This and That

Image copyright Thomas Kinkade.

Bit 1: I'm dragging my feet about Christmas cards, and that's not a good thing. Time is getting away... fast! I send only handmade cards, these days; I have to justify my insanely large collection of Christmas-themed rubber stamps. I rationalize my procrastination by reminding myself that there are 12 days of Christmas, so if my cards arrive any time before Epiphany (Jan. 6) I have still sent timely cards. Can I get by with that? A scan of my first efforts is above. It's really nicer "in real life" as the base card has a metallic sheen to it and the color blends better with the image.

Bit 2: I finished the last of the soup, and the remaining meatloaf made a tasty sandwich for supper last night. This one-two, usually sure-fire, knock out combination didn't work; I still have a plethora of cold symptoms! Bah! Humbug! I feel like I am single-handedly keeping the Puffs people in business.

Wait! I forgot the macaroni and cheese! I think that might be lunch today. I am inexplicably fond of a boxed product, the maker of which refers to it as "the cheesiest." My good friend who specializes in yummy, made-from-scratch mac and cheese is appalled at my taste. I don't care. I like it; it's quick to fix and requires only one saucepan.

Bit 3: My youngest daughter, who is a Chief Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, currently stationed on the island of Okinawa, Japan, has been in the States on leave since just before Thanksgiving. She and her husband have been looking for a place to retire. Her husband is already retired from the military, and she has only one more year before completing 30 years of service. It will be nice to have all my children (and grandchildren) residing on U.S. soil again. Daughter's older son has just finished Air Force boot camp, and she was able to attend his graduation ceremony in San Antonio, TX this past Friday. It made him very happy to see his mother, of course, and the feelings were mutual, I'm sure. The three of them will be back here tonight. Their remaining time stateside will be short as they have to leave again on Dec. 17. While I wish they could still be here at Christmas, their being here at all, when I didn't expect to see them until year end 2009, has been a wonderful gift.

Bit 4: The same cannot be said about gifts, which, for persons who will not be present at the family Christmas gathering, really are expected to have arrived at their homes before Christmas Day. I don't do a whole lot in the way of gift-giving these days, but try always to send something to my sisters and brothers-in-law. Baby sister lives in Virginia, the other (but still younger than I) lives about 75 miles from me. This year, their gifts will be my own photographs, suitably framed. I will leave the packing to the UPS Store. To me, it's worth the extra cost not to have to accumulate all the stuff necessary to adequately protect whatever I'm sending.

Bit 5: Local daughter Jean assisted a friend with friend's annual open house/food frenzy yesterday. I took my box of Puffs and my crochet bag to her house and played baby-sitter for my 4 year old granddaughter. We watched The Last Unicorn, read a couple of books, made strange creatures with Play-Doh, colored in the color book, drew pictures of other very strange creatures (she's very fond of goblins at present, but will tell you that she has nightmares because she watches too much TV --very likely true) and otherwise had a good time. I was ready to come home when her mama returned.

Ta! for now. I'm boiling the water for my mac and cheese. I'm gonna feel better!