Into the Wild Wood and Home Again

Happy St. Patrick's Day-- I hope your day is a soft one.  I'll be coming home today and making the soda bread. The corned beef and veggies will hit the crockpot at 1pm. Some things must remain constant in an ever-chaotic world, eh? (Well, the cough and fatigue are still constant, too. I am really tired of being sick.) So, in honor of the day, and because it's one of my favorite poems by Seamus Heaney, I'll share a l ink to "Digging ." The poem ends with one of the best statements of determination, resolve, and resistance: Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests. I’ll dig with it. And on that note, I'll take my leave o'you.  May Jesus, Mary, and Joseph ever bless you and yours, C

Still sick, but work awaits. I'd call out, but there are just some things subs can't do, and after last week's crazy disrupted schedule, I have to get things back on track with APLit kids.  Have a super day. And just know, you, at least, are not as dysfunctionally arrogant as former Speaker Newt Gingrich, who reposted a satirical meme about using A DOZEN THERMONUCLEAR BOMBS in the Middle East to create a new shipping lane. He meant it as a serious suggestion.  Just think about the literal insanity of that.  Hold your loved ones close.  C

Still stick. This RSV crap is legit. I will be taking today as off as I can (a load or two of laundry will get done, but that's it).  I think I've found my abs-- at least, that is what's sore from coughing so much. Little to no appetite, and general achy/lethargy. Bleah. Being sick is so dang boring. I did, however, have a really nice couple of hours in Jodie Hollander's class yesterday. There were two other people in the zoomer, and we talked about Frost and his use of form and metrics, then Jodie gave us a couple of prompts to work with. I think I have a draft I can keep and work on, too. That's cool. I appreciate the opportunity to do something other than sit around feeling icky.  Grocery shopping went well, too, and Meg and I did pop downtown for a brief outing. I needed to buy piddle pads. And we got coffee. Then I full-on crashed on the couch. G made sandwiches for dinner. I slept, propped on two pillows, until 7am. Not great sleep, but better than the prior t...

So, it's almost 9am. I didn't sleep well again, so when I got out of bed at 5, I just went to my recliner. There, I slept til about 8am. Something about not being flat. Stupid cold or whatever this crud is. At any rate, I feel a lot better now, not great, but functional.  It's cold. It snowed a little last night, so the mud has a scrim of new white frosting on it. The sun's out now, so I suspect it'll all melt in the next hour or so. Which is good, as I have errands to run before my online class.  This has been a very sick winter for our little crew, and for my students as well. I don't know why, but it seems that there's been one damned illness after another, none of them to be taken lightly. I have my theories about protracted periods of anxiety, fighting the weather, and having to function in a world on fire. At any rate, I don't have much on my agenda for the weekend, and that's fine by me. I need to rest a bit. I can't stand being sick over ...

So happy it's Friday. I've been struggling along with what appears to be a head cold, although Holly's school sent out an email about kids with RSV, and Holly's been sick again, so ?? Either way, I'm tired of sniffling and coughing. Bleah. And tomorrow I have a two-hour craft class online! I'm kind of excited to do it; it was unexpected, and I was invited to attend, so that's really nice.  I intend to only do groceries and maybe a few little things here or there this weekend. I need to lay low and get rid of this persnickety ick. And it's cold again-- no surprise, but still, ew. G fed his bees some sugar water to keep them going for a bit longer. First blooms (usually dandelions) are coming, but not just yet. But when they do, it feels all of a sudden. And the trees-- we'll be having leaf pollen in no time now. In fact, when I first started coughing, it was during that glorious three days of 65+ degrees, and I thought it might just be allergies. Nope...

It's 38 and rainy, dark...  When I read the news (and I do that far too often), I am tumbled into despair. Well, not quite despair-- but it's close. What can I do? And why should we? The horrors are tangible. Somehow, the national and global angst is pairing up with my odd anxiety about turning 60 in June. Those who have already hit that milestone seem fine enough, but it's really a loud ticking of a clock I hear in my head. And I'm really angry that the time I have left is being bludgeoned by a cabal of evildoers. It just doesn't seem at all fair.  Then I have to pull myself out of that cesspit of worry and "light denied" ( Thanks, Milton) , and figure out how to get one sock on after another.  I have coffee. A warm home. A family that loves me, and even likes me most of the time. I have a job that I do pretty well, and I have friends/acquaintances who seem genuinely pleased to hear from me. While my health is not as good as I'd like, I'm still ki...