Archive for the ‘Musings’ category
October 23, 2015
Today is windy and cold. The heat even went on this morning but it shut off once the house got warm. My street, usually quiet during the day, is aflutter with workers and noise. The roofers are still across the street and another truck is down the end of the street working on something in another neighbor’s house.
I think I’m on the road to recovery, but I’m exhausted. I still have that deep voice suited for those obscene phone calls and I still have a cough. I love my afternoon naps.
When I was a kid, we used to buy Smith Brothers wild cherry cough drops. I loved them because they tasted more like candy than medicine. It was easy to finish a box eating one right after the other. I liked the bearded Smith Brothers on the package. They looked so serious and stern befitting men who made medicine. Mark’s beard was better than his brother’s.
Cough medicine always tasted awful. My mother would come in with the bottle and the spoon, and I’d cringe knowing what was coming. The cough medicine was always thick, and if I had known the word vile back then, I’d have used it. I opened my mouth reluctantly knowing I really had no choice. My mother was relentless.
My mother had her sayings and warnings for winter, her truisms. Starve a cold, feed a fever was one of them. She believed in the medicinal power of soup be it chicken or tomato and that’s mostly what we ate when we were sick. I always believed it worked. I felt warm inside and out, and it was never too much to have to eat. We had the bundle up or you’ll catch cold admonition if we dared go without a hat because as every mother knew most of your body head escaped through your head. We would never go outside in the winter with wet hair because we were bound to catch a cold. I used to think wet hair attracted cold germs.
When I was a kid I never doubted my mother and her medical knowledge. I know better now about hats and wet hair, but my mother was right on about soup. Yesterday I had chicken noodle and saltines. I could have been ten again.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bundle up or you'll catch cold, coughing, gross cough medicine, noise, roofers, sick, Smith Brothers, soup, Starve a cold, wild cherry cough drops
Comments: 20 Comments
October 22, 2015
Yesterday I had to go out. Gracie needed her heart medication, and I needed more cough syrup. The God of parking blessed me as I got a spot right in front of the drug store. I crossed the road, went inside and dragged myself to the back of the store to the pharmacy. My head was a ball of sweat (sorry for the graphic details. I should have warned you). After paying for her pills, I decided to adopt Gracie as my daughter so she can have an insurance card because the pills were almost $70.00. My medicine was far cheaper.
I had a couple of other errands on my list, but when I got back to the car, I crumbled the list and drove home. Today I am exhausted.
My friend left tomato basil soup and snickerdoodles on my front step yesterday. She, of course, knows the house is under quarantine or at least it should be. The soup was thick and delicious. It will be my dinner again today.
I’m about done here, I’m taking a sick day.
Categories: Musings
Tags: ball of sweat, cough syrup, drug store, errands, exhausted, sick day, snickerdoodles, the God of parking, tomato basil soup
Comments: 10 Comments
October 20, 2015
The mystery has been solved. My wheezing sounds like Dr. Who’s TARDIS when it lands. Tomorrow will be the one week anniversary of my having caught the plague. I’m thinking maybe cake. I’m prone to chocolate with a nice ganache filling and frosting.
The worst part of being sick is not seeing people. I called three this morning just to have a bit of human interaction but none of them were home. Poor Gracie had to fill in. I swear she was listening with her head cocked while trying to understand my conversation. She, of course, never replied. It is an exciting day for her with activity outside each door. In the front she gets to watch the roofers across the street and in the back she gets to watch my neighbor put up a concrete wall. I’m getting desperate enough that I might just watch the roofers. I’ll pop some corn, pull up a chair and enjoy the show.
Today is supposed to be in the 60’s. I may venture on to the deck just for some fresh air. I get the papers every morning and that’s about it for the world outside my windows.
Being kids and being sick were easy. Nothing slowed us down. Runny noses and coughs didn’t keep us from playing outside after school, but I do remember how gross those runny noses were on little kids. It was as if Kleenex had never been invented. Sleeves were the substitute. I remember being with my mother and needing a Kleenex. She always had a couple in her pocketbook and would rummage through it to find them. Usually they were at the bottom and crumbled. Some had lipstick stains and loose tobacco stuck to them. I didn’t care. I had grown beyond my sleeves so I took the Kleenex lipstick and all. She never wanted it back so I’d stick it in my pocket and generally forget about it.
I keep Kleenex with me in one of those little packages. The one I have now was in my Christmas stocking and has snowmen decorations. It’s crumbled and at the bottom.
Categories: Musings
Tags: chocolate cake, Dr. Who, ganache, human interaction, isolated, plague, playing outside, roofers, runny noses, TARDIS
Comments: 22 Comments
October 19, 2015
Today is cold, in the mid 40’s. The sun is back to playing peek-a-boo. Outside isn’t all that inviting so I guess I’ll hunker down for another day or two. I’m not completely rid of the plague as I still have a voice better suited for an obscene phone call than a regular conversation. My cough didn’t wake me up last night, but it is still hanging in there. My friend is bringing me bread, cookies and a lemon donut from Dunkin’ Donuts. I’m a happy woman, albeit sick but still happy.
When I was a kid, I don’t remember missing much school. I don’t think I was really sick enough all that often. A cold was nothing. It meant bundling a bit better with a new layer or two. We walked to school on even the coldest days. I remember my cheeks turned red and raw from the wind. We’d walk backwards away from the wind when it was the strongest and the coldest. School was a refuge where we could defrost and de-layer. I don’t think we really ever complained much. That was just the way it was. We all walked to school back then despite the weather.
I used to like soup on a cold day. My mother would fill the thermos from my lunch box, add some saltines, and maybe a half of a sandwich and some dessert. Usually it was tomato soup because I could drink it instead of needing a spoon. Bologna was the most popular meat for sandwiches. We always had tuna fish on Fridays when we couldn’t eat meat. My mother added mayonnaise, chopped celery and lettuce so the tuna fish wasn’t half bad. It was always on white bread. We never had any other kind of bread. I think I was a teenager before I found out bread came in many colors and flavors.
Back when we were kids our dinners were meat, potatoes, usually mashed, and a vegetable. We had bland palates. We were seldom introduced to any foreign foods though we did count spaghetti as Italian. My friends and I now eat all sorts of foods from a variety of countries. I know it was Ghana which first introduced me to really foreign foods like African, Indian and Middle Eastern. They opened the flood gates. Now I’m willing to try almost anything though I balk at insects, household pets and rodents.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bologna, cold, Cookies, obscene phone call, plague, soup in a thermos, staying home from school, sun playing peek-e-boo, tuna fish, white bread
Comments: 10 Comments
October 18, 2015
I can’t put my finger on which one but my wheezing reminds me of sound effects from a movie. They are a bit like metal scraping metal. I’m thinking this cold and being by myself for so long are affecting my brain. Sound effects from Wheezing?
Things are getting better. The cold’s grip is weakening. I only woke up twice last night and managed to sleep 11 interrupted hours. It looks like I have to go out sometime today. I haven’t any bread or soup or anything which tantalizes my taste buds. Sweets keep coming to mind. I’m thinking chocolate chip cookies are a possible remedy. I suspect, though, I’ll probably stay home. It takes far too much energy to get up and out even for chocolate chip cookies. Besides, I think I need a nap.
The day is cold. The sun pops in and out but is merely decorative when it appears. It isn’t warmth. I turned on my heat for one cycle this morning. My bed and comforter are sounding more and more appealing.
Not being around enough people is the reason I’m sick. When I worked, I was around kids with their various ills and ailments. I developed an immunity. I don’t even remember when last I had a cold though this may be a whole different strain of something. I think I caught it during my reunion last weekend. With all those people in one room, someone must have had a germ or two and shared. How kind!
I’m combing the TV for classic horror movies. I’m thinking the Holy Trinity of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy. I’m not including The Wolf Man as I always feel really sad for Larry Talbot. He didn’t deserve his fate.
I watch NCIS even though Abby and her pre-adolescent prattle drive me crazy. Just a while ago I happened on the last 5 minutes of The Brady Bunch and left it on as I wanted to watch what followed it. During those 5 minutes I had an epiphany. Abby based her character on Cindy Brady. They have the same child-like voice, intonations and the same childish indignations. Trust me on this one. The only NCIS mystery left is why the prop guy doesn’t realize we hear the echo of the empty coffee cup when Gibbs puts his coffee on the desk.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Bread, chilly, Chocolate, cold, heat, scraping metal, sick, wheezing
Comments: 11 Comments
October 17, 2015
I’m here, but I won’t be for long. Even after 12 hours sleep last night, I’m still in the throes of this pestilence. I’m wondering if this is one of the plagues of Egypt somehow left off the list. My sister said this is something going around. Not that I’m happy for other people’s suffering but I’m glad not to suffer alone.
I continue to dose myself with a variety of medicines. The cough is still the main target. If I were outside coughing, people would run in terror at fear of catching this. I’m thinking Stephen King and the Stand and Captain Tripps.
The day is lovely, autumn warm and sunny. More and more leaves are falling and the ground is red and yellow. Flowers still brighten the gardens especially the mums in so many warm colors. Pumpkins are on front door steps and I’ve seen a few scarecrows. Cape Cod is always beautiful this time of year.
I’ll drink plenty of liquids and continue to dose myself. I’m also going back to bed. Hard to believe I know, but I’m already tired.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Captain Tripp, pestilence, plagues of Egypt, The Stand
Comments: 10 Comments
October 16, 2015
I am alive though well would be a stretch. Last night won’t go down in the annals as one of my better. I woke up at 2:30 unable to catch my breath. I was about to hop into my car to go to the emergency room when the coughing slowed down. I returned to bed, propped up with pillows behind me and finally fall asleep. This morning I found my inhaler and that has made a world of difference. I have to chuckle though as my table looks like the side table of some old lady’s bedroom filled as it is with bottles, kleenex boxes and used kleenex. I should be wearing a quilted bed jacket and a lacy cap.
I just woke up from a nap, a three-hour nap. Now I’m singing the theme from Gilligan. Yikes, I’m sicker than I thought.
All my body functions and parts are failing in tandem. First was my eye-hand coordination. Last night I tipped over a full glass of sticky orange juice on my table which is filled with books. Though I cleaned it up, my fingers still stick in places I missed. When I get up, I feel a bit dizzy and do pirouettes, ungracefully I might add. I am getting quite tired of blowing my nose.
My mother was the best when I was sick. I’d lie in bed and she’d bring something to nosh like juice and crackers, sometimes Saltines or Pilot Crackers, spread with butter. Lunch was usually soup and maybe a half sandwich: tomato soup and grilled cheese was the favorite of the sick room crowd. Dunking the sandwich into the soup was rather tasty.
I loved the attention from my mother. Every other day I had to share her but not when I was sick. Sometimes being sick, but not all that sick, was worth it.
My friend Clare brought me whoopie pies and apple cider donuts yesterday. She left them on the steps put off by the quarantine signs in the windows.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bed hat, bed jacket, blowing my nose, bottles, dizzy, grilled cheese., inhaler, nap, nosh, old lady's table, orange juice, pills, still sick, tomato soup.
Comments: 17 Comments
October 15, 2015
Today is the mass in honor of my mother who passed away ten years ago. I am not there; instead, I am home coughing, sniffling and complaining though no one is here to listen. I do not get colds so this threw me for a loop. My guess is I caught it at the reunion where someone, a Typhoid Mary type, was passing the germ amid all the hugs and kisses. I am not happy.
This will be a short post. I’m going back to bed after dousing myself with a variety of cold medicines. My voice is so deep I could sing bass or make obscene phone calls. When I cough, Gracie lives the room. The cats don’t even notice. They sleep right through my hacking.
I’d like one of those talking dolls they sold when I was a kid. They had a string you pulled to make them talk, and they said things like “I love you,” but I want mine to say things like “You poor baby” or “How about some nice hot chicken soup?” I remember The Twilight Zone episode when the talking doll was evil. “My name is Talky Tina, and I’m going to kill you.” I’ll pass on that one.
The common cold has no cure and you just have to let it runs its course. I sleep and take medicine to dull the symptoms for a while. The only hope I have is pneumonia. That they can cure.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bass, bed, cold, cold medicines, Cough, obscene phone calls, pneumonia, sick, talking dolls, Talky Tina, Twilight Zone, Typhoid Mary
Comments: 10 Comments
October 13, 2015
My mornings rarely start early, but today the alarm jarred me awake at the God awful hour of 7:30. I had a library board meeting at nine and I wanted time for coffee and some of the paper. After the meeting I did my three errands. This has been a most industrious morning for me.
It started raining last night and was still raining when I woke up. Mother Nature must have looked kindly on me because the rain stopped for the few minutes it took me to get the papers then it started pouring when I got inside. The sun came out around 10 for a while then the clouds came back, but it must be a peek-a-boo day as the sun is back.
The day is warm. The morning was filled with the sounds of birds, and the rain brought a sweetness to the air. It is supposed to get really cold by the end of the week so I will savor today.
My father was a football and hockey fan. He thought baseball was boring and just didn’t enjoy basketball. We were poles apart. Basketball and baseball were always my favorites, and I never did like hockey. I abided football but didn’t understand much of it. Baseball has always been my top favorite sport. The cellar dwellers, the Sox, were a cheap Saturday afternoon in the bleachers when I was a kid. Now they are still cellar dwellers but even the bleachers are expensive. I usually try to go once each year but mostly I watch them on TV. I haven’t been to a Celtics’ game in a long while because I seemed to have lost interest. Filling the gap has been football. My dad would have loved to have someone watch with him, and he’d be thrilled at the success of the Pats. He watched them in their early days, their struggling years. He yelled a lot at the TV. I watch every Pats game, and I now understand the general rules of the game, most infractions and even some strategy. I’m hazy about some positions and their responsibilities, but that doesn’t deter me from enjoying the game. I yell at the TV. My dad would be proud!
Categories: Musings
Tags: Baseball, basketball, errands, football, hockey, morning meeting, Mother Nature, peek-a-boo day, rain, strategy, sun
Comments: 10 Comments
October 12, 2015
Today is the best sort of a fall day. The sun is shining, it’s warm and the clear blue sky goes on forever. The leaves have started changing, and with the help of the wind, some have already fallen. My front lawn has touches of red lying on the grass blown from the trees along the driveway. Clumps of pine needles with chewed ends are strewn on the grass and the driveway. The spawns chew the clumps off the branches, drink the sap then toss the leftovers. I don’t ever remember seeing as many clumps.
Columbus Day meant the day off from school, but it was always the 12th, never a convenient Monday. Today is just happenstance. Schools, banks, town and federal offices including the post office are all closed.
I don’t know how to celebrate Columbus Day. All the other holidays are easy, each has a token, a symbol. Some even have traditional foods. I suppose we could eat Italian food in honor of Columbus having been a citizen of Genoa or considering he never really made it to the New World, we could eat Caribbean food, the closest he got. We could wear one of those silly hats he’s always pictured wearing. As for decorations, miniature ships with crosses on their sails could be on the Columbus Day table. That’s all I’ve got.
Now we come to the controversy as to whether or not we should celebrate Columbus, by most accounts a slaver guilty of genocide. He wiped out entire populations of indigenous people. He didn’t even find America, his one claim to fame. Protests against Chris are held every Columbus Day. In some places the day has been renamed Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Only 23 states still have the day as a holiday from work.
I used to like a day off in October. In truth, I didn’t care the reason.
I agree that Chris doesn’t deserve a whole day in his name. He really didn’t do anything worth recognition. Quite the opposite is true so I think it’s time to stop honoring him. We need to rethink the day.
Categories: Musings
Tags: blue sky, Caribbean food, columbus day, falling leaves, genocide, gorgeous day, Indigenous Peoples' Day., Italian food, miniature ships, red leaves, slavery, warm day
Comments: 12 Comments
