...the absolute NASTIEST cold from the pits of HELL that is. As for me, its gracious host...well, the jury’s still out on that one. I can’t remember the last time a ‘mere’ cold has made me this sick for this long. After this cold claimed its territory last Tues, and following almost a week in bed, I’ve clung to the sofa and fireplace all weekend and STILL feel like death warmed over. With a cold virus like this floating about, who needs the FLU?!

Now, that I’ve either drawn you in or driven you away with that delightful introduction...

It’s been a rather uneventful week, since I’ve been sick on the sofa for the biggest portion of it. It’s rained every day this week with the exception of 2 days. Thurs night we actually had thunderstorms accompanying torrential rains, which brought the creek over its banks once again. It didn’t get high enough to give cause to evacuate this time, but was high enough that I felt inclined to stand nervously at the window and watch it, in all my cold-infested misery. My spotlight was not working, but the frequent bright flashes of lightening were sufficient to give me a good view of the potential peril. When the downpours finally subsided and the radar on the weather channel indicated a break in the rains that might last a couple of hours, I was able to get a few hours of sleep without worrying that I would awake to 2 horses floating in the barnyard. My pasture and barnyard look more like a swamp now -- perhaps I should trade my horses for some alligators.

Today I introduce yet ANOTHER new sojourner avatar that perhaps speaks even more of where I’d like to be than the others -- a little girl relaxing at the foot of a tree blowing dandelion seeds off their stem. She looks as though she hasn’t a care in the world. I don’t want to spend the coming year still running about in a mad dash to be somewhere or get something done. Nor do I necessarily want to fly away (at least not ALL the time) or look at things from a different vantage point. I just want to be able to SLOW DOWN and enjoy the perspective that is already before me -- the perspective that I rarely notice because I’m too busy running circles around it trying to maintain some sense of equilibrium.

I’m off to browse my DVD collection. More hot tea w/lemon and honey, more chicken soup and orange juice...more worlds of fantasy far, far away, where colds and other assorted virus don’t exist...only mysterious sword wielding adversaries, evil sorcerers, freaky monsters from outer space, and other such manageable perils. (Well, they’re manageable from the vantage point of my sofa anyway.)