The view from my bed
The last three weeks have been spent mostly horizontal, though I couldn't keep from taking a few pictures while at that angle. I was laid low by a nasty, northern California flu. No it was not of the swine variety -- at least my canine teeth didn't turn into tusks, nor my nose into a snout and my tail did not visibly curl... I tried all of my battery of natural remedies (homeopathic drops for "grippe", cats claw pills, elderberry syrup and echinacea drops for stronger immune response, "Breathe Easy" tea with licorice as well as cherry bark/slippery elm syrup for cough, chiropractic adjustment for displaced rib due to coughing...). What finally kicked it, in addition to the passage of resting time, was two acupuncture treatments and chinese herbs, 3x a day in warm water before meals.
Melting Bhudda Pond
Backyard Bed
The weather in the first couple of weeks was warm and sunny. It was hard to be shut up in the house all day, every day, especially with my garden calling to me through the windows. In need of sun warmth and vitamin D production, I moved my sick bed out to the garden on a couple of afternoons to the dappled shade just beyond Melting Buddha Pond.
Movie Therapy
I practiced extensive "movie therapy" in the afternoons and evenings to keep me horizontal and stationary on the comfy green couch under the afghan. Old movies work best, with Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Judy Holiday, Gene Kelly, Doris Day...and the like. Or newer movies with the "feel good" factor -- "As Good As It Gets", "Cider House Rules", "Awakenings", "Cinema Paradisio", "Il Postino", "While You Were Sleeping", "Sleepless in Seattle"... I ran through my extensive VCR collection and had to go out for a few more from Goodwill there at the end.
Sunset across the street
The sun sets around 8:30 pm these days. From the couch I had a front row seat as slanting sun rays burnished the spectacular hedge of roses at my friends R & F's house.
I succumbed to the flu on May 29. I told Toby, the acupuncturist/herbal doctor, that I had to be up on my feet by no later than June 8 for rehearsal for the reading that my writers group had especially scheduled for June 9th so that I could participate. I made it just in the nick of time, and a grand reading it was by one and all!
I've been walking around the garden while I drink my healing herbs in the morning and afternoon, acknowledging the plants while receiving recognition from them in return, planting and picking herbs and bouquets of flowers to bring into the house.
Back in the pink 'o' health.
Bisous,
N2
