PROGRESS REPORT 32: SLOW-DOWN

It's supposed to be Spring in my coastal city. The cherry blossoms are out in full bloom. So are the daffodils, crocus, hyacinths and other spring flowers. Who would have imagined that today I'd wake to a blizzard! Yes...snow at the end of March...just when we thought that Spring had arrived in full bloom!

I've had a set-back that has slowed me down with the progress on the novel. The unseasonably cold weather has brought along a lot of nasty 'bugs' with it and unfortunately, I caught one. I was at the doctor's for my annual last week, bragging more or less about my 'perfect' health, how I never get sick when those around me are falling prey to the viruses. By that evening my chest was tight and my throat sore. I rushed out to get some strong vitamin C fizzy tabs which usually do the trick when I feel a cold coming on. But by the next day it hit me full and hard and right in the chest. I managed to get myself through the next two days with fits of coughing, and hoped it would all go away. But by Saturday I felt worse. And Sunday I had to drag myself out to the 'burbs for the Easter dinner I'd been invited to with my friend's family. I made it home to bed that evening and there I've been pretty well all week long. By Monday I felt so ill all I could manage to do was go to the pharmacy and ask for some cough suppressant, then I went back home to bed. Tuesday I was worse and feared I might have pneumonia. Friends have been most helpful and caring. I hadn't been able to do grocery shopping but my pal brought me chicken noodle soup and herbal teas and a bag of lemon, ginger and garlic. Another friend brought me ginger ale. I just lay there coughing and choking and couldn't care less about food or anything, least of all the writing I wanted to get done this week.

On Wednesday I managed to get myself to the doctors, for by now I did fear I might have pneumonia. I got some heavy-duty antibiotics and they seem to be doing the trick. Yesterday I felt somewhat better, though still had some problems sleeping as I couldn't lie down without coughing and choking. But last night I actually slept well. Two nights in a row I dreamed of Anibal or his family. On Tuesday when I was so sick I dreamed I was in a big farmhouse with his daughters and ex wife (my friend in Santiago Chile). He was a shadow figure in the dream. It was a very pleasant dream and I woke feeling as if it had all really happened. The next night, because I had been to the clinic which had misdiagnosed him, saying he had pneumonia when it turned out to be lung cancer, I went to bed and dreamed he came to visit me, playing his guitar and singing for me and my friends. The next morning his daughter wrote on Facebook how she missed her Dad so much. I emailed her about the dreams and she had dreamt of him as well. He must have been hovering around to check up on us.

Last night I slept well and was dreaming of walking along a sea wall trying to catch up to two of my friends. It was peaceful and beautiful, a bright sunny day and sparkling ocean. We were going to visit an island. I woke up and opened the blinds and my gosh! There was a blizzard blowing outside. I couldn't believe it! So I stayed in all day today, not daring to go out in this freezing, cold weather. Not that the snow stayed -- it never does -- but it's just too cold for nearly April! (and more predicted for tomorrow!)

So, instead, I did some editing for a friend's novel which I found brilliantly amusing and fun to work on. And then a bit more editing for a travel piece one of my students needed help with. Perhaps tomorrow I'll have the mental energy back enough to delve into Shadow again.
I always feel guilty when I leave it too long. But really, I haven't been this ill in quite some time and it hasn't gone away yet. I think I'll be house bound at least for the weekend until this cough breaks up and my head clears. Two more antibiotics to go. If I'm not better by Monday it may mean a chest x-ray is in order.

Meanwhile, we all wait patiently for Spring to really arrive!

I LOVE THE SNOW!

playing in the snow, me at aged 18 months
Estevan Saskatchewan

"One Christmas was so much like another, in
those years around the seatown corner now and out of
all sound except the distant speaking of the voices
I sometimes hear a moment before I sleep, that
I can never remember whether it snowed for
six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it
snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six.
Dylan Thomas 1914-1953 "A Child's Christmas in Wales"

me (age 6) and my little sister Jeanie
taking our dollies for a walk in the snow
Lloydminster, Saskatchewan

I love the snow. So when we had the first snowfall of the season yesterday I felt compelled to go out in it and take some pictures. By today it continued until the snow was deep enough to make snow-men and go sledding. But, as usual here on the "wet" coast, by late afternoon when I finally did go out, intending to take more photographs, it had turned to rain. Now the rain has set in and the snowfall has melted causing a lot of problems with flooding and a slushy mess on the sidewalks and roads. It was pretty while it lasted. I stayed indoors with the fireplace on yesterday and did some work on my Christmas cards, made more notes for my novel, and generally enjoyed a weekend of reasonable leisure. I'm only sorry I didn't get out in today it while it was really coming down, thick white fluffy flakes of it, just like I remember as a child living on the Prairies.

I have lots of happy snow-time memories and so long as I'm dressed warm enough I still enjoy it. However, a storm called "the Pineapple express" is heading our way from Hawaii and the weatherman warns of flooding and torrential rains setting a record for the season. And winter has barely even begun! Enough, already, with the rain. I say "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"

The first snowfall in the park