Creeping Crud, Having Crept, Creeps On

Our family has become a sort of plaque ship as one person after another comes down with the crud. Steve has succumbed to its siren song, my daughter who just returned to work is down for the count, grandchildren, and even the other grandmother, have been overtaken by illness. I'm on Day 6. I think I'm feeling better then I develop a new symptom. However, I  found the energy to send out a half-baked four pages to my writing group last night, fulfilling my obligation to submit, even if it did come up a little short. I'd written 9 pages but found the last five pages to be sorely lacking in development and held onto them. I'm sick but I still have my pride vanity. Today, I wrote four pages for a memoir contest that's coming up. If chosen, a professional actor will read your pages on stage. Worth a try and I only have to come up with 1500 words. This is actually a challenge since writing any type of concise story takes more work than you might think. On top of all this exhausting work, I made beef stroganoff for dinner, and briefly babysat my granddaughter who slept most of the time. I am woman. Hear me cough.

A buzzard who is just biding his time.

Taking a Left Turn

It's been a good family visit/vacation but, as it sometimes happens, things go wrong. We have seen lots of natural beauty, enjoyed great weather, gone swimming every day, and walked. Our bonfire on the beach last night was fun even if we couldn't see the full moon because of the fog, then several people started feeling sick. Now we have three very sick adults and two sick children. I haven't slept at all as I worry about them. It will be getting light outside soon. I'm hoping the situation will seem less grim in the daylight.

Finally Some Blue Sky in Longmont (hack, cough)

It's cold outside but the sun has finally come out. Sunshine makes a huge impact on Colorado. We have an abundance of sunny days, shirtsleeve weather sometimes in the winter, and an impressive rate of skin cancer. But we're outdoorsy and love that sun.

I, however, came home from our trip and promptly came down with an illness. At first I thought it was a lingering set of symptoms from being allergic to the green, lush west coast but I'm afraid my sneezing has morphed into an actual illness. I feel lousy enough to start taking over the counter drugs, and I hate taking over the counter drugs.

I'm still a granny-nanny though and must soldier on the way women with children and grandchildren do. I soldier on with poor posture and a shuffling walk. I cough and blow my nose, I groan at the energy that will have to be expended getting dressed. Pathetic.

I've set up the little one with a large box of markers and some paper. As added insurance, I've turned on the television. It's on PBS so it's only a small sin. The Noodle and Doodle show.

How about some photos? I had a big problem with blurring this time. I'm blaming the camera but I secretly think it was operator error.

 bad photo-cool mural in Wyoming

 love Wyoming

 first wildflowers we saw by Columbia River

our mighty protector, kind of like those saint statues