Every year I get a flu shot. Without fail, I'm one of the first persons to go to the doctor or the pharmacy that is giving them out. I never skip this. I have issues with nausea, and the idea of languishing in bed waiting for nausea/fever/chills/respiratory illness is more than I can handle.
We had a warm winter up until a few weeks ago, when the temperatures plummeted. For a girl who's lived in Alaska, and is familiar with minus temperatures, you'd think it would be no problem for me. But I've felt colder in Santa Fe than I ever did in Anchorage.
My dear friend, the novelist, Wilton Barnhardt, came though shortly after Christmas, and as is our tradition, met at El Farol, one of the oldest bars in town, to have tapas. Wilton and I used to cook together when we both lived in California. So many great memories. He is a veritable genius, and his books, Gospel, Emma Who Saved My Life, and Show World, are all in print. He studied at Oxford. His new book, Look Away, Look Away, is forthcoming from St. Martin's soon. I can't wait to read it.
We had a lovely time, eating, talking food, travel, books, photographs, growing older, cowboy boots, his teaching, my teaching: everything Wilton does is on a grand scale. He was driving back to North Carolina, so we hugged goodbye, and he snapped this photo of me in the parking lot at the top of Canyon Road. A couple of days later, I thought I was catching a cold. Soon I had a 101 fever, and felt really awful. Then the bone-racking cough arrived. I saw the doctor and she prescribed antibiotics for my cough. She gave my husband, who was also coughing, Tamiflu. Lucky dog. He was sick for about 4 days, but bounced back quickly. I got worse.
After a breathing treatment at Urgent Care, I was sent home with an inhaler. A couple days after that, I returned to my regular doctor, who said I had walking pneumonia, and received a second inhaler. I'm still recovering. It's made me think about my life more deeply than ever before. I have prioritized my writing. I'm added hours to my day for reading. And this blog, which I hope to keep current, I'll talk about new books I've read. Sort of a free book review site. Hope you enjoy it.
We had a warm winter up until a few weeks ago, when the temperatures plummeted. For a girl who's lived in Alaska, and is familiar with minus temperatures, you'd think it would be no problem for me. But I've felt colder in Santa Fe than I ever did in Anchorage.
My dear friend, the novelist, Wilton Barnhardt, came though shortly after Christmas, and as is our tradition, met at El Farol, one of the oldest bars in town, to have tapas. Wilton and I used to cook together when we both lived in California. So many great memories. He is a veritable genius, and his books, Gospel, Emma Who Saved My Life, and Show World, are all in print. He studied at Oxford. His new book, Look Away, Look Away, is forthcoming from St. Martin's soon. I can't wait to read it.
We had a lovely time, eating, talking food, travel, books, photographs, growing older, cowboy boots, his teaching, my teaching: everything Wilton does is on a grand scale. He was driving back to North Carolina, so we hugged goodbye, and he snapped this photo of me in the parking lot at the top of Canyon Road. A couple of days later, I thought I was catching a cold. Soon I had a 101 fever, and felt really awful. Then the bone-racking cough arrived. I saw the doctor and she prescribed antibiotics for my cough. She gave my husband, who was also coughing, Tamiflu. Lucky dog. He was sick for about 4 days, but bounced back quickly. I got worse.
After a breathing treatment at Urgent Care, I was sent home with an inhaler. A couple days after that, I returned to my regular doctor, who said I had walking pneumonia, and received a second inhaler. I'm still recovering. It's made me think about my life more deeply than ever before. I have prioritized my writing. I'm added hours to my day for reading. And this blog, which I hope to keep current, I'll talk about new books I've read. Sort of a free book review site. Hope you enjoy it.
