Thank goodness it rained this morning. A cold during the summer is such an isolating thing. As I lie in bed I am pinioned by a misery that convinces me the rest of the world is at our little, local beach all in agreement that this is indeed the best summer day in the existence of mankind. The weight of this unhappiness transforms the cold into something much closer to consumption or polio and I begin to feel myself wither and pale into a creature so pitiful and so forgotten I find myself calling down the stairs to Jonno "I'm sick, really sick. Please sir, may I have a cup of tea, it might be the only thing that will save me". There may not always be a responses but as sure my eventual recovery will happen, the kettle dutifully whistles five minutes later and is then followed by the sound of woollen socks thumping up the stairwell. Before he even enters the room I can make out a luminous light radiating from my yolk yellow mug and in he walks, his kindness and concern a halo. I am no longer alone and suddenly it seems to be just a cold.
Jonno is now off doing the afternoon milking and after a day of sleep I am bravely caring for my own children, stiff upper lip and everything. Actually the truth is I am letting Archie watch TV and Hugo is flushing things down the toilet, I think they are just wipes but of course my legs are not quite strong enough to carry me to check. We have heaps of stuff anyway so a little bit of culling should only be a good thing for our house. Come to think of it though, I haven't seen the cat for a while, the good one, not the bad one.
The above painting was done last year but as my memory card on my camera is being problematic, I am having to look backwards at past achievements. Quite handy really as in my current state I am only good for reading, consoling myself and making sure the boys remain well adjusted human beings.... the last bit probably only involves hiding my complete patheticness in the face of ill health so they don't think it is a normal response to an extremely little summer cold.
