Friday, May 08, 2015

Hi! Remember Me? Cold, Tornadoes and a Book Review

Yes, I know....I have been a very inconsistent blogger of late.  However, I have been very consistently ill! Good to know I am keeping on top of SOMETHING!  For the last week I have had what I thought was a really bad allergy attack but I have come to believe it was a ....drumroll, please....cold.






 An old fashioned cold.  I haven't had one in so long I didn't recognize it but I do believe that is what it was.  It seems to be leaving me now even though I was still running a low grade temp last night.  I seem to be more normal today although a bit battered.  Hopefully the rest of May will be uneventful.

I say that as we are facing severe weather the next three days.  If I were looking for an adjective to describe Texas to a non-Texan I would have to say "extreme".  We are extreme.  We never seem to do things moderately.  We don't just have a "line of thunderstorms" passing through -- we have multiple tornadoes and flooding and people drowning in their storms shelters and storm shelters popping out of the ground -- I mean, we rarely just have a day.  Oh we, do but they aren't very often or memorable.  So, I sat here last night watching the weather reporting through every commercial break showing us where the "hook" is, where the rotation is going.  I didn't feel well.  I contemplated getting dressed and finding my serviceable shoes -- something I haven't done for the last three days -- but decided against it.  I decided that if it were meant to be I would just be blown to Oz because I couldn't be bothered.  We didn't get a tornado where I live but there were signs of them closeby.  We did get a lot of wind and rain which blew under my back door.  I just spread out some towels and went to bed.  It is a lovely day today with more excitement promised for this evening.  Yay.

Photo off the internet -- don't know who to credit but thanks!

Not feeling well, no energy, and bad weather has given me time to do some reading.  I have always been the sort that hones in on a particular author and then set out to read everything they have written.  I have my favorite authors just like everybody does, I am sure.  However, the other day I had finished a book and was looking for something new to read and ran across an article about Anne Tyler.  It was interesting.  I then set out to read a blog by mlhall.com and lo and behold, he had written a review of an Anne Tyler book so I took that as a sign.  I went to my neighborhood Half Price Books and picked up two AT titles -- "Back When We Were Grownups" and "Saint Maybe".  I began with the first and was immediately drawn in.



This is the story of Rebecca.  Rebecca with Will.  Rebecca with Joe.  Rebecca with four daughters.  Rebecca at 53 who discovers she has become a completely different person.  I could identify on any number of levels.  The book is so well written it was a joy to read.  The dialogue flowed beautifully, the humor natural, the descriptions were beautiful.  I could just envision the brownstone -- The Open Arms -- in all its dilapidated glory.  The family interaction is so, well, normal -- this could be anybody's family.  It was a great read -- it wasn't a mystery but it was definitely "cozy".  I would definitely recommend and I was sorry to see it end.  I have already started on "Saint Maybe" and it already has me hooked.

But...you have to feel sorry for Will.  That is all I am going to say.

So, folks, that is what I have been doing.  Not much, actually and trying to play catch up today.  Thankfully I feel good enough to do that.  Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all my mom readers.


8 comments:

Jane and Chris said...

Glad you weren't blown to 'Oz'...although my sister lives in Oz..you could have visited!
I do that too, find an author and read everything I can. Cozy books are the best ones to read when you are ill,I think.
Jane x

Boyett-Brinkley said...

Jane -- LOL! Well, more chance of wind tonight so if I wind up in Oz I will look her up! This was a really good book -- I think you would enjoy it.

Gill - That British Woman said...

just ordered over a dozen books from bookoutlet.com tonight, a mix of fiction and non fiction, will post about it when I receive them later in the week. It is an American site, but also ships out of Canada.

Feel better soon.

Boyett-Brinkley said...

Gill -- looking forward to hearing about it. I have never heard of them -- I am going to check them out.

Penhallow Street said...

Spring colds seem to go on forever, but hopefully you're on the other side of it now.

The only good thing about not having any energy with a cold/flu is you can read without feeling guilty ;)

Do you have as many tornadoes in the summer as in the spring? Here's hoping better health, and better weather is coming your way.

Boyett-Brinkley said...

Bonnie -- I feel like I am on the improving side of things but now both ears are stopped up -- a reminder of my youth! I am sure this was some sort of upper respiratory virus and now Hubs has it! It is true about the reading and I am doing a lot of it. The last couple of days I have actually felt like doing a few things finally. We have more tornadoes in the spring -- summer it is just hot but we are having so much rain that I almost ready for the heat!

Penhallow Street said...

My brother and his family have been plagued with a virus that sounds much like yours. He told me it's been 3 weeks, and just now starting to lessen.

I hope you and your husband will be feeling better soon. Chicken soup and books--plenty of both!:)

Boyett-Brinkley said...

Bonnie -- I am into week three now and while I feel much better -- not coughing so much, not feeling like I am drowning too much and I can almost hear again -- it isn't gone. My husband sounds terrible although he says he isn't. I am sure this was more than just allergies.

Update

 Ok, so we visited our cardiologist yesterday to get the lay of the land for the Hubs.  Seems there is an issue with one of the grafts from ...