TheBanyanTree: The Last Breath of Fall

[Margaret R. Kramer]

The sun is shining.  Our leaves are raked as much as they can be.  The yard
looks bare with the exception of several bird feeders gently swaying in the
breeze.  The garage is cleaned out.  Our major fall chores are done.

I’m going to take down the Halloween decorations today and our house will be
as bare as the yard until the few Thanksgiving decorations I have (turkeys,
Pilgrims and Indians) go out in a couple of weeks.  I love this bare time of
year before Christmas begins to move in and clutter up our lives.

But speaking of Christmas, I do have the bulk of my Christmas shopping done
. . . I do an amazing amount of shopping online and got that done this week.
The boxes came almost immediately and they’re stacked waiting in my office
to be wrapped.

I also ordered my Christmas (or is it HOLIDAY?) cards online and now they’re
waiting patiently for addresses and stamps and the cold winds of December to
be mailed out.

I think I’ve successfully fought off a cold.  I felt my throat get really
sore a couple of nights ago and started sucking on zinc tabs.  Sometimes if
I do a sweaty workout before the cold strikes, that helps ward it off as
well.  But yesterday was my swimming day.  I do get hot swimming, but I don’
t know if I actually sweat or not.  I swam as hard as I could and then sat
for a while in the whirlpool.

I kept sucking on zinc at work and had chicken soup for lunch.  I felt a bit
worse when I got home.  I felt the chills coming on and took some ibuprofen.
After dinner, I curled up on the green couch and slept and slept and slept.
I woke up enough to make some hot chocolate to soothe my throat before
heading to bed to continue my dreamless slumber.

But I think I won the battle of the cold.  I feel good this morning.  My
sore throat is gone.  I don’t have a fever.  My mind is actively engaged and
not hazy.  I have a stuffy nose, but I’m not sneezing and the nose is not
dripping.

So we’ll have the grandsons overnight.  The older on fractured his leg last
night (a long story in which I won’t go into here), so he should be pretty
easy to watch!  Except we’ll have to lug him up and down the stairs.  He’s
supposed to get his cast on next week.

It should be a good night to do some reading and watch some movies and drink
hot chocolate.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

http://www.polarispublications.com
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Business and Professional Women of Minnesota

Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be
careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude.
~E.P. Powell