Seems like a long time since I've been here at the computer to do more than the everyday catch-up. Monday I came down with some nasty bug that's going around - unconfirmed by the doctor, but it sounds like the flu with fever, bone aches, chills, dizziness, nausea, a bloated stomach that leads to throwing up and ... worse. The Yucks. The Mizeries.
Then Herb came down with it the next day. He even came home from work after trying to tough it out, so he wouldn't have to use any of his "sick days" allowance... and this man never comes home sick!
Well, I'm glad I didn't go for the flu shot last fall, because Herb did, and he got just as sick as I did. Doc must a got the wrong strain.
Being sick is not all bad. Off the computer, I did get three books read this week: (I finished) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (stunning! Why didn't I read it when it was first published? Thanks go to Beth for the recommendation), The Day I Turned Uncool - Confessions of a Reluctant Grown-up by Dan Zevin (a little comic relief), and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (thanks for the loans, Tree!).
Sure makes me wonder * why the first and last turned up in my stack at the same time, they sure said something to each other about certain kinds of repression and repression's effect on human culture and humanity itself.
* I have a theory about that.
But, I digress. Happily, I obviously pulled through after a day flat in bed, and another day resting and recovering, and yesterday went to the first day of the annual Michigan Herb Associates Conference at Michigan State University, part of Agriculture and Natural Resources Week.
It was fun. My friend Carol, another certified plant nut, who is in charge of the Master Gardener Grow Labs in the local elementary schools went with me, thinking she'd like to learn more about herbs.
Always learning. It was fun. After a day at the Herb Conference, I always feel like spring is on the way.
If my personal economy was better I'd be at ANR week All Week and at the MHA Conference BOTH days. (Just think, two days at the Wildflower Conference and two more at the Beekeeper's Conference would have been too cool!) I can just imagine what fun they're having today. But with the increase in the number of garden bloggers out there, maybe some of the other multitude of gals I saw taking digital photos will be posting about day 2 as well, and I'll live vicariously. (Commentary will follow. I know, I still owe you that cactus jam story! falling be-hind as usual!)
I just made a photo mosaic of my day at the conference. It's over in the right hand sidebar under the photo of Daisy the Pot Girl. You can click on it to go to my Flickr page to see bigger versions of the photos I took yesterday. (Note: I redacted some whining about all the trouble I've had putting the mosaic in my entry.)
Well, it was easier to Flickr upload 30 photos than try to upload them one at a time through Blogger, or into the Herb Society's Yahoo Group album, so just click on a thumbnail and the magic of the internets will sweep you away...
