Skip to main content

Another Day In

JJill used to sell a shirt they called the Artisan Shirt. It's made of light denim and is styled sort of like a nehru jacket with that kind of collar and covered buttons. It's full and comfortable, though, instead of being fitted, and the best part is, you don't have to hold your stomach in when you wear it.

I'm wearing that shirt today, although I'm calling it the Convalescing Shirt. With the sleeves rolled up, it's like I'm getting down to business, but I'm really just fighting this traveling flu. I'm calling it the traveling flu because it moves from body part to body part—throat, lungs, sinuses. First a fever, then not a fever, then a fever again. Last night I could barely breathe because every breath sounded like a rain stick with rattling and wheezing, and my nose was stopped up, and I felt like I needed a sauna. So, I moved into the guest room, which is the smallest room in the house apart from the laundry room, and I set up the vaporizer. I shut myself in there and breathed in the moist air until my sinuses opened up, and I could sleep.

And, boy, did I sleep. I also dreamed. I dreamed my orchestra was invited to give a concert in London, and I was asked to participate. My family was planning on being there that week anyway, so of course, I said yes. I showed up at the first rehearsal only to find I had completely misunderstood—it wasn't a full orchestra concert but a 16-piece horn ensemble, and the other horn players from my group had backed out at the last minute. I hadn't had a chance to look over the music and had to just take my seat, the last one, and sight-read with these tuxedoed professionals from The London Symphony in the front row turning around to look at me with absolute disdain. Fortunately, I woke up before I had to play a single note and prove once and for all I had no business being there.

Even though I'm wearing this so-called artisan shirt, I will probably not create any art today, but you never know. During each day this week, I have painted something with watercolors, and even though I enjoyed every minute of the process, the results will just have to be chalked up as a learning experience—how not to paint. On second thought, maybe I should paint a picture of this shirt, or myself wearing it while struggling to play impossible music with people all dressed for a concert in London. I could call it The Traveling Convalescent. Darn my fevered brain.

Comments

dive said…
Hi, Robyn! I was there in the audience at that London concert and you totally rocked! I remember at the end all the other horn players congratulating you on your playing.

That flu truly sucks. Do get better soon, if only so you can play horn without your head exploding.
Shan said…
Oh dear. Are you sure it's a viral thing? You have been sick for quite a while dearie. Your fever inspired art might be fun to see. It would probably be more raw in nature somehow. I drew a picture once when I was having an extremely low blood sugar. Jamey swears it was one of my best! Baha

Do get well, won't you? :)

Popular posts from this blog

No More Mr. Nice Guy

It's good to be a nice person--to say nice things, to do nice things, to write nice things--but I declare an end to the use of the word nice. Nice is what you say when you can't think of any other adjective. Someone shows you a picture of their back yard--that's nice. Someone tells you about their afternoon adventure--that's nice. Or someone describes their childhood in great detail and sometimes with painstaking effort--that's nice. It's a lazy word, and it's non-descriptive. Nice is like mashed potatoes with noodles and chicken gravy all in a big pile on one plate with some canned corn for garnish. Everything is the same color and texture and base substance--starch (this is a favorite Amish dish). Nice is like a partly cloudy day in April when outside feels like inside, and you can't tell a difference between the lighting and the temperature of your living room and the lighting and temperature of your front yard. Nice is a glass of lukewarm water. ...

Long Live Anita Bowser

You know I occasionally check my hometown newspaper's website to scan the obituaries (morbid, I know, but I'm at that age). Over this past weekend, I read the obituary of Indiana State Senator Anita Bowser . She was a noted Democrat who championed causes protecting the neediest in the state's population. She was respected on both sides of the aisle for her intelligence and plain and outspoken approach to law making. The picture on her senate page is lovely. I remember none of those things about Anita Bowser . My first year or so in college was spent at a branch of Purdue University, and in the early 80s, Anita was a political science professor. She taught my American Government class my freshman year, and she was a mess. Somewhere in my old text book, I have a sketch of her drawn on a particularly dull day in class--her hose sagged at her ankles, her slip showed at least half an inch all the way around, her hair had been slept on but not brushed, and her bright red lip stic...

My Sitemeter is All Bloated and Not Quite Itself

I'm tempted to let it sit on the couch with its feet curled up under a blanket, a hot cup of coffee in hand, a block of cherry almond bark Chocolove within reach, and An Affair to Remember spinning in the DVD player. I'm one of those obsessive bloggers, the kind who checks her sitemeter as often as possible throughout the day, the kind who gauges the quality of her writing by the number of readers who regularly stop by. I've become less interested in the overall number of hits and more interested in the number of repeat hits. The return visitors are the ones I long for. When my sitemeter reads forty at the end of the day, and the majority of those hits are webpals who have conversed, I'm happy. Forty may seem low to many of you, but I've only been at this since August. To me, forty is a jackpot. A few days ago, I sat down at my laptop and discovered a number somewhere in the eighties. Eighties! Yippee! Yeeha ! Hoo-rah ! I've been discovered by the webworld , o...