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. ...

Ish People

Tell an Ish person to show up around 9 a.m., and you'll see them somewhere around 9 a.m. Tell them to show up at 9ish, and you'll see them anywhere from 9:05 to 9:20. You have given them license to dilly dally, and who wouldn't take advantage of that? The other night at the big shindig dinner party, one of the drummers said the rehearsal the next morning would begin at 9ish. "I am an ish person," he says. Immediately the clanker goes off in my head--oh, good, I thought. I can deliver my daughter a little late. No Ish person is early, so if you say 9ish, that does not mean give or take 5, 10, 15 minutes. It's exclusively a taking phrase. Take an extra 10 minutes to drink your cup of coffee. We won't mind. We're Ish people. Sunday's rehearsal started at 2:00. Because it was conducted by the same people who conducted the Saturday rehearsal, my understanding was 2-ISH. My daughter is worse than I am about taking liberties with Ish time frames, so she d...

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...