DouglasFir of Flourish

Yesterday I slept better and felt pretty much okay when I woke up. I dreamed that the Sparrowhawk and I were apprentice magicians and had been given one of those bags that contain much more than the outside reveals. We came to a body of water that we wanted to cross, and I was perturbed because I hadn't put the magic car that could go under water into the bag. The Sparrowhawk pointed out that it was okay, because I had put the front porch into the bag, so all I had to do was take out the front porch, open the door, go inside, get the keys to the car, and drive it over here. I was pleased with his solution. However, then these two guys showed up who were jealous that we'd been apprenticed into a powerful fantasy. They wanted to take the bag of magic. I didn't know very many spells yet, so I put my hands in front of them and used the spell REPEL. That stopped them, and I was happy. But they said "We have a spell, too! It's called SHOOT FIRST." "Oh dear," I thought, "I'm going to have to do something serious about this." The next thing I knew, they were gone, but for some stains on the pavement that could have been blood. I wasn't quite sure what I had done. Ominous . . . .

I ran around the house getting ready for the arrival of Bird Baby, only to receive a text from poor frazzled Dr. Music to say that they had inadvertently left the carseat in the car that had already been driven to campus, so he couldn't bring her, and would it be possible for us to come to their house instead? The Sparrowhawk dropped me off and went to his PT appointment. I then spent a couple of hours building Lego towers, garages, and whatnot, reading picture books, looking at flash cards and having lunch with charming Bird Baby. It was fun, but I was tired by the time Dr. Music returned with the carseat and drove me home. I did little of any use for the rest of the day.

Today also I only did one good thing. I slept really badly and was miserable as soon as awake. I had started to make cookies the previous day and gave up, so I decided to finish them up. While they were baking, I cleaned up all the dishes, which we are now doing by hand because the dishwasher is still broken. I gave our Fearless Leader a bag of cookies when he brought the Sparrowhawk home from the coffee house where they had been discussing organizational matters. FL is doing a triathlon tomorrow, so he may need some sugar.

Then I tried to take a nap, but was foiled because that always seems to be the time when my phone starts blowing up. It wasn't good news. My friend Cabernet, from my women's group, whose birthday we planned to celebrate on Tuesday, will not be there because she'll be getting her chemo port installed for treatment of liver cancer. Another friend, in her 40s with four children, has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is awaiting a treatment plan that will include the usual surgery, chemo, and radiation. And the Nipper let the family know that after our beloved Raptor, who has autism, had been accepted to his new high school, went through orientation, bought the uniform, etc., the school called the Nipper in to say that, after all, they'd decided they couldn't meet his needs so could he please go elsewhere. What perfidy. It's just soul-crushing. It confirms my thought from a couple of weeks ago that "nice" people can often be particularly nasty. I want to go there and punch somebody in the throat, but I suppose that wouldn't really be helpful.

Well, after that, sleep fled shrieking, and I got up and spent another few hours in a useless but wakeful state. The wind was phenomenal, and the clouds were scudding past, and the waves on the lake were up to 14 feet high. I longed to go and see it, but I was too tired. The horses of time have ripped the chariot reins from my fingers and are just careering across the continuum with no regard for my feelings.