Showing up at the page

So I've been very ill this last week. It makes an impression when you pass out in front of all of your co-workers and your boss at a very important meeting. It's not good when they find you face first in the snow in the parking lot. Yep, that was me. Making an impression at the new job. The Superintendent took me to the emergency clinic where she was asked if she was my mother after my boss confiscated the keys to my truck. The Superintendent (aka Big Boss) asked me my phone number and I couldn't remember it. She asked my parents' number and I couldn't remember it either.

If I had been more then semi-aware of my surroundings I would have been worried about the doctor at the emergency clinic who didn't know how to spell the illness he thought I had and who looked like he was sixteen complete with black baggy pants draping off his boxers. It might have concerned me that he was focusing on things that didn't hurt. But I was not myself. Luckily my new co-workers rallied - the next day my boss called up two other co-workers and told them they were taking me to Los Anchorage (one was going anyway), another co-worker commandeered my pets.

I had been to City-of-Ice-Sculptures the weekend before for work and by the time the weekend had come had checked myself into the emergency clinic there. I thought the diagnosis seemed a bit bogus but was going to give the meds a shot. I thought I was fine at the meeting - really, I did. Then I crashed, spectacularly. So now, between the clinic here, the one in City-of-Ice-Sculptures, and Los Anchorage I now have three completely different diagnoses - and my symptoms don't fit any of them. Argh.

Just days before this the Disreputable Dog blew both his posterior cruciate ligaments (that's akin to a human ACL). He's scheduled for surgery next week. Last night Marlboro Man (my step-father) passed away - I can't absorb it. Oh, and that volcano (Mt. ReDoubt) is exploding - luckily the ash is not falling but it may prevent me from flying out of here.

Anywho, that's where I've been. Signing off for now....

Falling books

Monday morning I learned that the independent bookstore where I spent the year of 2008 is closing its doors, on my birthday no less. Sadly, the belt tightening that has people reducing the number of lattes they buy has caused them to reduce the number of books they buy and the place just can't stay afloat. So it will be closing. I'm having a hard time imagining the town without it - even though it was absent all of my growing up years. It was more then a bookstore, it was a social place, a comforting place, an escape, a place that blurred the imaginary and real. I feel for my colleagues there who now are joining so many of the ranks of unemployed. I also cannot help but reflect on how my personal fortunes seem to be in direct contrast with everyone else. I lost my job at the end of 2007. I lost my home. I lost my sense of direction. Etc. And then, just as everyone else started to lose their jobs I was offered a new one in the field I love in a place I love with people I truly enjoy. I am truly grateful for this fact. I feel like I have been experiencing this economic downturn a year ahead of everyone else and now I've gotten back on my feet.

Already I miss the bookstore. The smell of the fresh books, the fireplace with the big wing chairs, the big stuffed pillows in the children's section, the crisp displays, the rhythm of book selling, of browsing, and buying, and enthusiasm.

Short Week

This image is from my trip up on the Alaska Marine Highway this January. It exudes serenity and peacefulness. I'm feeling somewhat wordless today - the week escaped me, somehow it's Friday but I missed Wednesday. I have fun weekend plans - more skiing, a dinner date, a new book club to attend, and the Yukon Quest Dog Race to follow. I'm feeling dreamy and tired now as I snuggle with the D. Cat on my lap and the D. Dog at my feet. Did I mention the D. Dog caught himself breakfast the other morning? He was most pleased with himself.

Updates

Thank you all for your kind words on my "Fatigued" post. Here's the update: there is good news and bad news.

My mother's eyesight is increasingly better. Her brain is increasingly coordinating her eyeballs. For those of you who don't know she has had cataract surgery on both eyes and then had to have emergency surgery subsequently as both retinas detached. All in all she has had 11 surgeries on her eyes so far in quite a short time span. She still has quite a bit of pain although it is slowly getting better. She is now able to get out into her garden - which is the best therapy there is for her - and she is able to resume writing her garden column for the local paper. Unfortunately, the two other things she loves, sewing & reading, are still beyond her reach despite 5 different pairs of glasses. Unfortunately, she keeps having set backs.

The Disreputable Dog seems lately much improved. The tests were inconclusive - yes, there was abnormal growth in his left front shoulder but not enough to tell definitively if any of it was cancer. But in the last few weeks he has his spirit back and the rest of the household menagerie no longer does periodic nose checks with him to see if he is okay. His limp has decreased markedly and we have been able to go back to our regular length walks. I'm not yet taking him hiking and he's still rather slow and going down stairs seems very difficult but at the moment we're taking a hiatus from veterinary visits and tests.

As for the bad news the Original Marlboro Man is doing very poorly. Twice now we've all rushed to his side only to have him recover. He is grimly determined to hang on despite being increasingly miserable. In addition, the bookstore has been broken into and robbed twice in the last week. This is particularly upsetting as it seems to be someone who is or has worked here in the past - it is discomfiting to be suspicious of our co-workers and to know that they must be suspicious of me.

Due to all the goings on, I have fallen behind in absolutely everything in my life so please don't be hurt if I haven't visited lately! I'm even missing the wedding of two very dear, long term friends of mine this weekend - I hope they are having fabulous weather and a fabulous time! My best wishes to you both! Here's to wishing you a long and peaceful marriage.