Sore throats; knitting woes; clutter slaying and general malaise

Tuesday last, the Prayer Shawl Ministry shared celebrating with a member’s family, their bereavement of the death of husband and father. The church setting was simply stunning. Found in the early 1800’s, St. John’s Calvary Episcopalian Church was set high on a hill, as churches usually were in those days, surrounded by an orchard probably began at the same time. Time, wind, rain, and snow, those tough elements, oblierated the information on many of the graves. The grounds were hilly and uneven, making walking upright a personal best for some (like me!). 

The Church building, original to its beginnings, is limited in facilities. The minister periodically gave instructions to the people gathered in the nave on how to find the necessary facilities. “You exit the pew, turn around, and exit the church. Then turn left and then left again to go down the hillside on that side of the church. A door under the church proper on the left will lead you to your destination.”  Or words to that effect.

It was a classic autumn day. Bright sun and vivid blue skies. No clouds. Wind was calm. Our friend’s casket was placed on the hilltop, overlooking the valley, east towards the Atlantic and down to his beloved Cape May.

Afterwards, we continued to celebrate at one of the oldest, original taverns in the United States. I forget now the original name of the tavern and for that matter, it’s present name. That was one powerful Perfect Manhattan I had before lunch.  Gotta watch that, eh?

That evening I was high with a fever and woke the next morning with a classic sore throat. Finally saw the MD/PA on Friday. Armed with a cache of cortisone, antibiotics, and Mucinex, I crawled home and pulled up the covers. 

It is now a week later. I’m still under the malaise of the sore throat; tired, sleepy, and achey. Don’t want to do a thing but have to.  Gotta get rid of books so my DH [dear husband] will be happy for a few days with less clutter staring him in the face. As I sat here, doing my best  procrastinating , I realized that I can’t do my knitting, which I love doing more than most things, because the work isn’t done. That is, I have not cleaned up my desk and all the other junk trails I’ve following me around. “You can’t play until your work is done” haunts me from my childhood (when do these memories stop bugging you?  thought that happened when you grew up?  which begs the question:  when do you grow up?) Knitting isn’t exactly play, now is it?  But it’s fun and something I like to do. Ergo…it’s play. At least in my mind. Which means unless I clean up this mess, I can’t knit. So around I go.

It’s another beautiful Fall day here in the Middle Atlantic States. From the weather forecast, we will have the same for the balance of the week. I look forward to sitting on the patio perhaps for the last time this year. But then, I’ll have the sun in Melbourne, FL in December.  If the gods, that is, don’t bring rain on me per usual during winter months in the sunny state.  And I’m on the way to the patio right now to call my dearest, oldest friend back in Whitney, PA.