I feel luxurious today. I’m one who adores open windows, open doors. I even roll down the windows in my car, at least a little, most of the year.

So winter is really hard for me. I can’t hear the sounds of the outdoors, can’t feel the fresh air. Instead we have the hiss of a furnace, which for some reason is very distracting to me. (Am I the only one who counts one of the disadvantages of winter, as having a furnace blowing much of the time? The sound, not the warmth…)

Well, today it’s just around freezing, and there is no wind at all. In the areas of the house where heat rises through the roof, the snow is melting and there is a steady drip of water I can see through the window. There is the tiniest bit of snow coming down, and it is peaceful and beautiful.

The house just felt full of germs and stale air. So I turned down the thermostat, wrapped up in my Ethiopian blanket and opened the front door. Aaaahhh.

If it has to be winter, this is pretty good. OK, I can’t do it very long but I feel some relief.

Whenever I have an instinct to control something not in my power to control, my favorite saying is “I’m not in charge.” It has perhaps never been so true as this week.

I was a bit sick last week for a few days (small potatoes, as Gramma would say), but I recovered, danced at Aladdins, felt just great. Then Monday I got hit hard. It’s a mean flu, different symptoms every day. I spent a day and a half unable to keep anything down other than a little water. Even tea did not agree with me.

I do not get that sort of sick very often and I had forgotten. I am grateful for a few friends/family who were able to give me real advice on how to get through the nausea. Today I’m through that challenge, anyway.

So I’m not in charge. This was to be such a busy, exciting week. It has turned into a “sit on the couch and don’t move” week. Fortunately I was able to cancel or reschedule my events… but a few break my heart. The knitting guild retreat on Sunday, where I was to teach color combining for real garments, and Rae’s birthday yesterday… well, I’m sad.

Today I have my brain back and I’m able to eat again. I’m not yet well, but a corner has been turned. For two days I could only get on the internet to see if I’d sold anything that had to be shipped out, and my emails had no more than a sentence or two. I couldn’t read or knit, so I sat still like a good girl and stared at the ceiling. Yes, me.

It was not small potatoes this time, though even this will not hang on that long. However, I think it’s important to notice good stuff, and the view out of the front window is clean and snow-covered and white. If you do not have to go out, this is lovely weather. I hope I can knit some wool today and make it a winter lay-on-the-couch-and-heal day.

And as another favorite saying goes, “This, too, shall pass.” I should feel better next week and I’ll lay low this weekend. It’s sort of required.

I am repeating a snow photo from January today, please forgive. It looks like this today, only more. Much more snow.