A Little Break

Jhett and I went to Winston-Salem for a few days late last week.  I dropped her off at home in West Salem where she could enjoy her city house while I spent a few days with Daddy.  Daddy has some sitters helping us now.  He is unable to get out of bed at all.  He needs help eating (he has such tremors that he can only handle sandwiches or finger foods) and he spends much of his time sleeping.  Always a vain man, he still insists on shaving and combing his hair every day.  

Jhett enjoyed spending time lying on the radiators at each window, sleeping on top of the cabinet in the kitchen and reacquainting herself with her old toys.  She has spent each evening in my lap while I would listen to NPR or read "Plainsong" while waiting for my Preacher to get here.



Once he arrived we did yard work that had been neglected for about a year.  There was a Bradford pear tree in the front yard and a breeze early this spring knocked it over.  That left only one tree-sized plant in the yard - a large crepe  myrtle.  The neighbor's trees were growing over the property line and fences, lying on the roof of the house and garage (this is a city house so the side yards are minuscule).  We spent two days cutting and hauling brush.  I can't remember when I have glowed so much (you know Southern women don't sweat, we glow).  I am covered with mosquito bites and am in great fear of the dreaded West Nile Virus so I'm hyper sensitive to each ache and pain since we got home.  I have more bites than I care to count but they seem to be in clusters of at least 3 within in inch.  I have bites on my toes and on  my face.  Thank God, the worst of the itching seems to be over.  It's hard to believe that as dry as things have been back in Winston-Salem, there are more mosquitoes there than here in the Dismal Swamp area.

So now I'm back and getting caught up on work and rest and the next thing you know it's going to be September!