More Winter Weather

We've had more sleet and freezing rain. They cancelled school yesterday, but it is in session today. However, Lexi is not there. She's been barking like a seal for a few days and it's gotten worse, so Alyssa is taking her to the doctor. Alyssa just called; the doctor said it's the beginnings of bronchitis. He prescribed an antibiotic and a cough syrup - just what Alyssa and I expected. He also gave a school excuse for today and said she can go back on Monday.

My pine trees are covered with ice and the branches are drooping. They were like that from the last ice storm and bounced back, so I guess they will this time, too. They're fairly young trees, so they shouldn't be brittle.

The lilac bush is also completely coated with ice. It looks pretty, but I hope it doesn't damage the tree. I love lilacs. They were the first flowers both Alyssa and I ever saw or smelled (do newborns see and smell much?) There was a lilac bush beside the house I was born in. It was blooming in mid-May the year I was born (Mother said that was a bit early for west-central Minnesota). My sister, who was almost two and a half, picked some and took them in to Mother. Forty-four years later, my lilacs in southwest New Jersey were blooming in mid-April when Alyssa was born, so I picked some and took them to my daughter in the hospital.

There are icicles along the back porch roof, and melt-off from the roof is dripping onto the fence and freezing on it. I wasn't able to get a very good picture; it would be much better if the sun were shining.



Lexi


When Lexi got off the school bus on Monday, she was holding this certificate. It says, "For Learning the School Bus Safety Rules and Being a Good School Bus Passenger." She said she's always very good on the bus, but some of the other kids are not. I wish she was always very good at home, too, but I guess my friend Ardelle had the right idea. She told her boys (five of them) that if they had to act out, they should do it at home.


Medical

I've been transporting Bob to physical therapy Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the last two weeks. Monday he goes back to the doctor at 8:15 and then to therapy at 10:15. More knitting time for me. I sit in the waiting room and knit while Bob is with the therapist, and several people have asked what I'm working on. On Monday this week one of the women said that she also does a lot of knitting. On Wednesday, I told her about the group that knits at the Art Guild on Tuesdays (I was the only one who showed up this week - one regular is away for the winter, one just went back to school, one had foot surgery about two weeks ago, one has been having trouble with her shoulder, one doesn't go out in cold weather . . . ). Just before she was called back by the therapist, I learned that she's the mother of two young women I used to go to church with. This morning I asked her how they are doing. I hope she shows up at the Art Guild on Tuesday - these five-minute conversations just aren't long enough.

Next week I'll be taking the steroid again for four days. At least now I only need to take half as much as I had been; maybe the side effects won't be as bad. Then on Thursday I'll see the oncologist.