creating meagres

Things have calmed down a bit here at Our Lady of Perpetual Whining Hospital (post title and sentence stolen directly from Woody Allen's article in the current New Yorker). Allen was inspired by information that "as many as six thousand doctors yearly leave remnants inside their patients during operations...." and as far as we know,  Ron's doctor isn't missing any gloves or sewing needles. But seriously folks, although the health problem isn't over yet, we've sort of settled into a care routine that doesn't cause me to have 3 AM meltdowns (at least not for the last two nights) or for him to feel he should have done the surgery on himself, himself! He's even eating now and after buying stuff at farmers markets, I have to use it. It's so fresh and pretty.

I realize that in the last three weeks, I have been waiting for the next catastrophe to strike -- sure that it would and it usually did. But it seems now, on the first day of my birthday month, that maybe things will begin to improve. I'm tentatively taking chunks of time for myself. Editing, knitting, writing (cafe writing hasn't happened yet). And it occurs to me, as I contemplate the various connections to each of these things, I haven't ever bothered with professional business cards. I design them on my computer using templates, colored paper and scissors and generally feel awfully smug about it. But I'm not a designer and to quote Allen again: cheap is cheap. So this is the overwrought fx photo I chose to use. I like it. Now I'll wait to see what the designers say.

Still dealing with the feelings around deaths, eerie nights in hospital ERs, ghosts from the past (nice ghosts, some of them), and beginning to feel firmer ground under my feet. Actually went out last night to friend Natalie Goldberg's reading with Mirabai Starr (part of the SOMOS Summer Writers Series). It was good therapy. Drove home at 10 or so into a chilly night (it always gets cold here at night), car windows down, cold wind blowing my hair around ~ I think it actually blew out some of the cobwebs in my mind. Because of all that's happened since the Chokecherries anthology came out, I haven't taken steps to promote it and everyone else in the organization is in a tizzy or too busy. As editor it's tacitly assumed that I'll do it. I'll have to rally soon ~ this is a special edition with a limited print run. Meanwhile, I'll post a photo here and hope that you'd like to have a copy. Contact (somos@somostaos.org) ~ mention this blog and receive a discount.