I think I need to stage an intervention.

Potentially, yes. And, yet? I am thinking pictures. Because there is also evilness in me.

Did we know pomegranate trees lost their leaves in winter? It makes them hard to identify until you find fruit corpses.

There was snow today at Joshua Tree Nat'l Park. It was swirly and thankfully failed to stick until after we'd driven out. But I think some campers are in for a gorgeous but chilly holiday. There were still a ton of visitors and climbers.

Bleargh. After a trip to the walk-in clinic, a diagnosis of bronchitis, and prescriptions for antibiotics (just finished day 4 of 5), pearls and an albuterol inhaler, I still feel like worn-out, beat-up crap, and just woke up with goop rattling in my lungs and a coughing fit that left my diaphragm aching.

I guess I feel a little better than before the visit and the meds, kind of? But I swear the last time I had antibiotics plus an inhaler the feel-better-instantly effect was nigh magical, and this time there's no magic at all.

Whinewhinewhine.

Oh, JZ, that sucks. I hope you are on the mend soon and that you're over the worst. Being sick is awful but being that sick through the holidays is especially horrible.

Aw, thanks. I feel extra-guilty because Matilda has been a big bundle of snuggles for the last few weeks, and now she's coughing intermittently. Not like I am, but a few weeks ago I wasn't coughing like I am now either. Best call the doctor's office tomorrow and ask for advice before her crap turns into mine.

As penance for the whininess, here's a story of minor coolness:

At my dad's house today, I spent a bunch of time with him going over a stash of old Life magazines he'd found in a corner of his garage and laughing/gasping in disbelief at the ads, the New Look fashions and the stories about GOP leaders making statements and pushing policies that'd get them staked in the heart and buried at the crossroads by today's GOP.

And in the 12/15/61 issue, I found a completely croggling article about a Smith College sophomore who was baffling her friends and family by being a nice, smart, pretty, ordinary, all-American girl who... liked to run (her mother said, "I don't know what she's doing it for, but she's out there every day"). Because US running organizations forbade women to run marathons, 5Ks (or whatever the 1961 version thereof was), or in fact any race longer than a half mile for fear the stress would cause their uteri to fall out, she'd made a habit of scoping out the routes of local "road races," hiding out a block or so past the start point and the scoldy race officials, and then jumping in as the first pack of runners passed by. The article's tone was horrendously patronizing, and baffled, and cheerfully, "Oh, those eccentric college girls! This one sure is weird, but what a cutie!"

When I got home, I Googled her out of sheer irritation at the article, all the while pretty certain I wouldn't find anything but some Smith alumnae class notes. I was so, so wrong.

Very cool, JZ!

Oh,JZ,I am sorry you are ill.We are sisters in the post-Xmas ick.

I think JZ's commentary and that article should go on Good Stuff! (Yes,I would do it, but I would have to ask a lot of directions, and I feel like hammered shit. Sorry.)

ION,I am out of Tylenol, and the other car still won't start.

(THANKS,honey,for TRYING to jump it in the last 4 days. You could make it to the comics store, but now I have to go outside with Death Flu and try, because you left me ONE Tylenol last night? I love you, but WTFF?)

The jumper-box thingie is charging; here's hoping it works,and the gas lines aren't frozen,because the HEET is in MY car, which he's driving, because I'm fucking practical.

Forgive my rancor; I am not really in my right mind this morning.

ETA:

OK,it's not the battery; it's got to be frozen gas lines. And D called from work after my irritated text and is bringing me TheraFlu Day and Night,and some Coke,which I only crave when I have the flu or a hangover.

Oh, and M is getting a cold,too.JOY. And my space bar is sticking.

Biteme2012!

I have no idea how to do a Good Stuff submission, either. I'm a Tumblr idiot. Though, hmmm, I bet I could get my dad to scan the original article and email it to me, or Jesse, to contrast with the NYT profile.

I'm very sorry we are sisters in ick. I'm so friggin' tired of it. After my last post last night I sat upright for a bit, enjoying the act of breathing, and then went to lie down in bed, which triggered another 2 hours of coughing. I need to see the doctor again, because it's clearly not going away on its own, and what I'm currently on isn't doing shit.

Yay spousal TheraFlu and Coke delivery! Boo spousal Tylenol consumption!

Amen,sister.

I do feel better than Saturday & Sunday, which, comparatively, is lovely.

OK, time to get a little work done, right? No rest for the wicked!

Oh, poor JZ and Strix! I hope you belles feel better ASAP.

JZ, I knew without looking that you were talking about Julia Chase-Brand. Such an awesome woman.

Wow, juliana. I had no idea she was a known pioneer (let alone a runner/biologist/late-in-life physician!). That Life article just pissed me off so deeply I had to Google her just to spite those assholes.