Winter Cheer

I'm feeling oddly cheerful.

He looks cold.

I'm several days late in posting these photos of winter, glorious winter, but I think they're beautiful. For someone who always hated the cold, always reveled in heat waves, I sure do love snow an awful lot. Or, rather, I love when it's snowing.

Contrary to popular belief, Southeast is lovely.

It's just so peaceful and calm when it's snowing, the romantic period between the first flurry and brown slush choking the streets. This week's snow days made me feel cheery and comforted.

Brrr...

The ensuing sidewalk ice slicks that threatened another emergency room trip with every cautious, slippery step? Not so much.

One Appendix Lighter

Winking-Eye Alcohol Suggestion

Not last Wednesday but the Wednesday before, I didn't feel so hot.

My stomach had been hurting for several days, just a dull (yet quite persistent) ache. I had dinner and watched some tv with the White Rabbit, who left his car parked outside my house and left me his key when he left -- just in case I needed to high-tail it over to urgent care the next morning, if it didn't feel better. I went to sleep, thinking it would just go away with rest, and was rudely awakened several times during the night by the pain. At 3AM, when I could stand it no longer, I got up, got dressed, got in the car, and drove myself clear across the city to GWU hospital's emergency room.

After waiting what seemed like an eternity, they started a slew of tests to rule out several different causes of abdominal pain (boo). They also started putting hefty doses of morphine into my IV (yay!). I developed a low fever and they put me in line for a cat scan after forcing me to drink a liter of that hideous contrast dye. The cat scan confirmed appendicitis, and they whisked me off to surgery, put me under, and pulled that sucker the hell out, after which I had to spend the night in the hospital (my first time).

So yeah. I've been MIA, but with good reason! Thanks to the White Rabbit and all the rest of my best friends for going out of their way to visit me in the hospital multiple times, bring me food, and watch DVDs with me while I drifted in and out of Codeine-induced naps.

When I came out of the anesthesia, the surgeon told me I had six visitors waiting for me in the waiting room. That felt good. Even better than the morphine.

Oh, My Darling

I was just recently lamenting the inherent lameness of winter fruit. Cherries, berries, melon and stone fruit in the summer, apples and pears in the fall... dry, tasteless oranges in the winter? I haven't enjoyed winter fruit since my late grandfather passed two years ago, as he used to send a huge box of perfect oranges to my dorm every winter from some farm in Florida. All other oranges paled in comparison.

But oh, my darling Clementines! How dare I forget about these juicy little gems? Their peels practically fall off, and with them go the winter blues. The White Rabbit taught me to toss their peels into the disposal, which makes my kitchen smell lovely. I can't even look at this photo without feeling cheerier!

Orange you feeling cheerier?

And oh, my real darling: a very merry birthday, White Rabbit!