That’s awful, Steve. Thanks for letting us know how you’re doing. Of course you caught a stinking cold; Mother Nature rarely overlooks a chance to kick us when we’re down.

I had another birthday recently, too, and felt little impulse to celebrate. My elder brother and his wife came all the way from Ottawa bearing a handsome gift, but their visit was dampened by SIL’s difficulty adjusting to new diabetes medications and what I suspect is an unhappy effect of colon surgery a few years ago. Long walks were prevented by rain, mugginess, and forgetting to pack suitable shoes. They went home a day earlier than planned.

Since Edmund died, life has been dull at best — “turned down to about four”, I say when asked (and only when asked). Reverberations from the pandemic are still causing enough trouble to make travel chaotic and hassle-prone, so I stay close to home, and I’m only just beginning to attend concerts and the theatre on my own. I pay ridiculously close attention to the neighbours’ walks with their dogs and the progress of their gardens. Without choir singing and the occasional tune session, I would have literally no fun at all.

Edmund’s sister is coming to visit next weekend. She’s an easier guest because she’s very good at conversation (not a monologuist, thank God), and she wants to go to church and the theatre. So I’ll change the bed and wash the towels, make a batch of cockaleekie stew and scrub the kitchen floor. Gotta keep on keeping on.