Dec. 19

This has sort of segued into Bunker Reports From an Invalid Under the Duvet, lately. Apologies.

The thing is, it’s difficult to focus on stuff that isn’t the Dread Lurgy when you go to bed at 9:30 PM…and lie awake until midnight. Whereat, by the way, we got up and made camomile tea. This time it was bloody awful, which either meant we were getting better or itwas deteriorating with age. Then we went back to bed and still didn’t sleep, so in despair we got up and took Tylenol, which we haven’t trusted since it did terrible things to a relative, and eventually drifted off to light and imperfect sleep full of weird dreams.

But it’s not all doom and gloom over here. The cat was very solicitous. She did her best burrowing under the duvet and cozied up to our spine, with much purring. This was probably a last resort since a musle cramp prevented us from being comfortable with her on our knees and sitting on our chest induced hacking and wheezing. She took that Very Personally.

Also today, two packages arrived from friends. One, in Germany, featuring a pattern for quilted pillows (or whatever you call things are that are bigger than pillows but go on the bed) that we’ll tackle when our brain clears. It features Dachshunds, because of course it does, and looks delightful.

Serendipitously, the other offering was full of tea and one of those mugs with a built-in strainer. One of the teas was even heavily ginger-infused. Just what we ordered.

Actually, ginger was the them of the day, because the Advent Calendar produced a ginger chai. It’s a good tea, but drinking it alongside tasteless soup didn’t improve it. Also, it’s better without sugar. We added some experimentally, and it’s definitely better unsweetened. We didn’t even go near milk, because who does when congested? But we can’t see ginger and milk working together, so we may not do that.

All this to say, it felt good to remember there was a world outside the duvet. One where we quilted stuff and met people for tea, and danced Scottish. Friends – who’d be without them, eh?

On which note, have a poem.

In the Company of Women
Gill O’Neil

Make me laugh over coffee,
make it a double, make it frothy
so it seethes in our delight.
Make my cup overflow
with your small happiness.
I want to hoot and snort and cackle and chuckle.
Let your laughter fill me like a bell.
Let me listen to your ringing and singing
as Billie Holiday croons above our heads.
Sorry, the blues are nowhere to be found.
Not tonight. Not here.
No makeup. No tears.
Only contours. Only curves.
Each sip takes back a pound,
each dry-roasted swirl takes our soul.
Can I have a refill, just one more?
Let the bitterness sink to the bottom of our lives.
Let us take this joy to go.