Fun Friday: Canceled Due to Illness

Sadly, what would have been our fourth consecutive "Fun Friday" was cancelled due to my becoming ill on Thursday with some sort of virus. Neither of us ever had anything more than a common cold or our usual chronic back pain during our seven months on the road, and with only catastrophic health insurance, this is a very good thing. My current illness is most likely a viral infection causing garden variety nausea, headache and malaise, but not feeling well is certainly a bummer, not only because of having to cancel "Fun Friday" but because this is also my birthday weekend (I'll be 46 tomorrow).

At any rate, we're lucky to have the free and unfettered use of our neighbors' home during this weekend and the coming week, a very kind offer which allows us to have an extra 1500 square foot home in which to rest and stretch out. It's a treat, and it also reminds us how much we don't want a house of our own and the responsibility and the (inevitable) accumulation of stuff that that would entail.

One of the nice things about this house is its inner courtyard that includes an outdoor bed that's protected from the rain that recently never seems to fall. (Protection from the ubiquitous flies would be nice, too, but you can't always have everything.)

Here's a daytime view of the courtyard from the outdoor bedroom....

Here I am, reclined in the outdoor bed, nauseous and resting....

And this is a nighttime view (without flash) from my reclined position.....

Mary has been taking very good care of me, and I can only hope that I'll feel better for my birthday. Still, plans to travel up to the Rio Grande again for the day tomorrow may be scuttled in lieu of something less taxing. Being sick on one's birthday is never fun, but I'm grateful that it's a self-limiting illness that will no doubt works its way out of my system soon. And after all, there are many more Fun Fridays---and birthdays---to come.

---Keith