Rainy Day Ramblings

Well, the Hutchins have been house-bound for about ten days as Carolyn broke out with these bumps on her body Saturday the 18th. We had been up to our kitchen designer to talk about alternatives for a master bath/closet expansion, but Carolyn was feeling a little weird and itchy so we stopped in our doctor's early in the afternoon.

We were fairly surprised when he declared that Carolyn probably had chicken pox! Evidently, a light case in your youth doesn't guarantee immunity in adulthood. She started on an anti-viral and benadryl to ease the itching. But that pretty much eliminated any plans for activities in which Carolyn came into contact with others. So no church, Community Bible Study, art classes or Bible Study. Good thing that the Olympics were on to keep us occupied, and that, so far, I have avoided contracting the pox myself.

Carolyn's CBS friends have been very generous in bringing dinners so neither of us have starved (or had to learn to cook - me). Although the virus can drag you down, Carolyn has tried to do various cleanup projects around the house and has sometimes worn herself out by attempting too much.

This weekend we threw out old picture frames that were broken or tarnished, reorganized the library closet including decades worth of pictures, cleaned out financial files, and straightened both the art studio and the back room. We would stop when we came across a particularly poignant or funny photo, or to examine Carolyn's various hair styles or the length of my hair or beard.

We also came across my travel journal from our 1992 European trip with CVCHS when we chaperoned 15 high schoolers through six countries in 21 days. I read some of it to Carolyn last night and it brought back memories of Munich, Dachau, St. Marks Square in Venice, climbing the steps up the Florence Duomo with Ashley (463 each way), eating gelato in Rome, going to the Louvre in Paris and discovering Ashley had lost her stuffed Lambie in some earlier hotel. I seemed to focus on our meals and the cultural differences or toilets of the countries we visited. But we had a good time!

Today, after much heralding, rain has again returned to Southern California. This will be another test of our recent home repairs and my driving skills as I seek to avoid colliding with my fellow commuters.