Peaceful Easy Feeling

I am having a nice relaxing weekend.

I suppose the most pressing task I have is gathering together some videos (of her singing) to send my friend, Andi.

On Friday night, I picked up Jamie from his week with the von Oepens. Phil and I met in Wittenberg for the switch, as Phil was heading to work in Plover. Jamie played his new 007 video game for a few hours on Saturday. (Shelly's taking the kids to The Dells - he'll get plenty of exercise there.)

My wardrobe in this mildly air-conditioned apartment has been light-blue denim shorts and navy blue t-shirts (South Pole, Tommy Hilfiger, and Rasmussen College.) And for a good portion of each morning - pajama pants.

I haven't been outside* much. I did help Shelly fix a tire on her SUV when she came to get Jamie yesterday. And I stood outside to watch the rain blow in yesterday evening. The Packers Family Night Scrimmage was supposed to be on TV, but when I checked in, Fox 11 showed pouring rain at Lambeau. The streets in Green Bay are laid out in relation to the Fox River - which flows SW to NE through town. I live just off Verlin Road, perpendicular to the Fox, a straight-shot four miles from Lambeau. After an appropriate amount of time, I walked out to watch the clouds spill forth. It was a soft feeling.

*I believe I'm having my second recurrence of shingles.

I was drained in the evenings two weeks ago, then rebounded to have a great, energetic weekend with my family in Rhinelander. Then again drained this past week. Also, my right eye was slightly swollen this week, the eyelid was red, and it was gunked and crusty - but somehow different than conjunctivitis (pink-eye). I didn't make my diagnosis until I started working on my goof-off troll-quotes picture. I stumbled upon a picture of St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa with a swollen eye. Many links to stories, and his diagnosis, from The Mayo Clinic, was shingles. Then I remembered my doctor in Rhinelander five years ago - when I first had the classic "red spots on one side of your body and a lot of pain" shingles - tell me that this "chicken pox in your nerves" syndrome sometimes manifested itself in the eye. I remembered thinking back then, "that would be odd."

Furthermore, this past winter (I think February), my right eye was very swollen, but not crusty or gunky - (also these two eye events haven't been painful.) I noticed it first on a Sunday, but since there weren't any other symptoms, I ignored it - and it did subside somewhat through the day. When I awakened for work Monday morning it was very swollen, so I called in sick, and went to the Aurora Clinic. I saw a Physician's Assistant (who happened to be a doppelganger for my friend Suzanne and had Suzanne's sister Jennifer's name - I don't recall the PA's last name.) She was stumped, gave me some oral antibiotics, and an antibiotic gel to apply to the eyelid, and in less than a week, the swelling was gone. And I didn't think much more about it - until I saw Tony La Russa's face a couple of days ago.

Shingles is caused by a virus. We know of no medicine to cure it. A drug company says they have a drug that may lessen the symptoms if you take their medicine within the first few days of diagnosis, but that time, for me, has come and gone already. And it seems that Western medicine is only recently documenting shingles as recurring - my doctor in Rhinelander did mention the possibility.

So I haven't been too physically active this weekend. I've been reading A Soldier of The Great War by Mark Helprin - very good. Communicating with my college buddies on our Badger game weekend - looking like Oregon State. Checking up on the Brewers, Packers, watching a little golf. And following my mind through music.

Some songs I try to play and sing - and they fit me pretty well, sometimes I get stuck (that's learning.) But I bookmark tabs, and keep notes for myself, until I feel I'm ready to add it to my repertoire, when I organize and print a chord/lyrics sheet. This week's eclectic mix includes

• While We Were Dreaming - Pink Mountaintops
• White as Snow - U2
• I Love This Bar - Toby Keith
• Felt Good on My Lips - Tim McGraw
• Pfft, You Were Gone - (written by Susan Heather aka Marian B. Yarneall)
• Signs - Five Man Electrical Band

I think I'll go have a snack now.