11 February

And Then There Was Light…

by Jon Katz

It was a cold and gloomy morning, and I needed another rest to get past my food poisoning. All of a sudden, there was light. The sky had cleared, and the sun had come up.

I was holed up all day yesterday for some of this morning. I was looking around me for a picture or two to take. I am always surprised by the beauty right in front of my nose, and just outside of the window.

I wouldn’t see it if I wasn’t “resting,” something I am never good at. I got some lovely images I wanted to share, some without getting up and several after going for a ride and a walk.

Monday is a big day for me. I go to Saratoga to get my new brace, hopefully enabling me to start walking again, which I love and miss. I’m still weak but getting stronger. I went out and bought some soup for Maria tonight.

She’s still pretty wiped out from being sick.

(Three dogs, Bud, Zinnia, and Fate

Fate, all keeping my company while I slept on the couch, recovering from a wicked bout of food poisoning.)

I saw this beautiful succulent plant on the windowsill; I didn’t notice how beautiful it was until the sun headed West. That often happens. I have to think about it to see the beauty around me.

It turned almost warm, and the sheep always come out in the sun to soak up the heat and absorb it into their bodies.

If you want to know where Bud is, look for the sun. He had an almost holy ring around him this afternoon when the sun poured in over him and onto the dog bed, he often steals from Zinnia.

I give thanks every time the sun comes out, especially in the winter.

 

6 Comments

  1. I hope you can steer clear of wherever the food source was from-seems you have had two bouts with food poisoning of late? So glad you are feeling better! A nice weather week ahead with strangely mild temps for February in upstate NY!

  2. Hi Jon
    You write often of food poisoning or other digestive illness. Hear me out on this. Formally in the culinary field for decades, my current work includes point source water protection, and advising people on well and septic issues as the vast majority of people moving her have never had either, even those who grew up with both, may not make the connection. A few things I recall from reading your blog for years now. You have a point source well, which are shallow wells installed where the water table is high; you have a wetland on your property which is most likely why they were able to dig such a well (high water table) You also have livestock on the property which raises the possibility of groundwater contamination with a high water table. You have written about septic issues, another potential well water contamination source. I have to ask, and you can tell me to go blow.., do you have your water tested periodically for bacteria content? Something to consider as it could be the source of illness besides your medication clashes 🙂 . If you do test, and it is fine, you can rule that out. If you are actually getting food poisoning as often as you write, it may mean where you are purchasing the food are not handling the food properly as actual food poisoning should be rare. Yes, raw seafood is a common source, but any food can be contaminated and cooking does not always kill the bacteria depending on what it is. You may want to ask your fish monger for the harvest tags for the clams to see the location of the harvest. It happens especially in shellfish due to their biology. Water tests for bacteria content are inexpensive and you local co-operative extension, municipality, or sometimes a local pharmacy should be able to help you with a lab to send to. Good luck and Salute !(good health)

    1. Thanks, Marianna, for caring. You make good and important points, but we have our water tested regularly, and it’s good and clean. I keep notes and am seeing my food poisoning comes right after certain seafood that I get from a certain place. Took me a while to figure it out. I had steamers the night before this round.

      We have someone come to the house regularly; we dont have to go to the pharmacy.

      Like animals with large animals around her, we know to test our water but the people who built this house 200 years ago knew then what they were doing. Thanks for caring.

  3. I’m also extremely grateful, especially in winter, when the sun comes out. We have a lot of gloomy days in the winter in Ohio and we just have to grit our teeth and wait them out. Today is a beautiful sunny day with temperatures headed up. Yay!

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