The blog my only voice today

Camellia sasanqua Alabama Beauty

It's been a tough week of battling a cold that seems to continue to get the better of me, the latest insult as of yesterday being that I have lost my voice almost completely, whispering, mime and written word are my only current forms of communication!  I do feel a little better than I did earlier in the week, but really, the night coughing has taken a toll on my sleep and the loss of voice is disconcerting.

Today is also the final big event for our community garden project, a harvest festival/potluck dinner for the 45 families that have been a part of our three Growing Healthy Kids gardens this year.  Always a wild scene with many children running through the space and people speaking three different languages, it's fun, challenging, exhausting all at once.  And me unable to speak?  I just finished preparing a brief powerpoint of the highlights of the year that another staff member will get to present for me.  I'm sure I will arrive home ready to fall into my bed.  Tonight may be the night I break out the heavy duty hydrocodone infused cough syrup.  Meanwhile, I've got a pot of chicken soup simmering on the stove.

Excitement from a couple of days ago was this golden-crowned kinglet that crashed into the back door.  David went out and held it to keep it warm and encouraged it until it was strong and alert enough to hold itself on a branch, and the tiny bird flew away a bit later when D went to take a peek at its progress.  Hopefully no permanent damage was done.

We've been thoroughly enjoying the tiny crabapples on the Prairie Fire crab tree this week as they have gotten riper and redder and hang like ornaments from the branches.  We are waiting for the day when we may look out and see the tree filled with robins or perhaps waxwings eating them up, so far we've only spied a squirrel clambering around up there.