The Week Between

In the NFL, a week in which no game is scheduled.
 

I like the week between Christmas and New Year.  It's a week in which nothing needs to be scheduled; some breathing space.  A week of rest, recuperation and, if you wish, rumination about the year past and the year to come.  Some catching up, if absolutely necessary.

 "Peasant Woman Resting" by Leo Lhermitte

Source:  Wikimedia Commons

Sunday's newspaper ran annual Year In Review articles.  Locally by various newspaper staff; nationally by humorist Dave Barry of the Miami Herald.  I chose not to read any of it.  Once was enough for what I found to be an uncomfortable year in the news.  My personal life was more than plenty good enough though, and I might have to do a bit of a roundup. But can I remember all the way back to last January??? 

For various reasons, the week before Christmas was busy with both scheduled and unexpected activities.  It has been no small relief that my calendar has been clear this week.  Saturday's jaunt to the Aquaplex for a swim was the first time I've driven to town for a week.  Highly unusual for this busy body!  We've had some snow and cold weather, making it all the more enjoyable to huddle up around the home fires.  I will admit to some absolutely necessary catching up, but also progress on the current tome accompanied by a cup of hot chocolate spiked with brandy!

Don't get me wrong, though.  All systems are go for a New Year's Day extravaganza of planning, making and updating lists, and envisioning the new year.  It's comprehensive and satisfying; I've been doing it for years with better results the longer I'm retired!

WISHING YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

  

WTF??????

Take it easy, people.  It's What The FLU?????!!!!!

How often does this happen?  In your personally and socially responsible way, you get your flu shot every year.  And way too soon afterward, you fall victim to.....the flu!  It's just WRONG!  A little WWW snooping revealed what's really going on. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The flu that has you cozyed up to the commode, dealing with a faucet going at either end or maybe both, fever and headache, ignoring your usually meticulous personal hygiene and sleeping lots is popularly known as the stomach flu.  It's more properly called Gastroenteritis.  According to WebMD, it's an inflammation of the intestinal tract caused by various viruses and involves the well-known symptoms mentioned above.  It's spread mainly through respiratory secretions, and loves to run through groups of people in close contact. It's uncomfortable while it lasts, but has a high recovery rate.

The flu for which you get immunized is Influenza.  It's caused by a couple of different viruses, and lands in the respiratory system.  It's a more severe illness, and can lead to complications such as pneumonia and death.  It also loves to run through groups of people in close contact.  Historically, Influenza has been epidemic and pandemic.  Though 100 years might seem like a long time ago, the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1917-1919 wiped out ONE THIRD of the WORLD population.  50 million people died; 675,000 of those in the United States.  That's the approximate size of present-day El Paso or Detroit.  Yowza!

Source:  Kenton County (KY) public library

A lot of knowledge and experience has been gained since then. (The world population has also more than rebounded, breeders that we humans are.)   The World Health Organization gathers information from 114 participating countries to monitor and investigate influenza patterns world-wide.  This constant information gathering is how they arrive at the best-guess components of each year's influenza vaccination.  It's still risky, though.  Last year's vaccination was a miss, and was partly responsible for an estimated record 80,000 people dying of influenza in the United States.  That's the approximate size of Bloomington, IN or Troy, MI. 

There's a vaccination concept called herd immunity.  According to Google's dictionary, herd immunity is  "the resistance to the spread of a contagious disease within a population that results if a sufficiently high proportion of individuals are immune to the disease, especially through vaccination".  Though health officials recommend everyone over the age of 6 months be vaccinated for influenza, current vaccination rates are 50%.  For herd immunity to take effect, 70% of the population needs to be vaccinated. (Source: www.cnbc.com.) The concept holds that not only do you decrease your own risk for getting influenza and/or lessening its effects, your not getting influenza exponentially reduces the number of cases of influenza you could cause if you got influenza yourself.  That's the herd part.

Source:  www.immunology.org

You've probably heard the old saw about how similar babies and older folks are.  My current experience with that has to do with vaccinations.  As a child I was fully vaccinated;  within my memory are the polio vaccinations given on sugar cubes and the smallpox vaccination - the one that left a scar.  At about age 55 I decided I was close enough to the old-age high risk group for influenza and started getting that vaccination each year.   I got the old version of the Shingles vaccination a few years ago, and recently got the two-dose new and improved version.  Add to that the first of the two-dose Pneumonia vaccination this past Wednesday.

FreeStockPhotos.biz

Source: babycenter.com

Yep, I got my influenza vaccination.  Yep, I got the stomach flu.  All better now. 

2018 is Winding Down

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a little bit dangerous.  The year IS winding down.  Daylight starts late and ends early.  There's a strong temptation to call it good enough and let the year slip away goofing off, reading, going to movies, watching football and basketball on TV, getting ready for Christmas.

 Excuses and replies for sloth:

Source:  pixabay.com

     Christmas shopping?  Very little, and on-line.
     Christmas parties or events?  We'll go to the annual Theatrikos production next week, and do a drive around Kachina Village for Christmas lights. That's it.
    Travel to visit family for Christmas?  Nope. We'll plan our usual small Christmas here at home, with gifts and food. 
    Christmas music?  My violin teacher Emily usually arranges some assisted living-type concerts for her students to play in.  I've done it a couple of times and missed a couple of times.  I'm planning to lay low this year.
    It's too cold to (fill in the ________):  run, hike, dog train outdoors, bike.  C'mon, don't be a sissy!
    It's too late to accomplish any unaccomplished Annual Goals. It's not over 'til it's over! 

In order to fight this inclination, I've decided The Best December of 2018 is my theme for the rest of the year.  No doubt I'll indulge in some sloth, but here's a short list of what I'll do to keep myself from complete decadence:


Maintain my Ordinary Life:

Source:  flickr.com

• Chores, laundry, making dinners, washing dishes, taking care of mail/email, playing with the dogs, giving Kitty Pop her daily ration of pats, schedule Jasmine's winter grooming, etc.

 Do the necessary Christmas preparations:

Source:  pexels.com

• Mail Christmas cards, see the Theatrikos play, shop for both Ron and myself (my gift this year is particular and needs a lot of input from me), plan our Christmas Feast.

 Maintain a fitness schedule:

Source:  pubicdomainpictures.net

 Run when the weather permits, swim twice a week, do strength and conditioning workouts twice a week.  Sadly, I'm wrapping up my Pilates experience.  My instructor Corinne and her husband are moving to Spokane, WA with their two small children to pursue variations of their professional careers, be closer to family, and live in an environment closer to water.  December 7 is my last Pilates class.  Corinne is becoming certified in another body movement discipline called Gyrotonics, and she's invited me to be her guinea pig for a few sessions as she practices.  It's win-win; I can always use the work!

Maintain music practice:

Source:  pixabay.com

•  Emily wants me to play a piece I've just finished for an as-yet-unscheduled recital in January.  In my opinion, it's too far from ready.  My goal is to play it twice a day 'til then and see if it settles down.  Piano practice as usual.  Not a Christmas tune in sight!

    I do have a few things I want to finish before the end of the year:

•     1) If I'm very consistent, I can finish up the 9 seasons + season finale of Everybody Loves Raymond.  It's been fun to watch it, but it needs to be done.

Source:  enwikipedia.org

•   2) Yes, there's a little bit of my every-so-often housecleaning that needs to be finished.  



Source:  maxpixel.net




•   3) I had specific goals this year to start regular home practices of both yoga and meditation

 

Source:  commons.wikimedia.org

  I've dabbled in them for years and have always found them to deliver as advertised.  Well, here it is December and they're nowhere in sight.  It's never to late to start!

Last, enjoy the change of season.  We've had a series of storms come through since Thursday, and they've left enough snow to make it fully winter.  

An outdoor walk can reveal winter's sculptures and shadows. 

 

The San Francisco Peaks had a topping of clouds as the storm cleared.

"No animal, according to the rules of animal-etiquette, is ever expected to do anything strenuous, or heroic, or even moderately active during the off-season of winter."  

    ---Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows