A Painful Day

On Thursday, Becca wanted to go to IKEA.  As usual, I wanted only one or two IKEA things – two actually – scoops for flour, sugar, and the like, and a sieve for sifting powdered sugar.  Also as usual, I bought many things I absolutely didn’t need, with Becca encouraging me all the way.  She, the one who initiated the trip, showed great restraint, and mostly bought just what she came for. I bought my sieve, but there were no scoops.  So everything else you see in the basket was some unnecessary frivolous thing that I didn’t need.  Then we went to the nursery looking for Shasta daisies.  I had previously unsuccessfully looked at two posher plant stores, and then decided that perhaps Shasta daisies are a flower appealing to hoi polloi, and so went to the, in this case, more aptly named Lowes.  There we found some lovely ones, as well as some exquisitely scented mint. 

Planting the mint was no problem.  But the daisies – another matter altogether.  They required that holes be dug.  Big holes.  My gardening assistant, always about when I don’t need him, and never when I do, was, naturally, nowhere to be found.  So I had to dig my own holes.  The ground where I wanted the daisies was hard.  Very hard.  I struggled.  I sweated.  I conquered.  But at what price?  It was a Pyrrhic victory.  Later that evening, I could barely walk.  All day Saturday, I lay about and read a book (or two.) I had lots of plans for Sunday, and they all involved walking.  I couldn’t even go to church.  I finally had to go out for provisions, and took the car – a thing I seldom do, and had vowed not to do during our Camino pilgrimage.  Today, I am feeling much better.  Some time ago, just before an opera performance Rebecca gave me some magical powders that cure all aches and pains. I had had a backache for days, and was whining about how difficult it would be to sit through the opera, when she brought out a little bindle of powder. I was a teensie bit skeptical, but she assured me that it would be okay.  The bindle looked suspicious, but it was all legitimate.   Apparently, these powders are more popular in the South, and she had gotten some from a southerner nurse friend at her job.  It was astonishing!  Not only did my back feel better immediately, but it kept feeling better.  Until Friday, that is.  Now, the powders are probably eating a hole in my stomach, but they are certainly making me feel a more mobile.  I plan to be totally well tomorrow.