I See the Light!

Ouch!!!
Normally, “darkness” is supposed to conjure up foreboding images. If you get migraines, however, you know this is backwards. Hell is where the light pierces through every curtain, blanket, and pillow like sonic death rays designed to turn your blood to radioactive shrapnel grinding through your grey-matter. The digital display of an alarm clock, even when turned around to face the wall and covered with a black t-shirt, feels like a copper wire with one end in a 220 outlet and the other stuck in your eyeball.

Believe it or not, there is one good thing about migraines, though. This morning, (LATE this morning) my shower was the greatest shower ever, the water blissfully warm, the shampoo laced with rosemary, sweet vanilla-smelling soap... Every breath, movement, and thought, once free from a migraine, is divine. My muscles ache as if I wrestled a gorilla all night, but the weight of struggling against that beast is off of me now. I’m exhausted, but nearly weightless. When a pain like that is gone, the freedom to not be in agony, even for a minute, is enough to make you giddy with joy.

So, I sit here at work, the monitor brightness down to zero, the contrast at 60%, and still trying to type without looking at the screen. But, I am liberated. For the moment, I am mostly free from a pain worse than broken bones and internal bleeding. Isn’t it great? Ah… yes. Heaven. Ah…
Time to make some tea. :)

My honey's new toy

Lil miss super-photographer than I am, I managed to have my finger in the corner of this pic, but you can still see Stephen on his bike. He's adorable with it -so excited about it. I worry about him on it, of course, but I know he's responsible and careful, and I'm thrilled that it makes him so happy.

playing with rocks

I happened across some cheap jade beads online (much of it probably some other agate or something passed off as jade), so I made some stuff. I have only worn the necklace once. It's a little big for my taste. But, the earrings are kinda cute and the main thing I wanted was the hair stick. It looks really cute on. I'd prefer the traditional silver bira bira type kanzashi (hair sticks) or the ones with just one simple round decoration on the end, but variety is good.

Tea time

It's that time of the year... it's getting chilly outside (and in the house). I quit coffee a while back, so when things got chilly a couple saturdays ago I made some hot tea with a hint of vanilla -it was oh-so-steamy and nice. I made some mildly sweet rice cakes to go with it. It was a great way to thaw out in the early morning while reading a book.

Food Glorious Food

One of the things Stephen and I share is our love for food... eating it, cooking it, even taking pictures of it. Here's a few recent meals:

And last but not least... ok, Stephen was being silly, here. :)

4 Haiku

In dreams, jasmine wafts
with our summer still in bloom;
outside, bitter winds blow.

Winter yet approaching,
lotus drown in snows to come-
Why bloom just to fade?

Do not bring the snows,
Letting this sprout come to naught,
Darkness shrouding love.

Let the spring return.
Bring beginnings and not ends,
So we may bloom on.

changes

I can't post from work anymore and I get most of my posting impulses there, so forgive me if my posts have been less frequent. I scribbled some poems on paper (happier ones about Stephen) and don't know where they are. The one posted below I had in email so I copied and pasted that one in. Anyway... I'll start posting more soon. I'll email my stuff in or something.

What fools are blown about upon a breath?

Divisive, evasive, her voice splits and curls
like smoke churning in mixed direction.
Fools follow, their chins hung upon the mist.
She can paint for them the masks,
I bear them, but will never wear them.
Without argument, without objection,
I reserve myself to quiet acceptance
while she dresses me in whatever role her fears dictate.
The robes are hers, but my life and deeds my own.
The fools who follow have misled themselves.
The wise witness action and are unmoved by rumor.
There is no reason in moving against words.
By whether they judge virtues upon her voice,
They are themselves judged of virtue and acumen.