Fevers, Rash, Herbs and Cross stitch

Today was an interesting mixture of highs and lows. I met a friend and former co-worker today for lunch at a nice Mexican restaurant not far from home. I had not seen her since I retired in December. She is almost retired but is still helping them out on a consulting basis. We spent a nice hour and a half catching up. She brought me a lovely cross stitch piece that she began for me last November. She is an excellent stitcher and I loved it completely. As soon as I choose a frame it will hang in a place of honor in my sewing room.

While we were eating I got a call from my granddaughter. She has had a rocky start to her first semester of college. Earlier this summer she got a tattoo on her back. Over Labor Day weekend it became infected leading to a few hours in a walk in clinic. Several days after that was a trip to the ER because she was so sick that she almost passed out in class. 

The red area was very enlarged and had to be lanced and drained. Almost a week has passed and I thought all was well until her phone call telling me she was sitting in the Student Health Services with a rash over most of her body and a fever of 107. So off I went to 

take her back to urgent care for blood tests. They determined there was no virus present and her condition was a delayed allergic reaction to the antibiotics she had been taking. By then her fever had gone down to 102 and they sent her back to the dorm assuring us that she was on the mend. 

After that excitement I got home to find my husband talking to a furnace repair guy about replacing the furnace. We just replaced the central air conditioner back in April. To take my mind off the dollar bills that I imagined floating down the drain I busied myself hanging a few bunches of basil and oregano that I harvested this morning. At least I’ll be cooking in a nice warm house this winter.