ABANDONING MY PATIO POST

I'm recovering from a bout of stomach flu.  It's a beautiful day out, so I hobble to my patio for some fresh air.  Unfortunately, my patio is directly under a maple tree that has been infected with blight.  This means that my patio is loaded with fallen leaves.

I creep down to the basement, grab a rake, and make my way outside.  It only takes me about ten minutes to clear the patio and the front walkway of leaves, but I'm not up to hauling them across the street to the small wooded area, so I leave a large pile out front, then rake a huge pile off the back of my patio into the oblivion of the backyard.

I sit outside and try to do a little school work.  This is a good way to pass the time of just being still while working on my recovery.  Until, of course, more nature invades my territory.

First, a butterfly decides my hair is a good place to dive-bomb.  Then, a grasshopper jumps and jumps and jumps into the wall where I am trying to enjoy some solitude, and it keeps bouncing backward and smacking into my feet.  Finally, a little beetle lands on my work and refuses to be shooed away.

Add to this the fact that the sun is beating down directly on me, and it's hot as semi-Hades today.  Suddenly, I am not feeling as recovered as I originally thought I might be.  Twenty minutes after settling at my patio table, I abandon my post for the cool fans of the inside world.

Oh, well.  A little fresh air is good for mind and body.  Time for ice water and crackers, anyway.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day, perhaps even a beach day.  My stomach will be sure to let me know.