Elgan speaks
...and her words thunder across the land

The nose knows.

Monday, Jun. 7, 2004
11:23 p.m.
I have a stuffy nose, and I can�t blame it completely on my cold. I want to thank everyone who left me notes of condolence, you guys are the best! No, my inability to breathe is directly related to my allergy to cats, in this case two siamese kitties belonging to my friend Patsy.

Fortified with extra-strength acetaminophen, I picked her up as usual to go to our belly-dancing class, but discovered upon our arrival there that our usual instructor, the beautiful and talented Lise, was nowhere to be found. Instead our class was taken by a different woman who reeked of some heavy floral perfume and had a loud raucous laugh that caused my head to ache. Her warm-up left much to be desired, and after 40 minutes Patsy looked at me and asked me if I wanted to leave. Apparently I was both pale and flushed simultaneously, if that is possible, and I wasn�t feeling that hot either. So we took our leave, got away from that cloying scent, and immediately I started to feel better.

Instead of going home, Patsy invited me in, made me some fresh ginger tea with honey and lemon, which was very soothing on my poor throat, and gave me duplicates of the photos she had taken of my lamia. I�m still waiting for her to get them up on the classics website so I can transfer some of them to my diary. The photos came out very well, and if I had a working scanner I could try uploading them myself; but alas it is not to be. Her two kitties, Indy (a blue-point) and Lucy (a seal-point), sibling siameses, have free run of her house, including kitchen counters, which bothers me somewhat. After about an hour I started having my usual reaction to cats, eyes itching and nose stuffing up. It�s been over an hour since I left her place, and the congestion has not yet eased up completely. And my kids wonder why we can�t have a cat. Hmph!

One of the things we talked about is how we cannot count on the people we work with to remain our friends when work-related issues cause division. I have discovered this recently, and have decided to rely on friends who are not colleagues, at least not in my own department. I have my writing group, which is a great source of social as well as creative stimulation, and I will continue with the belly dancing. Perhaps there are other activities I can take up away from the university that offer a different social set. I never thought this would happen, but apparently it did.

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