under the weather
Dominic and I have been under the weather Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. At first, Sunday night or Monday morning, I thought I had a pollen allergy. I had been sneezing and blowing my nose on Friday after visiting Baguio Gold in a breeze and Saturday night after I took Nick downhill to home and afterward laid on my back for star-gazing and praying. But Dominic has reported that he’s sick since Sunday. I guess that we got a virus in the city or from one of the youths of Baguio Gold.
Monday I stayed home all day, out of the rain and fog, to read and think. I watched the Iowa IndyCar race at 2 p.m. (tape-delayed). Tuesday I had hoped to visit the poor, inquire about enrolling Rose in semi-private Kindergarten in Baguio Gold… But I felt lousy since the minute I woke. Is it a virus? Or something that I ate? I used the bathroom several times. So I stayed home, close to the ‘comfort room.’
Today I awoke feeling very groggy, although I hadn’t taken a sleep aid or pain medicine. Oh, I felt bad. I resumed sleep. A rooster or dog woke me at 11:00, and I didn’t feel much better. I did not want to arise, but I did- around 11:20. I greeted Dominic, and just then, Rose called, “Mr. Brian” on the other side of our front door. I opened the door and said, “Hey, rugrat! What are you doing?” or something like that, which she didn’t understand, and let her and Nanay inside. I said, “Hey, little girl, how are you?” and tried to mess-up her hair. She hardly knew what to say to me in English, so I thought that I should learn some more Tagalog phrases!
Nanay and Rose had just come from Precious Jewels Learning Center, aside Tuding Road. So they detoured to our house on their way home. Nanay wanted to cook for Dominic and I, so I suggested spaghetti and sauce. I figured that her family may have used all the 3 kg of rice that I’d bought on Friday, and she wanted to cook lunch and take some home for her, Rose and Nicko. Nick goes home from elementary school for lunch.
I let Rose watch television while Nanay got started. She doesn’t cotton to Living In Asia channel, Knowledge Channel had a lesson for high school students, and the show on National Geographic wasn’t something that she could comprehend. So I let her watch Mickey Mouse cartoons on Disney Channel.
I rode a jeepney into Baguio City to look in my mail box, which I hadn’t done since Saturday. I’ve been expecting to receive a parcel from my mother for the kids in Baguio Gold. I stepped off the bus at Father Carlu Street, hiked uphill to the post office and found in my box the notice of a package waiting for retrieval a block away at Philippine Postal Corporation’s parcel pick-up depot. So I walked down there, signed in the ledger, paid 35 pesos and received the brown box.
I carried it back uphill to SM City mall because I wanted to buy water hose and couplings and a spray bottle and Killz paint in Ace Hardware and perhaps rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide in the supermarket.
Back at the ranch, I ate a spaghetti lunch while I read about Saint Pio. Now I’m click-clacking on the keyboard although I’d rather be sleeping or at least lying down and ruminating or praying the Holy Rosary. I’m weary, my head feels heavy and my heart is pounding although I’ve only been sitting at the dining table and my computer table. After I post this, I’ll walk down to Baguio Gold to see if Mrs. Cortez, the soon-to-be Kindergarten II teacher, is available to talk, and I’ll take the parcel to Nick and Rose to open. What will I feel like after walking uphill to return to home? Maybe I can ride a jeepney around 5:00.
Stay tuned.