The fog is thick again this morning, and a 40-degree mist clings to the skin like cold spring. The cat and I were out before dawn, prowling around wet flowerbeds and tree trunks, until a woman in a hat walked past and the cat lost his mind and dashed back into the building. Now we are staring out the window into cloud punctured by headlights. I'll be going back to the doctor today, hoping that this time she'll consider a round of antibiotics. My sinusitis appears to have morphed into what now looks like a localized gum infection--presumably my resistance was down because I've never had any teeth problems before. The situation is complicated because I'm in the process of transferring records from my previous doctor and dentist and haven't yet gotten into the new-patient system with anyone. Plus, not every provider wants to take insurance backed by the ACA [thank you so much, congressional Republicans], so I'm depending on the urgent care staff to get me through this. Ugh.

Anyway, tomorrow morning I'm supposed to sit in on a poetry-teaching session for ELL high schoolers in South Portland, which I've really been looking forward to. I hope I won't have to back out. I'm also worried because I've got two singing gigs on the horizon, and I need to be well for them.

On the bright side, I'm getting a lot of editing done. I'm taking long walks by the sea. I'm playing Bach on the violin. I've got a jar of pink tulips on my kitchen table.

Eugenia Todd 

Edgar Lee Masters

Have any of you, passers-by,
Had an old tooth that was an unceasing discomfort?
Or a pain in the side that never quite left you?
Or a malignant growth that grew with time?
So that even in profoundest slumber
There was shadowy consciousness or the phantom of thought
Of the tooth, the side, the growth?
Even so thwarted love, or defeated ambition,
Or a blunder in life which mixed your life
Hopelessly to the end,
Will like a tooth, or a pain in the side,
Float through your dreams in the final sleep
Till perfect freedom from the earth-sphere
Comes to you as one who wakes
Healed and glad in the morning!