Oct. 21, 2007 - 21:48 MDT

ICING ON THE CAKE

In the eighties yesterday, comfortable. We were doing the normal pre-winter chores, storing stuff in the shed, etc., during the course, Heather too the time to pick some roses for inside the house. Arranged them nicely in small vases and put them on the buffet. They can be seen on my:

http://www.xanga.com/riddiger

site.

And then as the season finds its own reasons, it started snowing down here on the flatlands. Not a blizzard per se, but snowing.

Enough to make the yards and grass white though the streets remained wet and clear. And a few days down the road we will be back into shirt sleeve weather.

But I expect we have seen the last of the roses in our yard for the year.

Just thinking a bit about the past today - - - - we got our flu shots yesterday. No pain, no sweat, no after effects and no arm swelling.

�Twas different when I was young. I remember the winters I had the flu, including fever and delirium attendant.

Then about mid-course of my hay fever desentization shots the doctor began to give flu shots which my folks went for right away as not too many years had elapsed after the big flu epidemic.

The course of that was, I left school, rode the streetcar across town, walked to the doctor�s, got my flu shot. Then I would run to the streetcar line, catch a trolley, ride home as I became more and more uncomfortable. I�d arrive at my stop, run to our house gather all the covers I could, disrobed and huddled under the covers. I guess the shots back then still had somewhat alive virus. I had the flu, but just for that afternoon and night. The next morning I would be drug out and weak, but would not have the flu all winter.

What a difference between then and now.

Thinking back and remembering the �quarantine� signs on front porches when someone in the family had a communicable disease. Don�t see them any more, or at least I haven�t for years and years.

Back then many of the diseases had no shots to prevent them, diptheria was a killer for kids, scarlet fever and scarletina I had, mumps I had, chicken pox I had. People died of tetanus back then.

But we (most of us) survived and thrived in spite of health problems.

This little bit of snow is just a wee ICING ON THE CAKE . . . . . . .

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