Miscellaneous

If I had been willing to lie on the ground to take this Red Wiinged Blackbird's picture it would have  been a better one. He wouldn't have minded…They are more difficult to photograph than  a black dog  because they can fly and don't lie around on their backs all day, but this fellow was so occupied by his pile of seeds that he was virtually oblivious to my presence. Usually their bright red shoulder patches aren't visible unless they are on the wing.

Thank you for your kind thoughts and wishes on my recent bout with cellulitis around my eye and on my face. I saw my own doctor yesterday because I hadn't noticed any improvement since starting the antibiotic. She reassured me saying that it often takes more than 48 hours to take effect,. She did not reassure me when she said that if it wasn't much better by Wednesday I would probably have to be hospitalized for IV antibiotics. Her best guess was that it started with a bug bite under my eye, although I can't imagine how it could have gotten there. 

If I had been able to do a better job of living in the moment I probably would have saved myself a lot of stress because the antibiotic finally seems to have kicked in and it is noticeably better today. I am beyond grateful.
Lessons learned:
1) Wash hands frequently
2) Keep hands away from the face
 
Just a little addendum to yesterday's family history blip. My grandmother Alice was one of five sisters who all graduated from UC Berkeley. Their mother (Mary Plum) was quite an opinionated woman who thought that no man was good enough for her daughters. Three of them (Katherine, Magdalene and Reid) never married and lived in a Julia Morgan house near the Rose Garden in Berkeley. My grandmother married a Presbyterian minister, and my Great Aunt Nenna married a geologist from Stanford..

Although I still can't put anything on my face, and will have to jettison what little eye make up I do usually wear, OilMan and I are going to go out to dinner tonight for a wee celebration. I could, as Lady Findhorn suggests "wear sunglasses and look enigmatic", but it would probably attract more 
attention in a darkened restaurant than my naked face….