Pneumonia in July

This past week Forest has been recovering from a bout of pneumonia, diagnosed after:

1. three days of high fevers (you know it's bad if the digital thermometer just reads: "HI," instead of giving you a number)

2. one trip to urgent care (where the doctor could only assume he had a bacterial infection)

3. and another trip to the ER (where Ramona made friends with all the nurses and an x-ray finally revealed the true cause of the problem)

Hopefully an antibiotic a day for just a little longer will keep all the doctors away.

from Hawkeye country to Buckeye land

I spent last week in Columbus, Ohio, attending a string teacher workshop to prepare for a someday-career and earning the last two credits required for my masters degree.
At the workshop, I set the cello aside and attempted to gain some proficiency on two different instruments: the violin and the double bass. To me, one tends to feel like a dwarf while the other feels like a beast, but by the end of the week both seemed a little more manageable.
My parents made the trip with me and watched Ramona the entire time I was on campus (THANK YOU). I think she enjoyed herself despite the new teeth that were pushing through her gums that week.


I had one afternoon off from classes, and spent part of it with my parents and Ramona at the Columbus Rose garden.



Perhaps not as brilliant as the rose garden in Portland, but it was a worthwhile retreat nonetheless.



Forest came to pick us up at my parents' house at the end of our Ohio road trip. Although I had a memorable, educational experience, ten days is a long time for an Ivy to be without her Forest, and I was happy to have our little family reunited again.