Yellow Wallpaper

Do you remember it?  The Yellow Wallpaper, By Charlotte Perkins Gillman?  I do.  That gothic short story made quite the impression on me as a young adult.  It's about a woman whose husband has confined her to the upstairs bedroom of a summer house.  She's locked in, to "recuperate" from a "slight hysterical" tendency.  Ahhh, nervous laughter, I don't know anybody like that...So, the wife is confined and then she really does go crazy, trapped in that little room with the "people crawling around" in the yellow wallpaper.

I have hardly been out of this house in a week.  And I'm going a little bonkers.  Charlotte randomly came down with a nasty cough and fever last Friday.  The Friday before the 4th of July.  So, we had to cancel all of our plans...tentative plans because Adam has been working his tail off.  I think he was a little bit stressed about the long weekend to begin with...because he knew he really shouldn't be out of the office but there would be a lot of pressure from his daughters to go swimming, and pony riding...and see fireworks...and his wife would probably expect something laid back & easy that would require a lot of yardwork, grilling and planning to achieve this desired "chilled" evening of wine sipping and grilled fished in a nice & tidy backyard after the kids are asleep - believe us, that doesn't just "happen".  You have to work extra hard for that "mellowed" effect. 

Adam got to go to work.  Then he worked from home on Monday.

The girls & I tried to watch Disney movies...again, I'm quite proud of the collection I've acquired.  I little abashed actually, come to think of it...Summer time is for sprinklers and bike riding, beach trips and swimming.  Only, Adam won't take any time off until Manuever Center turns over...to which, again, we're counting down the days.  To which we are at 31.  And Charlotte's got this choking cough and fever but "Fox & the Hound" is brilliant on Blu-Ray.  Ruby is anxious to get out though, she & I play outside in the mornings and we water ourselves and the flowers in the evening. 

We did have fish over the weekend.  We had ribs.  We drank margarits and beer.  Adam worked.  We hunted for fireworks on Saturday night - Adam became our hero when he found some through the woods (random) and we parked by an old field to watch them.  Then we made it to "Thunder on the Hooch" and got a primo spot without having to walk too far. 

The nebulizer & the chamber didn't do it for her this time.  The cold of the winter, and the hot & humid of a Georgia summer can give Charlotte fits.  Last summer she had pneumonia right around this time - this year it's bronchitis.  I had a sitter come sit with Ruby on Tuesday and Charly & I went on in to see the doctor.  On our evening wagon ride the night before, Charlotte wanted to stop at Dr. Cheek's house, her pediatrician, and our neighbor, to let her listen to her cough but she was out of town - which we discovered when we went into the office the next morning.  So we saw someone else, who erred on the side of caution and prescribed less-aggressive medications but took a heavier hand in "take it easy" and "rest". 

George

So, I've spent the last seven days in this house.  Mom came down, to give me some company, so desperate were we girls, even, that we asked her to bring along my sister's funny little dog, that she was dogsitting.  George is hilarious.  He's 8 years old and still doesn't know his name.  He's a loveable, adorable airhead.  

We've spent a lot of time in this minty green playroom.  Noni brought toys, which made her "the best NONI EVER" and then she went and bought them more toys.  I think Noni got here just in time...right before the watercolor animals on the alphabet cards, up on the wall here in this room, started wandering around...