There is a flaw with cons that I always forget to take into consideration: Con crud. Even more than the desired (and oft feared) Febreze ninjas, con crud is that dreaded sickness derived from getting a couple hundred people into a small space for days, sharing new germs from across the country.
Tuesday, the con crud caught up with me and I spent the next couple of days pretending (poorly mind you) that I was aOK. I used Dayquil and Nyquil liberally and generally started feeling better if not a bit fragile. Friday was a hard day and by the time it was over, I wanted nothing more than to role play some quality butt kicking. I engaged in retail therapy.
At Au Chocolat, I bought in addition to sweets for the group a single Astrid. Astrid is a new-ish piece from Neuhaus. At first glance it looks almost damaged, like chocolate gone to bloom. However, that "bloom" is a delicious and very light crystalline sugar shell housing some of the richest gianduja. It coats the tongue with a velvety smoothness and for a few short moments all is right with the world.
To make the joys last a bit longer, I bought flowers. It is every woman's (and man's) right to buy flowers to perk up the office or the craft area, to make the day a tiny bit brighter.
I cleaned off my craft table through the expedient of putting it all on the daybed. I'll regret that later, but right now I have roses and a laptop occupying a single spot of happiness.
Au Chocolat is around the corner from Winston Flowers, which has these gorgeous bouquets of roses and calla lilies. I couldn't remember if callas were poisonous to cats and dogs and decided to err on the side of caution even though neither of my furry friends are allowed into the craft room.
With chocolate in my mouth and flowers in my arms, I got home and proceeded to have a bit of role playing, including a bit of a contagion. My character contracted cackle fever, which forced me into gales of laughter. While not every person would consider it strictly necessary to RP the entire scene, I gave in to it and laughed both audibly and silently for much of the rest of the evening.
Laughter, no matter what the source, helps a lot.
This morning I finished my self-healing with a trip to Gather Here. They've been having a knitter's brunch each Saturday from 10 am to noon, and I have found that I really miss the camaraderie of crafting in a group. I used to go to Circles regularly, but it was a long haul. I would leave from Braintree T and change lines at Downtown Crossing before going to the next to the last stop on the Orange Line. Slow, but when she moved her shop, the extra couple of miles just made it a barrier that I did not care to surmount. Gather Here is much easier to get to and is conveniently near both a Whole Foods and the Harvest Coop, so I can get ingredients for dinner or dessert on my way home. I don't need to change lines, so I can just hop on a bus near my house and switch to the subway and I'm there. It's still over an hour away, but it is an easy hour.
This morning there was a group of knitters, which included someone who is in library school, a nurse (or two?), someone visiting from NYC with her spinning wheel, and a physics grad student. I'm not sure which people were doing what as the conversation was fast and furious at times. The joy in sitting together and making something has been missing for a few years now and having it again once a week (more if I make it to some of their other events) makes me a calmer person. It also makes me very excited for Squam, which is less than 3 months away.
Also making life better means nutella meringues in the oven.
