Suspicious Puffs

When in doubt, blame the cream puffs. Instead of the more popular pumpkin or pecan pie choices for Thanksgiving dessert, we opted for cream puffs with our lunch/dinner, which started at about 3 pm. They were mighty good, these puffs, and didn't smell or taste the least bit spoiled. Thursday night, however, a virus started winding its way through the family, mostly causing episodes of throwing up.

Coincidence or causation? The only trouble with blaming the cream puffs is that Lilly didn’t have one Thursday, eating ice cream instead, but still was the first to fall ill. Today, Ann and I both had that pleasure. But it must be a low-grade virus, since expelling it was pretty much the cure. A 12-hour stomach flu, you could call it.

Otherwise the last week was a good one, from the loud intensity of a nine-year-old’s birthday- and slumber party to the quiet leftovers of the holiday feast. In between it wasn’t especially cold, one brother (or brother-in-law or uncle, depending on who you are in this house) and two nephews (or cousins) visited, and we entertained ourselves with movies, parts of movies, ’50s novelty songs -- some real oddities there -- a visit to a wildlife sanctuary run by DuPage County, and in my case, a book about the Lusitania. Maybe that doesn’t count as entertainment, but it was interesting. (“It’s interesting when people die.”)