Pass The Microbes

   It's the day after Thanksgiving and I'm in the balmy South Bay area of Los Angeles, California, where it's seventy four degrees, the sunny skies are clear and cloudless, the sea is a sparkly cerulean blue, ​

​...and I'm sick in bed, laid up, I'm guessing, with the same itinerant microbe that's been making the rounds through my daughter's house, where Tom and I are visiting with our daughter, son-in-law, and grand daughters,

... and where said microbe has been putting the kibosh on our Thanksgiving plans. 
         My daughter came down sick seven days ago. My husband caught the bug three days ago. And I woke up yesterday, Thanksgiving day, feeling funky, but only medium funky. It wasn't until today that I was hit full force: my head hurts, my face hurts, my teeth hurt, my nose is a running river - make that two running rivers - I'm coughing up a category 2 hurricane, and I'm laden down with that feeling of microbial malaise that drains one's physical will to be a useful, productive human being.
        If the test kits we've been running through are to be trusted, it's not COVID, for which we're all grateful, in spite of how lousy we've felt. Frankly, I didn't feel this bad when I had COVID, but then I did take the Paxlovid treatment, which likely KO'd the COVID before it had a chance to get as bad as it might have gotten without the Paxlovid.  The Paxlovid, however, made me plenty sick. (See post from 7/17/2022, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/my-corona-or-was-the-cure-worse-than-the-disease-or-paxlovid-mouth​).
       Still, no matter how how shoddy one feels, somehow it feels better to know it's not COVID.
       In any case, this outbreak of not-COVID forced us to cancel Thanksgiving  with my son-in-law's parents, who'd invited us to their house for dinner. Even though only half the household was sick so far, there was no use risking that the other half might be in the carrier stage, so we all stayed home.
       We had also invited my sister, who's in the San Diego area for a few weeks,  

...to come to my daughter's house today for a day-after-Thanksgiving turkey dinner. We had to cancel that dinner, too.
       And yet the holiday was not a complete wash.  On Thanksgiving morning my daughter assessed that she was feeling about 70% better than she'd been feeling for the past few days. Tom said he was at least 50% better. Me, I was still in the initial throes. My son-in-law and grand daughters felt fine. My daughter suggested that, since we were destined to miss out on our Thanksgiving dinners, we at least get up and schlepp our not-too-sick selves out for brunch at an outdoor venue.  
      And so we did. We went to nearby Hermosa Beach, which was crowded with folks strolling along the Strand,    

...and playing on the beach.

     Our destination was an eatery along the Strand called Good Stuff,      

...where we had a brief wait for an outdoor table.

     Along with the yummy food,

...another draw that makes Good Stuff a popular destination is that poochies are welcome and have their own menu.

     After brunch Tom decided that he felt up to cooking the turkey that was going to be for our Friday dinner with my sister.

      He also made an apple pie,

...while I rustled together a pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, and rolls,

...and we all pitched in with the rest of the preparations.

    And so we had our small Thanksgiving dinner,

...for which we were nonetheless exceedingly thankful.

     Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!