Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Pink Eye

I woke up Monday morning with a piercing headache and a feeling like there was a splinter in my left eye. I got up, turned on the coffee pot and tried blinking and rubbing. The pain just got worse and my eye was oozing and not at all attractive. This was not good. My first thought was that it might be some rare kind of eye cancer but my eye hurt too much to even go to the computer to google "eye cancer".

As I sipped the coffee, I remembered pink eye--one of the kids had it once and maybe that was it. This was not a good week to be put on the disabled list. In fact, there isn't even a disabled list for self-employed attorneys who are due in court 4 out of 5 days this week and who have tickets to Chile on Saturday.

Fortunately, my doctor said she could see me and with a hand over my left eye and squinting at the glare of the sun on the snow I drove toward her office in Livermore Falls. The road from Dixfield to Livermore Falls winds along beside the Androscoggin River for about 20 miles. At the big bend in the River called Canton Point there is a large dairy farm called Conant Acres. Conant Acres has large fertile fields where the snow is receding and on this particular day when I was in pain and didn't have my camera, there were hundreds of Canada Geese in the field. It was a beautiful sight even with one eye. Today, I will take my camera with me and detour home by the field and hope that the scene is replicated.

I am starting to see birds other than European Starlings at my feeders. On Saturday there were six Common Grackles looking very majestic and two black and white warblers. Spring is arriving even here in Maine as the birds either come to stay or pass on through to find spring arriving even farther north.

8 comments:

Pappy said...

Bummer, The only good thing is - it is cureable (and results are fairly quick.) Hope you start feeling better today.

Anonymous said...

Sorry about your gross pink eye. It would be hard to look at you for awhile. :)
I had a humming bird at my feeder yesterday and we had a frost overnight. Also have been seeing goldfinch, cardnals, yellow bellied woodpeckers, robins, tufted titmouse, warblers, mocking birds, downey woodpeckers, kill deer, I can keep going if you want.

beckie said...

Beth, where on earth did that come from?!How about a designer eye patch for court:) Hope you get better soon to go on your trip!

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

I too hope you recover from this quickly- I'm awed by the fact that you observed and thought to report on geese in your time of need.
"It was a beautiful sight even with one eye." - I think I'll hold that line dear for the rest of the day, to get some perspective on life's troubles.

andrea_frets said...

As a fellow attorney, I think an eye patch in court might give you some sympathy. I hope you feel better!

Oh, and I saw a cardinal out back and it makes me think: hurray! spring is finally here!

SJane said...

Sorry to hear about the pink eye - what a nice name for a disease that is not so much fun!

I drove by that same field and saw that same flock of birds, and had the same problem you did - no camera! Glad to hear that you are going back to report on it, maybe I will meet you there later on in the day and we can sign all the papers we need to there!

Unknown said...

Yech, pink eye. Bummer.
Neat to hear reports of the birds returning. Mornings are a cacophony of twitters and chirps as the sun rises in our little valley, and just the other day I saw a couple of phoebes on the edge of our compost bin, looking for insects. I love how they bob their tails while they perch.

Kathie Brown said...

Beth, so sorry about the pink eye! It's a bear, to put it politely! I hope it gets well in time for the trip to Chile. I suspect we will have blog posts from this trip? How funny for me to read about Livermore Falls in your Blog. I have dear friends there.