Tick Bite--Lyme Disease?

After almost a month of no ticks on the dogs, I woke up Tuesday morning to discover a small tick, embedded in my thigh. Pulled it off and reminded myself to check for the dread bulls-eye rash that accompanies Lyme disease. By that evening, the red surrounding the bite had spread and after a hot shower, there seemed to be a white ring around the perimeter. Drat!

Checking out symptoms online, I found that the bulls-eye rash was not always consistent and that other symptoms included chills, fever, stiff neck, sore joints, poor balance, etc., etc.

Well, hell--I pretty much live with stiff neck, sore joints, and poor balance. I didn't have the chills and fever but, wanting to play it safe, called the clinic where I was on hold for half an hour after which I hung up and took myself there in person.

Only to find a locked door. And a sign saying they were closed till 2. 

At 2 I returned--knowing that as a walk-in I'd have a goodly wait. Not a problem as long as I have a book.

About 2 hours later the doctor told me I probably didn't have Lyme but as it was endemic in our county, he'd prescribe the meds anyway.

Better safe than sorry, says I, feeling a tad silly.

 

 

Stereotypes? (a Re-post)

 

 

Q:Many readers come to your books with preconceived notions of what life/people are like in the south.  Do you feel you have to spend more time with character development to move away from these stereotypes, especially those held about Appalachia? Or do you feel you must include characters that meet these stereotypes, such as Cletus and Miss Birdie or the snake-handlers?

A: First of all, I think most stereotypes exist because there really are people like that.  My job as a writer is to make sure that I am faithful to all of the people and places I'm depicting and that I help the reader to see the person beyond the stereotype.

I include characters like Cletus because there are people like Cletus (and people named Cletus, and Odus and Philetus and Plato and his daughter Treasure and would you believe I've known two people named Cleophas?) Birdie, as I've mentioned before, is an amalgam of many women I've known here in the mountains (the Birdie of the first four books, anyway -- the Birdie in The Day of Small Things has some things going on that are the products of my imagination.)

In the course of my books, I'm trying to make it clear that there are all sorts of folks in Appalachia and very few meet the stereotype of the lazy, illiterate, ignorant, moonshine-stillin' mountaineer. Cletus, for example, may be "simple" but he's a hard worker and a genius in the woods.

But here's the insidious thing: In writing minor characters, stereotypes are an easy shortcut for the writer and offer a comforting familiarity to the reader.  Sweet little old lady . . . corrupt politician . . . bigoted bully of a small town sheriff . . . effeminate homosexual . . . sulky teen . . . dumb blonde . . . the list is endless. Just say that small town sheriff has a belly hanging over his gunbelt and has piggy eyes behind his mirrored sunglasses and we all have an idea of who he is. But he's basically a stereotype.

The fun thing is to play with the stereotypes by giving that character an unexpected trait. Maybe this sheriff stops to take a box turtle out of the road and put it safely in the grass at the side of the road. Maybe he hums arias from grand opera. Maybe, in the dead of night, he leaves a bag of groceries for a poor black family. Now that sheriff is no longer a stereotype.

I do try to develop even minor characters beyond stereotypes -- and the bigger a part the character plays in the book, the more I try to show various sides of their personality. Look what happened to Birdie when she had a book all to herself! There was a lot more to her than meets the eye. I suspect that the same could be true for any of my so-called minor characters. 

Stories waiting to be told . . .

Morning Light

 

Honoring the Indigenous Peoples

                                                               

The decision to reinstate Columbus Day, honoring the man who blundered into a land already occupied and claimed it for Spain, is not surprising for our current regime that longs to go back to the 'good old days.'

That 'discovery' was a disaster for the indigenous peoples who were swiftly enslaved, dispossessed, murdered, or wiped out by disease. 

I guess I'm just too woke to want to celebrate that.

Break

Back tomorrow, if nothing don't happen.

This and That

 

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

While I'm not a fan of stuffed animals or mounted heads, I've always been intrigued by the beauty of bones. This first (and third) is a cat skull, discovered on an abandoned property and (thankfully) already clean and white. Look at the size of those eye sockets!

I think this was one of our mastiffs. She was buried in a spot that much later required some backhoe work and this appeared.

When I was much younger and still living at home, I had a cow skull on top of the book case in my room. I had ivy trained through it, coming out of the eye sockets--a kind of life/death commentary.

My poor mother was not a fan.

 

Dear Sirs

 Dear Representative Edwards:

Why is a lawfully elected representative not being seated? (I believe I know why but would be happy to hear your excuses.)

Why are masked thugs allowed to terrorize cities under the pretense of capturing "the worst of the worst" --which apparently includes toddlers.

Why do you support doubling the health insurance of your neediest constituents?

Waiting for the release of the complete, UNREDACTED Epstein Files . . .

(My senators will receive the same email, less the first paragraph.)

Look Down

 

An Afternoon with Josie

Time is flying by and Josie is moving so fast (and I so slow) that it's difficult to keep up with her many interests (soccer! gymnastics! Barbies!) and social commitments (sleepovers! Circus! 

So it's always a pleasure to have her for an afternoon and to see where the muse leads her.

Sunrise Sequence Sans Sun

 

For Example

 In yesterday's post I spoke of how no matter what century I read about, there was always something to bring today's woes to mind.

Speaking of Richard II, Marchette Chute (author of Geoffrey Chaucer of England) says:

"In 1397 Richard decided that eight years of constitutional rule at  last made him strong enough to avenge his friends. [His enemies] were indicted for treason and paid . . .with their lives.

". . .Unfortunately Richard grew giddy with success. He made the fatal mistake of deciding he was an all-powerful monarch whom no one could withstand. . .

"Blindly unaware of the temper of the nation, Richard raced down the short road to ruin. He ha never practiced self-discipline in his life, and now there was no one to oppose him. . .with two thousand archers in his personal pay,he was free to do what he liked. . . to spend thirty thousand marks on the jewels for a single coat . . .If he lacked the money, he was free to raise more since an intimidated Parliament had handed over to him its hard-won control of taxation. Richard had other means of raising money, such as compelling individuals and corporations to make out blank checks . . ."

And here we are. Instead of 2,000 archers, read ICE and the National Guard. Instead of an intimidated  Parliament, we have the toadying GOP. And you can guess who we have instead of Richard.

Richard II was eventually deposed when the English felt his extravagance in their personal purses.

May that history repeat itself here. 

Reading Elsewhen

With the current state of the world so depressing, I find myself turning in my reading to other times.

Geoffrey Chaucer of England takes me back to the 14th century--when England was bustling and the English language was coming into being. The opening chapters paint a delightfully detailed picture of the life of the times, before getting into Chaucer's various works. Probably a book only an English major would enjoy--and I do. I take it in small doses along with my breakfast coffee.

Vanity Fair, set in England during the time of the Napoleonic Wars, is an old favorite of mine and I recently treated myself to the almost 30 hour audio book wonderfully narrated by John Cast. I listen to this while I'm waiting to pick up Josie and in bed at night.

And, getting closer to this century, I just read a PDF copy of an as yet unpublished book, set in NC just after the Civil War.

And you know what? No matter the time or place, there were reminders of today--from the governmental corruption and mismanagement of Chaucer's London to the money-ruled society of Regency England to the bitterly divided, openly racist folks of the postbellum South.

The more things change . . .