Games, rain & strep

We've been getting a lot of mileage out of Ticket to Ride these days. It's equally fun with just us playing, or with groups of 6-10 when family is in town. Here's a sweet picture of Jack from a few weeks ago.

But today, no games are being played. The boys are home sick with a brew of cough, sore throat, fever, and vomiting. (Owen's been out of school for 7 days now.) Lovely. And I have strep throat. Today is the first day I can do anything other than lie on the couch, moaning, loaded with advil and flexeril for the fever and head-to-toe body aches. When I say "head-to-toe" I do mean it. How can the little bones in your fingers hurt? Nothing like a good bout of strep to spur gratitude for good health.

It looks like Ireland outside my window. Or how I imagine Ireland, anyway. All the colors in the backyard look deeper and brighter than usual--the pink and coral of tulips, the red of the stone path, the burnished gold of Goldie's feathers, the white fringe on the cactii Daniel planted on Sunday. We've had rain every day for almost a week, which is very strange for Denver. Everything is so green and lush. The rain splattering the roof makes for a soothing back drop to the couch-lying and moaning.