MY SITE
  • BLOG
  • ABOUT DONNA
  • CONTACT

​​FUN

WITH
​
HEIRLOOMS





MUST BE LOVE ...

5/11/2017

2 Comments

 
Picture
I had to laugh -- and take a photo -- on the back roads of Warren County on Sunday. Potholes, roads, and Indiana. Turns out the road is named for a natural formation, however, not for road conditions.

Maybe you've known the feeling. Eight days ago came the first sign of a cold: a thick throat. I figured it would take a few days of annoyance but wouldn't slow me down too much.

Ha!

That Friday I had a full day at Warm Glow Candle’s book signing and got home around 5, wiped out. I rested as much as I could Saturday because Sunday meant 225 miles round-trip to and from a Warren County speaking engagement, home for bedtime.

Thanks to a good sound system where I didn’t have to raise my voice at all, and an even better dose of prayers, I got through the program with only one cough.

Oh, but the coughing kicked up its heels Monday and Tuesday and by Wednesday, I was a mess. I had to travel to Shelbyville to give a luncheon program. This had been on the books for months but I couldn't bail on them.

While speaking, I had multiple coughing fits! It was downright embarrassing. I kept apologizing to my audience, which was kind enough to stay put and see me through.
But wouldn’t you know, of all days to cover a speech of mine, a reporter from The Shelbyville News arrived to take photos and notes, and I presume there will be a story.

When my talk mercifully ended, I thought maybe they would all book it out of there quickly to get away from me and my potential germs that the over-the-counter stuff wasn’t hacking. No, I was the only one doing that.

But they stayed for door prizes and then, several even bought copies of my books. Some told me not to worry a bit about the coughing, and that it happens or they have been there. The wisdom of age. Few things rattle folks who have been around awhile.

I appreciate their sentiment and their slack.

As I loaded my car, their most gracious Shelby County Senior Center Director Kathy Nolting thanked me repeatedly, and asked a question that anyone who knows me could tell you how I would answer.

“Would you like a cup of iced tea to take on the road with you?”

Of course, my answer was yes. In fact, the weather had turned hot, sunny, and after my previous hour, I would love nothing more than the quench of cold tea on my throat and a quiet drive north up Indiana 9.

I put the tea on top of the car roof while I finished loading my props, said my goodbyes, and off I rolled. I made it a block or so when I reached for the tea and found it wasn't there. Oh no, I had left it on top of the car! In the same instant, I tapped the brakes, or maybe sort of slammed them, and then watched as the plastic tumbler, the ice, and the tea splattered all over the busy roadway, and by the time I could turn around in an effort to collect my trashed cup, it had been crunched on the roadway.

Yeah, it was one of those days.

Bad as I felt, I made an appointment to see the doctor for Thursday, called off work sick, canceled not one but three work appointments I had made, and steeped in a bath.

When Brian got home, I was in my jammies and he insisted that I take a dose of the dreaded nighttime cough-cold medicine that I despise. I couldn’t argue.

And then it happened.

Here I am, sporting a terrible frowny face from the nasty medicine, no makeup, my hair a wreck, coughing like a crazy woman. For a moment I contemplate where I’ll go. It’s early evening but my destiny is either the sofa or bed. So I ask Brian where I should go.

“Stay out here and keep me company,” he says, seated in his living room chair.

Really? I think. He wants me around in the state I'm in?

So I hit the couch, and for the next few hours, I alternate between super-snoring, and super-coughing. Part of the time, I pull off both in a kind of sad harmony. But he doesn’t complain once.

Must be love. That’s all I can say.

I went to the doctor and it’s not strep and he didn’t see evidence of infection. He said it’s allergies. Go home, drink fluids, rest, and take the allergy meds he sent me home with. And then he wanted to talk about self-publishing …

I think I’ll make it after all. But this too is one of life's many humbling moments. How many times have I said, no bragged, that I don't get allergies. Ha!

So for your midweek, how about a few Sunday-drive photos from beautiful Warren County, with the Wabash bordering it on the east and Illinois on the west.

The GPS sent me down some gravel roads to get to the Hickman Heights Christian Church for the All Daughters Banquet. I was taken by the views, and as always when I go somewhere from my past (I used to cover Fountain and Warren counties for the now-Fountain County Neighbor, based in Attica) I just wish I could have stayed longer to look around.

But I did take some photos of this county's tranquil, rural landscape.
Picture
In Attica as I prepare to cross the Wabash River Bridge headed into Warren County from Fountain County. The water you see isn't supposed to be there. It's overflow into a park-like area if it isn't flooded.
Picture
Very quickly, GPS put me on a gravel road, and I continued for several miles. Gravel roads remind me of my Union County childhood, although my old road is now blacktopped. I loved the colors in this scene.
Picture
Such an interesting drive through the park-like countryside of Warren County.
Picture
Cattle grazing in a field.
Picture
It seems that cooks and bakers bring their best efforts to church pitch-ins, and this was surely true at Hickman Heights Christian Church.
Picture
I would have loved to have stayed and chatted longer with the ladies, including Carol Winegardner, who invited me, but I knew that the beautiful 7:30 p.m. hour would soon give way to dusk, then dark, and my bed would be calling me by the time I got home. As I pulled away, I saw both daylight and the moon taunting me with nightfall. It was lovely.
2 Comments
Debbie M. link
5/22/2017 08:28:07 am

Oh Donna... what a week, but interwoven through it all was grace! Grace given and grace received is a thing of beauty!

Reply
Donna Cronk
5/23/2017 04:21:57 pm

His grace is sufficient!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    DONNA CRONK

    FUN WITH HEIRLOOMS
    is my most popular program for 2023, inspired by my memoir There's a Clydesdale in the Attic: Reflections on Keeping and Letting Go. Contact me to hear about my programs for your event.

    CONTACT: Let's talk about it. Call me at 317-224-7028. Email:
    newsgirl.1958@gmail.
    com.  



    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Categories

    All
    Age Thing
    Aging
    Author Journey
    Christmas
    Clydesdale In The Attic
    Cooking
    Cooties
    Crafts
    Creepy!
    Decor
    Faith
    Family
    Farm
    Fashion
    Friendships
    Gardening
    God Bless America
    Gratitude
    Guest Posts
    Hair!
    Halloween
    Holidays
    Home
    Indiana
    Indiana Bicentennial
    Keeping The Peace
    Life Connections
    Mail Call
    Newspapers
    Next Chapter
    Pen Women
    Photography
    Poison Ivy!
    Quilting Club
    Reggie
    Retirement
    Sadness
    Seasons
    Seller's Cabinet
    Shopping
    Sleep
    Snow Day
    Tourism
    Travel
    Union County
    Weird Food
    What We Keep
    Writer Chicks Society
    Writing

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from Lise1011, Simone Ramella, StarsApart, Biblioteca General Antonio Machado, kennethkonica, roseannadana: Thank you for 3 million views, GotCredit, chuck4x5, besnette, nielskliim, James E. Petts, jeffdjevdet, rumolay, kkmarais, tgrauros, susivinh, Larry1732
  • BLOG
  • ABOUT DONNA
  • CONTACT