Crashing apres Christmas

Given the great gaping horror of the Indian Ocean Earthquake/Tsunami and its aftermath, I really have no cause to complain. But I'm hoping my very recent donation (ie. earlier today) to UNICEF** affords me a paragraph or two of whineage, so here goes...

Okay. I'm ever so grateful that there is actual air to breathe on airplanes, even if there's a serious lack of leg room and, it would seem, a natural and urgent inclination to delay any flights ferrying me and the Handsome Guy to and fro by a minimum of an hour and a half, but does it have to be re-circulated air? Those plane tickets were EXPENSIVE. Really and horrifically EXPENSIVE. You would think that the exorbitant cost of flying one province over would include a wee sized pocket of all-new and fresh air, no? All-new, fresh and GERM-FREE air. But no.

It seems that my air was clogged with echinacea ignoring viruses, all prickly and eager, and those viruses immediately attacked me, stuffing themselves impatiently up my nose like bargain hunters into an electronics store Boxing Day sale. Fortunately, they were kind enough to wait until the return voyage home to really work their mucous manufacturing magic and rib crushing cough inducement. Having hacked myself free of my infected lungs last night (they are currently soaking in a tub of disinfectant by my bedside, awaiting re-installation), I am pleased to say I am feeling better... but not so swell that I'm motivated to sit upright for more than thirty minutes at a time. So I'm collecting my sickly self, my tepid tea and my sticky wads of kleenex and heading back to bed. With any luck, I'll be almost normal tomorrow and will regale you then with Christmas adventures. But in brief, it was all good and my little Puppopotamus is a little bit miffed about her recent incarceration at the kennel, but is otherwise unscathed and that's good too.

Hope yours was happy!

** I urge you to donate too, to the organization of your choice, if at all possible. Those poor, poor people!

UPDATE: The Tsunami death toll has been leaping since I posted this earlier today, making the appeal for relief even more imperative. As I type this, most news agencies are pegging it somewhere in the region of 68,000. That is appalling, impossible to fathom and impossible to ignore. Please donate whatever funds you comfortably can so that maybe disease won't claim as many victims as the tsunami itself. Children are particularly vulnerable.

I just learned via Penelope that you can donate to the American Red Cross through Amazon.

Here's a list of but a few Canadian relief organizations supporting the cause:

The Canadian Red Cross

Oxfam Canada

CARE Canada

UNICEF

There are international chapters of these organizations all over the world and I'm sure you can locate one in your country.

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