PIED BEAUTY

Have been feeling fairly "average" for a couple of days,  had a few mouth ulcers and discovered a small gum abcess yesterday, which has since burst (foul!).  This morning I am a bit feverish and my gums and jaw quite sore.  Have always been careful of oral hygiene/care but the Lupus Monster seems to love creating havoc in my mouth.  Think I may need some antibiotics but can't get to see my GP 'til Friday afternoon (he's a popular fellow!).  Have a few Lupus patches on my arms and body, I don't get hives as such but sore red areas, they look and feel like scalds from boiling water....also can't forget the very fetching malar mask! the leaden limbs and foggy brain.  Anyway, enough of my troubles. Thought I would share one of my favourite poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins Pied BeautyGlory be to God for dappled thingsFor skies of couple-colour as a brindled cow;For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;Landscape plotted and pieced - fold, fallow and plough;And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.All things counter, original, spare, strange;Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:Praise him. Beautiful words, and nothing is more "dappled" than a person with Lupus! Got to keep putting one foot in front of another 'til this flare passes.  Have to be up and at 'em at 5.15 am 'til Friday this week to drive my youngest son to TAFE (Trade College) set off time 6.30 am. He is on block studies with his apprenticeship (one week per month - the rest of the time on the job learning).  There is only one TAFE which covers his area (Monumental Masonry) and it is an hour by car from where we live (his class starts at 7.30am).  We looked into buses, but by bus would take 4 changes, over two hours and the first bus in the morning would have him over an hour late for the first class.  He usually buses home in the afternoons, finishes around 3.45 and gets home around 6.00pm.  Long day, can't wait 'til he can get his licence.  Today he has an interview with a different company, so I said I would collect him and drive him to his appointment - total time on the road today will be around 4 hours.  I love driving but some days it's exhausting.  Not to mention expensive with fuel prices around $1.50 per litre.  I would get a smaller car but we live in the hills and a four cylinder would really struggle on the steep inclines, poor thing would wear out in no time (bit like me).