Losing my sense of smell & missing dear Earl Grey

Good morning, DMV! It’s Thursday, February 26.

Well, truth be told … I am sick. I didn’t want to admit it, but I haven’t left home since Sunday (much less left bed). No yoga. No strolls. No meetups. Just cooped up, sick, which means there’s less writing fodder. (Question: How does someone who works independently on a daily newsletter handle sick days? I'm serving readers, and there’s no one to sub in for me, so what to do? If you have thoughts or can say anything to make me laugh, add to the comments.)

For a few days, I was coughing up a storm. I was slow and achy. My ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton. Yesterday, I realized I’d lost my sense of smell. (I tested negative for Covid.) Couldn’t even catch the tiniest whiff of dinner cooking on the stove. (It didn’t burn. Yay — counting my wins!)

Actually, I first noticed my olfactory malfunction two days ago when I made myself sweet milky Earl Grey tea and sadly couldn’t smell the bergamot oil. It tasted sweet, but my beloved Earl Grey was nowhere to be found. Sniff.

At any rate, I woke up yesterday with a touch more verve and thought I’d turned a corner. This is it, I thought — now I’m going to flip the script! I made coffee and some oatmeal, tidied up a bit, then promptly passed out on the couch after my tiny pop of energy.

So I rested another day.

And now, today’s the day — I can do it. Flip the script.

… at the mention of birding. ❤️

Here’s the signup for the free winter bird walk if you need it! It’s hosted by DC Bird Alliance, Saturday morning at Langston Golf Course.

Iulia Guerra, a resident of Woodbridge, Virginia, sent in this photo she took on a recent night. She described it as a “web of light.”

“Took the picture from my living room window at the end of one of the very cold days we’ve had — the solar lights seem a bit brighter these days reflecting from the snow’s white,” she wrote to me in an email.