I went back to the doctor Wednesday  afternoon (well, to a different doctor at a clinic) and it turns out that I have a stealth case of strep throat.  The doctor on Monday looked at my throat and said that it didn't look at all like strep so she wasn't even going to do the test.  The second doctor said the same thing, but since I have a little fever and we just wanted to rule it out, she did the swab.  She was so sure that it was going to be negative that we were talking about how long the probable virus would last when she checked the test and was amazed to find it positive.  So I am on antibiotics that make me vaguely nauseous, but that is a world better than laboring on with untreated strep throat!

The concern now is that one of the children will have caught it from me, so we are keeping a close eye on them for fevers or sore throats or rashes for the next few days.

The up side of being sick in bed for three days is that I have had the luxury of burning through not one, but two novels in three days.  I have been going through Laurie King's Mary Russel novels, about an older Sherlock Holmes and his young assistant, and enjoying them immensely.  I have only read one of the original Sherlock Holmes stories ("A Study in Scarlet," if you are wondering) but I am a devoted fan of the Sherlock BBC series and even the Robert Downey, Jr. movies.  The Laurie King novels are not perfect.  There is a lot of dubious theology, and some rather unnecessarily edgy sub-plots that don't add significantly to the story except to be provocative (the current novel has a marriage of convenience between an English Duke and his lesbian childhood friend).  Another thing I don't like about them is that it is impossible for the reader to piece together the mystery apart from the characters -- that is, there are no carefully laid clues that we could, in principle, follow along with the detectives.  Things are often revealed fortuitously or coincidentally just at the right moment for Holmes and Russel to solve the case. But mostly they are good fun, and what they lack in mechanics they more than make up for in style.  The first person narrative by Mary is authentic and engaging, and Holmes is extremely well drawn.  The first (and best) in the series is The Beekeeper's Apprentice.
The ones I burned through during my illness are O Jerusalem and Justice Hall.

Today has been spent largely in bed, due to the nasty virus that has been making the rounds of our family.  Anastasia had it bad yesterday with a fever and sore throat, and we are both in sad shape today.  Amos was able to take a sick day to help me out, and I haven been drinking tea and resting and watching dumb action movies around going to the doctor and nursing the baby.

Yesterday (before the sickness hit) we were at mass and choir.  Our church has a tradition of doing Tenebrae during Holy Week.  The past there years we have just done the chants, but this year we are working on four of the responsories by Victoria for Good Friday.  The plan is to learn a few more each year until we have the whole set.

In case you have never had the pleasure of hearing them, here is one of the ones we are working on:

(In case the video doesn't show up, see http://youtu.be/zHL9GIchStI)

I love this time of year in choir, because it reminds me that the high feast of the year really is Easter and the Resurrection of our Lord.  We work hard for Christmas, of course, but Holy Week...  Well, that is something else!  With three kids I can't be as much a part of it as I'd like -- the Easter Vigil is just not possible right now -- but I love what we do, and remembering the joy ahead even in the middle of Lent because we get to practice all of the happy music too!

Singing is one of the balancing things for me. I am very, very happy when I sing regularly and we are blessed to have a parish where we can use the musical treasures of the Church!