I stole my personality from an anonymous source.

Welp, I've come down with my first (hopefully only, but time will tell) cold of 2026. Last Wednesday I came home feeling unusually tired and a bit off, and Thursday woke up with a sore throat and congestion. Ditto for Friday, and I stayed home from work both days but did read and respond to emails. The cold has progressed from there and today it's entering the chest congestion/coughing phase. Hopefully that phase will also pass quickly and not linger for weeks. At least I've tested negative for COVID, so it's not that.

The timing of this illness sucks because I had Plans this weekend, namely attending 2 memorial events for old friends who died recently and the annual Old House and Barn Expo in Manchester, NH. I've heard it's a cool event, and also a guy I used to work for is the event's bookseller, and I was hoping to catch up with him in person while there.

One of my departed friends was a well-known and respected High Priestess in my local-ish community, a published author and an old tech writing colleague. She'd been fighting cancer for some time and had stopped attending various events some years ago, so I hadn't seen her in a long time or stayed in touch. I had kept up with her lightly through others, so I knew a bit about how she was doing, but hadn't known the cancer was at this stage. She was very funny, smart, generous, and spent many years supporting and nurturing connections in the local Pagan/Wiccan community.

The other friend is the one I've posted about here recently. On the bright side, because I was home sick on Friday I was able to join the livestream of MM's funeral service, which was lovely. I wish I could join today's memorial, but I'm feeling sick enough to know I need more rest, plus I don't want to risk sharing this ick with others if I can avoid it.

So, Hail the new Ancestors, and everyone else please take care!