In the distance the familiar rat-a-tat-tat of a woodpecker searching for a meal carries with it the joy of the familiar, the assurance that nature takes no holiday and wallows comfortably in pure sunshine filling a clear blue sky.  Whispers of cirrus struggle to make their presence known, hints of white dancing at the outer edges of existence.

Yet a similar rat-a-tat-tat echoes through my head, a slower throbbing of pain stemming from a major head cold that beset me early in the week but waited until the weekend to unleash the full force of its attack.  Even now it wages war against my sinus cavities, crushes me beneath an unending supply of sniffles and sneezes, bludgeons my brain with unrelenting pressure, and keeps me chilled and uncomfortable.

I feel as though my head somehow floats above my body, a disconnected thing grappling to maintain control of the rest of me.

How I long to go enjoy this day, this stunning reminder of the wild weather swings we have here.  After two snowy deluges in one week, today serenades me with promises of spring.

But each time I step outside, I find myself writhing with discomfort, body wracked by chills, sensory input distorted to painful proportions.

I attempted to focus this downtime on Dreamdarkers.  Who was I kidding?  I can barely focus enough attention to fill a glass with water or to walk through the house without stumbling over nothing.  Dedicating sufficient mental facilities to a novel escapes my grasp entirely.

Left wanting, I instead brace myself against the truth: I’m stuck at home miserable and jittery, randomly bouncing from this to that and back again.  Not even a shiny bobble could hold my attention today.  At least not for long.

So rather than doing what I need to do—write—I shall do what requires little effort and even less mental acuity: piddle with the web site.

I want to work through the blogroll once again.  My capricious linking begs attention, so it shall have as much.

I want to finally get around to the latest extension to xenogere.  Like my photoblog, xenogere unseen, there’s another new member of the xenogere family that I hope to get off the ground.  Perhaps today is the day.

I need to complete some software updates and patching that I’ve ignored for too long.  (Note this could mean one or two temporary outages for the site.)

I have an insect post I want to complete.  That’s assuming I can find the energy and focus to do so.

The list goes on.

At least, despite my pain, I’ll have the pleasure of knowing I can take care of a few to-do demands.