(no subject)

...and the day before we leave for vacation, I have developed the cold from hell. I have been battling a sore throat, nausea, and a stuffed-up nose all day, and we leave in nine hours. Such fun! May or may not have a fever; I don't feel feverish, but then, I don't really know what feverish feels like. Mum asked earlier if I thought I had a fever, and I don't know what made her say that - maybe I look ill. I'm sure I do. I feel ill.

I read Lincoln's Dreams by Connie Willis today, and I have fallen desperately in love with Robert E. Lee. I think my grandfather is named for him. Amazing, brilliant, wonderful Lee, who surrendered on Palm Sunday and made sure his men got to keep their horses. His own horse, Traveler, outlived him by two years. He loved that horse, so very much...it was love at first sight. He was calling him "my colt" months and months before he even bought him, and Traveler carried him through much of the war. Beautiful horse.

Of course, I probably ought not to have read such a book immediately before going to Kentucky, as now I may very well cry when we see the battlefield (I think at Lexington, and if so, oh dear, for Lee is buried there) and when we go riding. But then again, at least I wasn't reading it in the car, because it made me cry. Oh, Lee.

( A picture of Lee and Traveler )