Sotto Voce

Today I woke up with no voice to speak of.  Or with.  Well, a gurgley gravelly one only, and the more I tried to use it the worse it got.  So I gave up and came home from work halfway through the day.  No point in being there if I can’t even answer the phone.  I croaked my way through my two appointments before accepting defeat.  This reminds me of how I sounded right after my thyroid surgery.  Monotone and whispery in a startling kind of way.  So I spent a nice quiet afternoon cleaning the house and making lasagna for our ‘wandering’ dinner party tomorrow evening.  We’re going to four houses for different courses.  Appetizers, salads, main course (chez moi) and desserts.  It’s going to suck Christmas balls if I can’t talk.  However, if that’s the kind of thing I’m planning on saying, maybe it’s just as well.

The temperature outside is only minus 17, but it feels like minus 36.  (I read that on some weather page.) There’s a bitter wind, the car takes too long to warm up, and my fingers go numb on the steering wheel.  Time to ditch the gloves for mittens.  I’ve started wearing big fuzzy socks in the house, and an extra sweater almost all the time, and putting the hood up on my coat.  And wrapping a big scarf around my neck!  These are all little old lady things !  And now I’ve got a scratchy throat and a witchy voice.  Next thing you know I’ll be frightening small children.   

It’s been very weird for me to be so silent for so long.  Apparently I hum a lot and say things out loud when I’m by myself – habits I didn’t realize I had until my voice took this sudden hiatus and refused to make noises that sound human.  NOT a good time to be singing along with the Christmas cd’s.  I’m optimistic that another night’s sleep will put it all right again.