Good For What Ailed Me

I did not feel at all well today, still fighting an illness that started last week.  It was time to seek medical help.  My doctor would see me, but not until late afternoon, so maybe I should have gone back to bed and stayed there most of the day.  But oh, it was such a lovely summer day and I heard the river calling my name.  After all, what could be more healing than resting back in my little canoe, drifting along on silky-smooth water, a light breeze lifting my hair and cooling my brow?

 I do love the river on Mondays, when I have its expanse for the most part to myself, the weekend motor-boat traffic now gone away, and only a few other paddlers quietly making their way up and down the stream.  Today, the river felt like those "restful waters" the psalmist sings about.


All my late-summer flower friends were there to greet me as I slipped along close to the banks.  These gorgeous Helen's Flowers (also called Sneezeweed) were leaning out over the water, so I didn't even need to get out of my boat to take their photo.

This Turtlehead had reached its point of perfection, before its first-opened flowers began to turn brown as its newly opened buds ascended the stalk.  I love how the blossoms were touched with pink.

The first Narrow-leaved Gentians I came across were withered and brown and I felt kind of sad to have missed the blooming time of this exquisite flower.  But then I rounded a curve in the bank and saw before me this cluster of radiant blue.

More radiant blue awaited as I passed under an overhanging shrub of Silky Dogwood.

Such a lovely ruddy-brown dragonfly with bright-green cheeks and a yellow breast, I sure wish I knew its name.   But knowing its name would not really make it any more beautiful, with those iridescent wings that echo the colors of the leaf it was resting on.

I have read that indulging in things that give joy -- laughter, singing, dancing, and love, for example --  is a way to boost one's immune system, effecting a measurable increase in the number of T-cells carried by the blood and thus promoting health.  So this hour or so on my beautiful river has got to have done me much good.  Especially now that I can supplement its effect with medication.  And a good night's sleep.  Sweet dreams!