Feel better soon.

Hope you feel better. Sorry for losing a friend. Your "knitter" is hillarious and busy as they all are.

That's a stunning photo.

Hope you're feeling better soon.

Heal early.
It is beautiful.

MB and Kuriyama - thank you for the good wishes!

Tuovi - how nice to hear from you and thanks for your kind words.

Dave - that photo is indeed gorgeous and was taken by my husband inside the conservatory in QE Park which we visited last summer. I printed this out for a sympathy card for the family. The memorial service was lovely, and thankfully I didn't cough.

that's a fantastic photo, kind of surreal. it works well for the meaning of the card, i think. i hope the family likes my poem.

a friend dropped a penny this morning and consciously left it on the ground. then when i was on the bus on the way home after the memorial, i found an old penny lying face down on the floor. i picked it up and turned it over, and it was from 1940. a rare find. i think it was a parting gift from him and i'll keep it forever.

Erika, that was indeed an unusual and significant find! Makes me think of "Pennies from Heaven" - what was that? - a movie, a song?

mmm... both! the song is by our old favourite, bing crosby, whom one could say our dearly departed somewhat resembles.

Hyvää vointia Sinulle.

Anna, kiitos! Eihän tämä ole kun tavallinen yskä ja nuha, vain pitää antaa sille aikaa ja hidastaa hommia - siinähän on kiusaa!

M-L, hoping you feel better soon...and thanks for coming by my crime story, despite feeling puny.

Lovely red-heart flower.

Lori, thank you!

Hope you are doing all right.

Miguel, thank you - I'm okay, it's just a common cold though a nuisance, and slowly the sadness over losing a friend is less overpowering. This feeling has been compounded by triggered recollections of past losses of parents and other loved ones, and I suppose it's also a realization of our own aging and mortality. Nothing new, ever present in us all, but coming forth from the recesses of our minds at times like this, eh? And I hope you are well too!

I'm sorry, Marja-Leena. Grief is hard and persistent, but I hope the cold, at least, lets you out of its clutches soon. Bon courage.

Beth, your recent grief is the biggest kind, that of losing a mother, I think! And you have had great strength and courage to continue your work, which is an example for me. Thank you for your good wishes! I am much better after spending the day outdoors enjoying the warm sunshine, first going for a walk in the park with my husband, then doing some soul enriching gardening.

And the flower surely symbolizes LIFE resurgent...as losses are acknowledged and mourned...

Chuck - yes, and love in the heart shape and the red colour. Thanks much for dropping by.

What a striking image. I always find something amazing when I come here.
Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend...

Patry, thanks! I always find amazing writing at your blog!