the moon and fireflies, wards

[asakiyume]

After working all day, tonight, when it was all soft and dark out, and the breeze felt pleasantly cool, the forest creatures and I went out to look at the fireflies, or the moon, or both.

It ended up being both--the fireflies spangling the fields on one side of the road, pure magic, and the moon the color of lemon custard and bright as a candle flame above the other.

--okay but here's what I've been thinking about. It's because of getting all these extra immunizations to go to East Timor. Immunizations and prophylactic medicines: they're like wards. I feel like the medical establishment is laying spell upon spell upon me: "Now you will be able to walk through flames and over scorpions, and you will emerge unscathed." (Except really what they said was, "You know this typhoid shot is only 80 percent effective, so be careful of what you eat" but even so. Eighty out of one hundred typhoid scorpions will not sting me.)

But I can't help thinking, What about everyone who lives there all the time? I bet they're not on prophylactic doxycycline all their lives. They have to just rely on mosquito nets and bug spray to keep away malaria. Or, y'know, they just get it. And same with all the other ailments. But I get to waltz covered in wards. Oh: and whatever germs I might be carrying with me from New England, they're certainly not warded against. ... I shall try not to breathe on people.

catalpa wands: blossoms threaded on grass

Comments

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Do you have lots of fireflies? I haven't seen them in years. We called them lightning bugs in the South.

Do you think there'd be a lot of germs in the U.S. that they'd not have been exposed to there?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yes! Blissfully, we have lots. It's like fairyland. Just this brief period of time, but they are music out in the long grass, and against the trees.

I don't know if there are or not--probably not, at this point. Maybe just versions of the common cold or flu. I guess I'm thinking back to when Europeans first came to North and South America. But we're way beyond that now; the world's pretty internationalized in that sense. I guess it's the principle of the thing, though: worrying so much about my own safety, but what about the people who are exposed to me, or who have to live with the local risks all the time?

[csecooney.livejournal.com]

You are the moon and the firefly
You are the candle flame
You are the lamp that dances
Ever brighter
Ever flicker, ever wane

***

P.S. DO NOT GET TYPHOID.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

And you are the song and the thunder and the lightning!

I will endeavor not to get typhoid! The thing the guy I'm in touch with told me to watch out for was dengue, which I can't really do anything about except not get bitten by mosquitos -_-

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

DEET. Incantation and ward. DEET.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yep. That, and pyrethrum-treating your garments. (Not sure if I'll go that far, but I might. I'm certainly getting high-intensity bug spray, though.)

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I agree about the immunizations, but the malaria prophylactics are probably only because you don't live there. I don't think that's a med which you would want to take forever. I never took anything to prevent malaria when I was in India, other than sleeping under mosquito nets and using repellent.

Are you also taking mefloquine (Lariam) as well, by any chance?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I theoretically take it all the time anyway, for my skin. I remember a doctor remarking that it gave me some resistance to Lyme disease, which is a good thing, given where I walk and the tick bites I get. But in fact I don't take it regularly, just when I have a flare-up.

No, though that was another one they recommended for travel in the area. That one, though, has more serious side effects and (so the info sheet says) shouldn't be taken if you have a history of anxiety or depression. On the other hand, you only have to take int once a week, which is handier than once a day. Still, I know I can tolerate doxycycline, so I think I'm good.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Wise of you. I was going to warn you that mefloquine commonly causes scary hallucinations.

[sovay]

catalpa wands: blossoms threaded on grass

Those are beautiful.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'll be posting pictures of the magic spot where I gathered not those catalpa blossoms, but some other ones, later today.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

How I miss fireflies. It was truly the best and most unexpected part of living east of the Rockies.

Our fog rolled in just after moonrise. I should so much liked to have danced in the moonlight.

I hope your wards are strong magic, for you do not want to have typhoid.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Re: wards, I hope so too! I shall also try to be sensible about food and drink.

Fireflies and moonlight--real blessings of summer.

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

The moon was bright last night, so bright I could scarcely see its maria.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

So true! I liked it when it was a little bit wreathed in cloud.

[barry-king.livejournal.com]

Our fireflies disappeared after the winter of 2004 when it got to -35C. I hope they come back this year.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I hope they do too.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is so gorgeous.

It could be that they have more immunity than you do, but in any case, you do not want typhoid. My dad brought it back from Japan, my sister got it, was in the hospital for months, and it screwed up her insides permanently.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Don't worry; I have *no desire* to tempt fate. I'm getting every shot I can, and I'm going to try to be sensible about what I eat and drink.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I do hope the typhoid shots have changed since the days of yore, but just in case they haven't, be prepared for fever for about a week, and for your arm to freeze up. (We all had to get typhoid shots after my sister's incident, and they laid us right out like ninepins.)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

They're better. I have a bruise where it went in, and it hurts, but no fever, thank goodness. (Though, um, I've been running to the bathroom lots. But I put that down to nerves.)

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I watched the fireflies a couple of nights ago. We only had 2, but they were still magical ;o)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Oh definitely even two are wonderfully magical.

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

We finally saw our fireflies this past week.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad! (I haven't forgotten that I owe you an email. I'm hoping tonight to have the time to think, and write, slowly.)

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

People do tend to have greater resistance to the stuff endemic in their area. A lot of stuff's still way nasty, though.

You know about sickle-cell anemia as a genetic adaptation to malaria, right?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I do know. Seems like the sort of blessing a Greek god would give. "Here, have this REALLY PAINFUL genetic ailment. It'll make you less likely to get this other, sometimes fatal, parasitic ailment."

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

On the flipside, there are probably still lots of local scorpions that you won't have wards against, so it's probably just a case of evening the odds. You do seem to have most of the big ones covered though.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not getting a Japanese encephalitis shot, though that's something that's present there, but mainly in the rainy season, and it won't be the rainy season. Annnnd.... well, yeah, otherwise I think I'm mainly covered.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Wards": Such a cool way of thinking of it.

Catalpa wands: Swoooooons! I love this idea.

Malaria: Like rachelmanija above I've never taken any kind of prevention meds for malaria, preferring the method of taking something if I caught it. Never have. :P

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Heh, whereas my daughter's best friend went to Malawi with her dad, took preventative meds, and *still* developed malaria when she got home.

I'd like to make you a catalpa garland!