Lupercalia

I know the sweet stuff was all yesterday, but today is the old Roman festival of Lupercalia, celebrating the she-wolf who supposedly suckled Romulus and Remus, and also connected to a version of the god Pan. Strange things happened in Rome around this time, i.e, people running through the streets being flogged with bits of dog or goat to ensure fertility.

It just occurred to me that the Goddess Aphrodite is described in the Orphic hymns as 'lupercal'.

Love makes you panic: Love is like a wolf.

I like that.

And suddenly...

the day has become hassle.
My love is ill, and I have had to cancel the game tonight, and I am afraid I have inadvertantly offended someone.
My wonderful lively amazing aunt has just phoned with the news that her knee is now so bad that the doctors are saying she must have a metal knee cap put in, or she will be a cripple in a couple of years time. She's afraid of the operation, never had one in her whole life, all seventy odd years of it. We don't have ops in our family; We eat, we drink, we live until we are very old then we die. An operation is a big thing for anyone of us, cos we're a damn healthy breed normally.
Aunt went on to tell me about the family anorexic. This has been going on for years; she is determined not to change, and that is cool, she has the right to do that; probably doesn't have the right to torment the family though...she blames them for not taking notice of her as a child. Oh god.

But my cat's cystitis is getting better.

Man, my head is spinning. Not thinking about illness anymore, got work to think about instead.

Oh joy.