Penny Raile: The Black Death

Unimportant Things About Me

•As a child, I did not like gathering eggs on the farm because the hens were mean.
• I played the Doris Day part in “Pillow Talk” in a high school play.
• I played defensive line woman on my girl’s football team in high school - real football, not powder puff.
• I ate dinner at a restaurant next to Vice President Bush’s table in Fort Smith, Arkansas surrounded by secret service agents.
• I played the French horn and the cymbals in my high school band – horribly.
• I was the Sports Editor of my high school paper.
• When I moved to California, I lived in Malibu. I now live near Skid Row.
• I did not finish kindergarten.

101 Things in 1001 Days

THE START OF MY LIST 1 Go to Paris and shop flea markets, thrift stores and garage sales 2 Go on a holiday trip with my entire family 3 Do stretching exercises five days a week for one month 4 Write the second edition of the Raile Family History 5 Finish the Harry Potter series 6 Create “gorilla art” 7 Make a map of every place I have been 8 Elaborately decorate my loft for Halloween 9 Invite at least four guests for dinner at the same time and everyone wears red 10 Go to Yosemite Park 11 Host a pajama party 12 Go on at least one date 13 Turn the big room into something whimsical 14 Change jobs 15 Keep a better diary 16 Set-up a trust fund 17 Write my life story 18 Create a web site to sell things 19 Make things that I am willing to sell 20 Send an admiration letter to RK 21 Visit New York 22 Attend Artfest in Seattle, Washington 23 Visit Watts Tower 24 Send out secret friend packages 25 Create a margarita bar and a coffee bar in loft 26 Read five books that I should have read in high school 27 Create five photo studies

March 2015

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

I knew I was an trouble Thursday afternoon when I felt scratchiness in my throat. Sleep was difficult that night. All day Friday, I coughed and lost energy. I drug myself to Dr. Seuss's birthday party in the Valley where I feel certain I infected the Cat in the Hat, the Grinch, Sam-I-am and all the children and parents who were dressed in their pajamas listening to Renan read a book.

Sleep evaded me again Friday night. Saturday morning I woke up to a 102 degree fever. I drank gallons of water and stayed in bed covered with three heavy blankets. I watched a lot of TV and took lots of naps. I should have napped more than watched TV - at least not the History channel. First I watched a Biblical history show which talked about leprosy and was convinced that was what I had. Next came a show called "The Plague" and I quickly re-diagnosed myself having the bubonic plague - symptoms include headaches, aching joints, fever of 101-105 degrees, a general feeling of illness. Death, surely, was just around the corner.

To my surprise, I woke up Sunday morning alive. Still sick, but the fever was gone. I was able to putter around the loft and craved cold milk (thank goodness I had some in the refrigerator).