Noxious Nauvoo

First, the bad news. Nauvoo can be hazardous to your health. I got something like 15 chigger or mosquito or other bad and nasty bug bites on my ankles. Plus I got one on my bum. It itched like crazy. I asked Mindi what to do, and she told me the disgusting fact that chiggers burrow into your body, and that if a chigger was still alive in my bum, it might help to bath with a little bleach. Well, I tried a whole cup, and it didn't help. Just kidding about using a whole cup of bleach. Not kidding about it not helping. The bite had developed a bacterial infection called cellulitis, and it started killing my bottom at a rather alarming rate. The day after my medically unhelpful but hygienically pleasing bath, I had it checked by a doctor. He gave me antibiotics. Nevertheless, in a matter of hours it doubled in size, turned black in the center, and itched like crazy. I may have already mentioned that it itched, but imagine persistent itching on the very part of your body where you sit, and which you are required by law to keep clothed and covered. My ankles healed rather quickly, because I could keep them bare. But no such luck with my bum! This is why I warn that Nauvoo may be bad for your body.

However, we had a smashing time. Rather than write about it, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Yup.

Basically Caleb was the best part of the trip.

Jonathan loved teaching Caleb to play frisbee, as it is his (Jonathan's) favorite game. I thought it was funny how Caleb let the frisbee bounce off his belly and how he "threw" it by letting it fall to the grass in front of him. Also, all our institute friends also liked Caleb. He's overly trusting, and we played an amusing game of him running from one end of a bench (over concrete) to the other end, falling off and completely expecting us to catch him. Of course we did, but it was more comfortable for me when I had extra hands to make sure he got caught. He's a cutie!

Actually, Mark and Rachelle were rather nice, too. Both Jonathan and I felt a little stressed about taking time off work (I got a job! I got a job!), and in retrospect decided we would rather have just driven to Iowa City for a visit there. But Nauvoo was fun, and Mark and Rachelle hadn't been there before, so it was fun to show them around some. Also, they were very laid back when we had to change our plans and send them onto Carthage without us (at first we couldn't find our other car passengers, but we finally showed up about an hour after them), and that helped a lot. And it was nice visiting the temple: they have cool artifacts on display there, like temple clothing that belonged to Mary Fielding Smith, I think. We all enjoyed visiting John Taylor's home and seeing the actual rocking horse he made for his son. It would have been destroyed or confiscated with everything else the Saints left in Nauvoo, except his son had cried for the horse and they'd gone back to get it. Cool for us! Stories like that (and, I hope, my bum bite story) make you sympathize more with the early Saints.

Jonathan and I did not enjoy eating ice cream without being able to share with Caleb. But we both enjoyed visiting with Mark and Rachelle. We both were really glad that they got a chance to know Jonathan a little better, and I'm really glad that Jonathan likes them a lot.

P.S. I did take a picture of "my" cellulitis, as I've affectionately come to call it, but as it's less appropriate than cute pictures of Caleb and Mark and Rachelle, I've decided to smatter those pictures throughout this post instead. I hope you don't mind, not so much because I don't want to offend you, but because I think you may have some issues if you do mind.

P.P.S. I did get a job teaching at a small university about two hours away from Madison. I'm preparing for the commute by getting audio books, and although I haven't started teaching or getting paid yet, my preparation for teaching (reading literature and literary criticism, planning lessons and assignments) is full-time.