Medicinal chocolate.

Upon a day, people thought -- among other things* -- that chocolate was medicinal. Modern science bears this out in part; there are indeed flavanoids and anti-oxidants and whatnot in chocolate that are excellent for your health in the long term. But chocolate was once considered a nerve tonic.

Medical men have poo-poo'ed this notion (mostly because, I think, for a long time they were exclusively medical men) and even medical women nowadays would rather not be associated with such antiquated ideas.

However...

I can testify that quality, well-made chocolates (particularly those in which dark chocolate, partially sprinkled with sea salt, enrobes a chewy, gooey hand-made caramel) are quite beneficial to the nerves.

I am overwrought. Fred goes tomorrow to hospital and will be worked on by his diligent surgical team of one over the course of the weekend. My mother's cat, the one that went anorexic from her own fit of nerves and nearly starved herself into liver failure, went to the vet again today, this time for grooming to rid herself of the knots that formed when she stopped grooming (even for that short of time -- less than a week -- and suddenly we've got a rasta cat).

In the absence of a proper Victorian sea-side holiday, and since I'm feeling about as strong as a two day old kitten myself right now, I took the afternoon off my volunteer obligations and am cuddling up with some chocolate and a glass of milk and a good book. Then maybe I'll watch one of my favorite movies (a little Thor, anyone? Nothing like Tom Hiddleston to pull you out of a funk) and have the excellent spaghetti and meatballs my mother has been making all afternoon.

Yes, if you want to do them right, it takes all afternoon. She's been known to resist making them if she can't get a good start on them by three in the afternoon -- dinner wouldn't be ready until after 9, she says, and she doesn't eat that late.

And maybe some knitting, too. I have a new yarn in the mails, winging its way to me (and can't wait to show it to you!) but I also have my KAL squares to be working on and a shawl and the scarf for Nieceling that I'm procrastinating on (and have to stop procrastinating on, as she leaves in less than three months).

But I will not think of that right now. I will merely finish downloading the new trance cds I borrowed from the library (I like to listen to trance while I work: it's got a steady, slightly faster-than-resting-heart-rate beat which keeps me awake and alert, the music is repetitive and the lyrics simple so it doesn't distract intellectually from the data I am entering) and put them on my iPod. Then I will get about my afternoon of rest in a serious way.

*Mainly, that chocolate was the poop of the gods. Sort of like those plastic reindeer toys you get in your stocking at Christmas that are supposed to be hilarious.

Were I the said gods, I might be offended at the comparison.