Starting 2024 with Vertigo

I had the best intentions to write a Christmas and end-of-the-year blog, but the Universe had other plans for me. Let’s backpedal a bit to the much-awaited arrival of my daughter in Portugal. Needless to say, it was an absolute joy to have her around again, having someone to pamper and make the holidays all the more meaningful.

In spite of the emotional upheaval that took place right before the holidays wherein grief and mourning replaced the joy, I managed to get through Christmas in one piece. Following in the footsteps of last year, we had guests who had nobody else to celebrate with, so amidst the sorrow and loss, we had a lot of laughter and cheer in the house, and plenty of reasons to be grateful for being in each other’s lives.

Maike and I managed to squeeze in a photo session and here are the results. I look at the photos with pride and joy, not just because this is a continuing mother-daughter project, but I see the development and growth in my work as a portrait photographer. It has been quite the journey, but worth every stumbling block and learning curve:

Having an artist as a daughter means that my Christmas and birthday gifts manifest themselves as priceless labours of love. I am incredibly grateful for this artistic bond that we share, and always look forward to receiving a carefully crafted frog from her. The thrill of anticipation is half the gift already. This what I received:

Cup of Blessings
©Maike Tatiana Herzog / Maike Herzog Art

Maike caught a cold while she was here, and since sharing is caring, I inevitably caught it from here. I pride myself in my resilient and strong immune system, but it’s winter and there has hardly ever been a winter where I didn’t fall sick, be it December or January. After she left on December 26th and returned to Spain, I crawled into bed and just surrendered to the misery of the illness. Any plans I may have conjured in my head for New Year’s Eve evaporated with the hot ginger teas that I imbibed. It’s not the first time that I found myself alone on New Year’s Eve, but quite frankly, I was not socially viable nor fit for any sort of interaction. I made my way up to the terrace to watch the spectacular panoramic view of the fireworks at midnight, but that was about it.

I thought I was on the mend the first few days of January but then I couldn’t shake this chronic dizziness every time I moved. It’s no secret that I sneeze loudly, blow my nose constantly and Part II of any cold I catch always consists of a nasty cough. All together, I ended up with vestibular neuronitis, which is an inflammation of the vestibular nerve in the ear that causes vertigo. There is no medicine for it, I just have to wait for the swelling to go down. It wasn’t too bad yesterday, but today I have trouble focusing and concentrating because my right ear is throbbing and painful. Taking down the Christmas decorations was a monumental task I shouldn’t have undertaken while my friend Vertigo is still lurking around. But Feast of the Epiphany is over and I could almost hear my mother’s voice nagging me to take down the decorations. Thankfully there wasn’t much to be done and the cats stayed out of the way.

Having vestibular neuronitis makes me extremely sensitive to light and sound at the moment, so the house is unusually dark devoid of the usual music or movies in the background. Cherry is wondering what on earth is going on but she patiently plays along in solidarity. She too is struggling this winter and is not thrilled that the temperatures have dropped the past days.