Mice, men and me ...

Brandon had to get up early 'cuz his boy is coming over, so I got up at 6:30 with him. I was planning on oiling shelves today, so I could finish the kitchen re-arranging. So far, I've gone back to bed for three hours, talked to Barbara on the phone, stuck my fantabulous hair-don't under the tap to tame it, made the bed, fed the cats, done dishes, taken out the garbage, done a search-and-destroy in the fridge, made a grocery list, baked cookies for Pat and made myself some Okonomiyaki (yup, my latest favourite food). There's not a single oiled shelf to be seen.

It's great that Pat's in a hospital closer to family, but it's sure a lot more awkward to get to for me. I'm very grateful to Mona, Barbara and Marmaduke for getting me out there to see him as often as they have and to Brandon, Mona, Barbara, Patty, Vince, Neige and everyone else who's watching out for me. He's giving the palliative care folx a run for their money on the making-him-comfortable front. Thursday was the first day he woke up feeling okay ... then he slept most of the day. They're joking about using grizzly tranquilizer on him next. There's always someone there with him (sometimes lots of someones). I'm fretting less about how this is going to be for him.

It's been rather icky out for most of the week ... and that makes it kinda icky in with no heat. Wednesday morning was different ...

Out is lovely this morning. The air, sharp, cold and hard for the past few days, is cool and soft. It's raining. Earlier, the sun peeking under the clouds had the ones in the west painted salmon and watermelon. I had a moment of panic when I realized I'd forgotten to put a necklace on ... I nearly decided to miss the bus to go back for it ... weird. Such a creature of habit.

It's warmer out today, so I've got all the windows open to warm up the house a bit (I probably jumped the gun, opening them up when it was still 5°C (41°F), but it was so sunny ... it looked warm).

Barbara's struggling with a sprained knee, Miles out of town working, Anailise being very nineteen-months-old, and Corbin, the four-year-old fairly severly physically handicapped boy who comes over two-and-a-half to three days a week. On top of having Cerebral Palsy, he's fed mostly through a feeding tube which upsets his stomach quite a bit. He has a worker who comes in the afternoons as well, so that gives Barbara a little bit of a break. The mornings have been quite challenging, though. I went on Thursday for second breakfast with them. I met Corbin for the first time (what a flirt!), played on the floor with Anailise while he and Barbara had a cuddle. Then we propped Corbin up on cushions and Anailise made herself a little pillow nest and I read stories to the two of them while Barbara got second breakfast ready. You'd think I'd be the one making second breakfast so she could put her leg up, but I think she was just glad to have some time without someone hanging off her. We had boiled eggs and toast with lovely local honey and practiced taking deep breaths with Corbin to help him calm down when his belly started acting up again. Barbara said it helped and they had far fewer up-chucking incidents than earlier in the week. Anailise picked it up right away and would start deep breathing whenever Corbin started to get upset. It's wonderful to see how much care she shows for him.

Brandon had a hellish day last Tuesday, so we didn't do the dinner-and-a-movie thing. I really missed it. This week, I'm gonna make Okonomiyaki and something that kinda resembles Vietnamese salad rolls, and maybe try my hand at cucumber and/or avocado maki rolls ... and we're going to watch Sin City ... all of which is, of course, subject to change without notice, batteries not included, etc.

Stuff and Nonsense ...

Daylight:

Length of day: 12:34
Hours of dark: 10:20ish
Sunrise: 7:11 am
Sunset: 7:45 pm
Start of twilight: 6:36 am
End of twilight: 8:20 pm

Current weather: Mostly Cloudy. 15°C (59°F), humidity 47%, wind W 22.4 km/h (14 mph.), barometer 29.94 in. Hg

Forecast:

Today.. Sunny. High 17°C (63°F).
Tonight.. Clear. Low 1°C (34°F) with risk of frost.
Sunday.. Sunny. High 20°C (68°F).
Monday.. Sunny. Low 3°C (37°F). High 15°C (59°F).
Tuesday.. Sunny. Low 1°C (34°F). High 15°C (59°F).
Wednesday.. A mix of sun and cloud. Low 0°C (32°F). High 12°C (54°F).
Normals for the period.. Low 3°C (37°F). High 16°C (61°F).