11:03 - 16.04.06
Honey
Happy Easter, dear diary. It's a beautiful, sunny but cool day today. I didn't write for you last night because I was tired and because my youngest is going through that normal transition anxiety phase. You know the new job and all that goes with that. He's easy to work with though. We just read more of The Fellowship of the Rings - the Council of Elrond. Seemed almost to fit the theme of Easter somehow too.
Yesterday was grocery day, since the cupboards were really bare. Even the cats were complaining. Not that they'll ever starve while my youngest is at home. Whatever he gets they get. Uh huh. I draw the line when I catch him feeding them my chicken dinner, but I think he just waits for when I'm napping now to share. We stopped at the Pho restaurant next to the grocery store before doing our weekly shop. The owner came up quickly and noted that it had been a long time since he'd last seen me. I just explained that I had been ill and hadn't gone anywhere for the past couple of months. A large pot of Jasmine tea was brought over even before we received menus or asked for anything. Very thoughtful and a nice message of welcome too. The food was delicious and very nice in its presentation, as well as being inexpensive. When we arrived there was only the staff and the radio streaming in Vietnamese music. Calm and quiet. It wasn't long though until several other groups of luchtime diners arrived but that made people watching an option too. My youngest and I were discussing work issues so the time went quickly. The only thing that I had difficulty with was when one of the other groups sat near us. One of the males had a very strong aftershave on and I could feel my lungs starting to swell closed. Drank some more of the Jasmine tea and that helped enough. No sense in complaining about it anyway. There was no intention of causing harm on the male's part - he just wanted to please that one female he was courting so determinedly and one can't fault someone for wanting to make the nicest impression they can.
Next up the grocery store. It was pretty quiet when we arrived there as well. I like shopping early in the day for that reason. We trundled up and down the aisles looking for things for my youngest's lunches, treats for those spoiled brat cats, and our Easter dinner. My family is mostly out of town this week and the boys Dad didn't seem to have anything planned for the group either. After years of holy days being major social events, with all the attendant stress that goes with getting six boys dressed and ready to go while preparing dishes to take along I find I really enjoy the peace that comes from just staying home and savouring the day and it's meaning instead. I told my youngest he could select his own Easter treats rather than me guessing what might be his favorites this year. He picked up a couple of things chocolate but mostly we both focussed on fresh fruits and vegetables of a tropical persuasion. Given the prices we have to pay for them we consider those foods our real treats. Once again my breathing was compromised by someone near us wearing too much perfume - a woman this time. Even my youngest noticed that one. Got to the till and the wrapper commented on not having seen me for a long time. It's really nice to be noticed as a regular and missed too. The cashier was a new trainee, hence the senior employee doing the wrapping. We all chatted together so it was a plesant visit altogether. On the way home I was just joking with the cabbie about the weather. It had been forecast to be warm and sunny but those rain clouds down low to the horizon told a different tale. I allowed that at my age I was beginning to trust my bones more than any meteorological service. I think he concurred whole heartedly.
Got home and got everything put away. The cats were thrilled with their new toys especially the ones with bells, and the baby pink yarn I had picked up as well. You see they were all fighting over the twine that had come off one of the packages that arrived at our home a couple of weeks ago. Mr Melchizedek toted it around everywhere with him, including when he ate or slept. Gave him senior cat status, that did. Now each cat has their own piece of wool to call their own and peace reigns again. There was a voicemail from my sister's sister-in-law waiting. The one house sitting out on an island off our left coast. We had been trying to connect for over a week and she said she would be around all day. Could I get back to her. Once my youngest and the cats were settled I called and we spent about three hours talking.
What about? Oh just catching up on what had happened in our lives since the election had been called. She heard all my tales of woe and the details on the recent political palace coup in our province. She had had a very sad few months and we talked about that too. You see, one of the women she had befriended in her community was diagnosed with cancer and had been told it was terminal. This was someone who had moved from the US after their current leader was voted in. She just didn't want to be part of that scenario. Being a single woman with no close family, she was able to pick up and move into her self-imposed exile to wait until things changed at home so she could move back to her own country. She loved the island and its quiet peace and was reconciled about dying there instead. Since she had no one to help her she hired my sister's sister-in-law to do the cooking and cleaning for her under a special program that their provincial government has for the chronically ill and dying. She had told my sister's sister-in-law that she would like her to inherit her house. That really created a problem for my friend, because she didn't have the income level that would allow her to assume the mortgage. Remember my essay about gifting things like cars last week dear diary? I didn't know about this story then, but it was the same kind of dilemma. As it turned it became a non-issue since my sister's sister-in-law's friend deteriorated very rapidly after a course of chemotherapy that her friend decided to try out. It sounded as though she didn't even live out the week. That meant that no paper work with respect to her wishes about her home being transferred over to my friend was done and that was one small blessing. While all that was going on, the owners of the home that my friend was house sitting put their property on the market to sell too. So one moment my friend had two homes and groups of people she was committed to helping and then there was none. As it turned out though, a third friend on that island offered her the suite in her home to rent with the same arrangement for domestic services in return. That friend with the third home and her husband both have debilitating joint diseases, so they just can't look after those things anymore. Works out that both my friend and that couple get exactly what they need with the timing being right.
My friend is really happy now because it means she can focus a bit more on getting herself set up on the internet working on her astrology. The last couple of hours we talked were focussed on various world events and leaders. I was pulling up their birth or horary data on the web as we were speaking - sometimes even finding charts already cast - and then we would look at how those issues or people's lives looked for the next year or two. What really made me laugh was looking at the chart for Canada. My country's birth chart has Neptune conjunct the ascendant between 16 and 17 degrees Aries and a sun conjunct Uranus on the fourth house cusp between 8 and nine degrees of Cancer. Then there is that first house Pluto at 15' 45" of Taurus oppose Saturn at 17' 47" Scorpio. Ouch and Oh yeah. The analysis of what that means was written by a British astrologer so it was just a tad condescending. But then again what does one say when one's own country gave up a piece of real estate with the size and natural resources of Canada. Whatever. I think I'm going to do my own analysis over the next few days and then tell you the story the way I see it dear diary.
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