01:11 - 20.11.06
Clearing out
These days our city gets just a bit more than 8.5 hous of daylight a day. By the solstice we will be down to about 7.5 hours. That means that when I board the bus in the morning it is still pitch dark. This past week I watched the moon waning a bit more every morning. New moon tomorrow in Scorpio and Uranus is now moving in direct motion. Phew.
My number two son's home is distributed between four levels - four staircases. I grew up in a home like that. Good way to exercise and keep a nice delineation of the leg and ankle muscles. Well that's the theory anyway. The difference with my son's home is that each activity one might engage in is on a different level. Sleeping/bathing, eating, reception and family area. Hot tub outside. I find that I am carrying my eight month old grand-daughter frequently from the top to bottom level and back again. Great exercise if I manage to survive the experience of carrying 20 or 30 pounds of gyrating baby at the same time. As a result, on Friday I decided that it would be a good idea to teach my grand-daughter how to climb up the stairs so that at least I am making only one way trips down the stairs - preferably without tripping. The technique is simple. One places the baby's favorite toys on the steps just out of reach. It wasn't long before my granddaughter, who was perched on my knee with her feet just touching the floor, was standing if only for just brief sorties to retrieve her treasures. Then without thinking, she raised her knee and slid it part way onto the first step. I helped her bring the other knee up and suddenly she found herself sitting on that first step looking completely disoriented. What happened? She thought it was a great accomplishment once she got over the surprise, so I think we're onto a good thing. The trick is to keep the exercise sessions short and fun so that there is no rebellion against too much hard work nor any fear induced if the task is too hard or scary - the heights issue you see. Other than that the day went quickly and pleasantly.
Arrived home and found that my computer still wasn't able to connect to the internet. My youngest finally got it working around midnight so I quickly reviewed the 100 or so emails that had piled up in the interim. It's those newsletters and e-newspapers I've signed up for over time, you see. They've become a bit of an addiction. The researcher/nosy parker side of me getting it's fix. Saturday was spent getting that one assignment off to Ottawa and then trying to readjust to doing five days worth of housework in one day. I was actually quite pleased with my efforts by the end of the day. Today was banking, grocery shopping and then working with sons number one, three, and six to do some of the repair work I had mentioned last post. My two oldest grandchildren whiled away the five or so hours when we were working by watching Cinderella and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in between playing games on number six son's play unit. My granddaughter loves Dora the Explorer and they managed to locate a puzzle game that she could play with that theme. My grandson was playing one of the games that requires a lot of eye/hand co-ordination. The cats went into hiding as their space was invaded and reorganized. They are still in shock I think. Several garbage bags full of detritus now are out on the balcony and there are a lot more boxes of data in storage as well. I think I'm beginning to see the stair climbing at number two son's home as not so challenging any more. I'll try the reno work again next weekend. Now though, I think I'll crawl into bed and hope morning doesn't arrive too early. Good night.
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