15:37 - 30.12.06
bolts from the blue
This city's gift for New Year's day is always a return to 8 full hours of daylight again. We dip down to 7.5 hours on the solstice, you see. Given recent speculation with respect to the higher frequency of Multiple Sclerosis in this province - the lack of sufficient vitamin D intake - it may be that it isn't the lack of vitamin so much as the lack of daily exposure to at least 15 minutes of sunlight that is necessary for the body to metabolize said vitamin. Or it might be some combination thereof. Another story about one potential cause of the rapid rise of obesity also made a lot of sense since we are now a generation that is over medicated.
When I emerged from the worst of the norwalk flu I found I had two voicemail waiting for me on Wednesday. One was from number two son - could I call him back right away. The second was from my sister's sister-in-law. My sister's sister-in-law and I spoke for about two hours. A lot of the discussion was about her progress in learning to use a computer. It was obvious she had managed to learn a great deal in a very short time. I asked her about the storms that had battered their islands for the past few weeks. She allowed that there had been extended power outages. She said, though, that being she lives in a very small community everyone looks out for everyone else and that basic needs were met by pooling skills and resources. The balance of our conversation dealt with fractal theory and some of the people who had been involved in the expansion of that thought process. Stephen Hawking's description of it's potential in "A Brief History of Time" made perfect sense to me.
My son's call was a bit different in that it had to do with health care - his. An abscessed tooth meant he needed to go for an emergency appointment in the early morning of Thursday. Could I come by and look after my grand-daughter while he was at that appointment. No problem where I was concerned. I wanted to see all the new toys my granddaughter had received, so I could play with them too. Took the usual bus-train-bus route at my normal travel time. There were a lot less people on any of the chariots, because most working people use up sick time or vacation days this last week of the holidays to stay home and relax. Smart planning. My grand-daughter was in play mode, so we had a great time while her Dad was gone. I even got in another chapter and a bit of the Harry Potter book we are reading. Suspicion now points to Hagrid as the Opener of the Chamber of Secrets. When he returned, my son took me over to an appliance store. He and his brothers had pitched in together to buy a new refrigerator for me for Christmas. Mine is on it's last legs you see. What was really exciting was that the fridge is brand new and I even got to choose the colour - black - I wanted and some extra features as well. I don't think I've ever had an opportunity to pick anything brand new for my home, so I was thrilled to have that experience. Doesn't take much to amuse me does it. After that he dropped me off at home after a short visit between my grand-daughter and our cats. Cautious respect and detente for now.
Later that evening, as I was reading my e-newspapers, I found a major surprise waiting. The reports in several publications stated that the head of Elections Canada had resigned. Disbelief was the best emotion I could muster, given that he had made it clear he was hoping to stay on well past his mandatory retirement date on his 65th birthday in 2008. Given all that has happened the past three weeks with respect to that work, I had to go lie down for a while to deal with the shock. I was also remembering that bit of advice from Thumper's mother in the movie Bambi - "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all". I couldn't even think of anything coherent - good or bad - to say. Further reports yesterday just muddied the water and a phone call from someone I know who is very well placed politically made things even more confusing. I think I'll just let that one play itself out on the national screen next week when the parties involved have promised to make further statements.
Closer to home a staged discussion about cats left me somewhat concerned too. Last night at 6 pm, then 11:30 pm, then finally, sometime after midnight, saw the neighbours to the west and a large group of people standing outside my kitchen window all talking loudly about the cats in the community. Made absolutely no sense, but then neither did the constant running out to their vehicles to race away on some mission only to return shortly thereafter, all to start over again. Maybe it feeds into the warning that my one friend gave me about having all my cats licenced by New Years Day. Paranoid - I know.
With all that in mind - confusion reigning supreme - I think it's time for another nap. Need to scour the kitchen so that my new fridge is happy with it's new digs after that. Dreams first though. Good night dear diary.
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