02:15 - 25.06.07
Care
The cats immediately headed for the innermost part of the house when that first rumble of thunder was heard this evening. That isn't normal behaviour for them. Usually they will sit along my headboard or on the stool looking out through the curtains with me as we enjoy the beauty of the storm. Today nothing I could say or do would persuade them to join me at any of the windows though. Ms Kitty did approach the balcony doors when I called her, but she crouched low to the floor ears laid back tight against her head. After pausing for a moment as though it took all her self-discipline to stay there, she turned tail and fled to the safety of that inner sanctum. As you know dear diary, she is no scaredy cat.
The felines collective discomfort did concern me given the sensitivity animals are known to have around natural disasters. Yet when I looked out what I saw was not out of the ordinary. The wind was blowing in from the southwest but the darkest clouds - a monolithic slate grey - were off to the east. There was a double rainbow arching across that portion of the sky as is usual with this type of storm. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled across the west and south of the horizon. The rain, when it came, was very heavy. It pounded down in a soaking shower punctuated by minuscule shards of hail. It was very powerful, but not all that unusual. For the hour that it lasted I puzzled over the cats' reaction but I still can't figure out what it was that had them so spooked. Perhaps there was something blowing on that wind that the human world couldn't see, hear or smell. Don't know.
I called number two son to congratulate him on his birthday around the noon hour. They had just returned from shopping. He said he had finally managed to track down a WII system and that was his new toy. He had found the bundle of games complete with a controller that allowed him to try a number of the physical games that have been developed for it. It sounds as though it really was a good choice for him. He said he had just tested out the tennis feature and had gotten a good workout.
Next up we chatted about the state of my daughter-in-law's mother. The one that had a stroke a few months back. The fact that she can't communicate with the staff, having never learned English, added into the fact that she was a nurse herself means she is even more frustrated that most people would be. My son has been trying to research appropriate long term care facilities that would best meet her needs with little luck. There are very few spaces available even for mainstream adults. For seniors - especially those from other cultures - there is almost nothing. Ditto for acquiring a motorized wheelchair. Trying to use a manual version when one only has movement on one side of the body is a lot to ask of a senior. My daughter-in-law is a menopause baby you see. The upshot was that I volunteered to do that research for them. For one thing that is an area where I volunteered assistance when I was an at home mom and I still have contacts in the care giving community that could be accessed as a backup if I couldn't find on-line. As it turned out the search which turned up a large number of potential resources only required a couple of hours. The biggest barrier I encountered was that a lot of the services offered online were in the language of my daughter-in-law so it took a bit of work to decipher the value they would offer to their particular circumstances. I think my son had difficulty because the terminology among helping agencies is a bit arcane at best - another language that is very obscure among most able bodied people. In addition various resources are the responsibility of different levels of government and are split yet again between their departments and ministries. One has to know the pattern of the dance before one can step on to the dance floor. Sent off an email with all the links and explanations to his work email. His bosses are pretty good at allowing him the time for family issues. My son said that my daughter-in-law has used up most of her vacation time already because of the amount of time that is required to stay at the nursing home advocating for her Mom. Always seems to be some challenge doesn't there.
It was a day off for my youngest so we fussed with the washing machine until it finally did a load of laundry without losing a lot of water to leaks. It was nice to pull fresh towels out of the dryer again. Hopefully the old beast will stay in one piece for at least a few more months before further action is necessary. I spent some time looking over some of the fall courses offered at various post secondary institutions in the city as well today. The creditable schools are just sending out their calendars now you see. There are some really interesting courses and that includes on-line ones that I think I would really enjoy. The difficulty is the cost for each course. Maybe though there will be some way I can find a means to pick up one or two courses. Can't hurt can it? Rounded off the day with correspondence from various family members - new facebook friends too.
I think I need to get some sleep now though dear diary. Good night.
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