02:14 - 29.08.07
In tense
I caught portions of the lunar eclipse last night, dear diary. As I was wandering off to bed I could see the first "bite" occurring on the upper left-hand corner of the moon. Earth shadow seemed to intensify and concentrate the remaining sunlight striking that moon. It even looked as though sparks were shooting off the surface as the light shimmered and danced, sparkling like diamonds. The cats woke me up around the most intense part of the eclipse, insisting on escorting me to the one window where I could see the dark, coppery reflection. An essay on values in a Maltese newspaper that night had provided the revelation I had been waiting for under the auspices of that full moon eclipse. I knew if I waited the answer would come. How to proceed with the insights is the next question. Maybe that comes at the partner solar eclipse that occurs two weeks hence. Rewarded the cats with fresh water and extra kibble then went back to sleep.
Morning came very early of day two of looking after my youngest grandson. Similar routine to the day before, but I opted to wear my denim car coat even though the forecast indicated a much warmer day. Even though I left five minutes earlier than the day before, I arrived at my son's home twenty minutes earlier. Can't account for the difference. My hypothesis? The day before I could have sworn that Mr Gravity had a much greater pull than today. I postulated that he had borrowed some of Mr Weak Force's share of the pie, you see. Well maybe you had to be there. Today what slowed me down a bit, was whatever pollutant was in the air. I had to use my inhaler by the time I arrived at my son's home. The one great thing about rain is it usually washes all the particulate matter and other garbage out of the air.
Less activity on the streets. Two regulars making their way on their usual morning constitutionals. One lady of Chinese descent, who has damage to her lower back or hip. She smiled and nodded as I passed by. Next up, one woman doing her tai chi routine in her beautifully appointed front garden. Not difficult to see how calming that would be to start the day. As I was approaching my son's home, a soft "good morning" from behind as one older gentleman of an East Indian persuasion swooped up and around me. Ramrod straight posture and an easy swing to his stride made me wonder if he was ex-army. A lot of servicemen from the British Army have migrated here from India and the Punjab.
My grandson was cranky this morning. I noticed his mom had given him the teething remedy she prefers, so the owlyness was explainable. He refused to believe both his parents had left him. He kept moving between their closed bedroom door and the door to the outside - knocking on both and crying. Nothing I could do or say would persuade him otherwise. Poor little guy. I fed him more oatmeal finally, after trying the other things his mom had left for him. That finally settled him enough that he was willing to have a nap. I had turned on the computer when I arrived, but when I sat down to check my e-mail after tucking my grandson in, I found that the mouse had disappeared. As it turned out my daughter-in-law had taken it to work with her. She said that her work one wasn't working and that she needed to take the mouse from home, so she could do her job. Kind of an odd company to withhold basic supplies. On the other hand, you've read my accounts of similar problems with both Elections Canada and various companies I was assigned to in our downtown, so I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised.
My grandson was in a much better frame of mind when he woke up about an hour later. He fussed when he filled his diaper, but I can't imagine anyone enjoying that sensation. He had three good dumps during the afternoon, so I guess I earned my grandmothering badge then. He was very hungry, so I'm guessing a growth spurt is about to occur. We followed the same routine as the day before otherwise. Playing ball and dancing, singing with the various tv shows and reading out loud from the book I brought from my home to read. When he went down for his afternoon nap he fell asleep immediately to the sounds of the country and western music channel. My reward mid-afternoon was that he came freely and sat on my lap cuddling away without any prompting from me. Seems he now sees me as a comforting presence too. Yay!
When number four son arrived at the end of his work day, I asked him to show me how to make their DVD player work since they have a lot of children's movies. My son had asked if I would stay and continue babysitting so they could go to their meeting with their realtor this evening, you see, and I wasn't certain there would be anything appropriate on television in the evening for my grandson to watch. Next up, my son produced another computer mouse, that had been hidden away in a storeroom, for me to use. He played with his son while I checked my email. Over 100 separate postings - mostly e-magazines that report on various interests I have or e-newspapers from across the globe. The worrying part was that I had that message from the email service provider stating that some of my incoming email had been bounced back to the originators because my mailbox was full. Hopefully no one was offended and would understand that it wasn't personal. I usually check my inbox two or three times on a regular day, so that that doesn't happen very often.
When my daughter-in-law arrived home there wasn't enough time for them to do anything, but head back out the door. My grandson was not amused, but settled down when I put on "Finding Nemo". He knew a lot of the story by rote and seemed to want to act out parts of the plot. He especially watched for some of the action that happened in Sydney, Australia. He loved those turtles too. Next up I threw in a Winnie the Pooh tape. During the playing of those two feature movies I fed him dinner, cleaned up a bit and tried to keep him from remembering that his parents weren't in the house. We were singing the Pooh theme song when his mom and dad returned from their workshop on home buying. I promised that I would babysit for them when they had sorted through the available homes in their price range and wanted to go out and look at some. My daughter-in-law drove me home after a very long day. Time for sleep again. Good night dear diary.
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