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23:42 - 02.01.08
Middle Way
Happy Birthday "The Professor", otherwise known as JRR Tolkien. I can't wait to see Peter Jackson's two movies based on the Hobbit. Maybe we'll meet Tom Bombadil yet.

It's all relative, isn't it? When I walked to the grocery store this afternoon I had to hang on to the traffic light standard to avoid being blown into traffic, because the wind was so strong. It was a chinook wind, so the temperature had risen significantly. Weather forecasters calling it "warmer than usual" or "balmy". When I was reading articles from the Miami Herald this morning there was mention of high winds and "severe weather" temperatures and winds being the same as what we were experiencing here. Not even any snow. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Wonder what Dave Barry thought?

I found my photo of the Dalai Lama last Friday. It was hidden in the folds of one of the bus schedules I carry in my purse, along with my map of the city, for reference when travelling. Sometimes, when one calls our transit information line they refer one to their website for schedule information. I don't carry my computer with me when I travel, so paper schedules are my only remaining resource in those instances. I spent a lot of the day reading and researching, as well, on a variety of topics. Followed the news about the state of affairs in east Asia. Called my Dad to ask if he would be willing to help me out with the one piecework assignment set for Sunday that had been deemed emergent by the one company, even though I still hadn't had confirmation from my contact at the second quality assurance company, that I was to take the assignment. When I was talking about my work on Christmas Day with my Dad he had asked if he could be involved, you see. I also arranged to get together with my oldest son and his children on Saturday. When number four son called with an emergent request for babysitting around 10 pm Friday night, I let my eldest know in case he wanted to drop by number four son's home, being that it is much closer to his home than my home.

Rolled out of bed around 6 in the am on Saturday, because the travel time to number four son's home was an unknown by bus/train/bus. Fortunately for me the second bus driver knew my son's community's layout very well and cheerfully gave me directions for short cuts that made my walking time much less. That was a good thing, since it was cold and quite windy. Part of the walking was through two open school fields and a small park, you see. Nothing to shelter one from the full force of the wind in ones' face. When I arrived at my son's home, he explained that an audit was in process at his workplace and an end of year deadline loomed. I recall him trying to get his employer to allow him to do some of that work in the fall with no success, to his great frustration. That kind of work and the amount of time required is always seriously underestimated by the more senior managers in most companies. Means that the staff assigned to do the work are under tremendous pressure, in what is a "set up to fail" situation.

My grandson was teething and had a cold. Cranky, but with good cause, poor little guy. He wasn't eating what his Dad had made for him. I had brought some naan bread and tinned salmon for my lunch. He thought that was a much better option and I was happy to share. He fussed even so, because he was so uncomfortable with the teething and stuffed up sinuses. Finally put him to bed around 1 in the pm. When he woke he was in much better spirits and just wanted to cuddle. My son had said his wife didn't want to have other people in the house, because they were still not unpacked or set up, but I had made the agreement to meet with my older son's family first and would have turned down the request for babysitting if the visit had had to be cancelled. My two oldest grandchildren's feelings are just as important to me, you see. Besides number four son had babysat those two grandchildren overnight a week earlier, when my oldest son had had to work late in to the wee hours of the morning, his partner having the night shift at her job.

As a result, number one son and his children arrived mid-afternoon, much to my youngest grandson's delight. Extra playmates were a bonus as far as he was concerned. When my daughter-in-law arrived home she was upset, even though number four son had insisted my oldest son remain until he arrived back from his day's work. I decided to reduce the tension by leaving immediately. I realize that she is under a lot of stress, what with an unexpected pregnancy to deal with - new grandbaby due in June - and the worry about how they are going to cope financially, but that isn't our fault. I felt that offering the day of babysitting for free so my son could make some extra income was a gift, not a problem after all. My oldest son and his two children walked me to the closest bus stop, then headed off to their home. Number one son said he was concerned that, because I wasn't familiar with the community in which he and number four son share, that I might get lost since it was already quite dark. Going on for 6 pm it was. As it turned out, the bus pulled up just after we arrived at the bus shelter, so it was all good.

Walked in the door an hour and a half later to find several voicemails and emails waiting for me to answer. My Dad had called to let me know he would help me out on Sunday. Called and left a voicemail for him just confirming those arrangements. The phone started ringing as soon as I put it down. It was my sister's sister-in-law - the one who lives out on the left coast on the island. We talked about her health problems for quite a while and she regaled me with with her story of travelling from island to island on the ferry in a whiteout blizzard. When they arrived at her destination the power for the entire island was out, so docking had to be done manually. It took a long time and there was a point where she feared that the ferry might not be able to complete that process. Finally was able to drive off the boat only to find the mountainous roads impossible to navigate, given the heavy snowfall and zero visibility. Her car went into a ditch at the bottom of the last hill up to where she lives, so she had to make four trips up and down that slope in order to haul the supplies she had bought off-island into her domicile. She said she was exhilarated to find she could still do that by herself. We drifted then to discussion about world affairs, given the news a few days earlier, then into discussions about research into zero gravity and ley lines. If those technologies had been brought in to practical application she could have levitated her purchases up the side of that mountain.

We also spent a fair amount of time discussing the weird behaviour of some of my family this summer and fall, given that her brother was involved and acting entirely out of character. Her perception is that my youngest sister is trying to damage my relationship with my Father and seems willing to use the rest of the family to that end through exploiting their trigger points or weaknesses. There definitely was an organized attempt to break down trust and communication among us all coming from a single source and that included trying to work through my sons and their partners too. I allowed I was mystified and very disappointed by the entire process and that the extra stress when I was dealing with having that superbug infection really took a lot out of me. She just noted that it is always hard to accept that a member of one's own family is willfully and maliciously causing harm. She and her brother had had a discussion about the events earlier in the week and he seemed to have given her additional information about what my youngest sister had done to draw him and my number two sister into her plans. My sister's sister-in-law has been couselling people for decades with respect to family dynamics in consultation with Jungian therapists, as well as her astrological charts, to work through things like that with her clients. She didn't seem to have any doubts about the intent of my sister, although I still wanted to believe it was misdirected, rather than intentional, malice. Seems whatever my brother-in-law said to her made up her mind. Sigh. Finally at about 11:30 pm she exclaimed that we had been talking for over 3 1/2 hours and she hadn't noticed. Nor had I. Talked for another half hour, then signed off for the night. Sent an email to one friend who had asked if we could chat Sunday just letting her know when I was planning to be home, then went to bed.

Woke up with the phone ringing early the next morning to hear the voice of the friend I had emailed the night before. She is the one who had been in the Middle East for a decade. We hadn't communicated for nearly a year since she and her hubby moved back to the city last winter. Isn't that ironic? One of the reasons was that one of her children had gotten married. With his siblings located in different parts of the world and his new wife's family spread across the US, it meant that the preparation for the nuptials was very complicated. My friend took a lot of the arrangements in hand and so was tied up until spring. She then came back to the city and was job hunting. As a teacher, she was hired fairly quickly and spent the balance of the time adjusting to a new employer in the midst of setting up a pilot project at that. Her information/program might just be part of a solution for another friend who is a principal in one of the elementary schools located in my part of the city. That friend and I had an extended email discussion through Christmas, Boxing Day and the day after that about the issues that were really stressing her out. I had offered to provide some volunteer assistance since part of the resources she needs for her students are ones I was very involved with when I was an at-home-mom/volunteer for so many years. Our principals had the same challenges that she was describing while my sons attended our local schools. Might as well put that experience to good use. Interesting synchronicities again.

Got off the phone about half an hour before my Dad and his neighbour were due to arrive. The phone rang again. Number three son calling to ask if I would be able to go to lunch with him and his amour, who had travelled in from British Columbia, partly to meet me. This is the one son who has never introduced any of his girlfriends to me, so I assumed this meant it was a serious relationship. I explained that I had already booked the afternoon with my Dad. We agreed to get together over dinner instead. Jumped into the shower, changed and was out the door just as my Dad pulled up. I still hadn't received confirmation from my contact in the one piecework company, but I didn't want to find out that the non-response meant consent. My Dad's neighbour was driving as we headed out to the bedroom community, that isn't served by city busses on weekends, where the assignment was located. We chatted about their trip to New Zealand, as well as their health challenges the past few months. The assignment only took a quarter of an hour, then we travelled to a newly developed part of the town just to see what was being built. Churches and schools, as well as some really interesting housing. Both of them seemed interested in maybe living there someday, you see - or one of the other pretty foothills bedroom communities ringing our city. Stopped at a Chinese restaurant on the way out of town for lunch. Both of them have diabetes and I can't eat much if there is gluten in a dish - grains - so deciding what to order was a bit of an affair. The meal was very tasty though - a seafood platter, chow mein (I picked out the noodles) and wor wonton soup. Mmmmmmmmmm. Talk at sometime turned to family history - our holidays in various years, especially in the US. Nostalgic of course.

That continued as we headed out to my third sister's home in another bedroom community on the opposite side of the city. My Dad and his neighbour were dropping off leftover goodies from Christmas both at my home and hers, you see. I was telling my Dad's neighbour about what I remember about some of the early homes we had. Mentioned my youngest sister had been calling frequently to ask about details of those early years and travels as well. That seemed to change the tone of the conversation, although I'm not certain why. Arrived at my sister's home and spent a couple of hours visiting and appreciating their new toys received for Christmas. My brother-in-law has just been diagnosed with diabetes too, so some discussion about what that might mean for him. My Dad and his neighbour watched the slides my brother had forwarded to my sister of their New Zealand trip - my Dad and his neighbour both have computers but are both technophobes - on her computer. In the meantime, my youngest nephew brought out all his art work to show me. It was really quite impressive. I think the style is called anime or manga. My brother-in-law was talking about his new job. Got moved to a different location to set up a new store and manage it for his longtime employer. He sounds very happy with the way things are unfolding. All the challenges of course, but the work atmosphere is positive and he feels really good about it.

Arrived home just before number three son and his girlfriend arrived to take me out to supper. Two restaurant meals in one day - oh my! They had chosen a pasteria that is well reputed. Off I went, after checking in with my youngest. He had been fighting a cold for well over a week and was just happy to rest. The cats were pleased with that arrangement too. My sons's girlfriend had asked if I would do an astrology reading for her, so I carted along her natal chart and some of the interpretative tools I prefer to use. I haven't done any new readings for years. Part of that was because carrying two jobs so often meant no time to do a proper job and also it wouldn't have been deemed an acceptable hobby in the industry I work in downtown. In addition, so many of the people that had been coming to me for readings toward the end were really quite scary. I wasn't interested in having them involved in my life on any level. One of the people I was volunteering with at the time the boys' Dad left seemed determined to push me into that occupation by sending me some of her intractible clients that she was counselling, you see. There was even one that would show up in her car and sit in front of my home if I didn't answer her phone calls after the third or fourth "urgent" call of the day. Stalker was very close to what she was. She even called my parents to see if she could manipulate them into putting pressure on me to give her unlimited time and attention on a daily basis. At that point I had six grieving little boys who really missed their Dad to deal with. She didn't seem to care about anything other than her own plots, that involved using the astrological information as the rationalization for her behaviour. There was a constant struggle not to have her manipulate me into seeing things in her chart that simply were not there. Anyway I decided that I wanted to do this reading. We had a very enjoyable time in the process. The server we had recognized the chart for what it was and seemed to pay extra attention to us just so she could listen in. As we went through the birth wheel, discussion arising revealed a great deal about my potential new daughter-in-law - all of it good. We have an uncanny amount of interests and life experiences in common. Anyway it's late now so Scherezade will continue her night's tales tomorrow. Good night dear diary.

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