19:29 - 07/09/2013
books and ogres
My youngest son has taken his family out to take in the Calgary Stampede. It is Heritage or Seniors day today, so it won't be too crowded, I guess. Tomorrow is children's day, which I always loathed even when I was small. My teenage grand-daughters and grandson plan to go because of the lower prices. They want to play on the midway and check out the fair. New, gruesome food items and new, scary rides should satisfy them.
I've been spending a lot of time at the libraries in this city. Trying to get my eyes to work together again - focus, grasshopper! I started with a children's series about Septimus Heap by Angie Sage that was reminiscent of JK Rowling's Harry Potter, but for younger readers and have now graduated to a series by Michael Scott reweaving western legends and mythology around the figures of Nicholas Flamel, his wife Perenelle, Joan of Arc and two contemporary teenagers. The biggest frustration during the city's flood was not being able to get more books. The libraries all being closed, initially. This morning I was zipping down to the closest library by transit; not taking anything for granted anymore.
There is a troll loose on my street. Even though he lives at the other end of the block, he has visited my daughter-in-law while I was out to visit the library to insist I trim back the branches of my frontyard tree. Now, I have walked down my street and counted six homes where their tree branches were closer to the ground than in my case. I still dutifully called the city fathers to try and work something out with them, explaining that a short-term disability subsidy of under $900 per month wasn't enough to buy food and pay the bills anyway. There is no allowance for an arbourist nor do I have the physical resources or skills to do the job myself.
One kind lady at the city remarked that she couldn't find a record of the form that was taped to my door. It was apparent she was wondering if the fellow was trying to bluff and bluster to intimidate me into doing his bidding. I heard one neighbour refer to him as "that jerk" when I walked past his house on my branch counting expedition. I think it is his brand new, big red semi that is the source of the commotion. I mentioned it to the nice lady commenting that the weight of his vehicle was chewing up the pavement on our quiet residential street. She commented that was another issue, so I'm guessing it has been reported before now. Hmmm. Guess I'd better go get more stealth housework done before the crowd gets home. Night dear diary.
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