Friday, January 16, 2009

As the Days Go By

A pretty good day. Got a lift to the centre from the house father next door. Cleaned the toilets and ran some store errands for Magdalena, then helped her clean the drains and look after the villagers. Sam, the new villager living in Magda's house and working Weds-Fri in the food centre, is adjusting now. We found some work that he enjoys and can do independently, so that's a relief.

Had a huge lunch at High farm of roast chickens and rice and beetroot and brussel sprouts and leeks, and had a nice chat with Claire afterward. Then I went back to the centre to get money from the office, feeling stupid for not having done this on my way to lunch and saving my shin some walking. My toe was fine in the Uggs, but my shin splint absolutely killed. I had met Justin in the morning and he told me to come at 4:00 again today because the rest of HBN went to the Pantamime so it would just be the two of us. I wondered vaguely where Wilfred (10 months old) would be.

I got home at three and did some yoga and had some tea and played the guitar and at four I went out to the byres. I noticed Rufus messing with something in the yard and went to investigate, and Justin walked out of the top barn pushing Wilfred in a stroller! He was all bundled up and adorable as usual and he just chilled and made little baby noises while Justin and I put the cows out and mucked out and then Justin milked and I did all the calves and went the extra mile and threw down some fresh bales of straw and hay. Somehow we finished earlier than usual! Granted, we did skip tea break, which gave us an extra half hour.

Prepared supper when I got home, and Paule had to rush out to Castle House because a lot of shit has hit the fan with some villagers and I'm not privledged to know what's going on, but I know it's bad and very stressful for those involved. Anyway, she was gone until after supper and I assumed she had had something to eat there, but when she got home she made some toast for herself--she didn't even get supper! So I'm a little worried her stress is gonna make her explode, and I'm trying to be hyper-aware of everything and tomorrow I'll do everything I can to make things easier for her.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Steph had a fit Wednesday night! It was really strange; she knocked on my door, which she does so often I sometimes ignore her, but this time I told her to come in. She did, and she stood there not saying a word (which is also not uncommon, it can take her ages to get a sentence out) and she was kind of half-crying without tears, so I spent several minutes trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with her. I asked her if she was in pain, if she was homesick and missing her sisters, if she was just sad, and then it occured to me that maybe she was going to have a fit! The thing is, she supposedly only has them aorund breakfast time, and they are grand mal seizures like the one Ben had. So I asked her if she could make it back to her bed and she shook her head, so I laid her down in my bed and rubbed her back and she lay there totally stiff and breathing shallowly and looking spacey, and I kept expecting her to start shaking quaking jumping and jiving but after 7 minutes or so she seemed to come around and her eyes focused and I asked her if it was over and she said "yeah." So it was a completely internalized fit, something that's never happened to her before, so it was a bit scary for her I'm sure. But afterwards she was totally fine and came downstairs and had some tea! I told Paule what had happened and she told I should have gotten her. Next time I certainly will, but I felt I had the situation under control; I didn't want to go get her and leave Stephanie, and I felt that yelling for her might scare Steph into thinking something was really wrong. So I handled it, and if Paule thought I was being irresponsible or unaware or something, well, that's her problem.
But anyway, big day tomorrow, lots to do.
Nighty night all.

No comments: