tumult

Hanging on in the eye of a hurricane right now - Anna and her boys are living here temporarily while things sort themselves out, or not, in her life. It's complicated and difficult. They arrived Monday. My house is a shambles but that's okay; I'm overjoyed to provide shelter for my daughter, who moved into this house when she was five, and her sons aged six and nine. They're sleeping on mattresses on my office floor. Anna goes off to work in the morning, and Nicole and I man the fort to the best of our ability.

Because as I've said perhaps a few times before, these boys don't stop, ever, except when we buy time with the television. Rambunctious was a word a neighbour used, a good word. Eli is strong, stubborn, relentlessly determined, and Ben talks nonstop about the most interesting things - today, the Titanic. His imagination is fabulous. We try to find ways to wear them out and keep them fed and ourselves sane.

Eli has lived all his life in a ground floor apartment, but he still draws home as a big house with a pointy roof and lots of windows, the way all kids do.

Uncle Sam is here now, a great blessing. If anyone can keep up with them, he can. 

It has been hot, though not nearly as hot as in B.C., my poor friends! I have A.C. and am using it a lot, unlike most summers. The rain yesterday was so violent, it ripped my umbrella right out of the stand and flung it on top of the pergola, to the delight of young eyes, who went out in the storm with umbrellas and got soaked and then into a hot bath. 

I'm still shaky but doing my best. Taught two classes in the middle of all this, but we moved the mattresses and the boys were instructed to be quiet and it was fine. No idea what's happening in the world, and maybe that's a good thing. Maybe, right now, I don't want to know.