Things are starting to go back to normal. My bowel movements have returned to normal and I am now eating more normally. The texture of some food still sucks a bit and it is still not pleasant to eat, but I can eat more things now. Mel does not want me to cook dinner tonight as I am rather tired still. I need to increase my food intake to resolve the fatigue. Each time I have some bad days I start to understand more how people struggle with things. When your bowels are not moving correctly it makes it very difficult to eat as it is quite uncomfortable. This cycle then drains your energy and does not not give you much leeway to try and get better. When you have no energy it is much harder to eat and you do not want to. Fluid intake is one of the keys I think as well as proper electrolyte intake. When I drink enough and keep hydrated things are easier. I think that I will be able to manage my fatigue a bit better today as my energy levels increase. I would like to get more soft food, right now I have a craving for pudding and will see if we can get some. We have not gone grocery shopping for a while and our fridge is rather empty at the moment.
Entering grade 9 at St. Charles we had to take the bus all of the way out to Garson. At the time that is where the school was and the amount of students was greater than the physical capacity of the school and we had classes in temporary portables outside. At this time there was grade 13, known as OAC. Having taught at university I think that the extra year makes quite a difference at the time. I am not sure why, but the calibre of students has seemed to have decreased, or what they deem important has changed. When we were in grade 9 we were a bit protected as we knew people older than us. My best friend’s brothers were in grade 10 and in grade 13. Both of his brothers were huge and they were told that nothing better happen to us. There were kids who were initiated with various things, but most of it seemed harmless at the time but I do not really know what it was like for everyone. I do remember one time where I was almost isolated and I ran away from the older kids and nothing came of it. At the time the dress code at the school was slacks and a collared shirt I think. Growing up my parents never bought us clothing that was remotely considered cool and they bought what was cheap and practical. Some of the shirts I had were thin and I do remember complaining about it, but it did not really matter as most boys do not care what anyone is wearing. There were no girls to impress and for the most part the clothing that you wore was an after thought. As I grew older though I paid far more attention to the clothing that I bought, but I always made sure that I had small logos or I gravitated to brands that were not as well known. When we were in school we use to wrap up the textbooks to protect them. My mother did a couple of mine and she has beautiful writing and calligraphy. She wrote the title on one of my books and one of the priests had seen it and from that point on he always wanted me or her to do some calligraphy. I avoided him for years because I did not want to do it nor tell him that it was my mother that did it. There are so many skills that I could learn from my parents. I have learned some cooking from them, but some of the other practical skills I never picked up.
In our backyard we have a lamp right by the backdoor and every year birds try and build a nest there. We have put things on it to deter them from building there. This year a robin managed to build a nest there and there were some young birds within it. Today the nest fell off the lamp. Mel thinks that as the bird was flying into the nest she kept on trying to avoid her babies and it slowly shifted. Today Olivier told me that the nest was hanging over a bit, but she was in the nest so I told him that we could try and fix it afterwards when she was no longer in the nest. I think that the birds that fell are dead now as the nest is upside down and there is not much sound coming from it. We can check in a while and we will see if the birds are alive or not. When Mel gets home we can verify. It is sad that they died, but she did not necessarily set herself up for success. The nest was in a great place when you consider that no predator could attack it. We had tried to not disturb the nest and was watching it intently to see the growth so it is a bit sad that this happened. Mel made the remark that this is just nature taking its course, but it is sad as we could have potentially prevented it.
Q