2005-07-30 - 6:02 p.m.

>As quickly as they came...

Well, things are looking up for the Brother-in-law -- his prognosis is a little better than we thought when I last updated. As of yesterday evening, they transferred him to a hospital up-island. Bee's sister and the baby can go back to their own house instead of being crammed into our spare room.

I find that I miss the baby already. There was something in me that burst a little whenever I teased a smile out of him. Still not looking to have any of my own, but these last couple weeks have brought me a much better understanding of infancy. There is beauty in vulnerability, and happiness in help. I know, not much of an insight. I think I was a little afraid of babies before - afraid of their fragility - but not anymore.

The B-in-L will still be in a wheelchair for a good while, but no longer than 4 months they say, and he can go home as soon as they make it wheelchair-accessible. Good thing we live in Canada (and we still have universal health-care).

It is nice, I will certainly admit, to have a bit of privacy again.

I have learned to make balloon animals. You would think that, having once been a clown, I would already have this talent. It is actually quite easy once you figure out how to get the balloons inflated. So far I have made a giraffe, a dachshund, a crocodile, and a bumblebee. And a lot of featureless snakes. And several deflated worms. Now to learn the more complex multi-balloon configurations.

I sometimes consider adding an "I am reading..." box to this site, but I am never reading only a single thing. Right now I am in the middle of: "Eon" by Greg Bear, "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell, "The Last Brother" by Joe McGinnis, plus I am enjoying my fix of short fiction in this month's "Analog" as well as the wonderfully Canadian speculative fiction mag "On Spec."

It just wouldn't fit in a tidy little box.

Like so many things in my life.