amusedHey, everyone, it's me, April. If you've read Mom's "Pets" letter, you have a sense of where she is at the moment, mental-healthwise. One afternoon recently, Mike discovered her in the backyard of the "Pattermanse," yelling at Edgar, "GO already, Farley, don't make me hit you with a newspaper!" He's not sure how she managed to get in. He even checked the gate to make sure it was latched securely (something Mom never did, as you probably know!).
Another act of Mom-craziness? She's started attending Professor Marilyn Simone's creative-writing class Monday nights, at the college, even though she's not enrolled. Since I've been getting tutoring in calculus at their learning centre, she managed to connect Mom with me and clued me in. Mike and Dee arranged to have her officially listed as an auditor for the class (which Milborough residents can do for free), but Professor Simone noticed that Mom seems to believe that the class is taught by some male prof who used to be in the college's English department back in the 1980s.
Oh, and going back to my getting tutoring--it's definitely been paying off. I aced my last calc test, and my average for that class is now a B+. Dee bought me the awesome cookbook Veganomicon as a reward. And she's glad she did, because I've been trying out the recipes, and they're all made of [redundancy alert!] awesome. When I found out that Robin doesn't like soy, I decided to branch out to non-soy dishes, and even Mike is begging me to make lentil loafs. I just had to LULZ when he took his first bite of one and blurted, "This is actually GOOD!" Like, so surprised and all.
Dr. Garber, my boss at the vet clinic, went on a mini-tirade recently, because she heard there's going to be a children's book released next year, about a dog who's allowed to wander the neighbourhood in search of food. "That's a recipe for garbage gastritis!" She said she could understand--maybe--something like this being released like 25 years ago, when people didn't know any better, but now, it's just irresponsible. And when she heard that it was authored by a veterinarian, she about lost it!
Funny thing, I was talking to my Aunt Bev about Dr. Garber's reaction to the book (we were making plans for this summer). And Bev surprised me by saying, "I don't know why she's so angry about that book--I think it sounds cute." Maybe it's because Bev is kinda old-school. I don't know. Anyway, I'll be heading out to the farm in Manitoba again this summer, while Mike, Dee, and the kids are at the writers' retreat. Hoping (fingers crossed really hard) by then I'll be Guelph-bound. If I am, Bev and Laura have promised to come out to Guelph with me for frosh week in August.
My friend Stacey and I are still doing our volunteer thing for the 4 Legged Love rescue. Stacey fosters, which I wish I could do, but I'm afraid of what Mom might do with my furry fosterees if I tried that. Probably try and force-feed them "leftovers" and make them sick. Fortunately, I've been able to get involved with their Adoption Clinics, which they hold over at Pet Haven. I love it when I'm able to help match up a critter with a good family!
I can't even tell you how much I'm looking forward to getting away a bit over the holiday break later this month. Dad practically did a spit-take when Mike told him that he and Dee were planning an actual family vacation--one that's both a warm-weather vacation AND is kid-friendly. You'd think the entire concept were alien. "You're even bringing April along? Is that allowed?" What? By whom?
Wow, I didn't know this was going to get so long. Aw, man, I just heard Mom downstairs, telling Michael he's "spending way too much time with that Sobinski girl." This ought to get interesting, in the not-good sense of the word.
April