And wheel goes round and round

Here I am at the end of my visit with my aunt and uncle. They've really pulled at my heartstrings this time.

Sitting in her room for a week for hours at a time gave me time to make a sweater: It's short-sleeved, and while I love the buttons I'm not entirely convinced. There's a button store in Mainz I might take a look at. It's got to be something really special.

But back to my aunt and uncle. Things were pretty peaceful most of the time. Between all of us. My uncle and I usually butt heads, and they usually fight like cats and dogs. But that just didn't happen this time. My aunt comes and goes. I got some stuff that's similar to Ensure - and she drank it over the weekend, and on Monday was pretty with it. But then on Tuesday and Wednesday slowed down a lot. I wish I could be here to help manage what's going on. They really need a baby sitter. It took me a few days to figure out that if you offer my aunt three things to eat, she'll choose one. If you just ask her what she wants, she'll say she doesn't want anything. And then, my uncle has been feeding her and if you do that she'll eat three bites and say she's done. But it turns out if you put a few things on a plate and let her eat it (with her fingers!) she will finish everything. She'll clean the plate. Tonight at the end of it all I realized now I should have bought some baby wipes to help her clean her hands. I just can't think of everything in such a short amount of time. My uncle has also been really sweet the last few days. He has been very glad that I'm cooking, although I don't think he could admit it. The complaining stopped, and we came to a truce about washing the dishes. I do the dishes in the middle of the day, he does the dishes for coffee. We each do our own dishes for supper. Today really clinched it for me - that despite everything, I wish I were closer: he came in while I was getting "dinner" (eaten in the middle of the day here) ready, and I tried to kick him out of the kitchen because he's always in the way and then if anything drips he freaks out a bit - as if a drip is a permanent blemish on the counter. But today he stood there picking his fingernails and said in a very small voice, like a little boy, "Would you also peel the sausage for me?" (sausage is made the old fashioned way here - and yeah, you always take the 'peal' off). It really broke my heart, because it showed me that he was allowing me to take care of him, and that more than that - he really needs someone to take care of him! For the first time ever - I really do wish I were closer.... I said, yes of course I would peel it for him - no problem!

For her birthday, I bought my aunt a prism. It's about two inches across, huge, and it throws rainbows all over the room. Now if only I had time to clean the window....