Month: April 2021

Harvest

~ Maggie ~ 2 Comments

I know… that’s not what you’d expect from a tropical garden. But that’s what we’re at right now. Some papaya fruits and a few tiny tomatoes.

Tomatoes and me… not working. In the Netherlands I struggled with it being too cold and too wet and I had a lot of diseases. And here… too hot and too dry. I know it can be done, but you need to pay a lot of attention to the plants and put a lot of energy and time in it. And right now… well, that’s not an option. I need a garden that can mostly tend itself. Goodness, it’s so hard to accept that – I would love to be a “real” gardener, but I doubt I will ever have the time and energy. Anyway, tomatoes are out for now.

The papaya tree though… Granted, only one of the several trees I tried to grow last year is thriving. But it is full of fruits and oh my… they taste so, so good! I’m trying to let them ripen on the tree as long as I can. I lost one of them to the birds, but since they wake me up with their singing each morning, I think that’s a good trade.

Progress

~ Maggie ~ 11 Comments

I didn’t knit much these past few weeks. Last time I posted about my knitting (4 weeks ago!),  I was pretty optimistic about finishing this sweater soon, but I didn’t feel like knitting a lot and we watched an awful lot of series and movies at night (I don’t knit while watching something that I really want to get into). Oh well. 

I am working on the sleeves now and I would like to finish it before our trip to the Netherlands. I hear it’s rather cold there, so I could use an extra sweater. 

I don’t like how the bottom rolls up though. According to the pattern it would be okay if you knit with cotton, but I’m not convinced I like this look. I may decide to add a small garter stitch border. I don’t think that would look too bad (at least not worse than that rolling).

My crafty to-do list is short:

– finish cardigan

– find something to knit during our stay (it’s not permitted on the airplane, but I figure I’d better take something – I always miss it when I don’t).

linking up with Chris’ Tuesday To Do

Hi there

~ Maggie ~ 2 Comments

Oh, oops! I really wanted to post something today, but the day just slipped away (it’s 4:30 PM already). They all seem to do that, lately. We’ve been in full lockdown for over a month now and it’s wearing us out. But the numbers are going down fast, so it is working and we hope life will be a bit more normal soon. Not that we would have been going anywhere these past few weeks. I’ve been sick a lot, moving from ear infections to headaches and back to ear infections again, and ending with just plain exhaustion. Though that last part (right now) may be a side effect of the vaccine I got last week. 

In happier news: we decided to book a trip to the Netherlands. A few weeks ago, I told T. that all I wanted for my 50th birthday (in a few weeks) was to visit the children and yesterday he decided it was time to do just that. We leave next Tuesday (!), so I have one week to get my act together. You know, clean the whole house, loose that weight, get the garden done, finish work, get my body into shape, …

Ha, just kidding… Sort of. I know I can’t do all of that, but I do want to get my act together. Leave the house at least semi-clean and have a plan for the rest when we return. We’re only staying there for a week, so it’s not a big deal to leave things undone, but I hope it will be a bit of a reset. We’re staying in a hotel, so all I have to do that week is sleep, eat and visit people I love. It would be nice to come home and not pick up my stress and depression where I left it.

I just got off a phone call with my dad. He didn’t see the text message I sent him yesterday, so he was delighted when I told him we were coming. We have a big trip planned for September, when one of the girls is getting married, but I often worry that he won’t make it to that date. It feels good to know we’ll see him next week. And maybe I’ll stop worrying if I can see with my own eyes how he’s doing.

Anyway… I guess I have to make a list of things to do and – more importantly – a list of things to let go off.

Wishing you all a great week!

Black

~ Maggie ~ 4 Comments
We have another stray! Poes (our other cat) brought her in. She’s slowly learning that she doesn’t have to run away each time we come closer, though she still doesn’t want us to touch here. She is confident enough to come inside and ask for food though…

Right now I am…

~ Maggie ~ 6 Comments

… happy that my ear infections seems to be over (well, almost)

… annoyed to have to admit that I now have a headache though. A real three-day one, I think. I woke up with it yesterday and it’s still there. 

… kind of pleased with myself that I haven’t taken any painkillers yet. Even though I always stick to paracetamol and ibuprofen (we don’t even have anything stronger), I feel I sometimes take too much. I would love to be able to do without (even paracetamol can cause rebound headaches – my mom suffered from this). So I’m trying to sit this headache out. So far, so good.

… looking forward to doing a bit of weeding in the overgrown part of the garden. I try to fill up the wheelbarrow at least once a day. That takes me about half an hour. Totally doable and it does make a difference. 

… trying to remind myself to make that phone call to my father (we have set times for our talks) an hour earlier. Summertime started in The Netherlands last weekend and on Monday I totally forgot about that.

… still trying to find my blogging routine. I’ve had my moments, but that’s a long time ago. Thinking about picking up the daily picture thing this month.

… thinking about a lot of things that I don’t want to post here. Maybe I need to start journaling to get some things off my chest.

… not too happy with where this blog post is going (too much complaining) and not sure what else to say. I’ll end it here and give you some beautiful skies instead.