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.

A cast on!

~ Maggie ~ 14 Comments

I finally cast on for that sweater Julia directed me to a few weeks ago. Why did that take me so long? I was sort of dreading following a pattern. My brain is overloaded these days, so I thought it would be too much. Guess what? It was really easy and actually quite calming to just follow directions. 

I’m already through the (not so) tricky part, working on the body now. It may even be ready before the weather here gets so hot that I can’t even think about wearing a sweater…

That other project? Yeah… well… it’s coming along slowly. But please remind me never, ever to buy pink yarn again. I’m so not into that color…

So, my knitting To Do is simple for the next week:

– work on sweater (finish it?)

– work on bag (or toss it aside?)

I also have some sewing projects on my mind:

– make some skirts or dresses (I need more cloths and shops are closed right now – we’re in a lockdown again. I do have enough fabric to make some simple skirts, I just need to get myself to do it)

– make some aprons to wear in the garden, with pockets that are sturdy enough for pruning shears and other smaller tools, but I also need a pocket to safely put my phone in (that’s the only disadvantage of wearing sun dresses and simple skirts year round – no pockets).

linking up with Chris’ Tuesday To Do

In my garden

~ Maggie ~ 4 Comments

Oops, fell off the blogging bandwagon already… It’s been a weird week. Haven’t been feeling so well, T. was sick too and we’re in full lockdown again on the island (only allowed on the street to for necessary errands twice a week). 

Also, I was (am) a bit stressed about work. I have a really big novel to proofread and some tax forms to fill in. But I’m getting there, slowly.

Anyway, I thought I’d pop in with some garden pictures.

I have this table on the porch with some random seedlings and cuttings. Most of them are doing pretty well and it makes me very happy. I took some workshops with our local herbalist and she gave us pieces of the plants she talked about. I put some of them in water and they are growing now. I really love to watch that happen.

This is berbena (not related to verbena). It has a lot of medicinal qualities and I’m so happy it decided to grow new leaves. It’s in a small container now, but they are supposed to grow like weeds, so I’m going to find a bigger space for it.

A cucumber! At least I think it will be. So much fun to see them grow!

Tomatoes are blooming too, but I don’t know if I will ever get tomatoes. It gets too hot for them here. We did have a voluntary plant somewhere that grew a few tomatoes in the colder months we just had, but the birds found them first…

In my garden

~ Maggie ~ 3 Comments

I almost didn’t post this picture. I found it a bit disappointing and not just because the resized picture is kind of blurry (the original isn’t). I have this vision in my head of how it will look someday, but you have to have a strong imagination to actually see it, I guess. But it will be nice to see the progress, so here we go. There will be paths around this part of the garden with that white gravel you can see by the house. I’m planting trees (mostly fruit trees) and I will add bushes and herbs when those are settled.

I planted this guave yesterday. I got it from the supermarket.

This is soursop. I grew a few of these from seed. These one looked the strongest, so I hope it will catch on.

I also planted a Flor de Jamaica yesterday (from the supermarket), but the picture was blurry. I hope to get back into the garden today to plant some more. I still have pomegranate and avocado that need to go into the ground. Oh, and “bonchi kabai” too.

Another coconut palm that we grew from scratch. I’ll have to show you how big the first one got. It still feels unreal to have these growing in our garden.

There are actually papayas growing on my tree. You can cook them as a vegetable when they’re green, but I’d rather wait until they are ripe and orange.

Meanwhile, at the other side of the house, Poes is sleeping on top of my mint. Oh well, it wasn’t really catching on anyway. It is strange though, at the other side of this raised bed I’m growing catnip, but he never even looks at it…

A tiny bit of knitting

~ Maggie ~ 4 Comments

(linking up with Chris’ Tuesday To Do)

I guess it’s quite fitting for my crafting these days that I thought I had taken a picture of my knitting and then it seems I didn’t. It wasn’t on my camera and I hadn’t deleted old pictures yet. Weird. So, this is what you get. A not so great picture, since the sun is not completely up yet and it’s raining too…

Anyway, it is fitting, since this is what I’ve been doing this week. Knitting round and round, hoping for the blue to change into a happier color (and dreading the pink, since that’s not really my favorite color). Not knitting as much as I hoped either. But it is always within reach. That’s a start.

I’m experimenting with knitting a bag without a pattern, but I’m not sure where I’m going with this prototype. It is wonderful comfort knitting though and I guess I will find some use for it eventually, so I’ll just keep going.

Last weeks list:

– Julia directed me to this cardigan and I think I’d like to make it. Perfect for the colder evenings (I know you’re laughing, but goodness, I’ve been so cold this “winter”. Only 75 Fahrenheit/24 Celsius most nights) – still need to print that pattern and cast on for it

– I also have an idea for a simpler project that I can just wing without too much thinking (because a. I knit mostly at night, when I can’t read a pattern and b. I’m just so tired most of the time). Going to try that and I’ll show you next week (or not if it fails) – as seen above. Knitting on, but not really sure where I’m going

– stop myself from getting overly enthusiastic. Startitis has not helped my knitting mojo these past two years. Too overwhelming, I guess. One big project and one easy project should be enough for now. But that doesn’t mean I can’t make plans… 😉 – Um, yeah. Knitting mojo is disappearing again, even without startitis. But I’ll try to hang on. I missed it too much.

This weeks list:

– print that pattern and cast on for that cardigan

– keep knitting that bag

– find time to sew (I need dresses and/or skirts badly)

Right now

~ Maggie ~ 5 Comments

Right now I am…

:: feeling a bit restless. So much to do today, so little time.

:: nursing an ear infection. Hoping this one won’t rip my eardrum like the last time it got this bad. It’s my other ear now and I fear my hearing will suffer.

:: looking back at a wonderful weekend anyway. We rested, T. had some computer work to do (big new client), I worked in the garden (I’ll show you later in the week) and it was all good.

:: wondering why I didn’t take any pictures except for the sunsets. Oh well. 

:: looking forward to this morning. My daughter and her twin sister will be at the brides shop to pick out her wedding dress. My other daughter and I will be watching through a video call. Covid restrictions don’t allow more than two clients in a shop. But this will have to do.

:: hoping to get some work done after that.

:: telling myself that the garden can wait another day. Or two (need to go grocery shopping tomorrow).

:: trying to be gentle to myself. Why is that so hard?

:: wishing you all a great week. Bon siman!

In my garden

~ Maggie ~ 6 Comments

 I was planning to do a garden tour, with lots of explanations and things like that, but… well… my garden is still a big mess. And I don’t really have time right now to write blog posts like that. But I do want to get into a blogging routine again, so I decided to just post some random garden pictures this week.

My moringa tree. One of three actually. I grew them from seeds. This one is the highest. Almost four metres already (they tend to go up first and spread out after that). It’s hard to see in the picture, but it’s blooming. I plan to plant more of these trees (already have some seedlings going), since we drink moringa tea daily (for it’s healing properties) and it would be nice to harvest that from my own garden.

I sowed some cucumber seeds and those came up pretty quick. Some local gardeners on facebook make a big deal about the whole process of pollination, but I just hope the bees will do their jobs. Meanwhile, I love those bright yellow flowers.

My desert rose is still going strong. I bought it two years ago when we still lived in our rental studio and it hasn’t stopped blooming since.

This is a new one. Lantana. The flowers change color from bright red to light orange. It also has some healing properties, but I haven’t had time to study those.

Besora kora. This one is considered a weed, It does grow everywhere, but I really like it. I’m told they use the above ground parts in water for cleaning in India. Here they use it for smudging. The stems make excellent brooms (that’s what I’m told, still need to try to make one) and the roots are used to make a gargle for sore throats.

I am studying local herbs and trees. Most of it on my own, by trying to find out about the plants I have in my garden, but I’m also following workshops with our most well known local herbalist. I have a lot to learn (so many plants I’ve never seen before), but I love it so much.