Tag: life

Knitting notes

~ Maggie ~ 4 Comments

Thank you so much for the encouraging comments on my last (slightly depressed sounding) post! It really made me feel better to read them.

We had a good weekend. Lots of smaller tasks done, a bit of work in the garden, a visit to one of the girls (to help hang a coat rack) on Friday and a visit from another one on Saturday.
We talked through some of my worries and had a great conversation with a young woman that owns our favorite place to buy fries. She recognized us and also remembered not seeing us for a while. When we mentioned having been in Curaçao she told us she was just back from two weeks vacation there. Although she was not really considering moving permantly (but she mentioned her boyfriend did talk about not wanting to leave), she loves the island as much as we do and it was great to talk about it. Got to keep the love alive.
Speaking of keeping the love alive: we did something crazy and booked tickets to go back for the month of June! Hopefully the house will be on the market by then, but if not… well, we decided to take things the way the come and to stop worrying.

Anyway. I titled this knitting notes, so let’s move on to the knitting!

I manage to squeeze in a few rows of knitting between everything else and actually made some progress on the cardigan. The lace knitting turned out harder then I thought and I’ve been thinking about ripping back and just do stockinette more than I’d like to admit. But it seems I’m finally getting the hang of it. Though there’s a mistake I discovered when it was too late to fix it (about 20 rows down, I feared I would mess up it even more) – I’ll just try to ignore that part and see it as a lesson to let go of perfection. Also on hindsight I maybe should have mirrored the lace on one side, but I think figuring out how to do that and keeping up with an even more complicated pattern would be too much for me to handle right now. I do like the way it looks now so I’m hopeful that this will be a cardigan I’ll actually wear a lot.

I also tried to organize my “stash”. Ha! Yes, this is it. Most of it is cotton, which I think is not really suitable for knitting hats. It will be used to knit dishcloths I think, but I don’t really feel like knitting them right now.
So I really need to go yarn shopping soon. Isn’t that sad? 😉

Linking up with Jeannie Gray Knits’ Makers’ Monday

Three things that make me happy

~ Maggie ~ 8 Comments

Oh no! It’s Thursday already! I usually have a post with three things planned out in advance, but today I’m drawing a blank. I really want to keep posting regularly, but life is a bit stressful and overwhelming right now.
Work on the house is not going as fast as we’d like (something about being middle aged and having to acknowledge that our bodies need rest every once in a while – ahem!), the financial stuff is waiting on professionals to handle it (and I really mean waiting. I know we’re not their only clients, but come on! at least send me that e-mail to start things up!) and there is a chance that we need to rethink our decision to permantly move to the island (but that has mostly to do with that financial stuff that is out of my hands now).
I feel frustrated, tired and actually a bit depressed. Not good. Need to work on that.

So let’s try to find three things that make me happy…

1. The trees are finally turning green! Goodness, if this winter feels long for someone who spent most of it on a tropical island, how long must it feel for everyone else? Or is it harder for us because we’ve been away? It seems to be.
Anyway, seeing all that green is seriously boosting my moral and helping me to ignore the gray skies 😉

2. We’ve indulged in watching some tv-series and are enjoying it very much. We hardly ever watch tv, but we do catch up on Supernatural every once in a while (I’ve got a little crush on Dean).
And when we needed more this week to take our mind off things, we decided to try Star Trek Discovery. Oh wow! We’re so hooked. Such a shame that we’re almost done with that one too… I’m trying to convince my husband to rewatch one of the older Star Trek series next.

3. Focusing on the progress we did make (this one took me a really long time to come up with…): We’ve replaced the kitchen ceiling (and added working (!) lights, replaced the ceiling in the toilet room and added a tiny sink for washing hands (we’ve been washing our hands in the kitchen for 12 years – the lack of a sink in the toilet room is actually quite common in older houses, but it’s something that could turn off potential buyers). We’ve also painted the back wall of the entrance (it used to be dark wood) and finished the ceiling there too. Still lots of finishing touches needed in those spaces, but it is a lot of progress in just three weeks since we arrived home.
And today I finally finished working through my parents’ archives. Everything we need to keep is sorted and the rest is gone. That felt so good!

Linking up with Carole Knits’ Three Things

Three on Thursday :: Breathe…

~ Maggie ~ 14 Comments

I wish my to-do list had only three things on it. Well, actually it does:

1. finish house
2. keep up with everything else
3. relax

It’s just that that first item is a huge one. Before we left we were already on it, but our time frame shrunk from “a few years” to “one month”. So there’s that. Also, I conveniently totally forgot I was halfway sorting through my parents’ paperwork when we left.
They’ve always lived in big houses, but recently downsized and I told them I would take care of their archives, sort it, shred what can be tossed and store what needs to be kept. And then December happened with all the holidays and then we left and I just shoved two giant boxes of paperwork in a corner. Hmn.
Anyway, I am getting there. Slowly, since there’s also the rest of the work that needs to be done (more taxes, household chores, etc.)

How about #3, you ask? Well… I try. That’s where the pictures in this post com in.

This is by far my most favorite spot on Curaçao. It’s not easy to reach. After a shaky ride on a dirt road, you have to walk on ancient coral (sharp and uneven) to reach the point where you can see it. But when you do… we think it’s spectacular.
A local once told us: “This is where Korsou breathes”.  And that’s exactly what it sounds and looks like.
It always gets me to breathe a bit slower too.

I needed to be reminded of this spot. Let’s look at those pictures and breathe….

Three on Thursday :: Santa Martha Bay

~ Maggie ~ 8 Comments

Three pictures from last Sunday.

We drove through Banda Abou again and made our way to Santa Martha. It’s a nice drive (if you’re like my husband and like to drive narrow, curvy roads in the hills) and it has some beautiful views (but we didn’t stop to take pictures – you can see the ones I took four years ago here).

That route takes you to an abandoned resort and a beach that is usually very quite. It wasn’t now, a group young men and women was gathering there and having lots of fun playing in the higher than normal (we’re having some strong winds) waves. We brought our swim suits, but decided to stick to just standing in the water (in Dutch we call that “pootjebaden” which could be translated to “leg bathing” – I don’t know if there’s a word for it in English).

We just stood there for a while, enjoying, savoring the moments. We’re getting good at that 😉

Linking up with Carole Knits’ Three on Thursday

Three Things :: moments to savor

~ Maggie ~ 10 Comments

Even though it’s comforting to know we’ll be back, it feels like time is going too fast. Not even two more weeks until we go back to Holland. And since we’re not sure when we’ll be able to return (lots of things to take care of first), I’m trying to savor every moment we’re still here.  Three things I’m really going to miss (apart from warmer temperatures and sunshine of course) :: swimming. We plan to go every day, but usually end up swimming about two or three time a week. Still, we love it. During week days we drive to the nearest beach around 4:30 pm and have a little swim. We usually just float around for a while and swim up and down the bay a few times as exercise. I found it’s a great way to loose stress and anxiety.

:: driving around Banda Abou. This is the less populated, more natural region of the island. I love how green it is right now, after all the rain, but it’s just as beautiful in dryer periods.

:: watching sunsets. We’ve still got two weekends ahead of us and usually spent Friday nights at Seaquarium Beach where you can see the sun set while you have a drink at the beach bar. A great way to start the weekend.

Linking up with Carole Knits’ Three on Thursday

Three Things

~ Maggie ~ 10 Comments

(this post contains affiliate links)

1 :: I took this picture in a local shop. These are American sheet sets, but in the Netherlands (and Curaçao) we usually just state one or two person size and measurements. This is so helpful, so thoughtful and so wrong. 😉

2 :: Iguanas. We sort of like them. Not as a pet, but we don’t mind seeing them in the wild. Fascinating creatures.
I had a chance to eat one last Sunday, but I chickened out and ordered beef stew 😉

3 :: Since we’ve arrived here I’ve been using this hairbrush. I love it. It gets tangles out really easy. Even when I have undone my braid to let my hair dry after a swim in the ocean (so salt and wind have been doing their thing with it), it doesn’t hurt to brush it out. I wish I had had this brush a lot earlier!
I decided to have a pixy cut a few years ago, after staying on Curaçao for a month. My hair was just too dry and damaged by the salt and the wind to keep it long. But I never really liked the short hair on me and let it grow out. I hope this brush will save me from having to cut it off again.

Right now

~ Maggie ~ 4 Comments

Right now I am…

:: looking back at a wonderful weekend

We started it on Friday evening like we do most weekends: by visiting Seaquarium Beach, have a bite to eat and a few drinks, while watching the sun set into the sea. We never get tired of that!

On Saturday we worked all day and it felt good. It’s silly how chosing to work can make such a difference in how it feels… T. dove into getting to know a different programming language then he normally uses and I worked on my Dutch blog and my book. Yes, that’s right. I’m afraid to jinx myself if I write it down, but it seems my writer’s block is finally over!

On Sunday we drove to the west part of the island and visited Shete Boka (Seven Coves), a national park on the North Coast we love very much.

:: knitting

Hats, of course. Working on #8. Note to myself: Bring more yarn next time. I still love knitting hats, but I’d also like to pick up something else every once in a while.

:: reading

I’m really enjoying the columns a famous Dutch writer (mostly known for her children’s books) wrote in the fifties. I love the way she plays with language and I also love that she dares to write what she thinks, even if it was something less acceptable in those days (she was a feminist). It’s kind of inspiring.

I also read a book by Andreas Eschbach, but it seems that there isn’t an English version (I read it in Dutch). To bad. I think he’s one of the best writers of our time. Trying to find English versions I also found out that a lot of his books aren’t translated in Dutch either (he’s German). I can read German if I really want to, but it’s not a fun language to read… Still, his stories are great, so maybe I will, sometime.

At the moment I’m reading and writing both in Dutch and English and I’m trying to learn Papiamento (the local language on Curaçao). I think that’s enough languages in one mind for a while.

Since I keep hearing that the Matchmakers’ series I enjoyed so much is comparable to Janet Evanovitch’s books, I’ve started reading “One for the money” on Saturday. I like it sofar, but I can’t download the rest of the series within my e-book subscription, so I can’t read the whole series.

When I finish it I plan to start reading an historic novel about Curaçao. I feel like I should learn more about the place we want to settle, so this is a good start (I know novels aren’t the best source, but this is written by an historian, so I assume he does have his facts straight).

:: writing

Lots of articles in Dutch. I hope to be back to more active blogging in English soon, but for now I’m stuck with Dutch, it seems. I’m also looking forward to keep going with my book.

:: making lists

And lists of lists to make. Hmn. Relax, Maggie, relax (oh, I was so right to pick that as my word for 2018)! But there’s so much to think about. We return to Holland in about a month, but only to sell our house and to take care of lots of small things. And then (we hope in July, but it may take us longer) we’ll return to Curaçao to permanently live here. O my!

We did decided to give ourselves two years here in rentals and then we’ll evaluate if we want to stay or return (or move on to some other place).

:: thinking

About this blog and where to go with it. But also thinking that maybe for now it’s enough to enjoy what it is now. It’s fun to write about knitting and life. And I love the connections and comments. But then again, there’s so much more I’d to write about and…

Relax, Maggie, relax… 😉

Bon Siman! Wishing you all a great week.

(linking up with Jeannie Gray Knits’ Makers’ Monday)

Three Things

~ Maggie ~ 8 Comments

1. Carnaval is a very, very big deal on Curaçao. I have to admit that we don’t really “feel” it. In Holland we live (and were born and raised) “above the rivers” (the north and middle of the country) and that part of the country doesn’t really do Carnaval (mostly protestants). The south (mostly Catholics) does, but we… well, we just don’t get it.
So we didn’t really go and see. We also didn’t end up watching the Gran Marcha (big parade) by accident like we did four years ago. But we did catch a bit of it since we were in the town’s centre to have a drink. And we enjoyed watching the people coming and going from the parade. For hours. But that had mostly to do with not being able to go home since the place we parked our car was blocked by the parade 😉

2. From Carnaval Curaçao went straight into Valentines day. Also a big deal here. We usually don’t do anything (hmn, we sound boring, don’t we?), but somehow the excitement here is catching. Four years ago we went on a bit of adventure, this year we spent an afternoon on the beach relaxing, because we were too tired for adventure. We did have diner at the very same restaurant we had diner four years ago though.

3. Things are starting to feel “normal” here. Including the climate. I still feel blessed to be here instead of in the cold, but yesterday I ordered hot tea at a beach bar. It was raining, temperatures dropped to 25 degrees Celsius (77 F) and I was shivering. Ahem. Don’t remind me that I have to go back to Holland in about a month, when temperatures can still be very low…

Linking up with Carole Knits’ Three on Thursday

Making, right now

~ Maggie ~ 8 Comments

Right now I’m making…

:: hats

Of course.
I sort of lost count and I don’t have much time this morning (this is just a quick update), but I think I’m still on track or even ahead with my 52 hats challenge. I have been knitting almost everyday, despite all the other things I’ve been working on this week

:: home

Last week, we moved. We’re no longer staying at our friends’. It was all quite sudden, but we rented a small (tiny) apartment in a neighborhood we’ve loved ever since we first visited the island. It’s a long term rent, for at least a year. And yes, that does mean that living here permanently is becoming more and more a real thing. I’ll talk some more about that later.

:: rhythm

I find myself going back and forth between vacation mode and stressing out. Last week I was supposed to work on the bookkeeping and taxes, but we spent three days packing, moving, shopping and cleaning (I can’t feel at home somewhere if I haven’t cleaned it myself – I know, it sounds like OCD and maybe it is).
Still, I managed to finish the things I really needed to do, so now I can move on to finding a rhythm that includes writing (both blogs and fiction) in my weekly routines, while still leaving room for impromptu beach visits and other fun stuff.

It’s funny to find that my routines here aren’t all that different from the ones I had back in Holland. I still do most of my cleaning on Mondays (got to get that over with asap) and the weekly bookkeeping on Tuesdays (need to make sure I get to that every week). Wednesdays are for grocery shopping, leaving me two days for the rest.

Oh! Writing this makes me see where my thinking is off. It seems my weeks are very full, but in fact they’re not. Cleaning, book keeping and grocery shopping doesn’t take all day. I have most of the afternoons free for other things to do. I think I need to start viewing my days in AM and PM to get a better idea of my planning. Will be working on that…

For now I’m wishing you all a great week.

Bon Siman! (as they say here on Monday – it means  “good week” and I love how positive that is compared to the “I hate Mondays” attitude so many people seem to adopt nowadays)

linking up with Jeannie Gray Knits’ Makers’ Monday

Three things

~ Maggie ~ 6 Comments

Three decisions came from all that thinking I did this week.

1. I will visit and comment on all the blogs that link up in my Mad Hatters’ Linkup Party but apart from that I’m going to take a little break from blogging, blogreading and commenting next week. I have to take care of my bookkeeping tasks. I’m not too far behind, but I have been distracted by a lot of things and blogging is one of them. Even though my husband is my employer, bookkeeping is my paying job and I need to get back on top of it all.

2. I love, love, love the knitting blog community and would like to do nothing else but participate (and knit) all day, but I really need to step back a little bit. Keeping up with four link-ups each week (and creating my own) is actually quite a bit of work (if you’re a perfectionist like me). Not to mention continuously hatching plans to grow and maybe even monetize my blog(s). I have to accept that now is not the time to do that.

I think I’ll do a “making, right now” post on Mondays (and link up with appropriate parties when I have time to actually visit other blogs and comment on them) and maybe a three things post on Thursdays when I feel like it (and again link up when I have time to visit and comment).

3. 52 hats. Oh yes, I will knit them and I will blog about them, but I think I’ll just round them up by the end of each month, sharing notes, not real patterns (writng those is also a lot of work).

Well, that’s it. Putting it out here to hold myself accountable. Not really liking it (oh, the dreams and plans and ideas I have for my blogs and writing!), but I have to remind myself that I’m still recovering from a major burn-out. I had a good reason to choose “Relax” as my word for this year…

So next time I’m lying on a beach chair I may actually be capable to let it all go and really rest and enjoy instead of mulling over things like I did last Saturday…
I mean, if I can’t relax in a place like this, how can I ever relax anywhere else?

(you can find more people posting Three Things at Carole Knits)