Song of the day: “The saga begins” by Weird Al Yankovich. It’s been going through my head all morning; fun song, but to have it constantly is a tad annoying. Hah.
Once again not much going on from an outsider’s point of view, darn it.
Just the usual stuff, gardening…got the tomatoes coming out of our ears, hah…some carpentry, (finally got the bare bones of the greenhouse up, now all it needs is a lick of paint and we can start with the glass, just as soon as summer is over) and just your average construction.
Like I said, very little going on. I don’t really mind, really, the days have this leisured pace that fits rather well to the splendid summer we’re going through.
Long sultry afternoons on the terrace, while we’re working on the edit (five hours a day or so), lots of laughter, heated discussions about grammar and the general workings of the plot will have our voices ring out over the valley no doubt. Even though yesterday didn’t go all that well, edit wise…it usual the case when we have to go over to Marbella to pick up our friend who comes to stay the night every week, but it is irritating that our focus is shot like that. Only managed six pages or so.
We did manage to get some of the basics down for ATOL’s query letter. It’ll be different from the one for Saving Nina, but intriguing, I hope. I mean, really, it isn’t easy being professional, friendly, chatty and creative all at the same time.
Tenant had another good swimming exercise yesterday. She actually managed to swing her bad arm from side to side, which surprised her once more since she was convinced she couldn’t do it in the first place. I have noticed that so often with her (heck, I even notice it with myself), something, probably fear will scream that she cannot do something, which in effect stops her from trying, and then when she does it after all, there’s success. Strange how that works.
Knight II decided he wanted to swim yesterday too, the big lug. Splashed into the water right behind me, forcing me to dive out of the way and grab hold of his collar before he bowled right over me. He’s just so big, heck, with the two of us in the small pool and it’s full, hah. But anyway, since he was in anyway, I just hung on to him and had him drag me around and around for a bit.
Oh, last night we plucked our very first sweet corn, so if all works out we’ll have our first taste of it today. Yay. They look delicious, FYI. Also took out a batch of silver onions, which are looking rather tempting for my fresh veggie sandwich, which is once again awaiting me for lunch.
I finally had enough of holding on to my long legged trousers, and gave in this morning by pulling on shorts. Okay, the flies can bug me now, but I might actually get a tan this summer down there after all.
Oh yeah, the doctor’s appointment is over and done with…still need to go on Monday to the podiatrist of course, but what the heck…and the man has decided, based on the blood test, that I am anemic due to a severe iron deficiency. Duh. That’s what I said when he first noticed that I was anemic. “Oh yes, I’ve always had a problem with my iron.” *sigh* Doctor’s exhaust me, really. Now, his solution is taking chemical iron with the “mildest” side effects (have you noticed that the chemical ones always have side effects? Doesn’t that totally freak you out?) of black stool, constipation and stomach ache…and if it hurt my stomach (a possibility apparently) I should come back to get injections instead. Aaargh.
I’m going to take a risk here and opt for a Swedish Iron nutrient instead, one I know from years ago when I had the same problem. It helped back then…without any side effects, mind you. If it doesn’t, well then I’ll just have to pay for my own stubbornness, eh?
Well, the edit is waiting, so I better get to it.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Stretched a little thin. :-)
Song of the day: “Halfway up the Hindu Kush” by Katie Melua. Weird, but I woke up with that one this very morning, even though I don’t particularly like it a lot. It’s nice, and everything, just not a favorite, so I have no choice but to wonder about it.
I was a wee bit giddy this morning, seeing as I woke up with, for the first time in at least six months, no excruciating pain in my heel. The only reason I can think of that is different, is that I slept without dreams for a change, and that the cramping in my calf was therefore not in presence. It was somewhat of a novelty to be able to walk to the bathroom with barely a limp, so definite YAY! for me. Hah.
Okay, the past couple of days: Well, we’re fully harvesting tomatoes every day now, meaning that we had a two gallon pot filled with them yesterday and made a wonderful batch of tomato soup. Gawd, I’m having it for lunch today, so I am definitely looking forward to that.
Also took the opportunity to head on up to the garden patch up in the old horse paddock where we took out our second harvest of green beans…they constituted dinner last night…got out onions, zucchinis (yes they’re still going strong) some beets and admired the melons, cantaloupes and pumpkins. They’re looking great, and just looking at them makes me want to taste them.
For the past couple of days we’ve been trying to get some work done on the greenhouse, putting in the last bits of woodwork, and it is going slowly, considering we also try to put the most work in the edits and gardening.
Talking of edits: still going strong and only a 150 pages or so to go, so we’re well past half. Had a couple of excellent scenes the past couple of days, by the way, we went through them easily, meaning that edit #1 was solid. There are only a few minor changes to do, and some typos to catch. It is a simple plot, sure, but the characters are fascinating and the scenes entertaining: Yep, took me by surprise, considering my mind only registered the general strokes of the scenes, rather than the details, during writing and the first edit.
Tenant is now having a trip to the pool every day, and she loves it. Considering it is really summer now, the mercury goes above 30 constantly, the cooling off is good for her; not to mention that we can do new exercises in the water that aren’t at all difficult for her. She enjoys it too, being in the coolness and doing the movements, so those are plusses all round.
The dogs aren’t much like the heat either. Gada is constantly slipping past me when I go to the pool, so she can have a quick dip, and even Chaos is barging into the water in hopes of cooling off a bit.
Bommel just finds a shadowy spot, preferably in a breeze, flops down on his side and dozes off. Poor old fella, so hot, and so sleepy. Still, he bravely follows me up and down the mountain…when he notices.
Knight II isn’t liking the heat at all, by the way. He sleeps a lot too, especially on cold tiles all stretched out, just to try to cool off…while Dax, Mosha and Sitabah will find a sunny spot and start sunbathing every morning. Idiots!
Along with the work on the greenhouse, we used the hot afternoon yesterday to work in the carport and put together a storage closet for grandpa. It’ll be solid, made of wood and supply him the space he needs to put stuff away…he’s getting to be a tad annoyed by the mess, simply because we’re stretched a little thin at the moment. No matter though, time, as they say, is still free and until the event that it isn’t, well…
I shouldn’t yap on too much. There still is the edit and I need to go to the doctor in about five hours, so I really should get to it, darn it.
Hmmm. Since I can’t think of anything else to write about anyway, this is as good a spot as any to stop.
I was a wee bit giddy this morning, seeing as I woke up with, for the first time in at least six months, no excruciating pain in my heel. The only reason I can think of that is different, is that I slept without dreams for a change, and that the cramping in my calf was therefore not in presence. It was somewhat of a novelty to be able to walk to the bathroom with barely a limp, so definite YAY! for me. Hah.
Okay, the past couple of days: Well, we’re fully harvesting tomatoes every day now, meaning that we had a two gallon pot filled with them yesterday and made a wonderful batch of tomato soup. Gawd, I’m having it for lunch today, so I am definitely looking forward to that.
Also took the opportunity to head on up to the garden patch up in the old horse paddock where we took out our second harvest of green beans…they constituted dinner last night…got out onions, zucchinis (yes they’re still going strong) some beets and admired the melons, cantaloupes and pumpkins. They’re looking great, and just looking at them makes me want to taste them.
For the past couple of days we’ve been trying to get some work done on the greenhouse, putting in the last bits of woodwork, and it is going slowly, considering we also try to put the most work in the edits and gardening.
Talking of edits: still going strong and only a 150 pages or so to go, so we’re well past half. Had a couple of excellent scenes the past couple of days, by the way, we went through them easily, meaning that edit #1 was solid. There are only a few minor changes to do, and some typos to catch. It is a simple plot, sure, but the characters are fascinating and the scenes entertaining: Yep, took me by surprise, considering my mind only registered the general strokes of the scenes, rather than the details, during writing and the first edit.
Tenant is now having a trip to the pool every day, and she loves it. Considering it is really summer now, the mercury goes above 30 constantly, the cooling off is good for her; not to mention that we can do new exercises in the water that aren’t at all difficult for her. She enjoys it too, being in the coolness and doing the movements, so those are plusses all round.
The dogs aren’t much like the heat either. Gada is constantly slipping past me when I go to the pool, so she can have a quick dip, and even Chaos is barging into the water in hopes of cooling off a bit.
Bommel just finds a shadowy spot, preferably in a breeze, flops down on his side and dozes off. Poor old fella, so hot, and so sleepy. Still, he bravely follows me up and down the mountain…when he notices.
Knight II isn’t liking the heat at all, by the way. He sleeps a lot too, especially on cold tiles all stretched out, just to try to cool off…while Dax, Mosha and Sitabah will find a sunny spot and start sunbathing every morning. Idiots!
Along with the work on the greenhouse, we used the hot afternoon yesterday to work in the carport and put together a storage closet for grandpa. It’ll be solid, made of wood and supply him the space he needs to put stuff away…he’s getting to be a tad annoyed by the mess, simply because we’re stretched a little thin at the moment. No matter though, time, as they say, is still free and until the event that it isn’t, well…
I shouldn’t yap on too much. There still is the edit and I need to go to the doctor in about five hours, so I really should get to it, darn it.
Hmmm. Since I can’t think of anything else to write about anyway, this is as good a spot as any to stop.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Chop it off!!! *snort*
Song of the day: “Big yellow taxi” by Joni Mitchell. Cute, very cute. It just goes round and round, following another day of Harry Nelson’s “Coconut”. What am I, stuck in the seventies, or something. *sigh*
Okay, edits went absolutely splendid yesterday…really, I just had to jump in feet first there, and share the good news, hah…but seriously, in the four hours set aside for this particular task, we managed to go through a solid twenty pages at least, bringing us well past the halfway-through mark. Yay. Let’s get this puppy finished…okay, let’s not get overly enthusiastic. Still another 170 pages or so to go, darn it.
A good scene, a death scene, emotionally potent, sweeping my up while reading until I was wildly gesticulating to the text…I was embarrassed, I assure you, but it was too exciting for me to stop myself.
Spain won, by the way, in case you’re just biting on your nails, waiting to find out about the football (soccer) game. I know, the suspense was killing you, but it’s okay, Spain won and I know just how to act like “one of the boys” if someone asks about it. Spanish: “Yay, awesome! Yeah, yeah, great game. Didya see that goal? Luckily they had a good referee, huh. Ah, the stuff of legends. Yay!”
Foreign: “Aww, yeah, too bad, huh? All those yellow cards were just not fair. That referee didn’t know what the heck he was refereeing. Buck up! There’s always a next time, and the next time better luck. Yay!”
See, easy as pie, even if you don’t watch the stuff. Hah.
Harvested a basket full of tomatoes by the way. They are rather delicious, if you must know. Sweet as heck, succulent and the cherry tomatoes. Gawd, I might actually say that I love them. Totally different from the store bought, I’ll say that much for them. We’ve been having bread with freshly plucked/cut veggies for more than a week now and they’re delicious. We also head fresh red beets yesterday. Cut into cubes and then baked in cream and cheese they were downright delectable. Seriously, I could eat them all the time and not get bored of them, which would be good considering they contain high iron and boron…yes, I’ve been reading up on my nutrient lists, seeing as I’ll need more iron, magnesium and vit. C in the future (stupid foot).
It is light reading, really, since if you start paying a lot of attention to such things you’ll start going bonkers from worrying about such things. Nah, it has to be in the back corner of the mind somewhere, taking just a tad more of the stuff you know you need.
What else? Ah yes, we worked on the greenhouse a bit during the evening. Sawed the last bit of wood, put in the bolts that keep the carriers in place, etc. etc. It was nice to use the handsaw again, especially since the last week or two we’ve been mostly working with rock and concrete. Nothing like repetitive movements to get the muscles oiled proper like, after which we went inside to cook dinner for the day, seeing as mom and younger sibs were at the market again during the day…and wished to relax watching the football game, no less. Hah.
We didn’t actually get to eat until after eleven, seeing as the beets took a while to be done, and we still had to go out to get rocks. Considering the entire populace of Spain…or so it seemed…were at home or at the bar watching the “epic” football game, we had the road for ourselves, which was a rather interesting experience, to say the least. It allowed us to be back in time.
While going to get rocks, I took Knight II along. Seriously, that dog doesn’t know the meaning of chasing a rock, stick or ball. He’ll look at it dispassionately and then plasters his 130 pound body against my legs as he waits to see what I’ll do next. Insanity. So, I had to run last night, which was kinda wonderful, until the night fell and I paid for it dearly. Oh my gawd, my foot was, and is, killing me. Stupid growth on my heel feels like a friggin’ tennis ball and my leg is cramping to a point where I just want to chop the darn thing off and be done with it, hah.
But, like the song says: “It’s only pain, it only hurts…” and this too will pass…at some point…I hope…no scratch that, it will. Gotta be positive. Hah. In all seriousness the pain isn’t all that bad, the cramp-like sensation just has the tendency to make me feel a tad panicky, which has no use at all, so let’s not talk about it anymore. That foot better cowboy up, ‘cause I’ve got a life to lead here.
Well, time to get started on the edit again, I guess. Big brother should be here any minute now, and by now breakfast/lunch is rapidly becoming a necessity…seriously, my stomach thinks my throat’s been cut, even though I had two coffee and more water than I even want to contemplate at the moment. Oh, did I say that I have a valid reason go drinking coffee these days? Yep, lotsa magnesium to deal with my deficiency. Hah.
Okay, enough playing around; let’s get to work.
Okay, edits went absolutely splendid yesterday…really, I just had to jump in feet first there, and share the good news, hah…but seriously, in the four hours set aside for this particular task, we managed to go through a solid twenty pages at least, bringing us well past the halfway-through mark. Yay. Let’s get this puppy finished…okay, let’s not get overly enthusiastic. Still another 170 pages or so to go, darn it.
A good scene, a death scene, emotionally potent, sweeping my up while reading until I was wildly gesticulating to the text…I was embarrassed, I assure you, but it was too exciting for me to stop myself.
Spain won, by the way, in case you’re just biting on your nails, waiting to find out about the football (soccer) game. I know, the suspense was killing you, but it’s okay, Spain won and I know just how to act like “one of the boys” if someone asks about it. Spanish: “Yay, awesome! Yeah, yeah, great game. Didya see that goal? Luckily they had a good referee, huh. Ah, the stuff of legends. Yay!”
Foreign: “Aww, yeah, too bad, huh? All those yellow cards were just not fair. That referee didn’t know what the heck he was refereeing. Buck up! There’s always a next time, and the next time better luck. Yay!”
See, easy as pie, even if you don’t watch the stuff. Hah.
Harvested a basket full of tomatoes by the way. They are rather delicious, if you must know. Sweet as heck, succulent and the cherry tomatoes. Gawd, I might actually say that I love them. Totally different from the store bought, I’ll say that much for them. We’ve been having bread with freshly plucked/cut veggies for more than a week now and they’re delicious. We also head fresh red beets yesterday. Cut into cubes and then baked in cream and cheese they were downright delectable. Seriously, I could eat them all the time and not get bored of them, which would be good considering they contain high iron and boron…yes, I’ve been reading up on my nutrient lists, seeing as I’ll need more iron, magnesium and vit. C in the future (stupid foot).
It is light reading, really, since if you start paying a lot of attention to such things you’ll start going bonkers from worrying about such things. Nah, it has to be in the back corner of the mind somewhere, taking just a tad more of the stuff you know you need.
What else? Ah yes, we worked on the greenhouse a bit during the evening. Sawed the last bit of wood, put in the bolts that keep the carriers in place, etc. etc. It was nice to use the handsaw again, especially since the last week or two we’ve been mostly working with rock and concrete. Nothing like repetitive movements to get the muscles oiled proper like, after which we went inside to cook dinner for the day, seeing as mom and younger sibs were at the market again during the day…and wished to relax watching the football game, no less. Hah.
We didn’t actually get to eat until after eleven, seeing as the beets took a while to be done, and we still had to go out to get rocks. Considering the entire populace of Spain…or so it seemed…were at home or at the bar watching the “epic” football game, we had the road for ourselves, which was a rather interesting experience, to say the least. It allowed us to be back in time.
While going to get rocks, I took Knight II along. Seriously, that dog doesn’t know the meaning of chasing a rock, stick or ball. He’ll look at it dispassionately and then plasters his 130 pound body against my legs as he waits to see what I’ll do next. Insanity. So, I had to run last night, which was kinda wonderful, until the night fell and I paid for it dearly. Oh my gawd, my foot was, and is, killing me. Stupid growth on my heel feels like a friggin’ tennis ball and my leg is cramping to a point where I just want to chop the darn thing off and be done with it, hah.
But, like the song says: “It’s only pain, it only hurts…” and this too will pass…at some point…I hope…no scratch that, it will. Gotta be positive. Hah. In all seriousness the pain isn’t all that bad, the cramp-like sensation just has the tendency to make me feel a tad panicky, which has no use at all, so let’s not talk about it anymore. That foot better cowboy up, ‘cause I’ve got a life to lead here.
Well, time to get started on the edit again, I guess. Big brother should be here any minute now, and by now breakfast/lunch is rapidly becoming a necessity…seriously, my stomach thinks my throat’s been cut, even though I had two coffee and more water than I even want to contemplate at the moment. Oh, did I say that I have a valid reason go drinking coffee these days? Yep, lotsa magnesium to deal with my deficiency. Hah.
Okay, enough playing around; let’s get to work.
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