Market and such

Song of the day: “Grenade” by Bruno Mars. Don’t ask me why, it’s just there. Luckily it is a cool song otherwise I’d be going out of my effing mind for sure.

I’m late, late, late. Eleven thirty now that I start with today’s blog, and in the best case scenario I’ll be done with this blabber when midnight strikes. If I’m not lucky, I’ll still be at it around one. Don’tcha just hate it when focus scatters the moment you try to get something done?

So, we’re having a proper scorcher at the moment. Temps that either crossed 100, or hit close to it during the day, and are now, close to midnight, still temps in the nineties at the moment. Seriously, it’s like I’m standing in a blow dryer at the moment…which is not necessarily a bad thing considering I just came back from a half hour jog. Didn’t go bad, what with my sore legs and feet, in fact, they were doing decidedly better afterward, which is a plus to say the least. I got my exercise, and my foot doesn’t feel like it is falling off right now, so, Yay!

As for the past couple of days…
Market day yesterday, so rather than just the morning chores keeping me busy in the morning, there was this foray into ironing the tie dye stuff before heading on down to the basin terrace where I spent about three hours writing 6 pages for the book. Not bad for a hurried day, if I do say so myself. Then, of course, I had to hurry making some peanut butter sandwiches for the rest of the day (luckily I already ate bread with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and cheese for breakfast, that way I got my vitamins in at least, hah). Took a quick dip, got dressed, finished throwing some last minute stuff in the car and we were on our way.

Arrived on the dot, got welcomed by the girl who runs the place, and took our time unloading. Was a nicely busy evening. Lots of patrons, mostly Spanish coming by, all smiling, all out for some fun and some of them actually out to buy. Hah. Sold a nice bit last night, which made the night profitable as well as fun. I like it that I’m slowly learning to have fun whether we make money, or not. Nothing is quite as bonkers as letting your mood depend on other people’s mood to buy. Hah.

Tried a different setup this time, which worked well, I think. Did tables on the outsides, and the higher stuff in the middle near the cute classic-style lanterns. Made everything jump out properly, and yes, loads of people stopped to look.

Talked with several folks, including the Spanish lady from the first time who seemed to be in a better mood than the last time. Also an African fellow who wondered if we’d be interested in selling really inexpensive bags from India. Hah. He was friendly when we told him that it was a nice thought, but that we were already fully supplied.

Had a lady customer, I think she was Russian, who loved the bags (called them art) and really set her sights on one. Only problem was she’d left her money at home, so she asked if we could put it aside and she’d be back asap with money. We set the bag aside and took on a “let’s wait and see” attitude. But she didn’t lie, within an hour she was back and flapped a fifty in our faces.
Swallowed on that one, since we had no idea if we had change to break that note. No problem, though, casually she pointed out the tie dye dress on the rack, and said she wanted that one as well. That made it all a lot easier for sure, not to mention took the pressure off the evening since we basically had our expenses back. Yay.

The photographer was doing his thing again, and we chatted for a bit. His name was Claren and you can check his work out on Facebook under Blueberry Marbella. Both cousin Ed and I are on one picture with our backs turned. Hah. Excellent timing, eh? *chortle*

Here’s my own pic of yesterday’s setup.





The last sale of the day were two handmade snuglies by this very nice Spanish lady, who first begged and pleaded with her husband (she claimed) and then with us to ask if she and her friend both took one they could have one each with a five Euro discount. Checked that, of course, and yes they could, so everyone was happy. Guess putting that dummy with the snugly and baby front and center really paid off.

But anyway, normal time, around fifteen minutes before midnight, we started loading up, and were on our way home just a little before one in the morning. We got home close to two, but big brother fried some food, so we were happy and full by the time (3 AM) I crawled into bed and passed out.

Considering that the air gets rather moist at the evening market, the fun didn’t stop yet today. After the morning chores it was up to the old horse paddock to hang out all the merchandise and dry it properly for Sunday’s market. I only managed to haul out most of the dog beds before it was time for me to start on the writing for the day, but cousin Ed spent most of the day doing it all. Definitely a con of the evening market, that. Moisture is not good for natural fabrics.

My focus was shot most of the writing session, but did in the end manage to write a solid five pages for the book. Intense scene today. Sad too, seeing as “the love” seems hopeless to both hero and heroine at the moment. *sigh*

Writing done for the day, there was a massive pile of dishes to do, and horizontal surfaces to clean before I started on today’s supper. Chili sin carne today, seeing as there’s a mountain of white beans we still need to eat some day. Hah.

The dogs were remarkably quiet today, which wasn’t surprising, considering the temps. They were basically passed out on the tiles, barely opening an eye if I moved past. Smart dogs. I bet I’ll get Chaos to go in the pool tomorrow morning, poor darling. His eyes are drooping the way they tend to do when he’s really hot.

So there were the plants to water, a bit of harvest to be collected (got some massive beets, baby. Am totally eating those tomorrow) and then hurrying up in the last bit of daylight to chop dog veggies. Had company, of course, seeing as the little bastards love stealing raw veggies while we’re cutting. Worst ones are Chamea, Tadaika, Kollosus, Clue, and Rammi. The latter who is deaf and uses that advantage ruthlessly by just grabbing that coveted tomato despite me saying, “No Rammi. Get the heck outta here!” time and time again. Clue and Chamea fake convenient deafness too, but I know better. Hah.

Well, that’s it for me. I’ve got sleep to see to and all that jazz.

Writing, mostly

Song of the day: “Some nights” by Fun. Still. Not a bad thing, mind you. I like it, but I wake up with it, and it goes through my head about every hour, so…hmmm. Luckily I am rapidly learning to remember the lyrics, so I am not driving everyone bonkers by singing it wrong all the time. Hah.

Right. Where to start? Well, writing has been going well these past couple of days. During the last two sessions I have added fourteen pages, I think, and though one scene was completely, and utterly about the S-E-X thing, I think it is working out nicely. I know. I can hear you ask, why write those if you complain about it. Because it’s the genre. It is expected, and in a way it fits. *sigh* Though admittedly, if it were allowed in the genre, I would probably easily find a way to leave the reader to his/her own imagination at the closed door, hah. But no matter, the book is getting there, and today I got to compensate with a rather sad scene about love lost etc. etc.

Nice tidbit, I got my new quilt and matching curtains…well, the other way around, really. I asked mom to fix me some curtains and she had some stuff left of that and used it (as a surprise) to make a matching quilt. Hung the curtains this morning. Took about half an hour, which was well worth it. It looks great…of course I can’t put the quilt on the bed permanently yet because Sitabah is in heat. Darn it.
Here, have a looksee:








Nice huh. Matches the walls and everything. Yay.

But anyway, my stomach is playing up a lot again these days. Had a hurling session the other day (oh please don’t let the two year vomit start again) which was just peachy. This morning was almost a repetition of that, despite the fact that I didn’t actually have anything in my stomach to hurl. *sigh* Stupid effing stomach. One moment you think you can fully focus on getting your nutritional shortages worked up again, and the next. Blergh! Like I said, stupid stomach.

Whatever. Yesterday morning was all about normal chores and getting some stuff from the upstairs storage to actually put some sort of furniture inside the igloo for when Visitor arrives.
Added to that, I helped tenant wrap a present for her daughter. Something she picked herself the other day and just insisted we sent there, so yeah, that had her so pleased she opted to stay up in the old horse paddock.

Writing done for the day, it was cooking supper and out into the yard, watering the plants. That done, we headed out with the car, picking up a donation in town. Which was fun for a change, seeing as we got the chance to test drive the Land Rover properly. Purrs like a kitten, she does. Hah.

Didn’t get home until eleven so the remainder of the day was spent doing some catching up online, doing my messages, chats and such. Nothing too serious. Didn’t get to bed ‘till one thirty, but was still earlier than usual, meaning I was on time getting up this morning. Hah. Had a strange dream about being in the States. It was a small town with a white clapboard church (with a pink front door, no less. Hah) and a colonial style, yellowish colored post office on a crossroad with a traffic light. It was warm there, but also green. Makes me wonder what place it was, you know. If someone knows it, do let me know, I’m more than a little curious. Hah

Today, well I woke up on time, and went through the morning chores before heading up to the car and unload. That took a little while, and afterward big brother and I hung my new curtains. By then it was one thirty, meaning that we were late starting work on the book. No matter, though, had a productive day regardless.

Today tenant had enough energy to want to go down to basin terrace. Had a nice afternoon there, while I wrote and then worked on the tie dyes with Cousin Ed. Got another nice selection going, a couple really gorgeous ones which we’re going to try out tomorrow. One will be my own, of course. Well, it will depend on how it looks on me. Deep dark blue tie dyed with soft pink, whitish and gray. It looks rather gorgeous, but who knows what happens when I pull it on. It might make me look fat, or something. *snort*
We’ll see. Otherwise it will look nice on the clothes’ rack.

That done, I replaced big brother in the yard, so that I could water what was left of the yard and he could make satay sauce for the pasta we boiled earlier. Yummy. Then it was up the mountain to my cabin, and this blog, of course.

Well, I’m calling it a day. There’s not much to mention anymore, so here's some dog pictures. Hah

Arthur, of course. Doesn't that look uncomfortable?


Knight II with Chamea. Seriously, how the Knight manages to fold into chairs like that...


Tadayka on her usual spot under me while I'm writing. Hah.

My baby is home

Song of the day: “Some Nights” by Fun. Awesome song. Only discovered it this morning, but it is settling nicely in my brain so far. If you haven’t heard it, you should it. I think the dude’s a good mimic because I hear a wonderful mix of other singers in the song. Excellent song. Haven’t heard anything like it in a really long time, and that’s saying something.

Okay, good news first. I phoned the garage around four thirty where the nice receptionist told me she didn’t think the car was done yet, because the mechanics were still working on it. So, somewhat disappointed about the fact that we wouldn’t know what was up with the car until later, I hung up and got back to writing. Twenty minutes later my phone rang, and the receptionist informed me that the car was done, and I could come pick it up.

I was astonished, I was astounded, and could ask her to repeat that it was indeed ready and that we could go over to get it. Seriously, I didn’t know what to think, the mechanic had warned me that it was likely to take at least a week, if not more for them to fix the injectors, or replace them.
We didn’t waste time wondering about it, but headed out to pick it up.

Our mechanic saw us coming, and said “All done, let me just get the keys.” I went after in and asked what the problem turned out to be. Something about the wiring on top of the injectors having come loose, so he took the whole lot off, cleaned them up, sprayed everything and took the car for a test drive to Malaga, and the problem didn’t return. So I got into our baby, turned her on and…SHE SOUNDED BEAUTIFUL again. I mean it, if she was a kitten I would have called it purring. No more chugging, no uneven rhythm, just beautiful engine sound that was strong as it used to be. And she pulled again, boy did she pull, I almost speeded just because I was listening. Hah.

I don’t even care that we smelled fuel inside the Opel and that when the mechanic checked it turned out that there was a leak in the tank, meaning we have to go back one of these days. *sigh* I. Don’t. Care! Our baby is working again and that is all that matters right now. Yay!

So that’s the good news…well, there’s more of course, seeing as yesterday’s writing session left me with a solid 7 pages. Seriously, it went well. I worked on two different scenes and the hours flew past like mad. Very intense scene, one of the back-up characters almost died, and the hero would have been devastated if he hadn’t been able to save the old fella. It was a touch and go (some tears escaped…mine, in case you’re wondering. *sigh*) but he survived, just barely. It went well. Same went for today for that matter. The scenes a little less interesting seeing as the hero and heroine are making out, but still, such things happen in life, and thus they also happen in fiction. Gotta keep it all realistic, after all. Right?
But anyway, what with yesterday’s and today’s progress combined, I’m at page 190. Yay. Getting closer to the end…while still having enough word count left to add some seriously good scenes.

What else. There was cooking, naturally. Yesterday a fresh vegetable mix of three color tomatoes, two colors of peppers, some zucchini and fresh onion. All of that over a bed of pasta went down well after a day of writing. Today was a different matter. Made mushroom Vol-au-vents, with fresh mushrooms, onions, cheese and a sauce hollandaise. Should have also made a salad with grilled nopales because tenant has a slight bladder infection again, but I forgot. Will do that tomorrow. Or at least make something with nopales in it.

There was gardening, of course. Watering plants, yanking weeds and harvesting. What with the hot weather of late, it really is the nicest moment of the day. The temperatures tend to drop around that time, the light turns somewhat magical, and you really just calm down from everything around then.

Once we were done, the dishes set for tomorrow, we all got a couple of bags of dog food from storage and headed on up to my terrace for the evening.

This morning was spent cleaning up down by the basin terrace, by the way. What with the shortage of time of late, there were four days worth of dishes waiting for us when we go down, so while big brother wiped horizontal surfaces clean, I washed up and got everything settled in their usual spot.

The younger sibs were busy today too, painting the igloo on the inside. Cousin Ed and I had planned to do it together with Sally tonight, but mom let me know that the younger sibs wanted to do it instead. We’re having a friend staying for a week or so at the end of the month and since Sally has the basin apartment these days, the igloo is back to serving as a guestroom. It’s cute, and she’s a family friend who’s stayed there before, so it doesn’t really matter. I’ll take a picture or two when we’ve got it furnished again.

Tenant came down with us today, and she seemed in a fine mood. Sally, on the other hand, is not doing all that swell. Her memory is fading, not to mention that her balance is shot most of the time. I think that the gluten free diet she’s following isn’t doing her much good. Not that I can say anything about it, of course. It being her own choice and all that.

Another bit of good news is that we didn’t have to take Kollosus to the vet. The growth” I noticed the other night was gone. Either she had an infection of sorts, or she’d got something stuck between her teeth right then. *phew* A big relief that.

Cousin Ed has been busy at work planting an acasia near her bus. Grandpa did a couple of others these past few days, and boy will they look nice once they start growing in the next few years.
There were dips in the pool, laundry, dogs to feed, and dog food to prepare, life going on as usual, of course.

Now a short rant at the end here. I just finished reading a book, and Oh. My. Gawd. It was friggin’ awful. I mean, the book wasn’t anything to write home about, but the ending…OMG! I am still…well, the mind boggles.
So, imagine this. The hero knows that the heroine is in danger. He sneaks up the stairs of an apartment building, hears a shot, starts running up to see the love of his life struggle with an armed killer. He doesn’t dare shoot, but the killer starts firing at him, missing him by a hair three or four times (while fighting with his love, of course) then, when she brings the weapon up to bear on his love, he risks a shot and hits…yes, hold your breath here…he shoots the killer in the wrist! No, I’m not kidding. There’s a fight going on, the killer is firing the gun, the hero is still coming up the stairs, his love is somewhere in between, and he (a former FBI agent) shoots the self-professed killed in the effing wrist!!! First of all, have you any idea how good your aim has to be to pull that off? Secondly, law enforcement is taught not to take risks, and go for the three tap (chest and head) always. Thirdly, the timeline of it all was off, leaving the heroine to be, well, I don’t know where, actually, and the hero with no time to do what he did. And fourth…why the wrist? Couldn’t the author pick something a little harder, like a pinky? For the love of Gawd! Where’s the realism? Where’s the common sense? Seriously, someone’s about to kill the love of your life and you shoot at a wrist? You take the time for that? The author really, really needed to let us readers know that he was THAT good? *shakes head* Bonkers! And to think that this shot in the wrist was undoubtedly done to keep the so-called-violence to a minimum, leaving the killer to try to hurt the heroin, after all, before tumbling over the edge of the stairwell and dying anyway. Well…I was just flabbergasted. It’s been a while since I had to suspend my disbelief to such levels or else risk throwing the book out the window. (Can’t do that to a book. It might be bad, but it is still a book, or crying out loud.) *sigh*

That is it for today. Jeez, I yapped for two pages and a half. I’m outta here.

Getting back to normal

Song of the day: “The Flood” by Take That, intermixed with “The Flood” by Katie Melua because I was trying to get the first one out of my head due to the annoying fact that I don’t actually know the lyrics yet. Which means that I only hear the chorus in my head, which means that it is driving me effing bonkers!!!

But no matter, another day (on too little sleep) has passed and I am already looking forward to tomorrow…after several hours of sleep, that is. Hah. Not there yet, though. As a matter of fact big brother is setting up the telly right now to put a movie on, so, at least another two hours before bed time…I’m not sure yet if I regret that. The movie MIGHT be good. Hah.

So let’s do this fast, the flashing screen is already distracting me. Gawd, it feels like I did the blog yesterday…hey, I did, so yeah, now I’ll have to get back to the normal schedule, meaning I need to do this one to have it all right again.

What happened since the last blog? Good question. I’m personally drawing a blank. The temps were cooler still, so that was a relief. Since I’d gone to bed extremely late (around three in the morning), I set my alarm half an hour later and was infinitely grateful for those extra thirty minutes.

Had a dip and while big brother fed the dogs I did the last blog and then we dipped the dogs in an anti-tick bath, which was really, really necessary. They were really bothered by a lot of the little buggers, and I was starting to get worried about anemia for most of them. Then…well, I think I mentioned all this. Bringing the car to the shop, getting the Opel, etc. Once we got home, I hurried on down to the basin terrace and got to writing. Only managed two and a half pages or so, but still, better something than nothing, right.

The writing done, there was food to make. Baked pumpkin, which turned out splendidly, along with a zucchini, pepper, onion, cherry tomato mix that I served with lightly fried spaghetti. After supper, while big brother went into the yard to water stuff, and while cousin Ed washed up, I headed up to start on the dog food. Like always the dogs loved this part. There’s a bunch of them that will literally do anything to get their proverbial hands on fresh veggies. There’s Rammi, who is deaf and doesn’t understand the word “no” anymore. Clue, who will just grab some regardless of “no Clue!” and all the others that want to sneak a bit in. Hah. Ah well, at least I had company doing all that cutting.

I was done before big brother, so I got to go down for a bit yet, and watered some plants. Things are looking pretty good down there, but it is visible that we are cutting back on the veggie fields. Though everything still looks pretty darn green, it is getting less, which is good since the water is friggin’ expensive.

That done, and the night already fallen, we headed out for a jog, which was nice, even though I was clearly not at my best. No matter. I did the jog and that’s what counts.

As to today, woke on time, went through the morning rituals, and then headed up to the old horse paddock where we worked on heightening the edges of the big trailer because mom and the sibs are going to have to take the Opel to the market, and to take their stuff along they’ll have to load more into there. Still they won’t have everything with them, but it’ll be close at least. The higher walls of the trailer look kinda good actually. I’ll have to take a picture. Which reminds me, I still have to post the pics of the market too…oh well, maybe not. It could get tedious after a while, right?

So today writing went well enough. Actually managed four pages despite the fact that I didn’t get started until after two (the trailer took longer than expected). Tenant joined us later on, despite the fact that she said she didn’t feel like coming down today. It was cozy, and she did help out by cutting beets for supper. Made beets with potatoes, in fact, along with a rather nice bell pepper tortilla on the side. The tortilla will actually be for tomorrow, of course, but still, tenant feel like tortilla, so I made one. Worked out splendid, in fact.

While big brother and I went down into the yard (harvested a whole batch of cherry tomatoes, killed weeds and vines) cousin Ed cut the veggies for the dog food tomorrow. Decided to use the watering as a bit of exercise, and ran up the stairs most of the time. Actually managed it too. Hah. By the time we were done, it was almost dark, and I took over cutting from Cousin Ed who had other stuff to do still before the movie.

A bit of bad news in the end, much to my regret, while I was petting Kolossus (German Shepherd), I discovered a major growth in her mouth. Poor thing is getting skinnier these past few weeks, and now it would seem that I've found the reason why.
Blasted cancer, probably, but hopefully, with a little luck, it will turn out to be a nothing more than a really bad ulcer. We'll found out on Monday, when we take her to the vet. Gawd, I'm going to be so POed if it turns out it is cancer again. The friggin' dog is five years old, for crying out loud!

And that’s the end of today. Not very interesting, I know, but who gives a heck. It’s a blog, a day in life, and they are what they are, right?