Meeting my lovely Goddaughter

Song of the day: “Waves” by Dean Lewis. Gorgeous song, and often stuck in my head. There are way worse songs to have  as an earworm.

Life has been busy since I last wrote. One day flows into the next with such speed, that at times I have difficulty keeping track. Time is flying, the wrinkles on my forehead are the proof of that. Hah. Yep. I have wrinkles now. Whether they are from frowning in concentration too much, or simply because I am forty now, doesn’t matter, does it? Shall we say they give my face character?

Let’s see if I can bring you up to date on what has been going on, lately. The job is still to my liking, despite it not being easy, or even pleasant at times. I do long days, and feel them in my bones. More than ten hours at work is the norm, with a few exceptions. Luckily I only do three to four days of them per week, meaning that I get to recover a bit every time I’ve had a couple of shifts. Although I doubt, I would like to quit completely, I do look forward to the day that I will no longer be required to do this work, and can instead focus on writing full time. I do like the interactiveness with the guests, and the fact that the work is so diverse.

Which reminds me, I have been steadily working on the new project ever since we got back from the US. The manuscript had solid passed the 60K words mark. The characters are fully developed and quite real inside my head.  When an event is about to happen they will quite clearly tell me how they would respond to that given situation…however weird that sounds. I like them, though. They’ve got grit, a will to survive, and they have become fully 3D, just the way they’re supposed to. Added to that, the story has come to big OMG moment, which I had been working towards, so that is totally awesome. Now all that needs doing is work out how they are going to get out of a rather terrible situation, and rebuild their lives. I’m looking forward to that.

Celebrated my 40th birthday a little later in the month. Invited more people than showed up, mostly due to work,  but those that showed up made it a lovely evening of long talks and quiet lights. Really enjoyed it. And the food was good. And littlest brother was there too, which was nice.

My goddaughter was born in February, brought into the world via a c-section, due to the fact that the doctors were unable to get the labor started. She is a perfect little girl, whom I had the pleasure of meeting this eastern, when I visited her and her mom in Finland for a few days, so I could be there for her naming party, and accept my role a godmother. Was a bit startled there, in the middle of the party, sitting with the wee one in my arms when suddenly it turned out I had to join the other godparents in the center of the room during a speech. OMG, that is so not my thing. Hah. But no matter, I was there to meet her, and to see her mom, and that’s what it was about in the end.

As to the actual trip to Finland…that was pretty exciting for me. It was the first time I went on a vacation of sorts all by my ittybitty self. Had to get to the plane after big brother dropped me off at the airport (forgot my purse with money, ticket, credit cards in the car, aaaargh. Big brother had to return with it.) find my way to the train station in Helsinki, get on the train (was supposed to scan my ticket but didn’t realize it until after I got off to get on the long distance train in Pasilla) and transfer from the commuter to the speed train that would take me south to Turku. Half the time I stressed about whether I had the right one or not. I did. Thankfully, and arrived in Turku at the appointed time. Tiina came to pick me up, and we got chat while she drove me to the place I’d be staying at for the duration of my vacation.

Got to meet some really nice people, and we spent the evening prepping some stuff for the party, before calling it a night. Were going to do some prepping the next day, also the tour thing, see the future house (which was splendid, by the way. I was totally jealous, haha), the present house, see some of the area and then some groceries before we headed over to the log cabin that had been rented for the party and the night before. Gorgeous location in the middle of the woods. Big structure Had a lovely BBQ with friends and family before the night was through, and then we were headed in for the night.

The day of the party arrived. Tiina was already there when my hostess and I arrived to help out with the remainder of the party. Met more friends and family, spent some time with the folks I already knew (Tiina’s lovely mom and dad, and inlaws that I met last year or so when we all went to the zoo together. The kids were lovely, especially the little girl who was sooooo busy making a show now that she had such a rapt audience.) and generally had a lovely time.

The remainder of my stay there was spending time with my friend, getting to know the wee one, and then getting back home after our time was up. The trip back was a bit more eventful. Tiina and I thought to kill some time at a lovely thrift store, and the next thing we knew we had to rush into town to make my train. Regretfully we hadn’t calculated the fact that it would rush hour, so I missed my train by a minute. I ran, and jabbed the button but it would not open for me anymore. That meant I had to wait an hour…but at least it gave us a chance to say a proper goodbye. Repurchased a ticket and made it to the commuter train in Helsinki just barely. Seriously, had to run to make it from platform 6 to 2, and that was a matter minutes. Only made it because there was another lady who reached it before me, and opened the doors so I and two other ladies could board as well. Had forty minutes to spare upon reaching the airport. Security took only a few minutes, so I had time to rest and recover before we had to board. My feet were not amused about the entire thing, I tell ya. And when I finally arrived back in the Netherlands, there was more walking to do, because big brother (still sick) hadn’t been able to find a close parking spot. First thing I did when I reached the car, was change shoes. OMG.

Anyway, I arrived home after midnight, with the happy realization that I didn’t need to be at work until a day later, giving me one to recover. Turned out to be two. Apparently they had enough people at work for my chef to let me know to enjoy an extra day off.

My plants were looking awesome when I got back, by the way. When you see them every day, they seem not to change, but afterward they seemed so lush. Added to that, when I left nature was still sleeping, and when I returned everything had sprouted leaves, making nature sooooo beautiful. Spring is finally here, even though we are still being bugged by the occasional cold spell, loads of rain, hail and winds. It does not amuse me, especially not on days that I have to be at work. Nothing is quite as disastrous for my health as working in sauna heat all day, only to step out into the cold rain outside after a long work day. Been battling a cold that wants to sneak up on me. What with big brother having been seriously ill, Tiina and hers as well, it is bound to hit me any day now, but I am still hoping to avert it. I don’t think I’ll be that lucky, though. Been having some dizzy spells, a feverish feeling every now and then, but we’ll see.

Cooking has been infrequent, but as ever, necessary, of course. Had a rather lovely Asian wok BBQ last week for a friend’s birthday. She and another friend came over, and eating together in the lovely sunshine was our celebration. Marinated chicken in a sauce of sweet chili, apricot jam, shallots, soy sauce and some mustard. It worked out splendidly in the wok that I’d set on the open Asian ceramic bbq pot outside. Was a lovely evening.

Added to that I have experimented with bread. A lovely Mediterranean loaf, with sun dried tomatoes, loads of herbs and garlic, and some onion. Delicious. The same went for pizza cupcakes, which were awesome, buckwheat burgers, and tonight even vegetable pancakes that went down splendidly.

Been steadily working out over the past few months, although I’ve managed to go only once since my return…and the week before that also only a couple of times, because big brother was sick and I just couldn’t muster the energy. Been somewhat tired lately. Not eating enough meat, I fear…better that than anything else, anyway. If that doesn’t improve soon, I’m going to have to visit the doctor’s for a blood test, or something, to make sure that everything is alright.

Been working on the cars, and the house. Big brother’s car needed a new radiator, which he reinstalled himself. Yay! And I’ve been sorting the mess in the garage. We are way too good at hoarding stuff, and not taking the time to put it all away. Working on it, though.

Through it all, big brother has really been working a lot…as is his inclination. It means that when he’s off he’s tired, and frustrated about not having the energy to work on the book, but we’ll have to sort that out at some point. For the moment it didn’t help that our company is expanding, and he was expected to help out on the new location, which is massive. I’m curious about the new location, I tell ya. I’ve been hearing stories aplenty about the kitchens there. It should be a pleasure to work in them…even though the new staff is facing some problems of a startup.

Have visited with dad infrequently. What with him working so much, and us, too, it is very hard to match our schedules on any given day. Heck, just big brother and me, trying to match a day off together, every now and then, is a disaster already. But it doesn’t matter. We had a few good visits since the last blog, and that is what matters, I guess.

Also visited Tenant. She had some trouble recently at the home she lives at now. Her rooms, which overlooked the patio with a pond, and all its fauna visitors, were no longer available to her, meaning she had to move to a different spot in the building. She didn’t like it at all. Refused it, in fact, until she saw her new quarters and they turned out to be bigger, and overlooking the main entrance no less. It meant that now she could see who came and went at any given time, and that she liked a lot. Hah

Been making friends at work, and actually went to a bingo night with a couple of my colleagues. It was totally ridiculous, but fun, even though I didn’t win anything. There was loads of laughter, and relaxation, and an entire evening passed without me actually noticing it. I’m thinking we’re going to do it again at some point.

Watched some movies, including Hereditary with Toni Coletti. It was the first movie in ages that actually freaked me out. Seriously. The last time I was affected that way was when Event Horizon came out. Hadn’t expected it of this movie. In fact, I was already dismissing the whole thing as Coletti being mentally disturbed when it turned out it was something else entirely. OMG. Definitely a movie to see for folks who love a good horror.

Well, that’s about all I can think of right now. It’s late, and soon it’ll be time for me to get my behind to bed…hopefully feeling a little less sickly tomorrow.

Moseying on...

Song of the day: “Glow” by Gavin James. Gorgeous song, really, just not a good one to have stuck in your head when you don’t know all the lyrics yet. Hah. 

So yeah, I have been slacking on the blog part, but getting used to the new job has been taking a lot of time, in particular since I am also trying to maintain some sort of regular schedule writing the new book…which is news, too, I guess. What with everything going on, and stuff with the previous book, we finally managed to dive into a  new project. Girl in the Mist has officially sold more than 5000 copies, by the way. This is awesome! 

Research has been tremendous fun. Seriously, there’s nothing like digging into psychology once more and seeing how to make my hero’s psyche work despite all his problems. You do not want to know the amount of hours I have spent online digging through psychology papers and medical texts so far. It’s fun. I am definitely thinking of getting some of Jung’s books. Fascinating stuff. The fact that we are, distantly, related, only makes it more fun, I guess.

Been writing steadily. I try to do at least 500 words per free day, but if I can 1000, or over. It brings the manuscript up to 35K words now, so we’ve got about a third of the total going now. It’s a very “thoughtful” story. A lot of it is about the inner turmoil and thoughts of the characters, and boy, one of them is seriously messed up. During the few weeks I was not working as much at the day job, I was getting a lot  more done, though. At the moment I am working quite a bit, meaning that usually I lose the first day after a row of workdays to kinda recovering. Hah. Ah well, it’ll quiet down again. We do what we can in the time we have, right? It’s all anyone can do, really.

This is going to be the first non-romance I ever wrote, which is going to be a challenge.  The story is developing nicely. Got the characters fleshed out now, backgrounds and everything. The plot has had several brainstorms and we’ve got the majority of the plot holes worked out…part of a session at the gym, where we ended up brainstorming, while pumping iron. Can’t imagine what folks must have thought of us talking so avidly while working out. Hah

Been working out quite a bit ever since we got back from the States, by the way, except for the past couple of weeks, because just a day before my birthday I got sick at heck. It was bad. I had the shivers the night before going to the company new year’s breakfast. Man I haven’t been that cold since two years ago at our previous house. My teeth were chattering for a couple of hours, my every muscle clenched, seriously, by the time I had to get up I had to pop a double dose of aspirins against aching muscles and bruised-feeling ribs. Strangely enough I wasn’t feeling all that awful after the work breakfast was over and headed to the city to pick up my friend Dee so we could go visit the Horecava. 

The Horecava is a big annual event in these parts. It’s a place where professional hospitality people come together to look at innovative new ideas, ranging from food, equipment, and everything that has anything to do with the hospitality branch. Didn’t make a full day of it, over there in Amsterdam, but Dee and I wandered about the place for a solid five hours, at least. Did taste lots of new stuff. Like black bread…didn’t like the taste of though, and after asking what they had used as coloring (octopus ink) I wasn’t surprised. I already wondered what I knew that particular taste from and once I knew, I could identify it as black pasta. * sigh * Anyways, was able to skip both lunch and dinner because of the event. 

Found a 20 bucks bike at the thrift store that I am going to fix up so I can use it at work. At the moment parking is a disaster, meaning employees have to park a 10 minute walk from the building. Gonna park my new-old bike there to save some time rather than hauling it along all the time. At the moment I am still using my good bike, which is just not smart. Poor thing gets dragged in and out all the time.

Been doing quite a bit of reading lately. I consider it research, as in checking out the competition, and it has helped me relax a little during my off days.

Dad visited a couple of times since my last blog, and I spent Christmas eve at his place. All occasions were lovely in their own way. Christmas an intimate, just direct family occasion. The first visit was basically all about going through the massive collection of pictures that we took in during our US trip. Gawd,  I took sooooo many pictures. We didn’t even get through all of them.

Last visit was the late b-day party I threw for myself. Figured, hey, I’m friggin’ forty, the big 4 0, and I’m going to bloody well celebrate it. Organized a little winter bbq thing, but regretfully four people (one couple) had to cancel last minute. Such a pity, but it was still a wonderful evening with talk, food and laughter throughout. Worked out regardless of the cancelations and ended up with enough leftovers not to have to cook for several days. Hah.

Gave myself a present of good professional chef knives, for my b-day. Only four, so far (they’re expensive!) but I thought, what the heck, I might as well start that off well. Doubted about getting a proper bag for them, but those are expensive, too, so instead I got together materials from two old purses and sewed a folding bag that does really…especially for now. I might get an actual bag in the future, but for the moment I am rather enjoying this one. Worked out perfectly!

Have scheduled a trip to Finland this spring. Best friend T is going to have her first baby, so totally want to meet her. Will only be a short 5 day trip, so nothing big, but still so cool. Will be so nice to see T again. It’s been more than a year now. And she’s have a “mini-me” to show off, which is fun. But anyways, April is still off a ways. It’ll be fun to see how big brother manages on his own at home, those few days...not that it’ll be all the different for him. He’ll be working most of it anyway. Hah.

Did quite a few cooking experiments, one of which a sauerkraut potato match with stir fry red cabbage, onion and cheese through it, which was lovely. Did devilled eggs for the party, including a dip, satay for the veggie/chicken/chickpea meat replacement sticks, and finger food. Did drink a bit too much wine at the party, especially I made a spicy fruit punch of sangria wine. Yummy.

At work I am rapidly learning all there is about barbeque. We’ve got a couple of massive “Green Eggs” to grill stuff on, and I get to work with them a lot, despite enjoying the Wok section more. Anyway, I now know how to grill Entrecote and steak rare/medium/well done, gambas, rib fingers, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and chicken satay sticks. I’m also learning all about frying fish, both salmon and white fish. I even know how to prep mussels now. Hah. Still enjoy the job, even though the days are long and I get pretty tired from it.

Been having some health problems lately. The friggin’ cold has been a pain in the behind. Had a shoulder/collarbone for a while there in the end of December. My hip has been trying to pop out of the socket a couple of times, so I am hoping to pick up some more kickboxing again to strengthen the muscles there. And my foot. Grrr. Stupid thing. The right one has been a problem again since those last weeks at the previous job. Seriously, there was so much walking going on there due to banqueting, that my old Plantars Faciitis problem came back, and it has yet to clear. Seriously, I should just get rid of that effing foot and be done with it. *wink *

We have had some deplorable weather. Lots of gray skies. Lots of rain and yes, this past week even snow and freezing temps. Before the snow it was rather lovely for almost a week, though. Not a cloud in the sky and the sun shining brightly in icy temperatures. It was lovely to have that sun, which will hopefully return soon, if only for a day or two. All this grayness makes you forget that there is such a thing as the sun…and working inside a humongous building with windows that are too far away to actually enjoy views, or daylight. * sigh*

Had a weird experience the other day where some guy, online, started chatting, wanting to know if I wanted to go on a date with him, despite us having started a “conversation” over whether or not he wanted to buy something that I was selling online. Hah. Seriously. You do not want to know the amount of indecent proposals you get when you’re online, trying to make your presence known for the purpose of a writing career. What is it with folks thinking that FB or IG is a dating app…and then with the tacky pick up lines as they try to convince you they are looking for true love, it’s just silly.

But anyway,  that about wraps it up. Nothing else of interest going on. Lots of stuff happened, I am sure, but these were things that stuck, so to speak.

Seeya.

Life continues

Song of the day: “Scarborough Fair” by Celia Pavey. She was an Australian participant of Idols, or one of its many incarnations, and she did it beautifully, I’ll admit. Youtube it, and you shall see it yourself. J

Right. It’s been strange since Knight’s gone, really. I’ve been slowly getting used to him not being there anymore. I mean, seriously, I’m trying to look at it on the positive side, you know; trying to enjoy that I have more space in bed. Trying to enjoy that I can now just walk out of the house without the hassle of guiding him around the courtyard, lest there was trouble with the sibs their dogs. Trying to enjoy the fact that I no longer need to worry about him…but of course that is extremely hard. Instead I get that pang when I enter my corner on the porch and see that he isn’t there, staring up at me with those big brown eyes. That he isn’t bouncing up and down on the bed for his petting. That he doesn’t try to break my ribs during his usual greeting, and most of all, not seeing him come running up the mountain when I come through the gate at any given time. That one is the hardest.

It is a good thing that experience has taught me that it does get easier with the passing of time, because otherwise this would be pretty darn awful.

Considering I am now down to two dogs, I’m slowly acclimating Huckabee to Sitabah and Dax, giving big brother some more room with his dogs. Perhaps, I’ll end up taking Tadaika as well, but that remains to be seen, really. At the moment even taking Huckabee, who’s a sweetheart, just begging for some extra attention, is depressing me, so…

But enough about that.

Some tidbits that missed the blog due to Knight’s untimely passing.

The day after my birthday (the one I was extremely sore from since and friend and I went for a 3.5 hour hike down the mountains…was nice, by the way. I’d prepared my chickpea burgers and we had apple pie high in the air, sitting in a nice warm sun, yay!) was spent with grandpa waking me up before dawn, asking me to take him to hospital, because he really wasn’t feeling well.

So first we went to urgencias in town, which referred us to the big hospital in the city (just to be sure) where we spent the remainder of the day (10 hours with the two combined) waiting to hear the doctor tell him that it wasn’t anything too serious, just some dizziness and what appeared to be a panic attack of sorts. *sigh* Thankfully that all ended with a sizzle.

Have been drowning my sorrows in the kitchen, really, experimenting with new recipes for dinner, a variety of soups, and of course baking. Had some wonderful 5 nut cup cakes, along with chocolate cupcakes, that apple pie I mentioned, and some rather wonderful cheese pastries that went down well as a snack. Some will definitely end up on the recipe blog.

Also managed to end up with a deep slice in my finger last week, a cut in my thumb just days ago, and a massive slice in my left palm when this very afternoon I was stupid enough to try and use a blunt knife to gut through some packaging, grrr. It was deep, but didn’t bleed, partly due to the fact that I kept the skin squeezed together and high up in the air afraid to look at the damage. Ended up bandaging the whole lot up, which means I will look mighty interesting next Saturday…

Which reminds me, I’ll be traveling to the Netherlands this weekend. Tenant and cousin Ed invited me, so considering I don’t actually have anything important to do over here, other than…well, I don’t know what, I figured, what the heck. Will be nice to see them both again, and have a bit of a change of scenery. The crammed spaces are getting to me.

Finished the edit tonight, at long last. Yay! Am happy that we decided to give it another read through after all this time. Managed to streamline the story some more, regardless of the fact that we have now read it so often that it is hard to really enjoy it anymore, but we found some typos, changed some sentence structure, caught two real errors, and on the overall schlogged our way through the story once more. All ready to participate in ABNA…that is, if they are holding the competition this year. I can’t seem to find any information about it…I’ll let you know either way.

Had a few dinner dates with my friend, which were a wonderful distraction from the daily toils. Both big brother and are at the moment considering joining a fitness club. What with the economic crisis it is ridiculously cheap, and considering we don’t have any room to do it here at house we don’t have much of a choice regardless. Haven’t made our choice yet, location wise, but there are some good options.

Until we have made that very choice, we’ve been doing what we can here. Stretches, light cardios, short jogs, but with the weather as atrocious as it has been these past couple of weeks (I’ve been freezing my behind off, thank you very much) there is very little you can do. Our usual spot for workouts (meaning flat ground on the mountain top) is in full wind, which appears to be coming from some freaky-ass-cold place. There are times when even movement doesn’t help, so definitely we need to some place to do our workouts. Health is important after all.

As it is, we did some cross training today, which left us both with such sore muscles that we can barely move, for crying out loud. It is true what they say. Habit makes things a lot easier.

Made a small bit of roof up where grandpa’s cabin used to be. Had no choice really, we’re losing (and have already lost) a lot of our tools to the elements and we need to have a spot to put them. Nothing fancy, but a roof at least.

I for one, am looking forward to summer when we’ll be able to be outside. Being inside during the storms and the rain so much, is driving me up the walls.

Was out in the yard a bit, cutting back weeds. Also plucked a lot of tangerines from our tangerine tree. They are absolutely delicious this year. Also have some oranges, but I haven’t gotten around to plucking them yet.

There were the boring stuff, laundry, grocery shopping, tossing garbage, and of course spending another afternoon gathering stuff still littering the yard…there’s more uninteresting stuff, I am sure, but I won’t bore your with that today. It is late, well past midnight, and I really should get some sleep. I’ll be back (yes, that was an intended joke) at some point, anyway…bet you’re waiting with bated breath *sarcasm*.

Hah.

Astounding

Song of the day: “In my secret life” by Katie Melua. It’s been going through my head several days now, luckily I like the song well enough, otherwise it would have driving me bonkers.

Another week gone, and we’re well into August. Before you know it we’ll be in autumn, rushing straight toward winter. Aaaaargh!...ehm, yeah, as you can see I’m not looking forward to that. Last year wasn’t all that bad seeing as we were gone most days anyway, but what with being out of work this time round, I’m anticipating claustrophobia. Grrrr.

But okay, not thinking about that yet. Summer is still here, autumn hasn’t even started yet, and winter is still nothing but the future. There’s still plenty of time for things to change, isn’t there? I mean seriously, a few years ago, when we were busily writing and editing, and restoring and building everything around the house, while at the same time rushing from here to there to take care of the old ladies, I wouldn’t have believed it if someone had said that things would turn out this way. I’m not kidding. In my mind things were completely unchangeable, probably set in stone until further notice, but there you have it. I’m not going to try to anticipate anything, I’m just going to wait and see where life takes us from here on…nothing else to do about it anyway, not yet.

So what’s been happening? Not a whole lot, although we have been busily editing a lot. It’s not going badly either, it is just that there are times when our focus is completely shot. No matter, we’re keeping at it regardless, and aren’t unhappy with where we are at the moment.

Been doing some work on my future sink. Should be doing more but we’ve had some pick up trips lately, which is taking more time than I like, and of course there were jobs to be done. Had to escort four dogs to the vet the other day (not ours, no worries). Neutering time, it had been a while in coming, but now the day was here. They behaved like troopers and seemed none the worse for wear afterward, thankfully.

Also had a cleaning up/maintenance job. Which meant working on sun-exposed terraces for four hours, sweeping them clean, hosing them down and reorganizing furniture. There was a gentle breeze that made it bearable, but it also tricked me into thinking that I wasn’t dehydrating. I was basically in the zone when suddenly I realized that I was seeing black spots in my vision. A glance at my watch told me that I’d been at it for two hours without a break, and that I really should get some water into my system; temps were hitting 100 degrees after all. Drank four huge glasses of water (was sooooo thirsty) in one go, and didn’t even have to pee afterward, hah. (I know, TMI, right?) Strange how that works.
Anyway, after that I paid better attention and drank regularly, so I was none the worse for wear…except for being sore as heck the next morning because of using the broom and mop for about 2700 square feet.
Not glamorous, I know, but it pays the bills, right?

Had a couple of turns preparing the dog food at home. That was sure nice. It’s been ages since we had time for that, and since grandpa deserved a break in that regard, I was happy to do it. Nothing like standing in the shade up in the old horse paddock, dogs around my feet trying to steal bread and veggies, chopping away with a small hand ax until it’s all done.

No big cooking events this week, though I did make a rather nice batch of chickpea patty dough. Ate them for several days. As bread replacements for breakfast and as supper with chili. Also as the meat replacement on a burger bun, and so on, until we finished the whole batch and were thrown back into less nutritious meals, like a load of pasta fungi. Hah.

As to the party plans…not a lot of changes there. I do now have a semi-confirmed guest list of 13 people, so it should get interesting. There will probably be kids there, though, so that means we’re going to have to keep the majority of the dogs separated at the very least.

I have a date with a couple of “girls” my age to go hiking next week. We’re going to meet up at a nearby parking spot, take the Land Rover into the country toward a spring and then walk along the river (if it is there during this drought) for an hour or two. Should be fun. An all-girls outing. Never did that before, so we’ll see how it goes…will be going armed, though. It’s a hunting area, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and some nitwit might think that three women are easy pickings, so it is better to be safe than sorry…thinking about that, I think I’m going to take Knight along after all. Will be good for him, and he’ll be the best deterrent for trouble. Hah.
Now I still have to think about what I’m going to make for lunch. Seeing as after the walk we’re planning on taking a dip, and have a snack. Both of them are on a gluten free diet so I might have to resort to my patties with fresh veggies on it…yeah, I think I like that.

Did have a few more nice workouts, along with a jog, but not for the past couple of days, much to my regret. The schedule was just too busy.

So, who’s worried about everything going on in the world? I mean, who is not seeing the comparisons to the Second World War when it concerns anti-Semitism? It’s scary, really. You see terroristic acts from certain parties all over the world, and yet you have the world tripping over the fact that Israel is protecting its people and borders…and all because supposedly the country belongs to the terrorists. What? Folks hate Christianity so much that they’ve forgotten the bible saying that some odd 5000 years ago it was already of the Jewish people? Just because it was conquered after that (mostly through slaughter) doesn’t change that fact. They got it back fair and square, by buying land and then reclaiming their heritage from the Brits. Basically they conquered their country back, and now everyone is complaining. Just because this only happened less than a century ago doesn’t make their claim less valid than those who conquered it 5000 years ago.
Also, folks are saying that both parties should just live together in peace, but all I hear from the non-Israeli side is that they don’t want to live with the Jews, they want their land back, and drive all the “filthy” Jews into the sea, annihilate them, erase them from the face of the earth, as claimed by various parties on the radio, TV and whichever social media you want to visit, which is apparently cheered for by the majority…I don’t see much compromise there. Added to that, it makes me wonder why no one is taking those statements/threats seriously, because the Western world must think that these claims are just hot air, or else why would they keep insisting that the Israeli people roll over and play nice? Would you try to have tea with the attacker bombing your house and threatening to slaughter your family?
I mean, let’s look at it differently. Russia won’t just be allowed by the UN to reclaim Ukraine without a fight.
If Mexico would claim parts of the US and started bombing cities, no one would look funny at America for defending itself.
If Germany declared that the Netherlands really is theirs because it was German territory way back when, everyone would tell them to F off.
How come this is looked at differently?

All this measuring with different measuring tapes is driving me bonkers sometimes, not to mention the illogic of it. I mean, if you pay attention to how the news from the Middle East is brought, you will start to notice that about 70 percent is pro terrorists…as in, “those poor backward people are just misguided. They don’t know any better. We should just give them a little more time to become more civilized, to educate them, and just sacrifice some folks for the “cause”. Insane!
This ostrich behavior astounds me at times, not to mention frightens me…especially when I hear left-wing feminists picking sides.
Do these “righteous” women not realize that women in general will be pretty much screwed if the scales of power shift toward to a culture that has not yet gone through the battle of female emancipation? At least not in the way that there is even a semblance of equality.
Astounding, that is all I can say about it, really…

But sorry, I didn’t mean to go off on a tangent on world politics there, but sometimes you just can’t help but notice such things. I’ll shut up now.

Went grocery shopping yesterday, which went well. Got almost everything on the list and kept the bill well under 100 for the next two to three weeks worth of food, yay. Do need to get some wine still, and fruit juice, but that shouldn’t kill the budget.

As to the doggies…well, no change with Knight. Kollosus (German shepherd) is in heat, meaning that Arthur (Brittany) is mightily interested and doesn’t give a fig when Knight glares at him. Hah. On the other hand the whole lot is rather happy that we’re home a little more. They’re just making a wonderful nuisance of themselves getting in the way whenever they can.

Well, my mind has been blanking out again as to the events of the past week, so I’m going to leave it at this.
Gotta go.

Prepared!

Song of the day: “Come on” by Will Young. I always see the video when I hear it in my head, which is, admittedly, a little embarrassing for the singer. In fact, Big Brother actually dislikes that clip because it is so very silly. Me, I just have to smile at the silliness.

So writing is going to be a little difficult today, I’ve got eight dogs clustering around me because they have been feeling left out lately, and demand attention now that I’m home, trying to get some serious work done on the computer. *sigh* Poor darlings. They dislike being weekend dogs as much as I dislike having them. Poor darlings deserve full-time attention, but alas, such is life. We all have to make due, don’t we? And like all dogs in the world, they’ll survive a little less human attention.

Gawd, Knight II just came to me, right after he drank…which means sticking his snout into a bucket up to his eyeballs and sucking up half a gallon, of which he loses a quarter on his way to me…meaning that I just got a slimy shower. Grrr.

Right. So what has been happening lately? Well, I’ll have you know that I actually managed a full evening of writing this week, adding a whopping four pages to “Gun!” Yay! The last character has been introduced (we’re going to be following four…maybe five in this story) and he’s…interesting. Second generation Japanese-American and a very good cop who can’t stand PC. We all know that feeling, right? Gawd, don’t get me started on PC. *sigh* You have to be PC, but no one is expected to have manners anymore.

Anyways…I’ve a feeling that grandpa is feeling a little overtaxed lately, which is not surprising with all the extra work hours big brother and I have been doing, so I’ve been trying to sneak in some cleaning in our little kitchen. The fridge was a disaster area, and so were the cupboards. Of course I can’t do it when he is there (pride is important after all) but at least there are some clean horizontal surfaces again.

Cooking has all been about nutritionally potent and fast to fix, so there really isn’t anything awesome to share in that regard. Did make a wonderful pumpkin soup the other day, which was a big hit, not to mention filling. Must make that again one of these days…or maybe a carrot soup. I don’t know what it is with spring, but this time of the year I always have a terrible yen for carrots. Seriously, I’ve been eating between 4 and 8 raw carrots a day, just because I feel like raw carrots. I also sometimes have that with apples. Most of the year the fruit and veg have little to no appeal for me, and then there is this time in the year where I can’t get enough of either. The way I figure, I’ll overdose on the stuff. My body knows better what I need than I do after all, so there’ll probably be a very good reason.

Am going to try to make some patties today, and maybe go for a jog and a workout. Am in desperate need of all three, but the last two are on top of my priority list.

Been getting some free books, which I’m looking forward to reading in the near future. Quite a few already. I think I downloaded more than a handful of them, several of them classics. The Phantom of the Opera, The Three Musketeers, you name it. Will be a nice change from my usual reading choices. Hah.

Knight II was without a sock for a couple of days. He wasn’t as bad as he usually is, but he did some serious licking regardless. Did need to put a sock back on, before he caused serious damage, which is a pity. That skin is never going to get tough again if he keeps at it like this, darn it.

Had a massive storm here yesterday. After work we spent several hours doing damage control around the yard. There have been mud-slides, which were way worse than any of the years before due to all the stuff that is gone now. All our gutters have been wrecked, so it went every which way. We hadn’t expected such a splasher, so there were pillows outside, a couple of books, bags, and an open window in the car. *sigh* Good for the yard for sure, but as to damage control, a total pain in the behind.
Just today I spent re-hanging and washing about seventy percent of about a week’s worth of clean laundry, darn it. Forgot I’d piled them in a spot where it leaks when it rains hard. But then, who was expecting a splasher like this, this time of year?
No matter. I had to sort through it anyway due to the fact that I can slowly start packing for my trip to the UK. What can I say, I like to take my time with such things, and since everything that goes into my backpack will need to be washed anyway. I found a skirt which should work fine for any occasion where I need to look a little bit “nicer” than just jeans and a T. I’ll get it sorted somehow, make more selections, dismiss them, then reconsider. I’m a desperate over packer, you know. I mean, you’re away from home, then it rains and you get soaked. Yikes, you’ll need this. You drop your coffee over the front of your nice top and you need that, the possibilities are endless and I hate to be unprepared…so I won’t!

I am going to look at this trip as an adventure, regardless that it is work and that I’ll miss my doggies like mad. I mean, this is the UK. It should be fun, not to mention an excellent opportunity to revisit some places I saw once more than 18 years ago. Who knows, maybe I’ll even get around to doing some touristy bits…or else have a few walks through the woods where I will soak up every molecule of green that I can get. Hah.

This week was car insurance week, at least for the Land Rover. Before the end of the month the same goes for the Opel, but I am not thinking of that yet. Another major cut into our savings, but what can you do, right? Some things just have to be paid.

Gonna have to have Knight II vaccinated soon. What with me taking him out for runs it just isn’t smart to postpone that. He won’t like it, but that is just another one of those things that need to be done, isn’t it? Luckily he likes the vet, so it won’t be traumatic, or anything. I might drop by the practice tonight and have that done before the jog. No sense in postponing it, I guess.

No big news from tenant and Sally…The latter is still hanging in there, but basically everyone is holding their breaths for the end. A sad thing, that, but can’t be helped.
Tenant is enjoying herself with lots of outings to a place where she spends time with her peers, not to mention that a landline phone allows her to communicate with her friends, and that there is a taxi service that allows her to travel long distances to visit those same friends when she wants to. I’m happy to hear that she is busily building a new life there, and enjoying it.

Well, I’m starting to draw blanks, so I’m going to leave it at this. Plenty to do still today, so…gotta go.

Cooking up a whirl

Song of the day: “Wrecking Ball” not Miley’s version, but Jasmine Thompson’s, a young girl I came across on Youtube. She made it downright beautiful. Doesn’t mean that Miley’s isn’t nice (as long as you don’t look at the video, that is) it’s just that Jas gave it a sweetness, rather than roughness. There’s a time and place for both, but at the moment Jas is in my head. Hah.

So let’s start with the fun part. This Thursday and Friday were my two days in Ronda, helping out at the clinic, cooking fully vegetarian meals which were, much to my regret mostly saltless and sugarless, and 50% raw. *sigh* It was a mild version of the Gerson diet.

I got up at seven on Thursday. Had a long trip ahead of me, and plenty to do still before departure. Had to check my bag, that I hadn’t forgotten anything (I didn’t, for a change), had to put new batteries in my camera, carry everything, including my computer bag up to the car, and then quickly have a shower, eat breakfast and then be on my way before nine. Left at ten past nine, deliberately didn’t say goodbye to the dogs, because to them it had to seem that I was going to work like usual, nothing to worry about. Don’t think they noticed, or mind all that much…I think that in the end I had more trouble with it than they did.
But anyway, the trip went well, I didn’t make any wrong turns, and arrived on location after a decent hour and forty-five minute drive. The day was a pretty one, and I arrived about fifteen minutes before the agreed upon arrival time. Yay.
Had a bit of extra time to say hi, to orient myself in the kitchen before it was time to get started.
It was a pleasure, I have to say. Such a wonderfully roomy, functional kitchen. It’s been a dream, I tell ya. Also, Maggy is very nice to work with…a breath of fresh air compared to what we’re used to working with, I tell ya…if it’s good she’ll say so, and if something is wrong she’ll just point it out for the next time. A big relief. Overdid the honey a bit for desert. Oops. Was worth it, though.

Still, the idea was, seeing as the “group” at the clinic were sick, to cook extremely healthy; meaning as little salt as possible (like, unless the taste is so bad you want to puke, the salt stays out) and no sugar. Some honey, palm sugar, Dade syrup were allowed, but only a little.
First meal were my chickpea patties with some buckwheat flour, loads of herbs and only one pinch of salt in the entire mix. They worked out well, I was pleased to discover.
We had salad to pile on top of the patties, all sorts of veggies, a olive oil/garlic/green herbs dressing and my pumpkin compote (on the spicy side, since no salt was added) to put on it along with grilled onions and grilled pumpkin slices to give the meal some substance. I was afraid that we might have made too much (there were six of us, me included)
Everyone looked pretty with it, so the fact that the oven dish I’d wanted to prepare for supper that evening didn’t get done in time (I didn’t keep track of time enough to have it in the oven on time) wasn’t too bad. Note to self: When making a fresh veggie oven dish, you need two hours of oven time. Grrr.
There was saltless soup, Maggy’s pumpkin soup, so that worked well, and together with some salad, followed by oat/almond/coco/buckwheat and honey cookies for desert. Again, loads of spices in there, along with some raisins to make it tasteful. Added to that was a fresh strawberry sauce that really helped, too.

The reason I was late with the oven dish was because I joined in on a “releasing” or a “letting go” session. It is part of the clinic’s program for the patients. Healthy foods, explanations, samples of course, the hows and there wheres, and the Sedona Method for the mental health.
You should check it out some time. A very fascinating technique that, theoretically, if you think about it, has limitless possibilities. For some reason I could really relate with it. Like, at a certain point there was a piece about letting go of “wanting” (or even needing) approval. Sure everyone wants approval for a job well done, and whatnot, but the wanting it won’t get it for you, now will it? It’s a good one for me, seeing as it is something I have been working on for quite some time. I have a tendency to compulsively want to please. I’m not as bad as I used to be, mind you. These days when I do my job, or something, I am starting to get to a point that I work hard because of “me”, because I like doing a good job, to be the best that I can be. That is all that matters. The rest is just extra, a nice added thing, but shouldn’t be at all vital to a pleasant way of functioning, now should. I mean, think about it. If my happiness is dependent on someone else expressing their approval of me, I’d be heading for a rather uncertain and often unpleasant future.
Doesn’t mean that I don’t like, or appreciate compliments (hey, I’m human, sorta anyway, I’ll battle that blush of pleasure as much as the next person) it just means that I am working on not “wanting” (in that obsessive compulsive way) them anymore. The realization was a nice one.
You should check out their website some time. I find the “letting go” a fascinating concept, fitting rather well with the lifestyle I have been applying over the past few years. Imagine how much easier life would be if you could “let go” of the baggage from the past? *wink*
Here’s the link: www.sedona.com

But anyway, it was fun. Still that was relaxation, back to work.
I get into “the zone”, if you know what I mean. That place where you are completely focused on what you are doing, where you smoothly move from one place to the next, mind and body one. Like when you’re working in the kitchen and you’re doing one thing with one hand, another with the other, going around, under and past others without disrupting the flow. That zone where you manage to catch that glass bottle just before it smashes to the floor without anyone noticing, or you even breaking stride. Where you can imagine the taste of the meal you’re creating in your mind, even before you taste it. I. LOVE. THAT!
Anyway, there were good moments and not so good ones. There were moments that I wanted to be frustrated about not being able to use some element, but then I would remind myself of all the things that I could use rather than the ones I couldn’t…glass is half full, rather than half empty, ya know. It’s a good motto. Whenever I got stressed about “gawd how am I going to get this edible” I’d remind myself of this, and manage to salvage the dish I was preparing.

Nice folks in the group (besides Maarten and Maggy, who organized the whole get-together). Had wonderful talks with a guy from South Africa, and a couple from the Netherlands. Always a pleasure to meet new people, figuring out how they tick, so to speak. Conversations ranged from vacations spots, the economic crisis, business, pleasure, the whole shebang. It was actually all quite relaxing, regardless of the work. I would elaborate more about the lot, but I forgot to ask if they would mind if I talked about them here, so I can’t. Drat.
But, best of all, they were nice enough to compliment when a dish worked out well, and to keep kindly silent when it wasn’t. Hah.

So anyway, there was cleaning involved, you can imagine the mess that get created when cooking up a whirl. Still, it was not as if I had to do it on my own, it was a joint effort, which always makes work pleasant…and keeps me from showing OCD tendencies, since I only do that when I’m alone
somewhere with no one to witness…I’ll get to that later.

Had a few bad moments later in the day, after the work was done and the “patients” went inside to watch a documentary. I very deliberately didn’t join them, really. It was about eating habits and dieting, and I have to be so careful with seeing anything about that subject. I mean, regardless of having learned that diets aren’t good for me, and that they do me more harm than good, I would be watching something and think, “Maybe I should just…and then…and maybe…” which would lead to my silly head thinking that eating just a little bit less here, and skipping a meal there would actually have any use, and before you know it, I’m back to being insane, not eating well and gaining weight because following that path makes me stupid regardless of any good advice that people give to me. The decision I made several years ago to allow my body to find its own balance while I eat as healthily as possible and keep busy with lots of movement, has worked well for me, and no matter what, I shouldn’t let those impatient parts in me let me hope for anything else that would mess that up.

Well, enough of that. The bad moments: I had a total panic attack, of course. Suddenly there I was, work for the day over, the Zone gone without a trace, and me out there on my own to have my thoughts go every which way. Aaaargh. Stupid. I took just a minute too long to get my computer and get to work, because by the time I settled at the terrace table, I was hyperventilating a little, and in tears. Don’t you just hate it when that happens? I sure do. Took me some serious “letting go” there (hah) before I calmed down a bit. I mean there were the thoughts of the dogs (I missed them somewhat fierce, you understand), the uncertain future and all sorts of shaite like, you know, stuff! that just kept rolling around in my head, messing me up. I mean, normally I’d go bother big brother, who’d get all “cowboy up” with me (which is what I need at such moments. Nothing like “worrying about this and that” to mess you up) reminding me that whatever problem there is ahead, I can’t solve them at that moment anyway. You can do them in your head, of course, those talks, but it’s not the same, so I ended up writing him a short mail about having a panic attack, to which he phoned me, doing the honors, regardless. Good big brother.
You’d think I was old enough to not have this strange response to being away from what is familiar, but there you have it. Apparently I’m still a preteen in that regard. I better get over that soon, because otherwise life is going to be mighty unpleasant, won’t it?
Anyway, once I got past the hiccup phase, we got to gossiping about the insanities of our day job, versus my day at the clinic, which had me snorting, and after that I was calm enough to do some actual writing. Yay.
I’ll have you know that I did a proper two pages during my stay there, which is more than I can say for the past few weeks.

Did get to bed around midnight, meaning I got a solid seven hours of sleep. I know, wow, right? When was the last time I got more than seven hours of sleep in one piece? Seems like forever. Didn’t even dream either. I just passed out, which is the best type of sleeping, if you ask me.
I had my own room, with bathroom, so I could calmly go through the morning rituals, go down for coffee (breakfast was Maggy’s affair) and then head out with two dogs (Chi and Benito) for a nice short workout in the morning grayness with a nippy wind from the north. Didn’t have my weights with me, nor my boxing bag, but shadowboxing worked well enough for once. At least all the joints got lubricated, and the kinks popped from my spine. A big relief that.

Didn’t take long to get back into the zone once I got back to work. Prepared supper, a couple of soups (one was horrid. A carrot soup that ended up bitter rather than sweetish. Grrr) and a wonderful apple crumble. That one will have to go in my recipe book, because it was splendid despite it not having a single grain of sugar, can you believe it? It was a big success, and luckily I made two. Hah. Anyway, after lunch consistent of the seven veggie oven dish (which was perfect. The herbs were just right allowing me to forget that there was no salt in it. Yay!) I went for a little ride with the Land Rover. Had Chris and his friend along, since they showed some interest in the Land Rover. It is a darling, and both would want one, not surprisingly. Was a fun ride. Both young men were entertaining and had me laugh several times, so afterward I was nicely relaxed.
Had a walk on the property…on my flip flops, regretfully. Stepped on two nails (ouch!) which got stuck in the soles and had to be removed. Luckily it wasn’t too deep, and didn’t bother me all that much.

Did some cleaning (remember that OCD I mentioned?). First secretly (big brother warned me not to be too obvious about cleaning, since some people take offense), you know, clearing a surface here, scrubbing out a sink there, all very casual-like. Hah. Well, at one point, Maggy was out of the kitchen and I “accidentally” cleaned one shelf while I was putting away clean dishes…then another, and another, and before you know it I was rearranging the drawers putting individually styled utensils into separate slots until everything was neatly organized and the kitchen basically shined. Within half an hour, couldn’t do much but wait for the soup to boil anyway, all the shelves were clean and organized, after which I continued on with the counters, cupboard doors and sides, and whatever else I could get my hands on. Embarrassing, I know. I blame “the zone”. Hah. Strange, huh, how cleaning can be nice if it is not expected of you. Luckily Maggy was most appreciative because she didn’t look forward to the big clean up after the workshop was over.

So the day came to an end, I got all my stuff back to the car, cleaned my bathroom, removed used sheets, wiped horizontal surfaces and left my room as clean as I could without getting the vacuum cleaner out. Ate the last supper along with the guests and then said my goodbyes. Was ready to leave at a quarter past eight in the evening, only to stop again about 10 yards out with the realization that I forgot my phone. Couldn’t remember where I left it, but finally did find it in the bathroom. Hah. Imagine my chagrin if I would have realized that halfway back home? The horror.

Arrived home at ten in the evening (didn’t even fall asleep on the way home, thankfully, but did have to stop halfway somewhere to pee. Gawd, hobbly roads are a pain!) where the dogs welcomed me with no more exuberance than usual. Big brother was waiting for me with mc&cheese…don’t gasp. After all that healthy food for the past couple of days, we’re lucky there are no snack food places along the way home, or else I might have binged. Isn’t it weird? I hardly ever go to a snack food joint, but eat healthy for two days and suddenly you just have to “sin”! Hah.

Which concludes the adventure, doesn’t it? The next day was back to the grind…which was hard due to the inevitable comparisons, grrrr. Also, I’ve been burning the candle on both ends a bit for the past few weeks, and I think it caught up with me. Seriously, I couldn’t pry my eyes open…took me at least an hour before I could even function, so yesterday I left big brother and work after I finished my chores there, and went home for a siesta. I passed out for two whole hours and felt waaaaay better for it.

Other news. Not a lot going on. Did I mention Sitabah and Adma? My weimaraner and our pocket Beagle. Well, both girls had a uterus infection, meaning that they had to have an immediate procedure done to have the vile thing removed. I declined the honor of seeing the infected thing, and both girls are doing well now, thankfully. Very strange that they both had it, considering it is not considered to be contagious.

Indigo (black lab) and Tadaika (black and white mutt) are as of this week on a diet. It was getting to be too bad. They’re both big dogs, and yet they were starting to look like walruses with little stumps for legs sticking out of their fat rolls. Seriously, it is getting bad. So, they are no longer allowed to eat with the rest of the dogs, but instead get only one bowl per day. They are not pleased.

Plans for today are visiting a horse rescue center. A friend of ours is looking to acquire horses, so with a little luck a couple of these homeless darlings will find a good home in the near future.

As to the rest…well, life is continuing, but compared to what I already described, it isn’t all that interesting. We did practically finish that cabin, by the way, so that I could have talked about…I won’t. This is five pages already and I’ve got stuff to do still.

Gotta go.

Much ado

Song of the day: “Royals” by Jasmine Thompson covering Lorde, who I’d never even heard of until I heard the girl sing the song. Hah. Gorgeous song, though, and the Jas does sing it lovely.

Finally, a day that can be arranged to my own liking, and therefore a moment available to write a proper blog. Yay.

So, what’s been happening…instant blank, of course. Well, let me just get my diary and see what pops up, eh?

Ah, working our way backwards then. Last night I was asked to come over to Ronda, you know the place big brother and I went to lunch a couple of weeks ago? There’s going to be a gathering of sorts so for two days I’m going to be helping out in the kitchen, which should be fascinating. Nothing like getting a good meal put together with all sorts of restrictions. It’ll keep the mind flexible, and the taste buds busy. Ideas are already popping through my head and I’ll let you know if I get to try any of them out.

Yesterday I was feeling a bit under the weather, so big brother stayed the afternoon at work in my place. Good thing too since I was balancing precariously between bursting out in tears at any second, or dropping down in a dead faint. Hah. Got to do a humongous load of laundry once at home (was way behind) and had a wonderfully long nap that restored some of my spirits…and actually had me hungry for the first time in days.

Am way behind on my correspondence as well, by the way, which is something I’ll need to see to today. Lots of “still need to write to…” fill in name, waiting, so plenty of computer work to do still. I do hope to find a minute or two to work on a new story that popped up in my head the other day. Working title: “Good morning Mr Pratchett” A short romance, really. Light on the plot, heavy on the romance. Hah. I’ll explain more about it some other time. Right now all I’ve got is the first paragraph and a page plotline.

Did a bid on putting up a fence. It’ll be hard work, but good earnings, so let’s see if we get it. I doubt it. We’re peanuts compared to a construction company with big discounts due to stock buying, but you have to try, don’t you? It’ll be fifteen work days at the very least with digging some odd fifty holes, pouring concrete, hanging fence and all the fun stuff that will have you working in the wonderful fresh spring air. *sigh* Keep yer fingers crossed.

Had a job re-installing a lady’s satellite. It involved me doing the business side of the whole thing while big brother worked on a three story roof setting up a new metal “foot” while I called up “instructions” from the safety of the ground. Me and heights, ya know. Hah. The lady was particular. Nothing bad about that, of course. It’s always better when folks know what they want, rather then those who just say “take care of it” and afterward complain why you did it “That” way.

Went to visit a kennel up in Almogia. “In the Doghouse” it’s called, and it’s run by this lovely couple who also do animal training. Nice place, if you ever need to board your dog or cat, and if your dog if unmanageable, they also offer bootcamp. Here is the link if you want to check it out.http://inthedoghousedtc.com/
I find that the place has a nice atmosphere and the animals appear happy, which is always a plus, isn’t it?

Did some painting. Nothing interesting, really, just a wall in pale-ish blue to see if the owner would like to have the whole house painted that way. Of course the blue of choice was soooo light that the owner didn’t even notice until it was pointed out. Hah. Ah well, got another bit of painting done yesterday to make the doorway white again to create some contrast. Luckily I like painting well enough.

Took Knight II and Labhana to the vet for their checkup. Knight was declared fine, so now I have to finish up his antibiotics for safety only, because at his age pneumonia is really dangerous. Labhana’s ear is healing properly, and her antibiotics have stopped now. She does still need anti-inflammatory while the last bit of her ear heals up, but then she should be fine. Am still a bit worried about her having lost so much weight, though. And her walking is still not great…although the “No Ake” from the Neem Team is doing her well. She walks better than before, and doesn’t have the heavy breathing from pain anymore. Arthritis is really horrid!

Went out for some groceries. Such a pain, groceries, always when you least expect it you run out of the essentials, don’t you? If I could, I’d do a big batch once a month and not think about anymore. Not possible now, though. Just not enough space to store stuff.

The Land Rover had to go to the MOT, which is always a tad stressful. Strange, huh. It’s designed to protect you from garages out to swindle money from your pocket, and yet every time feels like some sort of test. Hah. Passed, though. Went through without a hitch, which means that we have another six month’s reprieve of doing mandatory repairs.

Tomorrow we need to go to Liane’s finish up on that cabin, meaning that at the moment we need to get a door done (where the opening to Sally’s bathroom used to be) the finishing boards of the roof, the “coping” or ridge of the roof need to be sawed and painted, and concrete paint has to be mixed up into the color of ceramic tiles. Fascinating, I know. Hah. But when Liane asked how to get her concrete floor to look nice beside her tiles, I suggested to make a color matching her tiles, and then continue the pattern as if it was all tiled…me and my stupid mouth. Hah. No matter, though, I’ll figure it out.

The pouring concrete went rather well last week. The floor looked good once finished, the roof plating all fit and got on in time for us to finish the biggest part of the cabin. Now all that needs doing is the aforementioned items, which should take half a day at most. Less profit than expected from the entire thing, but it is better than letting the wood rot away in the open air.

Later on big brother and I need to go out to get a sick goat to a vet in Malaga. Don’t ask how we got around to doing that, it’s a long story. Hah.

Am totally planning on doing some serious cooking today, but don’t know if I’ll find the time. Will make pattie dough, though, will make for an excellent lunch tomorrow.

Were at the consulate last week, middle sister and me. It’s that time again that our passports need to be renewed, meaning a lot of hassle and BAD passport picture. Seriously, I had to have them done by this guy who knows all the specifications, and he should be SHOT for making a picture like that. Seriously, I look like some misshapen eejit in it. Why do they always do that with passport photos? I mean I’m no beauty, but I’m not as bad as that photo. I bet I could make a fortune offering myself as a passport photographer who’d make you look your best at least. Hmmmm. There’s a thought.
Anyways, middle sister looked great in hers, but then, the guy seemed to really enjoy taking her pictures. He shot her, like, fifteen times, while he took only three of me. I almost laughed in his face about that. No challenge in shooting pics of middle sister. She’s cute!
Got her B-day coming up, by the way. About a month and she’ll be thirty for crying out loud. Time does fly. Am making pie…chocolate, probably, because she likes that.

Had a few bad days since the last blog. Stomach is playing up lately, which is bad. Nothing hurts the reserves like puking, and I did that twice this month. Grrr. Must be the lack of sleep (am getting the luxurious six hours at most, bad Sammie!)…at least that is what I tell myself. Hah. Must eat proper…should even do some meat today…I’ll let you know if I manage. *wink*

Had a bank visit, and our insurance agent because we’re having lots of problems with payments lately. Something is wrong with the account number, and I needed to set that straight. So time consuming, bureaucracy.

The car got a service the other day, don’t know if I mentioned that already. But anyway, it is always nice to hear your mechanic say that she runs like a dream. Hah. Considering we passed the MOT, I’m taking his word for it. Also, he told us that there is a paint for cars that you can apply with a roller and yet ends up looking like spray painted, and when we explained that it was tough to do at our place because we’re in the country, he offered that we use his shop in a weekend some day to do it proper. I found that extremely nice…made them pie as a thank you, of course.

Summer time is hard to get used to this time round. My inner clock is still on winter time. Even grandpa is complaining about it, which is a first. Guess all the busy-ness is getting to him too.

At the moment my Sitabah (Weimaraner) isn’t feeling well. A stomach thing, I think. She’s been off since yesterday…not that it stops her from making a nuisance of herself, of course. Even now she’s running to the gate to bark at the other dogs. Silly girl.

Tenant’s Birthday is coming up, and since I can hardly make her a pie (darn it) big brother, grandpa and I pitched in together to sent her a present via Amazon. It should arrive a day before the big day…hopefully she’ll be home by then, since she was feeling poorly last week and got admitted to hospital. Finally they found out why she’s dehydrating so fast. A thyroid problem, apparently, meaning that she gets too much calcium in her blood. Hopefully they’ll manage to resolve it this time.

Sally is still the same, and soon she will be moved to a permanent care facility, rather than the hospice where she has been staying until now. Regulations say that you can only stay at such a hospice for 3 months and she’s been there 5. She’s hanging in there, much to everyone’s surprise.

Well, this will have to do for now. I still have much to do, and to prepare for tomorrow’s finishing of the cabin. I’ll be back…I hope. Hah.

Pretty good for a first time. ;-)

Song of the day: “I hope you dance” by Lee Ann Womack. Such a beautifully inspirational song, and a perfect motto in life. You should look it up…you know what, here it is, have a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV-Z1YwaOiw
Sure the clip is a little sugar sweet, but that doesn’t change the song, does it. Love this one, so I actually enjoy the days that it is stuck in my head.

So yeah, what all has been going on lately. A lot actually, but even as I say as much information scatters inside my brain, hiding in dark niches where I can’t for the life of me find it. Grrr.

First off, we had our first two days off at work, so that was nice, the fact that it followed up on a really short hour and a half on Sunday morning, only made it better. Hah. Big brother and I had an appointment in Ronda, and for that reason we had asked to just rush through the chores, preparing everything for our replacement of the day, and then hitting the road. Made use of the opportunity and got all dressed up. I mean, it’s not often that I get to go out socially, so I might as well have some fun with it. Was all color coordinated, special hat, big earrings and even a bit of makeup. It’s been ages, but it was fun.
Had everything packed, Knight II in the back, apple/pears/cranberry pie and plenty of water, and then we realized we’d forgotten this big bag of dog food that we were supposed to take along. So, the forty minutes earlier we had planned on, turned into fifteen minutes later on our way into the mountains. It was a wonderful trip, by the way. We like to take the winding road, seeing as it will keep us on our toes, and were properly awed once again by the nature reserve we passed through on the way there. It’s a 1:45 trip, and Knight II loved every second of it. The lug has a need for speed, I tell ya.
Anyway, the day was a beautiful one, sunshine and a fresh breeze. What more could you possible want. We arrived at a quarter to two, missing a turn only once before driving straight to the property where invited to have lunch. A nice place there. A bit of deserted mountain slope overlooking Ronda’s valley and the mountains in the distance. Huge cork oaks, interspersed by small patches of recently planted apple trees (well, they’re tiny little things, really. Can’t actually call them trees, since they’re babies, but you get my drift.)
The moment we pulled to a halt we were welcomed by a gorgeous Vizsla under two years of age (her name’s Chi) who’s the pride and joy of our hosts for the day. She was barking up a storm, which only got worse when Knight II emerged from the car and eyed her warily from where he hid behind my legs. My hero.
The other dog, a massive mutt named Benito, came sniffing immediately, but otherwise gave no objection to our arrival. So there we went, pie in hand, into the courtyard/terrace where Chris was trying to calm poor Chi down now that the lug was intruding on her territory. It took us a moment to recognize, Chris, by the way. Last time we saw him he had a somewhat shaggy beard, hiding half his face, so we were like “who is that? Could it be…” then of course he started talking and we were both like “oh, right. Chris!” and went through the nice-to-see-yous and all that. I gotta say, bearless does him well. Hah. Anyways, Chris is the one in charge of setting up an apple orchard, so those little trees are his babies. Just FIY.
What followed were introductions to two of Chris’s friends and of course saying hi to Maggy and Maarten our hosts. Knight II was properly oohed and aahed over, and he was a true gentleman, going through the pats like the stoic Knight he is. Hah. Don’t be fooled, he loves the attention. Remember market days how he’d sit in his chair eying people who came to admire him and wanting to take pictures of him? He loves that.
But anyway, lunch was a wonderfully drawn out affair with relaxed talk, some laughter, Knight slobbering all over the place, and wonderful food. Not bad for our first luncheon, eh?
There was a quiet walk afterward (good for the Knight, too) more talking about the past and future, which was nice, and before we knew it the day came to an end and we had to load Knight into the car (he was more than eager, the big lug. It’d been a long day for him, poor darling) and start on the way back.
We couldn’t resist trying out a shortcut, of course. There’s this big looping road over there in Ronda, which is really roundabout, so we guessed at a certain small turn-off that should cut off the entire loop, and sure, within no time we were up at the main road again, shaving off a couple of miles. Gotta love the shortcuts…good thing, too, since we decided to go back over San Pedro which was a massive roundabout way of getting back. Hah. We didn’t get back until after ten in the evening where I found Labhana with a badly swollen ear. Aaaargh.

Poor darling was uncomfortable but there was little to do about it seeing as it was hardly an emergency. Would have to wait until Monday, and until later n the day since first we had to bring the car to the garage for her service, drop little sister off at work, take grandpa to a lab for some blood tests and then to our insurance broker to clear up some mess that was caused due to problems at the bank. Ever since ours was taken over by Santander all our regular billings are being messed up, darn it. But anyway, there was plenty to do once we got back, leaving the city car to mom who had to go out, too. I had planned on cooking, but it turned out that there just wasn’t any time for anything remotely elaborate.

We had to get ready for Tuesday, which was a work day up in the mountains while little sister did her second day at the job. There was the concrete mixer to fix, tools to gather, cement to load up and all those little things necessary for a day of pouring concrete. We were actually looking forward to it, in particular since the weather sites were predicting a nice sunny day.

But anyway, I left big brother to it while I took Labhana and Knight II to the vet. The latter for his checkup, and the first to have her operated. I noticed in the morning that it wasn’t just a swollen ear but an actual abscess, meaning she had to be operated. First they wanted to keep her during the night so they could do it first thing in the morning, but when I asked they agreed to do her quickly before closing time. Little sweetheart was a gem all through the examination, and was toddling after me the moment I came to pick her up right before closing time. She couldn’t wait to be home regardless of her cone collar.

Luckily grandpa was there to take care of her the next day while big brother and I woke early for the last few preparations for our construction job. Knight II went right along, but I already noticed that he wasn’t feeling well when he got into the car. He was pulling his leg a little, and had refused to eat in the morning as well as the night before. Regardless, we had to head on out, drop little sister off at work and then drive through with the trailer in tow.

A good day pouring concrete. First setting up, of course, taking out big rocks, unloading the future cabin from our big trailer which we brought there some weeks ago, and then leveling the ground so we could start on the cabin. Went well, but I was mighty worried about Knight whose paw for some unfathomable reason had started swelling from noon, and who started shaking somewhere in the middle of the day and still refused to eat. Finally called the vet to ask if I could hop by before closing time, and luckily they were willing to wait for our arrival. His pneumonia had gotten a little worse again, and his paw had, by this time, swollen to twice its size. He was so miserable, and considering he had a fever once more, he is now back on antibiotics, darn it. Luckily the swelling, quieted down as soon as I started giving him homeopathic Apis, meaning that I was right when the small lump on the bottom of his foot reminded me of an insect bite. By now it’s almost back to normal, thankfully. He’s also eating normally again, so the worry is subsiding a bit.

What else? Well, we finally managed to get in some exercise today. Made a decision this morning to go for a jog after work, and went through with it, Yay. Was nice, even though my stamina is down to half the distance I used to be. My foot was a little battered afterward, but not excruciating, so I would say it was a good thing. I missed jogging…also it was excellent for Knight who trotted after me reluctantly. He would have preferred riding the car with grandpa, following closely behind. He went the distance, though, so he was a good boy.

Managed to eat some meat the other day, so I was a good Sammie…kinda. It was only a teeny slab, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

I have an appointment at the consulate this Monday together with middle sister, so I figure I might as well clean myself up a little by cutting my hair this morning. Took of a total of an inch and a half (I know! Don’t gasp. It’s horrid, but it had to be done. The ends were getting way thin again) which no one noticed of course. I mean, I come into a room, look around once and see in a single glance if someone cut their hair, but over here, unless I stand in front of them, saying “so, what do you think?” turning this way and that, practically aiming neon signs toward the area, anyone is unlikely to notice unless I decide on a Mohawk, or something. *snort* I mean, seriously, I came in at work the other day, was one step into kitchen when I saw the cleaner and said, “You cut your hair!” which no one had noticed yet. It’s insane. How can you not notice something like that. Mostly it changes the entire facial shape, for crying out loud.

Okay, that was my rant for the day. Hah. It is not like it’s important, or anything, it just astounds me sometimes how rarely people notice such things.

Had two trips to the garage for the car, since they couldn’t finish up on Monday, and needed it back on Wednesday. Had a nice long talk with our mechanic, asking him how much a new paint job would cost. €1200,- Yikes! But, he told us, we could also order this new kind of paint that you roll on with a small roller, and which dries just like spray paint, for around € 100,- Really fascinating and tempting but really not doable in the campo where dust is, like, par for the course. Which is where having your favorite private garage of five years, with your own mechanics (I consider them friends these days, actually) comes in. He offered that if we wanted to, we could come to the shop some weekend and do the painting there ourselves, if we wanted to.
Duh! That would be so cool. It would make the car look nice again rather than just like the work-horse it is. Hah. And we also think that in case of an emergency it would make the car more likely to bring up a good price in the event that we are forced to sell in the future. Of course this had the mechanic sputter that the car ran like a dream and wouldn’t get much more with a paint job. Always nice to hear that a mechanic thinks that your car runs like a dream! Hah.

Cooking: So there was the pie experiment for the Sunday lunch. It was a chestnut and normal flour mix for the dough, and added to the spices that I used, it was a potent pie. You should try it sometimes when you’re using nutmeg and cinnamon to add a bit of black pepper. It really adds some kick to the mix. And the vanilla, bitter almond drops, and lemon concentrate only add to it. I’m so going to add this one to my cook book. Yay.
As for other experiments…I had another good back of pattie dough. Buckwheat again. Finally balanced out the herbs, cheese and structure. Even little sister complimented that the last one was a particularly tasteful batch.

Spent the afternoon, after getting home from work and our jog, getting together metal roof plating and wooden boards which had been sent flying during the last storm. The wind was blowing, so it was a tad dangerous. It all went well enough, right until I was going downhill with one of the large plates, and lost my footing. Had a slight dislocation of my hip going there, which had me freezing on my sore bum needing to ask big brother to pull my leg straight. Darned loose joint. Luckily it popped right back, making me sore is all.

Been doing a lot of reading lately, seeing as I finally have a touch screen phone (hate the darn thing for anything except reading and music. Strangely enough it has particularly good sound. Hah) and am able to fit in a reading session every free minute during the course of the day.

Neither tenant nor Sally are doing well at the moment. The first is feeling poorly with some sort of strange virus, and Sally is on a downward slope that is going faster by the day, according to the health workers at the hospice. She has stopped wanting to drink, and they have decided to stop forcing her simply because he body his barely functioning anymore. The quality of her life has reached a point now that maintaining her life would just be unfair to her, seeing as she is only lying in bed now, her eyes closed, and no longer responding to anything. Sad news that, but we knew it was coming, I suppose. Not much longer now.

And though I hate leaving the blog on that note, there isn’t much more to tell at this time. In regard to town hall, we’re still waiting. No news on any of the publishers. On the overall the other dogs are all still doing well. Life is still busy. And anything else that happened has fled my brain completely…don’t you just hate only weekly blogs? I can’t even keep you properly informed of everything going on. *sigh*

Gotta go.