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.

Sexist? I thought so.

Song of the day: “Marry you” by Bruno Mars. Such a cute little song, right? Not at all appropriate for the present situation, but what the hey, maybe my head needs a counterpoint, or something. I mean, seriously. Yesterday I had Paolo Nutini with Pencil full of lead in my head. Hah.

Right. What all has been happening of late. Well, work is taking a lot of my time, naturally, but you’ll be curious to know about if I have heard anything from the publisher yet…I haven’t, so you’ll just have to be patient, like me. *snort* Dontcha just hate the waiting game? I can’t stand it. Sometimes it gets so that it seems as if I’m always waiting, ya know. Ah well, I don’t like complaining (not too much anyway) so let’s move it along. I’ll let you know how it works out with the book as soon as I know.

The biggest event these past couple of weeks was that Julia, Cousin Ed’s dog, got grabbed by mine. Yep. The first consequence of cramped living space and fences that have to be shared by unsociable dogs…added to that, the present situation, with big brother and me being away for work so much, is heavy on grandpa, who catches a lot of slack with our dogs. He had just walked his small pack and brought them back so he could let mine out into the yard, when a lot of noise alerted him that he had somehow missed Julia in the head count. My Sitabah, Knight and Dax were right on top of her, apparently (I heard later), and the lot of them toppled off the high rock wall in the fight that left poor Julia with several cracked ribs and a hole in her lungs. It earned her almost week and a half at the vet hospital where they took good care of her. Poor little girl. She was such a brave trooper throughout the ordeal.
The whole thing has told us that we should hurry a bit getting her and Sammie (Tenant’s dog) to their new home ASAP. If all goes as planned a friend of ours is flying them out of the country by the end of February, so that’ll give us a little time to get them used to the traveling box while Julia heals.

The whole fight thing left Sitabah with a badly swollen paw. For a while I feared that she might have broken it, but then the skin broke and the swelling slowly subsided. By now she’s almost herself again, thankfully.

Cooking wise I’ve been doing very little lately. Time is a big issue there. On the most part it is necessity feeding, meaning a bunch of veggies in the pain, some sort of staple food with it, and shoveling it in. Have, however, managed a wonderful strawberry cream tart, which worked out splendidly. And just today I have experimented with buckwheat. A little while ago a friend sent me a basic recipe for buckwheat burgers, because buckwheat would be really helpful to me with my deficiencies. The bad part is, I hate the smell and taste of buckwheat, the good part is, the recipe allowed me to start at a basis, where I came up with a paste that worked rather well if I may say so myself. Just ate one (gave a couple to middle sister while I was at it. She liked it too) and though the buckwheat taste was still there, deeply underneath the spices, herbs and other ingredients, but not in a way that I disliked it. Yay! I can eat buckwheat!...I know, I’m a whiner and an incredibly picky eater. It is regretfully a side effect of always trying to sort out tastes and scents. You do it automatically at some point. *sigh*
But anyway, tonight’s supper will be buckwheat burgers, with brown rice and satay sauce on the side. Should work splendidly. Now all I have to figure out is what veggie to serve with it. Might go for baked cauliflower.

The foot has been behaving, despite the fact that the past week’s activities have stretched my newly earned “painlessness”. 8 to 10 hours is still too much, but I can easily do 7 now, so, yay for me. Also, due to sales, I managed to get those good sneakers I got this summer again, but this time almost half the price. Bought two pairs, so I should be fine for a while. Thankfully these aren’t fluorescent yellow, but a very bright turquoise instead. Still very bright, but not as bad, at least.

Made several potions these past two weeks, and am frequently drinking infusions, which also appears to help with most ailments. So far I don’t have the flu yet, despite having met more than five people in my circle of acquaintances who had it. Keeping my fingers crossed.

My poor doggies have been feeling terribly neglected, which is not surprised what with me spending so much time away from home. Poor darlings. Can’t be helped, though. I try to spend as much time with them as possible, like now, on my free day, I’m doing most in our small kitchen and in my room, so they can stay with me. I have to keep reminding myself that they are not alone, or anything. They’ve got each other, and grandpa is here, too, so it’s not as if they’re in solitary, or anything. I better wrap this up and take ‘m out for a bit. The weather is too fine at the moment to spend the day inside.

At the moment big brother and I are getting a little too little sleep because we’re getting up an hour earlier. Since in the evening we’re often too tired to do much edits, we’re trying to do it in the mornings instead. It’s not perfect, but we’re one third into A.T.O.L. Regretfully we’re less than three weeks away from the competition, so better keep your fingers crossed that we can get it done in time to enroll. I am happy with how it turned out. There is some serious good stuff in the PNR, and the characters…I love them.

I am, however, looking forward to writing something new again. I might pick up on Earth Drawn again, seeing as that was the one I was working on prior to the revision of Chicago Hope, but “Gun” (I know, silly working title, but I haven’t figured an actual one out yet) has been playing on my mind a lot too. It’s so very different from the other stuff, and writing in 1st person again would definitely be an interesting challenge. We’ll see.

Only one workout these past couple of weeks. Like I said, time is short and I’m constantly prioritizing. Regretfully that means that exercise gets pushed aside.

Had a small job in the city, by the way. Hauling furniture. Of course there were two guys to help. One was a rather nice fella, from York, apparently, while the other, a French dude, was a down and dirty sexist. My first real confrontation with it, actually. Big brother and I arrived and this guy literally sneered at me from top to bottom, and mumbled in a mixture of French and Spanish, what he had done wrong to get a woman to help him, but that it wasn’t my fault, I was just “a woman”. I almost laughed in his face…in particular since we had to move this humongous mirror that weighed in at at least 200 pounds, if not more. Big brother, the nice dude and I were already in the midst of lifting it, when Frenchy practically elbowed me out of the way and “took over”. He was about to drop his side of the mirror to when I decided to have pity on him and hooked my hand under the edge to keep it from slamming down. So there we went, the two men moaning and groaning, in the middle and on my side, while big brother met my gaze over the mirror, with a questioning look of “what are they making this so difficult, we could do this way much faster just with the two of us” but what can you do? On the most part, I was just there to keep Frenchy from pulling his back, but okay, I got paid for it. Like some sort of impaired beast with eight legs we maneuvered through the building. We got the mirror to the street, the two fella’s cheering that we’d managed the feat, and Frenchy patting my shoulder and muttering something about “respect”, having realized that I saved his behind twice during our trek through the building. While big brother went out to get the van, I did a quick repair job on the back of the mirror. It was coming loose, since some smarty pants had used nails to keep it in place. (aaargh) Didn’t have any tools with me, but the wood was old enough for me to be able to do it by hand, or in some cases fist, which had Frenchy jump with shock when he saw me slam the wood back in place. Hah. Gawd, I should have had a camera. I would have thought that I would be insulted by the guy’s behavior, but basically it just amused me. He can’t help being sexist, and he did finally forget I was a mere woman, so, whatever.
Anyways, we got the mirror loaded, then the rest of the furniture, and were back on location four hours after departure. Of course that was at eleven in the evening, but what the hey.

Lastly, we had press at the door again the other day, did I mention that already? Well, luckily they didn’t make too much of a nuisance of themselves again. One visit, and that was it. What on earth they want now, I’ve no clue, but I’ve decided not to care anymore. The life we had, one big family by choice is over now anyway. Sad, but such is life. Better to flow with it, than regret what’s no longer there.

Well, more has happened naturally, but my brain isn’t working properly because this is all I can think of so far. Hah.
Gotta go.

Stress?

Song of the day: “Please don’t say you love me” by Gabrielle Aplin. Such a gorgeous little song. One of my favs at the moment.

Another weekend past. Time does fly, doesn’t it? So strange how that goes. Here I was, happy that the Friday blog was over and done with, looking forward to an entire weekend without blogs, only to be back at it again.

Let me just start by saying that it is friggin’ cold right now. I don’t know what is up, but I had to put on a sweater by the time the sun began to set. It’s June for heaven’s sake! The wind is, autumn-like, I swear. It is downright freaky, I tell ya.

Saturday. I woke at the usual time, but something inside me was screaming for an extra 30 minutes, so I caved in and closed my eyes again…regretfully cousin Ed needed something, so that nipped that in the butt, since I was really awake after that. Hah. Couldn’t be helped, I fear. She wanted to take tenant to town so they get her some new reading glasses, and needed the car.

Poor Knight II had several of his stitches removed, the poor darling. He didn’t like it at all. In particular not since he is still wary of men, and doesn’t know the new male assistant yet. Also, I think it hurt a little, so he was sitting on the floor, me holding his hand, making kissy noises, holding him tight while the vet poked and prodded at his ear and removed about five stitches. He was not amused, my big lug.

Big brother and I spent some time in the yard again. Plantsies need to be watered after all, and though this year the yard is minimal (just too little time this time round, darn it) it still takes some time. Only enough for eating, nothing for storing, much to my regret. I did love the canning two years ago. But what with all the hospital trips this year, the vet trips, the markets, it is just not doable. It saddens me sometimes, but such is life. You roll with it.

Did some groceries for mom and the sibs, they too have little time, so, since we had to go for a donation anyway, we picked some stuff up. Got to do some more photography, not as much as I would have liked, but some at least. I’m going to have to see how they worked out soon. I still haven’t taken them off the camera.

Sunday. No Funny Beach Marbella market this time round. There was apparently some big San Juan feast going on on Saturday night, meaning that the place would be a mess, and that they would not be able to get everything set up for the market the very next morning. A pity in regards of earnings, but not a bad thing for as far as I was concerned. I’ve more than plenty to do at home, thank you very much.

Of course, when mom asked if I could check out a market for her in Villafranco, a town off to the north, I couldn’t say no, and agreed to go there with cousin Ed, just to see if it was anything for us.
First there were the chores, however, and since that took longer then expected, no breakfast to talk about. Instead I wolfed down half a portion of cereal before I had to leave to bring Jane to the village. Since we were home, we didn’t need her to stay until two. Just as I was about to leave with her, tenant called after me that she would so much like to go with us to the market, so Cousin Ed got her ready while I drove Jane home, and then returned asap.

We loaded tenant up, packed up her wheelchair and all other necessities and left for the little village where the market was supposedly located. First off, the town looked like a ghost town from one of those spaghetti Westerns, and what’s worst, that image didn’t change. So we stopped at one of those ice cream stands where the market was, and were told to go down the road and at the end we’d come right upon it. So we went, came upon a restaurant, but no market for as far as we could see. Cousin Ed went in to ask again, and then came back out gesturing that we were there. I drove back, parking in front of the restaurant, with Ed whispering that I wasn’t going to believe this.
It was cute, I’ll say that much about it. Definitely a nice thought, but for our purposes it couldn’t be called a market. Seriously there were about eight tables inside a big room, and if we were to put our wares with it we’d probably fill half the room. Added to that, the majority of the customers this market had, were the those who came from the market my mom’s on, so that would totally defeat the purpose. A pity. It would have been fun. The folks were nice at least. Lots of Brits.

Did practice my Spanish, both yesterday and today, thank you very much. Not enough yet, but some at least, so I’m not a complete slacker. Gawd, who’d have thought that fitting in half an hour, or something, would be that hard. *sigh*

Then, considering my camera really needs the protection, I worked with leather yesterday afternoon, after we got back. I took a dip in the pool, got out a knife, and started cutting. Within three hours I had something resembling a bag with stuffing to protect my new toy. I did a rough design, that I will, at some point brand all over to make it look nicer. Felt somewhat odd afterward. I am not used to sitting that long, focusing so intently, I guess, so I took another quick dip and then got to work on supper.

Helped tenant in-between, who revisited an old milestone, which had both of us relieved. Regretfully Sally is getting worse at the moment. Her mind is not right, I fear. So much anger, which is just not healthy in the state she’s in. Did get a wonderful tip from one of my online friends, who suggested a walker for Sally. Gawd, I hadn’t even thought of that. We still had the one mom once bought for tenant standing around, and it will sure do the trick for Sally…when she remembers to use it.
She’s an incredibly stubborn old lady, but then, that’s nothing new. She always was, it is just more noticeable now, I guess.

But anyway, while I was working on my bag, big brother and grandpa worked on the roof of the carport where it connects to the new kitchen. It looks nice, actually. Yes, I’ll take pictures of that as well. Hah. At the same time cousin Ed did some masonry where the third window will be, and though I would have loved to do some in the kitchen as well, I need to make that bag. *sigh*

Cooking in the past few days involved red beets with rice and cheese yesterday, mushroom pastries with red cabbage and mashed potatoes on the side the day before that, and pasta with ratatouille today. All leftovers together, should make for an excellent meal tomorrow.

Got some serious writing done these past few days. Yay. Along with some edits, double yay. Going slower than expected, and hoped for, but such are the ways of writing. Some take time, some come out like a brain fart (pardon my French).

Am, as of yesterday, experimenting with creating a herbal wine. It’ll be strong, it’ll be different, but most of all, it’ll be fun to try out. Got this massive pot filled with a pinot, tossed in a selection of herbs from the yard, some spices, a clove of garlic (hey, this is my wine, don’t wrinkle your nose at it until you’ve tried it) and some dried cranberries with one disk of beets…I’m cheating and making it a red wine. Hah. Took out the garlic this morning, otherwise it would become too pungent, but the other ingredients are still in. I’ll let you know how it works out once it’s done.

Also, today I spent some time on my potions. I was out of a lot of them since the last flu, and especially my Sage potion was starting to become incredibly necessary. But anyway, gathered it all during this afternoon’s yard session and set it to seep in brandy so it should be done in about an hour, or so.

What else? Well, that fella from Texas is persisting. Am not really sure what to think of it all. On the overall we’ve been sparring online…in a rather public place, thankfully…but he keeps insisting I write to him personally. With the emphasis of me contacting him first. Now, call me paranoid but I keep thinking that if I do I’m going to hear “You’ve been Punk’d” or something. Hah. What can I say, I’ve a paranoid mind, and see conspiracies everywhere. Ah well, so far it’s been fun games, we’re just going to have to see where it leads and hope that he doesn’t turn out to be some sort of whackjob. A little whacky is fine, but a whackjob would be cause for concern. Hah.

Had to go out for a donation again today. Didn’t get much, but enough for expenses at the very least…if we manage to sell any of it, that is. What with the way the markets are going these days, that is a big if, by the way. Everyone is feeling the pinch of the economic crisis, me and the family included. Added to that, there’s another big vet bill waiting, along with the impending inoculations which are obligatory these days, which are going to hurt our finances severely. *sigh*

The stress is a little high at the moment, I think. Too many changes, maybe. The threat of losing our way of life at some point in the future. Or just too much overall stress. There are some recurring headaches playing, (I’m managing those, thank you) and the day before yesterday I revisited the good old days by upchucking my supper. I hate it when that happens. I am working hard at getting my deficiencies under control, only to have my stomach decide that supper just wasn’t necessary. As was par for the course back in the day, my stomach’s had that scraped out feel for hours afterward. Very annoying. I am not going back there, I tell ya. I will enjoy a stress-less life even if it kills me. Hah. Gawd, I need a jog, or a boxing session!

Well, on that cheery note I’m going to call this a finished blog and say my goodbyes.
Goodbye.

Hah.

3 hours! Yikes!

Song of the day: “You’re cooler than me” by Mike Posner. I still find it a catchy and funny song. End up bouncing around when it comes on (as in the radio of iTunes, not when it’s in my head) every time.

Bad news first. Well, not really bad, just troubling. Sitabah has been feeling “off” these past few days to when I saw her shiver this afternoon, and heard her moan and tuck in her stomach while she tried to lie down, we decided to play it safe and take her to the vet for a quick check. Otherwise you’ll see we’ll have to rush there during the night, or tomorrow after visiting hours. That’s always how it goes, ya know. So we went, and she got looked at, and turned out to have a fever. Also some mucus around the eyes, and a sensitive belly…so just to be sure she’ll be going on antibiotics for the next two weeks. *sigh*

But okay, we’ll just have to see how that goes for the next three to four days. On to the past couple of days, shall we. Well, I’ve opened another blog. Unlike this one where I just jabber on most of the time, I’ll be using that primarily as a photo blog I hope that in the near future I’ll be able to get some portraits on there, which is course the plan. Hah. Maybe I’ll even manage to talk some people on the market into posing. That would be cool. You’ll have to see. This is the link: http://samayasview.blogspot.com.es/
I’m going to try to post a picture on there a few times a week, but we’re going to have to see how that goes.

Today was a bit of an aberration, in particular since I felt absolutely awful this morning after I managed to write about one page in two hours. My ears were humming, my eyes stinging, and nausea swirled in my stomach. So rather than schlep my way through the day, I decided to head for bed and catch some zzzzs.

Slept for three friggin’ hours, and had the oddest dream that I was out for a job interview at this limo company. My interview involved driving the owner in a somewhat dilapidated looking Limo on a rather long and winding road that just kept going down and down. At a certain point I started to notice that the brakes were rather sloppy, which I mentioned to the owner, who just shrugged and told me to go on. I did, and once the road straightened out, we suddenly came across this rather massive bump in the road which I barely managed to go slow enough not to scrape the bottom of the car. I stopped right after, and looked at the interview guy who looked harried, got out, walked around the limo twice staring intently, and then said: “Can you start Sunday?”

*snort* That’s about when I woke up a little overheated and a little grumpy. Don’t you just hate wasting an afternoon like that? I sure do. But, admittedly, I’ve been burning the candle on both ends a little lately, so it’s not surprising that it caught up with me.

I was a good Sammie again, because I ate my meat right after. Didn’t complain (too much) stuffed it down my throat and only needed one chocolate cookie afterward to rinse the taste away. Hah. Then it was time to start loading the car for tomorrow’s market. Since we’re sharing a spot with someone, we’ll have to arrange everything different than the last few times, so I’m taking less tables. Less hauling that way anyway.

Sally came back home today. It was a close call whether it was going to be yesterday, but alas, another trip to the hospital had to be taken. Sally was her usual (at least what is usual for her these days) grumpy self and needed quite a bit of help after two weeks of inactivity.
No time for cooking today…luckily yesterday was an entirely different matter.
The day started at usual (too early to my liking, hah) with the normal chores after which we had to rush into the yard because the past two days hadn’t allowed for us to water the plants at all. Poor darlings were looking miserable, so we spent about an hour watering the lot, harvesting broccoli, sugar peas and zucchinis. In other words, dinner. Hah.

What followed was an hour and a half of writing, after which big brother helped tenant to her bed for a nap while I started to do some cleaning in the carport, because let’s face it, the place was starting to look like a pigsty. Hah. We had tentatively planned to work on the kitchen, but what the hey, another day won’t matter. Hah

Had to go out again, another donation, food past the expiration date for the dogs, mind you. Much appreciated that, what with the price dog food rising steadily.

Grandpa wasn’t feeling well in the morning, but luckily it got better during the day. He did call the doctor, just to be sure that it had nothing to do with the pills. According to the doctor it was unlikely, so grandpa was reassured by that.

Played around with my camera a little yesterday. Got some nice shots done, know a little more about the machine. So far I am happy with the thing. It’s pretty much self-explanatory, and I think I’ll get it figured out in time.
Also messed with the new blog, of course, trying out letter types and all. It’ll take some time, but then it should look very nice at some point. Hah

Cooking involved the morning’s harvest. Broccoli with the sugar peas baked in butter, with rice and coconut milk-curry zucchinis on the side. It went down remarkably well.

Knight II’s ear is doing well enough, all things considered and…yikes almost midnight. I gotta go. In six hours I gotta be up again. :-)

It's here!

Song of the day: “Let the sun shine”, by Labrinth, and boy did it ever. Today was our first real summery day, and it was wonderfully scorching. Seriously, today I knew that it was June, and it was wonderful.

Alright then, the fun bit today. While we were at Spanish lesson today, I got a message that my camera arrived and that I could go pick it up. Yay. So exciting…if not a little daunting. I’ve played around a little with digital photography with my phones, but this is the first time I’ll be working with a digital camera, after using the Pentax (film) for the last time some odd ten years ago. *sigh* I miss that old thing, I tell ya.
But anyway, I fooled around with it a little during the course of the evening…until the light faded, that is. Here are a few shots, just to see how it looks. I still have to figure out about the lighting, but that’ll take time an practice of course.

The Dax. At least he posed for me.


Sitabah. Caught her just in time. When I tried again, she turned her head away.


Indigo. All's well in Indigo's world. No worries.


The Chaos...he refused to pose. See that eye? That was all the response I got for calling him.


Kollosus, who's a little on the skinny side at the moment.


But I’ll figure it out, just you wait and see.

So yeah, let’s get to the past couple of days, shall we? Am happy to report that yesterday I got more than seven hours of sleep and last night I also made the seven hour mark, so I’m a little less ragged at the moment. Yay. Do wake up a lot lately, and am not entirely sure why. Might be that I’m not getting enough exercise lately. Some situps in the evening and going up the hospital stairs just won’t cut it. I either need a boxing session, or a jog…better yet, both. Hah.

Did some writing, of course, along with editing for E.D. But also proofreading for ATOL, which is partly for fun, and partly to see if it is good enough to send out to publishers. I like it, but there are times that I fear that it might be written a bit old fashioned, and not at all snappy the way folks seem to like these days. Ah well, only one way to find out, right.

Knight II had to go back to the veterinary. Discovered during the weekend that his ear (you remember the last time, right?) was swelling up again. Yep, the fun’s starting all over again, darn it. He had to have a whole operation, and now his ear is filled with sutures once more. Little darling is even a little depressed, I fear.

Had to go to hospital again. Sally still isn’t being discharged. They’re not happy with her blood, so far, so she’s there to stay…for now. Added to that, she’s terribly confused, not to mention convinced that the staff is “doing this to her” and that they’re all out to make her miserable, and are holding her against her will for weeks and weeks, and weeks. Not to mention that she’s being left to her own resources, and that no one ever comes to visit. *sigh* Most of our visits is talking her out of these delusions, and calm her down enough for her to get a little less down. Luckily, by the time our visits come to an end, she’s in much better spirits.
Anyway, it was some sort of holiday, so our plan to get Sally some of her much wanted kefir and fruit was foiled. The trip to the hospital went pleasantly fast, however, and at the hospital there was no one around in the stairwell to hear me puff like a steam locomotive on my way up the steps. Hah.

Strangely enough, opposite to Marbella, town was mostly open, so we did manage to get some groceries. Not a lot, mind you. Don’t need all that much these days, and besides, we’re being frugal.
Could pick up Knight II, who was still fuzzy, but more than willing to get the heck out of there.
Then there was cooking (chili with patties) proofreading and then, thankfully the day came to an end…only to start all over again today. *snort*

Yep. The usual chores, of course. Then Spanish homework for the simple reason that we didn’t find the time for it during the week. Next there was a quick breakfast, at which point big brother and I decided it would be smarter for us to just drive on to Marbella after Spanish lesson, and visit with Sally again. Otherwise we’d just have to head back home (going half the distance) only to have cousin Ed then drive back to the hospital, while we might as well get that over with. Sally was in a better mood today, at least.

Lesson didn’t go as well as yesterday. My brain just wouldn’t cooperate today. Very annoying. Did have a good conversation, however, which is also fun (while still being educational) since there are more and more words that I recognize.

Once we got back from the hospital (having missed lunch, we decided to snack on French bread and cream cheese) we picked up my camera, with which I played a bit, of course. Then we got home, I took a quick dip and then it was time to cook. Had a nice elaborate meal today. Baked tortellini, baked carrots with cauliflower, and mushrooms on the side. Went down really well.

And then, as the evening slowly drew to an end, another proofreading session, followed by the blog…et voila. That’s it. That’s all she wrote for today. No mas. Hah

A success

Song of the day: "Think Twice" by Celene Dion. Wow. Never had that one as an earworm before. Hah.

So, I am working on a foreign computer now (big brother's, mind you) because mine was giving me a heart attack by claiming that there was something wrong with my battery and that it could die on me any minute. *gasp* It's only a year and a half old, so I'm hoping that this will still be within the warranty, and if not...well, I'll probably have to get a new battery at some point. Grrr. I can't stand the idea of being without my little writing pal, darn it.
Ah well, I'll just have to make due for now, won't I?

So, let's get to the weekend, or more accurately the market. Like planned, I got up half an hour earlier than usual (my dogs had a small collision with Cousin Ed's) and then got to work on making and baking the patties that were going to be the tasters for the unsuspecting passersby. And boy were there plenty. The patties were a hit with the hippies, of course. Healthy, ecological, tasteful, and made with both lentils and chickpeas, that pretty much was a given. Older English folks were weary, and like "hamburgers without meat, ugh") while the younger ones were either horrified at the thought of eating anything home made at a Spanish market, or fascinated. Much to my surprise most of the Spanish' first response was, 'no meat, oh, tofu right?' and then, when hearing that it was with legumbras (palsies) there was suddenly lots of interest. No one had ever heard of it, in fact, and most folks really liked it. Only two were a little 'so-so', and since we ended up selling 24 patties it wasn't bad at all. In fact, I made a nice profit. The pie had quite a bit of interest as well, sold four pieces, covering my expenses, and handed a few pieces out for free rather than having to haul the thing back home. I liked the responses on the overall, seeing as this experiment was partly to find out if folks would like the taste, should I decide to explore this in the future. Another success was my pumpkin chutney sauce, which several folks wanted to buy (hadn't prepared for that). Heck the same went for the yogurt sauce. On the overall I think that most folks liked the chickpea patties best. I am thinking of trying out my white bean pattie recipe there too, see how that one works, and in the end maybe even the lupine patties. We'll see.

There were quite a few funny moments. Like when the spoiled English girl came and demanded of her parents to have Disney's Cinderella music box we had on display. Then, while her parents were otherwise occupied, she came back to check if we were holding it back for her, and I talked her into trying the chickpea burger. You should have seen her face. Seriously, there was pruning involved. I think she was expecting something sweet because she kept it between her teeth like some sort of poisonous animal. Hah. I held up a napkin so she could get rid of it, and watched her dash off with a chuckle.

There was the English fella who looked fascinated, but admitted being nervous about trying it, so he didn't. Had to laugh about that, too. I get it, of course, everywhere folks warn not to eat from stands like ours from fear of Hep, or whatever, but still, the "I want to but I don't dare" expressions are hilarious.

Tenant's family, smartly spending the last few hours of their time in Spain at the beach came by as well. Funny Beach Marbella is definitely a good spot to have a bit of family fun, and from the look of them they liked it.
Since I had Knight II (he wasn't doing so well. Lost one or two of his stitches, meaning another trip to the vet) with me, Cousin Ed was the only one who went for a swim with them. Next week I'm going to do a dip as well, maybe swimming a mile, or so...might as well get some exercise done, right.

Sold two of my tie dyes, too, along with one of mom's purses and some second hand stuff. So, all in all, not a bad day, despite the fact that we didn't finish loading until seven and weren't home until a quarter to eight. Yikes. That was a long day, but since at the last possible moment we sold three more packets of burgers, it was well worth it. Hah.
Once at home, we unloaded, ate some of the food big brother made and I ended up reading another chapter in the paper edit, yay! Going well that way, dude. Wish all the edits went like that.

Right, well, yesterday dealt with Saturday was...well busy as usual. Woke up pretty much wrecked due to the Knight. He kept crawling on top of me. I think he was making up for the five days at the hospital, for crying out loud.
The normal chores got done, of course. Some Spanish, too, and tenant's family came for their second to last visit, meaning that this was the last time to show them the kitchen in progress, and the yard...or at least the parts of it that they hadn't seen yet. Hah.

Loaded up the wagon, as usual, got everything in right before we had to go out and get a donation from town, which kept us away from home for more than four hours. Took a while to load, you know, despite the fact that it wasn't all that much. It was just a lot of sorting, and, naturally, lots of stuff that's better to toss than try to sell. Folks just don't like to pay for something that is broken, meaning that about seventy percent of stuff that we get donated ends up at the garbage regardless or is used by ourselves until it is really unusable. What we can save can pay for more dog stuff, right? Luckily we don't need much for ourselves. Basic food, as in, nothing precooked, is healthier anyway.

Which reminds me, when my kitchen is done (are you noticing that I am totally obsessing about this? Hah) I will be making my infamous vegetable bread again. Really dudes and dudedettes, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Finished yesterday by editing the first chapter, thank you very much, and then passed out for the night.

Which brings us to today, doesn't it? Nothing really fascinating, actually. Grandpa was nice enough to haul my future kitchen tiles down to my terrace already. This way, I'll be able to start just as soon as I've got a minute.
For me, the day involved driving most of the time. First there was Knight's visit to the vet, and her being too busy, so I had to come back later on. She suggested that if I couldn't today, I could come back tomorrow or the day after, but I rather have it over and done with, so I told her I'd be there.

Then I had to drop of my computer, which took forever. Got to hang out at the gadget store for quite a bit and drooled over Kindles and iPads, and whatnots...in particular this wonderful camera that literally made my eyes cross with the whopping price of 497 euros. Yikes! So not taking up that old hobby again, unless I get a really, really nice present from my imaginary sugar daddy. Hah.

But anyway, picked up another small donation. Nothing suited for the market, but you can't look a gift horse in the mouth, right? Then, after unloading the few groceries we did at home, it was back out again for me to visit the vet's and have Knight treated.
My turn didn't come until 45 minutes later, but I spent my time chatting with this nice English lady and her daughter with a German Shepherd and three puppies. And then, after Knight was stitched up and we waited for him to wake up I talked with the vet's temp assistant. A nice Spanish fella who graduated from vet school nine months ago, whose girlfriend is English and whose interests lean toward anesthetics. This is the first intern I actually like. Very friendly, and doesn't make me uncomfortable at all, which doesn't happen often. A nice fella. I hope he sticks around, even if he is still wet behind the ears. Heck, the fact that Knight didn't even growl at him (which he always does when it concerns new men approaching him) ones says a lot. I don't think that's ever happened before.

Well anyway, I stopped at the pharmacy afterward to pick up the antibiotics for Empera and Kollosus, and decided to drive back through the woods, rather than risk sleepiness over the normal road. Hard to get sleepy when you're bouncing all over the road, hah.

The doggies are looking at me pitifully. It's time for bed, and I'm more than ready to go there. Hah.

A bunch of stuff

Song of the day: “Beneath your beautiful” by Labrynth and Emeli Sandé- Gorgeous song. Never mind having it in my head.

Today was Spanish lesson day, of course. We were right on time, too, so that was a good thing. Had to take Knight along, of course, which I think our teacher didn’t like all that much. Either she doesn’t like dogs, or she’s afraid of them.
Went well regardless. Actually had some conversation throughout, though we end up appearing pretty wonky to the poor woman. I mean, who in his right mind lives with 50 something dogs. Heck, who lives with a family of eight, plus two old family friends, right? Ah well. Being normal is overrated anyway. Hah.
Did well, and let’s keep it at that.

Wanted to work on restoring an old cabinet I was planning on selling someday, only to discover that it was donated for the sole reason that it was riddle with fresh woodworm holes. And that while I had already repaired one of the drawers, gathered paint, brushes, and sanding paper. The whole shebang, and then…well, it all turned into firewood. *sigh* Such a pity. It was a nice little cupboard.

Everything was closed today, due to a national holiday. The whole town was out into the woods, plucking rosemary which they could sprinkle over the streets for la Virgen. Big pooha, all very traditional. Been hearing singing down in the valley all afternoon.

Yesterday was a bad night for me, partly because I woke at six in the morning, and then proceeded to lie awake for a full hour worrying about…well, everything. The dogs, money, life in general, blegh. So annoying. Did finally manage to fall back to sleep, but I had far too little sleep, of course.

Practiced Spanish, though not as much as I should have. Who’s got time, for crying out loud, I barely manage the essentials during the course of the day, let alone fit in an hour of friggin’ Spanish practice. Darn it.

Had to take Empera and Knight to the vet, the latter because his drain disappeared from his stitches (he didn’t need a new one) and the first because it has been more than two weeks. The vet didn’t like it that Empera is so skinny now. She says that we can wait a little longer, but if by Thursday she has lost more weight, we’re going to have to do a blood test. Her back is a little better, though. Later, when we got home, Kollosus (Empera’s sister) pooed blood, so as soon as the vet was open again, we took her there so the vet could check her poo. She couldn’t find anything, so now both Empera and Kollosus are just on a general antibiotic, and something for their intestines (seeing as they’re equally skinny) and we’ll have to see how it goes.

Sally still isn’t doing well. Her health is rapidly declining lately, partly due to her inactivity, I think. It is such a pity that she won’t work on her health. I think that with some decent exercise and active lifestyle, she would be doing way better.

Rather than edit, I added a short scene to the book. Both big brother and I thought that the story would benefit from some added information. Edits are still steadily continuing. Are now halfway through the script, so that’s not bad. As soon as this edit is done, we’re doing a paper one.

Yesterday was also very cloudy, while today we basically had sunshine all day. It was grand. Really comfortable. Could actually walk around in a sleeveless most of the day. Am already getting my tan back, thank you very much.

Cooking involved baking ravioli in cheese, a fresh tomato sauce, and baked mushrooms on the side today, while yesterday with had fried rice with veggies.

There were the normal chores, fascinating as always, I know. And the rusty parts of the 2nd hand cooking stove for my kitchen got painted. Yay! Most of the beams are done now, too, and grandpa is working on painting the boarding of the ceiling (they’ll be a light cornflower blue) so that in a few days from now we’ll be able to start putting in the roof for real. Am also working on putting together a small pamphlet offering folks affordable construction work. I'll be putting that out at the markets and some spots, like the vet and such.

Tenant had her family visiting today again. I think it did her well, seeing as she is more active at the moment than she has been in a long time. She isn’t solely demanding to be put into bed, thankfully, and actually sits in her chair or outside in the sun most of the day.

Knight II is doing relatively well. I have to figure something out, because he is trying to lick his stitches, which isn’t smart at all…but then, I never was able to call him the smartest of the litter in that regard.

Are going to have to do a tick bath soon, because it is drying me insane again. I’m picking up to 25 ticks per dog off every single day, and my fingers are starting to get numb from it, for crying out loud.

Well, that’s it for me. I need some shut-eye fast. It’s late.

Slowly

Song of the day: “Explosions” by Ellie Goulding.

There really isn’t all that much to tell. Still sick, though not as bad as it used to be. Except for this persistently annoying cough that would keep me up during the night *sigh* I am slowly doing better.

Yesterday I managed to write a whole (yes, you read it right, one whole) page. Yay! Sorry for the sarcasm, folks, but this flu is really cutting into my schedule. Seriously, I sat at my computer for four hours and didn’t get more than one page on the proverbial paper in that time. Grrr.

To show my gradual improvement, I managed to walk the visiting dogs up and down the mountain, haulin’ my sick butt both up and down without dropping dead from sheer exhaustion, despite the fact that I felt that way. Hah.

This morning I managed a friggin’ big load of laundry, which was a pile that had been hanging there for the past three days or so, due to the rain that refused to abate and let the laundry dry until today. At least there’s space on the lines again.

Had to take Knight II to the vet, which I did. Had to wait for about half an hour and then walked him to the back where the vet gave him a shot. For the next twenty minutes or so we sat on the floor while she removed the stitches from his ear. He slept through the whole thing, hung limply in our arms (vet, assistant and me) as we carried him out to the car, just as grandpa arrived with some groceries. Now, if all goes well, I can take his cone off this time next week. Yay.

Had wanted to take a nap this afternoon, but we had to go to town to pick up some things and then straight on to the village so I could have my own stitches removed. Yep, originally my appointment was on Saturday, but seeing as I was basically passed out right then, it was just not doable. So yeah, I got there. Had to wait for about thirty minutes before I got to speak with the surgeon about the results from the analysis. Nothing with it. Cleared to go. Then I had to wait another thirty minutes at the infirmary to have my stitches removed by a nurse. He wasn’t all that adapt, and ended up plucking out a hair with every stitch. *sigh* But then I was done, and I could get the heck out of there, and finally cough up my lung the way I’d been wanting to do from the moment I sat down.

Tenant is still giving us fits with a refusal to drink proper, but at least she wanted a share of the mac&cheese big brother prepared for supper tonight. It did go down well, I admit, in particular since I didn’t much feel like cooking.

Well, that’s about it from over here. On the interesting news bits, we’re about 100 hits away from 10,000 on this blog, folks. That means that quite of few of you have been returning, eh. Cheers. Always a pleasure to realize that you have appreciative readers. Guess I’ll have to start thinking about doing something special for 10K hits. But what?
Give it some thought, why don’t you, and let me know.

Soap opera

Song of the day: “Explosions” by Ellie Goulding. Gorgeous song, only discovered it recently on Gibraltar Radio, so I’ve really been enjoying listening to it. Very impressive, despite her oddly light voice.

First the sad news. We had to make the dreaded decision again. Rammi, our Rottie mix, whom we got at a local market in ‘97/’98 as a 5 week old puppy. She was so adorable, way back when. Like a little bear, with a matte fur that looked, and was incredibly soft to the touch. So beautiful, so sweet. They had taken her from her mom too early, of course, and she could barely eat when we got her, but she learned fast, the sweetheart.
Rammi was a dog with very little trouble through the long course of her life. Once, when she was about eight weeks old, Yogi, one of our old dogs who hated puppies bit her in the face, which had her end up at the vet, screaming at the top of her lungs. But despite the small deformity she was left with she was an uncomplicated dog. Her only other meetings with the vet were an unwanted pregnancy that left her spaded, and a ripped out tooth, just last year or so. Other than that, Rammi went through life as an incredibly happy dog, and I intend to remember her as such.
The cancer which bothered her, a rapidly growing lump on her left side had tripled in size in the past two months, and since this particular kind was just too fast to operate on (and due to her advanced age) we postponed it to the moment she was starting to be bothered by it…which was the day before yesterday, much to our regret.

So, that awful part out of the way, let’s get back to Saturday. Better get my diary so I won’t mess things up.

There were the normal chores, naturally. Laundry, feeding the dogs and all that jazz.
Not a lot of writing on Saturday, mostly due to the fact that we’re focusing on the query letters we want to start sending out this spring. Three done manuscripts need letters, synopsis and “spotless” three first chapters. It takes time, effort, and repetition. It always does. I am now dreaming catchy phrases, tight paragraphs and descriptions that describe three different books. Gawd, it drives me bonkers sometimes. I actually have to be careful while reading the texts out loud, seeing as my head will just sum up something that was from the first, second, or third round of the letter. *sigh*

We’ve been taking turns going to the hospital, so on Saturday mom faced the hassles of hospital, leaving Sunday to Cousin Ed and me. We had to be near there anyway for market, might as well connect it. Tenant hadn’t improved much, and due to the weekend nothing was being done until Monday.

Had to load up the Land Rover, of course. And we had to make a couple of extra sawhorses because I’m getting sick and tired of constantly having to borrow tables from the market organizer. Also made another foldable top, which is wider than the ones we already have so we can properly display the dog beds. Made some selections since we didn’t want to take the full load.
The day was way too short, I tell ya.

Sunday.
Actually managed to get up on time, and rushed to get myself some coffee. *sigh* Nothing like trying to wake up on a dark, cold morning, eh?
Started the morning baking our own food, and prepare some stuff for tenant. Left on the planned time, then a few minutes out discovered that we forgot the money pouch. *double sigh*

Got set up on market, and soon discovered a strange sort of tension in the place. Turned out that a couple that works there were having relationship trouble, which was (embarrassingly enough) fascinating to watch. Heated arguments, then friends and family trying to negotiate their way through the rough patch. It was like watching a soap opera. Seriously, I’m definitely rooting that all will be well again. There’s kids involved after all.

But okay, it wasn’t all spying and listening (hard not to, really, but I did try) in the middle of the day I retreated to the restaurant to work on the V.L. manuscript, which is one of the three we want to sent out this spring. Am adding a couple of scenes, because I’m not happy with the word count. Had to read through many of the other scenes while I tried to find suitable spots for extra scenes, and I have to admit that I liked what I read. The previous times I read V.L. it was to write and edit it. This was the first time when I could just read the scenes, and they were good…which is always a pleasant discovery to make. Hah.

No roofie this time (phew) though I got myself a little nervous, to the point that I was starting to feel uncomfortable. That was when I had to talk to my paranoid self firmly, rather than get a panic attack, and managed to get myself under control. Not a lot of sales…though I did sell some of my tie dye, yay. But we did get the expenses plus out. Did have some nice chats with other stand holders, a Belgian couple that bought the two tie dyes, and some of the staff at the restaurant. A nice day all in all.

Packing went well enough, despite the fact that most of the heavy stuff had to go on top because of outside parking at the hospital. Arrived there after seven, and found tenant in a new room, claiming that she had just been fed. Apparently she is still not willing to do most of that herself. She was still a bit vague, and complained of belly pain, but all we could do was tell her to be patient and wait for the next day when she was supposed to get a x-ray of her belly. Left her dozing.

Didn’t get home until after dark, and I’ll admit to running on fumes by then. Luckily big brother had already cooked, meaning that we could gather our food and do some computer work before heading to bed. Could barely finish my food, though. Bed was way more tempting.

This morning there was no writing, again, partly due to the whole Rammi debacle, and having Knight II’s ear checked. The latter was doing fine, and I won’t have to bring him back until Friday or Saturday, which was a relief at least. He was on model behavior while we said our goodbyes to Rammi.

Did work on the letters, and packages that we’re going to be sending out. Thankfully. Then, of course, we had to head on out to pick up some donations, and a few groceries.

Got a new job coming up, involving installing a tank-less water heater. Went past several stores in the past week, only to end up at our usual construction company, who had a good one with a nice discount. Will be installing it at the end of the week, probably, depending on the weather and whether the machine will arrive when promised. Then of course, big brother and I will be diving into the manual to see what else we’ll be needing to install it. The rest of the day…seeing as the traveling is quite a distance, and a half day is just not practical that way…will be spent working in the yard, trimming trees and such. Yay.

Well, that’s about it. Time to get ready for bed. I’m running on fumes again.

Forgot

Well, I totally forgot today's blog, before I knew it, it was midnight, so...
Okay, short sumup, the competition turned out to be a bust for me, of the forty something contestants I didn't make it. *sigh* A pity. But what can you, do right. At least I won't be rushing back and fourth to Gibraltar for more than a week.

Did manage to put in the kitchen window today. It looks rather well, if I do say so myself. Also did some gardening, but on the overall not a lot go done with everything going on.

Tadaika was sick yesterday, so we were out and about during most of the day. Three times to the vet, in fact. She couldn't stand on her back paws, so when I had to take Knight to the vet, I took her too. They didn't know what was wrong, so she's on an anti-inflamatory for the next few days. She is doing a little better. At least she is walking again, and she even jumps on the bed again. Knight went in to have his ear stitches tightened. He was a real trooper about it.

Did manage a jog. I really needed that. Blowing my head free of worries for a bit. Actually managed a 200 yard sprint, which is definitely a first for me. Hah. Was good even though it as downright nippy again.

My head is healing, slowly, despite the fact that one of the friggin' dogs hit me on the head (right on my stitches, mind you) during the night and made me see stars. Jeez.

Tenant is still at hospital, regretfully. No results yet, I fear. The x-ray they were supposed to be done today, didn't happen, so she is going to stay until at least Monday, because her belly still hurts, and she's still nauseous. Friggin' hospitals. Very frustrating, I tell ya.

Well, I'm going to stop here, and leave you with a poem instead. I might have posted it before, but it will have been a long time ago, so who cares?

Okay, I'm out. It's been a long couple of days.

Poem-story.
Death’s visit.

She lay in the marshes beside the heath and grass
Her complexion pale, like the finest of glass
Death has claimed its nasty toll
It came swiftly… a fall and then a roll

Her spirit rose above the empty shell
Her last thought of the prancing horse before she fell
Colors swirled in light of the setting sun
What had happened, her life had just barely begun

Confused and afraid she stood beside the pool
The body she had known, so silent, so cool
Eyes as green as the hills around
Not a breath was heard, not a single sound

What had happened, what had occurred
Had been a fox, a deer of a bird
Muddled her spirit was
Whatever the reason, the ghost could not encompass

A husky cry, violent and despaired
Turned her about to face the man for whom she cared
Anguish on his face so clear
It made her tremble… made her fear

Desperate, he dismounted his gallant steed
Rushing forward, gaining speed
From the shore on which she stood
She watched helplessly as he plunged into water and reached for a pale foot

The marshes stirred when at last he grabbed hold
His hands dirty, his grip bold
Heaving her from the water and dirt
Her love lifted her, strong arms tangling with her skirt

Gently he lay her down on grass covered with morning’s dew
His voice shaking, his hands clasping her face as if it were new
“Don’t leave, my love,” the noble knight whispered, oh so soft
As he swore at death, shook her and scoffed

“You will not have her,” he pledged with force
“She is mine! Her life has not yet run its course”
Tenderly he swiped at mud and grime
Untangling the fold of her dress which had been so very fine

Tears ran down the spirits eyes
The wind sweeping around, piercing her like ice
Death was nearby she knew deep within
She had felt it before when it had taken her kin

This could not be the end, she thought in quiet despair
Watching her love, stroke her face… her hair
“Live, my love, for without thee my time I cannot face
I shall come after thee, give death a dangerous chase”

Her brave and loyal love would do as he said
He would fight to the end, not die old in his bed
To death’s wishes he would never resign
He would think of something, some clever design

“Live, damn you! You’re stronger than He”
His fist coming down on her chest, setting a burst of water free
“Fight, my dearest, my love. Come back to me and live
There is life yet in you… more to give”

Awed, she watched her body sputter and heave
Around her colours fading, even though she could hardly believe
Darkness soon did descend
Her last image that of her love, leaning close, his body bent

A feather-like touch to her lips lured her near
The kiss of life filling her lungs, her involuntary breath all she could hear
A flutter of lashes brought light where darkness had ruled
She could feel her love near, it could not be ridiculed

Death, by no means willing to let her go
Both presences pulled her to and fro
Valiantly the young lass fought back
Courage was one thing she did not lack

Lured to surrender she was
The pull strong even for so brave a lass
“Nay, I shall not leave my love’s side”
She thought… she cried

Though he could not hear or see
Her love shook her gently and would not let it be
However strong he was
Death would not let it come to pass

“Come back to me and leave me not with this plight
Be strong, my fair lass, and fight!”
The voice of her noble knight came from afar
The sound of it like a beacon… as star

“Give up this fruitless struggle, my dear”
Whispered Death, his voice a cold chill in her ear
Icy fingers tugging at her, drawing her away
Making her spirit toss and flay

“Let go, there is naught to fear
‘Tis useless. Let go, the end is near”
“No!” the lass cried in silent despair
“Leaving my love, I cannot bear”

Again warmth brushed her frozen lips
Air rushed in, shaking her from shoulders to hips
With one mighty heave she tore loose from Death’s mighty grasp
Her body reclaiming life with a forceful gasp

At last her eyes fluttered ajar
Her love’s face above her, not very far
Relief showed on the handsome knight’s face
His hand pulling her close in a tight embrace

“You live! Thank the gods of old
If I’d lost thee, to the devil my soul I would have sold”
Her love swore with utter relief
His lips traveling over her face with kisses so very brief

“As would I, my dearest love
But I’m here, I came back from that plane above”
She said breathlessly, her eyes open and aglow
“Without thee… I would not go”

He laughed, a rusty sound from deep inside
His happiness and love he could not hide
“Bound together we are
Apart we could never go far”

Holding her knight close to her heart
Death roared in frustration but did depart
He would leave them be… for now
To destiny’s ruling he had no choice but to bow

Their time would come, Death knew very well
But not now… that much he could tell
Life would be good and kind to the lovers on the shore
Until their threads were cut and he’d come once more

We're back to "we'll see"

Song of the day: ...well I've forgotten. That means that I, presently, don't have a song in my head. Yay.

First off, the bad news: Gada, sweet little...well, big Gada, didn't want to get up this morning, and when she did, she stood there, swaying in my living room, looking pale and miserable. Unlike normal days when she would be bouncing around me while I'm fixing dog food. It was sad, but I promised myself I wouldn't let her suffer unduly, and decided to take her to the vet without further ado...I should have done it earlier, since she's often vomiting, but...well, you know.

Anyway, the doc took one look at me, then Gada, and knew what time it was. It was over in just a few minutes, she didn't suffer, she stood in my arms, and then as she slipped away, I (bawling my eyes out a bit) slowly lowered her to the table. Such a sweet dog. It reminded me of how we got her. The vet had refused to put her and a labrador retriever down. Previous owners were having a baby, and didn't want their dogs anymore. So the vet asked if we wanted them, and we did. So basically, Gada had some odd seven years more than her previous owners had planned, and she was a darling.
But anyway, I don't want to wallow in misery over this. Gada had a good life and that is all that matters. Other stuff happened, and I better get to it. Were very busy yesterday, not so much with anything at hope, but...well, busy.

Yesterday. I woke up with a massive headache, originating from the back of my head where the stitches are. Bet you I rolled onto it way too much. Considering I woke up several times, that was definitely the case. Knight's ear has a gazillion stitches in it, and he's very insecure because of it, poor fella. Keeps rubbing against me, stretching out until he's basically on top of me. You'd think he was a friggin' Chihuahua.

Did the whole omelet experiment yesterday. One with herbs, cheese and onion, one with herbs, cheese peppers, one with Parmesan, nopales and tomatoes, one with peppers, onion and beer (to see how it would fluff it up) and one with mushrooms and cheese. Made five of them, all different, all experimental, including the two I did earlier. We all played guinea pig taking bite after bite of each different kind. Had very different results. Had two wins on the nopales, two on the mushroom, two for the peppers, and everyone, except big brother liked the onion, cheese mix. So I went for the latter, combined with some pepper.

After the experiment, big brother and I went to my terrace where we worked on putting together the window for my kitchen, yay. It'll look grand, I tell ya. Afterward we had to head out to get some stuff, and then came home to...well, no supper due to the whole egg experiment. I was still nauseous four hours later, I tell ya.

Only managed a few pages of the rewrite, my head still not feeling entirely right. Am now about halfway through, and am trying to split up my attention between the rewrite and working on letters we are going to be sending out later this winter, in the beginning of spring at the latest. The A.T.O.L. letter is working out well. And we ran through the V.L. letter as well. So much to do, so little time.

So this morning, I woke with a wooden head again. Seriously, my head feels like it is going to fall off if I moved just a fraction too much…so I didn’t move it all that much while going through the motions of the morning chores.
Then, while feeding the dogs, I suddenly noticed that Gada wasn’t bouncing around me. After some looking around, and calling her, I found her standing in the center of my living room looking downright pale, so that’s when I decided…you know.

Not the best day to have this happen, right, but it couldn’t be helped or postponed, so it was done, and grandpa was kind enough to dig a grave for her while we were gone today. No writing today, for the simple reason that there wasn’t time. We had to leave at one so we could visit tenant, prior to driving on to Gibraltar for the contest.

She wasn’t doing bad, on the overall. We found her sitting in a chair to which she said the nurses had carried her. Somehow she’s convinced herself that she now has to start all over, which is ridiculous, of course. We talked for a bit, gave her a couple of books to read, and then helped her to her feet, just to show her that she could indeed still stand. She was weak, but did manage to walk to the bed, just like I told her. Settled her there, seeing as she didn’t feel like lunch, and then said our goodbyes after an hour or so.

And off we were, on to Gibraltar, hoping that we wouldn’t get lost. We didn’t. In fact, I drove right in a single try, and we arrived on site about an hour early. Hah. Went to the restaurant, introduced myself, looked around, and then went out again to fill the remaining hour. I gotta admit, I almost chickened out. I mean seriously, it’s a lot of effort, lots of time (not that I mind either, it is just that I have very little of the latter, hah) and for a moment I wondered if it was worth pitching myself against all those other contestants, only to end up disappointed. Then I thought, what the heck, what’s the worst that can happen? (Well, technically, one of the judges could drop dead, or something) I could lose, but that’s about it. That would just mean that my taste is not theirs, which is not exactly news to me. Hah.

So I went back (after we had some pizza at the PizzaHut. I’ve been dreaming of that since the last time some odd fourteen years ago), set up where I was told to set up, and while chatting with the judges, and listening to the other contestant cooking with me, I made my omelet. It was a close thing. Luckily the lady with me was done faster, meaning that they were tasting her creation for a while, allowing me a few extra precious minutes to finish. Almost didn’t make it, since the heater wasn’t the same as at home, and since the pan was smaller, but I did do it within the time, and placed it on their table in time.

It appears they liked it, in particular the herbs I used, as well as the structure, so we’ll see. Apparently I’m going to hear whether I made it on Friday. Hah. What do you think? Should I be looking forward to more consumption of precious time, or should I hope that I don’t get through this round, so I won’t need to travel to Gibraltar again? Hmmm. Let’s just go back to: We’ll see, eh?

But, be that as it may, we were back on our way out of Gibraltar within fifteen minutes, only to end up in a two hour line at the border. *sigh* Luckily big brother had his computer with him, allowing me to write half this blog while we waited endlessly. The trip took just a little under two hours, bringing us home at nine thirty, yay. Mean’s we’ve been gone for more than eight hours, for crying out loud. Yikes. But I admit that the plus of this day was that I had no time to think of Gada, which is a good thing in my book.

Well, that’s about it then. Time, almost, for some serious zzzzzs on my part. Signing off.

A Samaya sculpture :-)

Song of the day: “Don’t marry her, have me” by the Beautiful South.

A bit of bad news first, I suppose. During the night our Dalmatian Sophie passed away. It was no big surprise, really, seeing as his health had never been good to begin with, and for him it was definitely a relief, but still, it dampens the mood somewhat to lose one of the pack. He looked peaceful and relaxed on his blanket, however, so I would suspect he went fast and without pain. We should all be so lucky.

The weather is still abysmal. Some serious winds picked up again, making the trees stand at a decided tilt, and rain has been coming down infrequently, but plenty. Everything is soaking wet, stuff is not smelling all that pleasant and I, for one am more than ready for a break in the clouds. Jeez…heck, even the dogs have had it.

Writing. Nothing huge, but steadily schlogging through still. Passed 18,000 words now, with the character solidly in place by now. I am doubted if I should ad another one somewhere round these parts, but haven’t made up my mind yet.

Yesterday we could pick up our chainsaw, of which the repairs cost 20 bucks…which I think is about the standard for something like that. Also left Liane’s to see if it is fixable, too. I’m thinking yes, because big brother looked it over and for as far as we could see the only problem would be the chain not getting any oil.

Since in the bad weather there wasn’t much of anything we could do at home anyway (except for messing around in the carport) we decided to go into the woods to see if there is any firewood that we could get there in the near future. As it turns out, so I’ve heard from the vet assistant, in these parts it is allowed to go into the woods and take fallen trees apart for personal use (or selling). In fact, they love it when people do that, seeing as it decreases the fire hazard on the mountain. Did some serious exploring going along ragged trails leading up the mountain. Got as far as the tree line before a chain closed the road off. Did do some walking there, which was weird in the dense clouds that didn’t allow us to look much farther than a few yards the entire time.

It was beautiful, even, or especially because of the clouds, I’m not sure. Everything with soaking wet, the soil red, gray and black (rocky surfaces breaking through everywhere), covered by newly grown grass and Arum plants. The tree trunks were black with moisture, the branches heavy, and wherever you looked there was water and mist. It was in fact a little eerie, like some horror movie. Hah. It was beautiful, too, though. Mysterious and wonderful, in particular when we walked a bit through the mist, seeing nothing but the path at our feet and the trees that stood by the edge of the abyss of white, the green vibrant against the white.

Knight II as along for the ride (still have to keep an eye on him) and he even went along for a bit of the walk during which we explored a row of fallen trees. He bounded along, going ahead constantly, because let’s face it, compared to him I’m a slowpoke. Then, at some point when were on our way back up to the car, he went ahead, all cheerful and everything, only to stand by the car, all confused that he couldn’t get it. It was just embarrassing. What kind of a dog prefers the car over a walk, for crying out loud?

But anyway, we found plenty of trees that toppled over during the rains, their roots no longer able to stand the pressure, so it looks like we’ll be heading out into the woods one of these days to get us some extra firewood.

Once at home, the rain started up seriously once more, so I spent the remainder of the day working on my woods sculpture…which is something I did today as well. Gawd, it turned out beautifully. The varnish dried perfectly, and the sanded and shaped piece of whitish eucalyptus wood I put inside it, contrasts beautifully. I have a picture of the end result right here:



I love how it looks exactly the way I imagined it beforehand.

Exchanged some messages with “my” pen pal pilot who’s still at war…well, he’s flying out wounded and such, which is rather vital I’m sure. Gawd, the stories he tells. I definitely wouldn’t be suited for a war zone. I can enjoy it in movies, I don’t mind reading about it, but the real thing…well, it’s just too realistic. Luckily, he personally is doing well, and for now that is all that matters.

Let’s see, there were the normal chores and such, along with a cooking session (today Cousin Ed made pumpkin soup) of pasta, a satay sauce, and fresh veggies. Had to go into the yard today to get the last of the pumpkins from the plants. Lost a few to the rats and such, but at least there are some. And also took out all the peppers, which are not going to turn any redder in this weather Managed to get a full crate of both veggies, so that’s not bad.

Knight II had his checkup this morning (I’m getting consistent information now that by Friday his bandage might go off, so he’ll only need to wear the sock for a bit, yay!) and he behaved perfectly.

We lost the side mirror of the Opel, meaning we had to order a new one at the garage. Got to pick that up today, and took Knight along. If for no other reason than the fact that they love him there. They’re all dog lovers, thankfully.

Then last but not least is painting Liane’s beams for the second time. Despite the wet weather, it had to be done, so we hauled the lot of them down the mountain to the car port and painted them the second time around. If a bug gets to climb in there after all, it deserves it for evolving beyond all that poison. Jeez.

Well, that’s it for me. Time for bed.