Here I am at the end of the week, planning tomorrow night's dinner. I have invited friends for dinner this weekend. I will cook a curry, a good standby when one is very out of practice with cooking.
Cooking for one is not exciting. The last time I cooked steak on the gas cooktop, it set off the smoke alarm. Despite pressing the buttons to switch it off, it took some time for it to stop. What a fearful and hideous noise these alarms make They make the heart pound, and the mind freak out. Obviously I need a better smoke extractor, so I should go to my local shop and check them out.
I have managed to contact Fernando again and he promises to come and prop up the joists, which allow noisy movement in the floor. I hope he manages to come soon, as the noise is tiresome. While he is at it, I will see if he can fix my back door, which got swollen in all the rain and won't close properly. He told me my exhaust fan is useless, and says he can install a new one for me. But is he a qualified electrician?
Such minor problems are vastly preferable to the major problems encountered in the last few years. It is all relative. But even so, they are not much fun. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. So to speak. So I hope.
My morning walks continue, and today people smiled and said hello to each other. Sometimes this does not happen. You never know. There is a family which runs most mornings, pushing a three-child stroller, containing their triplets, who look about two, and who are all sucking their thumbs. I have only ever encountered one other family with triplets - and they completed a family which already had six children. Running while pushing a stroller with three children strikes me as serious exercise! Older walkers, such as me, look on with total admiration. When my children were small, exercise was not in vogue, and there was quite enough to do without taking time out for running, walking or riding. School to organise, lunches to make, housework to do - in those days husbands/fathers did not do such chores.
The tide was very low this morning. I like to see the extent of the oysters festooning the rocks, and wonder about how polluted they are. Lots of walkers take their dogs, which are sometimes given the delights of having sticks thrown into the water, so that they (the dogs, that is) can swim out and retrieve them.
I met a neighbour while out walking, and we arranged for me to give her some more kaffir lime leaves. My tree was quite large and apparently flourishing, but last year one of the big branches suffered from dieback - who knows why - and had to be pruned. FErnando did it for me, but since then I have bought a saw and can now remove smaller branches if need be. Lots of little branches sprouted, but there are still some bits doing their best to die. Expert advice is needed.
It has been a busy day, with the knitting and crochet group meeting this morning. We added another couple of completed blankets to our stash, a new person came along, and we talked the legs off all the nearby iron pots. We are meeting a local group next week, to see whether they would be prepared to give us some funding towards the cost of the yarn. I am accompanying one of our movers and shakers to add support, and we are taking along some of our works. If we don't get any funding, we will keep going regardless, but the cost does add up to quite a lot, especially if you use good yarns.
Cooking for one is not exciting. The last time I cooked steak on the gas cooktop, it set off the smoke alarm. Despite pressing the buttons to switch it off, it took some time for it to stop. What a fearful and hideous noise these alarms make They make the heart pound, and the mind freak out. Obviously I need a better smoke extractor, so I should go to my local shop and check them out.
I have managed to contact Fernando again and he promises to come and prop up the joists, which allow noisy movement in the floor. I hope he manages to come soon, as the noise is tiresome. While he is at it, I will see if he can fix my back door, which got swollen in all the rain and won't close properly. He told me my exhaust fan is useless, and says he can install a new one for me. But is he a qualified electrician?
Such minor problems are vastly preferable to the major problems encountered in the last few years. It is all relative. But even so, they are not much fun. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. So to speak. So I hope.
My morning walks continue, and today people smiled and said hello to each other. Sometimes this does not happen. You never know. There is a family which runs most mornings, pushing a three-child stroller, containing their triplets, who look about two, and who are all sucking their thumbs. I have only ever encountered one other family with triplets - and they completed a family which already had six children. Running while pushing a stroller with three children strikes me as serious exercise! Older walkers, such as me, look on with total admiration. When my children were small, exercise was not in vogue, and there was quite enough to do without taking time out for running, walking or riding. School to organise, lunches to make, housework to do - in those days husbands/fathers did not do such chores.
The tide was very low this morning. I like to see the extent of the oysters festooning the rocks, and wonder about how polluted they are. Lots of walkers take their dogs, which are sometimes given the delights of having sticks thrown into the water, so that they (the dogs, that is) can swim out and retrieve them.
I met a neighbour while out walking, and we arranged for me to give her some more kaffir lime leaves. My tree was quite large and apparently flourishing, but last year one of the big branches suffered from dieback - who knows why - and had to be pruned. FErnando did it for me, but since then I have bought a saw and can now remove smaller branches if need be. Lots of little branches sprouted, but there are still some bits doing their best to die. Expert advice is needed.
It has been a busy day, with the knitting and crochet group meeting this morning. We added another couple of completed blankets to our stash, a new person came along, and we talked the legs off all the nearby iron pots. We are meeting a local group next week, to see whether they would be prepared to give us some funding towards the cost of the yarn. I am accompanying one of our movers and shakers to add support, and we are taking along some of our works. If we don't get any funding, we will keep going regardless, but the cost does add up to quite a lot, especially if you use good yarns.
1 comment:
It does seem that as soon as you fix one problem several more present themselves! But would we want to be bored? Hope your dinner went well and that all the niggling little irritations get sorted!
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