Sundays...
May. 27th, 2012 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapeofthingsToday was the most "normal" Sunday I've had in a long time. One big step forward into settling down here and re-claiming my life after a few months of high stress and drama.[1]
I woke up long before the crack of dawn at 4:30 am and gave up on sleep entirely at 6, getting up and getting on with the (still dark) day. This happens occasionally; it's like my body and brain hit the re-set button and I wake up early stuck on go. I conducted my breakfast experiment, set a pot of veggie stock to brew on the stove then decided to have it out with my recalcitrant oven once and for all: I wanted bread and was determined to get it.
The oven and I have now reached an understanding... It's far from perfect, but with stubbornness and science I have made it functional. Bread has never been so rewarding!
Bread and stock cooling, laundry done, dishes washed, the back path swept clean of about 2 years of debris (have I mentioned that the previous occupants were evidently allergic to cleaning) and my moving boxes finally flattened and laid out over the weediest garden beds I headed off to the Market to re-stock my rather sad fridge.
I really enjoyed wandering the market on my own, camera in hand, chatting to the stall holders. Some I know (like local pseudo-celebrity and Gourmet Farmer, Matt Evans), some I don't, but they're generally a friendly lot, especially when there's a fancy-looking camera near!
I bought my veggies and a couple of treats (some free-range ham from Matt, a little marinated chevre, a rather good gluten-free cookie) then headed home for lunch - a fresh-bread sandwich made with my market goodies and a green tomato chutney I made on Wednesday) - via dropping in on the lovely Kat, who these days lives just around the corner.
It's one of the things I'm loving about living here: Kat's so close by we keep each other company (we're both living alone). Last night she came around for hot chocolates in front of the fire and I'm always dropping by for a coffee and a catch-up. Kat reminded me that I'd promised myself I'd go for a walk on the mountain this weekend, goading me into getting out there instead of getting caught up in the endless list of things that need doing around here.
That's the down-side to the Cottage. I took the place on because I could see the great potential it has, but that potential requires work to be realised! Slowly but surely I'm getting there - the house is cleaner (but not yet clean), the gardens are neater, the mice are fewer (4 down now) - but it's going to take a while yet. The trick is to balance the Cottaging efforts with the rest of my life. So at 3 pm I took a break from the housework, grabbed the camera, pulled on my boots and headed for the Mountain.
It poured with rain on Friday, bucketing down (my friend Brad and I getting utterly soaked on our way to a delightful post-work dinner), so my walk today really had to feature a waterfall. I chose New Town Falls; I hadn't been there for a while and it was a sensible choice for the day, despite not being a favourite:
It was utterly lovely to be out on the Mountain. I have missed it so much! Despite being a little sore after lugging a tonne of firewood yesterday afternoon and stacking it in the little space under the house I made it up the steep parts of the track with no real trouble, then tentatively worked my way down the long steep descent down the fire trails. Both the knee and hip I injured back in January (that have caused trouble for months) held out despite the steep terrain! They're not perfect - I can still feel a little swelling and instability - and I won't be tackling Cathedral Rock again any time soon, but I think I'm finally healed enough to get weekly walks happening again. Hooray!
Home again on dusk, in time to light the fire and cook up a vat of chickpea masala. Yes, Sunday night curries are back!
Now I've accidentally stayed up too late processing the day's photos and writing this entry, but it was a lovely and productive day. The way my Sundays used to be before life went a bit pear-shaped. I like my life this way. Let's see what next Sunday brings!
[1] I keep composing entires in my head to explain the last few months, but I'm not sure it's possible really. Just that it took all my energy just to keep my head above water and not let myself get overwhelmed by everything that was going on (both in and out of my head). There was the chronic sleep disruption, the return of emotions, high drama at work (both at the team and corporate scales), injuries and illness, moving house, a car accident and a thousand other tiny triumphs and disasters. But finally I'm reclaiming my equilibrium and feeling a bit more proactive and in control again.
I woke up long before the crack of dawn at 4:30 am and gave up on sleep entirely at 6, getting up and getting on with the (still dark) day. This happens occasionally; it's like my body and brain hit the re-set button and I wake up early stuck on go. I conducted my breakfast experiment, set a pot of veggie stock to brew on the stove then decided to have it out with my recalcitrant oven once and for all: I wanted bread and was determined to get it.
The oven and I have now reached an understanding... It's far from perfect, but with stubbornness and science I have made it functional. Bread has never been so rewarding!
Bread and stock cooling, laundry done, dishes washed, the back path swept clean of about 2 years of debris (have I mentioned that the previous occupants were evidently allergic to cleaning) and my moving boxes finally flattened and laid out over the weediest garden beds I headed off to the Market to re-stock my rather sad fridge.
I really enjoyed wandering the market on my own, camera in hand, chatting to the stall holders. Some I know (like local pseudo-celebrity and Gourmet Farmer, Matt Evans), some I don't, but they're generally a friendly lot, especially when there's a fancy-looking camera near!
I bought my veggies and a couple of treats (some free-range ham from Matt, a little marinated chevre, a rather good gluten-free cookie) then headed home for lunch - a fresh-bread sandwich made with my market goodies and a green tomato chutney I made on Wednesday) - via dropping in on the lovely Kat, who these days lives just around the corner.
It's one of the things I'm loving about living here: Kat's so close by we keep each other company (we're both living alone). Last night she came around for hot chocolates in front of the fire and I'm always dropping by for a coffee and a catch-up. Kat reminded me that I'd promised myself I'd go for a walk on the mountain this weekend, goading me into getting out there instead of getting caught up in the endless list of things that need doing around here.
That's the down-side to the Cottage. I took the place on because I could see the great potential it has, but that potential requires work to be realised! Slowly but surely I'm getting there - the house is cleaner (but not yet clean), the gardens are neater, the mice are fewer (4 down now) - but it's going to take a while yet. The trick is to balance the Cottaging efforts with the rest of my life. So at 3 pm I took a break from the housework, grabbed the camera, pulled on my boots and headed for the Mountain.
It poured with rain on Friday, bucketing down (my friend Brad and I getting utterly soaked on our way to a delightful post-work dinner), so my walk today really had to feature a waterfall. I chose New Town Falls; I hadn't been there for a while and it was a sensible choice for the day, despite not being a favourite:
- It's the closest waterfall to where I now live
- It was sheltered from the prevailing wind today
- The dry, rocky soils on that side of the Mountain meant it would be one of the few waterfall tracks that wouldn't be a leech-infested mire
- it's a 2 hour circuit, which was just about all the sunlight I had left
It was utterly lovely to be out on the Mountain. I have missed it so much! Despite being a little sore after lugging a tonne of firewood yesterday afternoon and stacking it in the little space under the house I made it up the steep parts of the track with no real trouble, then tentatively worked my way down the long steep descent down the fire trails. Both the knee and hip I injured back in January (that have caused trouble for months) held out despite the steep terrain! They're not perfect - I can still feel a little swelling and instability - and I won't be tackling Cathedral Rock again any time soon, but I think I'm finally healed enough to get weekly walks happening again. Hooray!
Home again on dusk, in time to light the fire and cook up a vat of chickpea masala. Yes, Sunday night curries are back!
Now I've accidentally stayed up too late processing the day's photos and writing this entry, but it was a lovely and productive day. The way my Sundays used to be before life went a bit pear-shaped. I like my life this way. Let's see what next Sunday brings!
[1] I keep composing entires in my head to explain the last few months, but I'm not sure it's possible really. Just that it took all my energy just to keep my head above water and not let myself get overwhelmed by everything that was going on (both in and out of my head). There was the chronic sleep disruption, the return of emotions, high drama at work (both at the team and corporate scales), injuries and illness, moving house, a car accident and a thousand other tiny triumphs and disasters. But finally I'm reclaiming my equilibrium and feeling a bit more proactive and in control again.
