Tuesday 14 April

The chilly days continue, which is nice. It’s also a bit soggy which is making everything grow like mad and highlighting the urgency of getting into the garden to tame the weeds, sow seeds and sort out new garden beds before everything turns into a forest out there.

Breakfast was two crumpets with honey and a big cup of tea at 7am. Also, the cats are not impressed with the end of daylight savings and are banging on my door in the mornings at a very ungodly hour. Sigh. Still. I do like waking up early, in the dark, and watching the lights slowly turn on in the neighbourhood as I make my cup of tea. It’s super peaceful, isn’t it?

After breakfast I got dressed, put on some rice (I want to make fried rice for dinner, so will whack it in the fridge when it’s cooked) and sat down to post the last episode of Dailies and begin this one.

Getting dressed (garden edition): Old red track pants, op shopped black skivvy, grey socks, Merry People pink Bobby boots, old purple jumper … so chic not.

Yesterday I met Rin and June at the library. June was very surprised and delighted to see me, tucking her little chin into her shoulder, peering at me sideways and then breaking out in a very sweet smile. She and I spent twenty minutes or so in the kids’ section reading board books and waving/smiling at the other young patrons, June only realising mum had gone once she returned with her bag of shopping. After that we parted ways and I went to the supermarket for supplies (one packet of crumpets, two tins of tomato soup, three cans of cat food, a packet of lolly snakes, a packet of jasmine rice, a carton of milk), then came home to rest because I’d been awake half the night with nightmares that made me feel super queasy. Thank goodness for the wholesome interlude with the little family because it reset things in the nicest way.

Mid-morning I sowed a bunch of seeds into trays of various descriptions. They were: sweet peas, nigella, hollyhocks, poppies, kale, French market carrots, dill, cauliflower, broccoli. Hopefully they will get their wriggle on and start sprouting now that the weather is much more conducive. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed. And also … look at these surprise cosmos doing their thing … I sprinkled some mixed flower seeds here ages ago and they’ve taken off and crept into the lawn, even.

Wednesday 15 April

Peanut butter crumpets, friends. Plus a big cup of Yorkshire tea to start the day. Cool again this morning and very dewy and green outdoors. I’m hoping to get into the garden today as the rain seems to be holding off … all dependent on pain and energy levels, of course. I’m craving a Thai Beef Salad dinner, so I might nip to the market for supplies in a little while … or I might talk myself out of it due to a) preserving energy for garden and/or b) worries about it being too peopley. Sigh. Actually I’m craving the beef with the dressing and rice, so I might just make a bowl with those things and some fresh mint, sliced cherry tomatoes, avocado, cucumber and grated carrot. That feels perfect to me.

I’m in the midst of a crash which means all the usual crap feels, along with uveitis and a rosacea flare up. So annoying, friends, but I will not let it beat me down. I’ve never had rosacea before. Only since ME/CFS happened upon me five or six years ago. It’s so strange to have a totally new complaint as a side effect of another illness. And by strange I mean annoying! But onward we go …

I started a new audiobook yesterday after setting aside one that was not really sticking. It’s How To Read a Book by Monica Wood and I listened along while I made three granny squares and enjoyed both very much.

Op shopped books (and QUILT!) from this week

A tiny spider has been living between my closed bedroom window and the flyscreen since yesterday, in a sort of domestic diorama. Today, I opened the window a crack in the hopes that it would escape, but I think I just terrified it as it scuttled away. I’m hoping it will scramble free of its prison very soon and also hoping it avoids me, moving forward. (Edit: Spider has emerged from hiding place but is still hanging out in the between window and flyscreen void and appears to be staring at me with its many eyes.)

Getting dressed: Old op shopped Kmart jeans, pink Yale sweatshirt (also op shopped), grey crew socks, pink Converse Chuck Taylors (old!)

I started a bonnet for June yesterday, but did not get very far with it, so perhaps today will be the day for better progress on that. (Using this pattern.) I also started watching Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix (very late to the party and spent way too much time googling ‘Roswell New Mexico’ and trying to make sense of a story I figured was for Reddit conspiracy theorists. There’s a recent documentary about another non-earthly encounter in Melbourne on the ABC at the moment, so I am tucking that up my sleeve to watch later.

(As you can see, my promise to sew the granny square ends in as I went has come to nothing! I vow to sew all these ones up before I make anymore though. Solemnly.)

… Reader I DID go to the market. I picked up a bunch of things: a piece of rump steak, a leg of lamb, two avocadoes, a tub of cherry tomatoes, three limes, a kilo of sebago potatoes, a bag of carrots, a cucumber, a red onion, a loaf of Irrewarra seeded bread, a packet of fried tofu, a packet of soba noodles, a bunch of mint, a bunch of coriander. Then I nipped back home again and rested for a couple of hours due to pain and fatigue. Hopefully I will rally a bit later and can do some outdoorsish things?

“The unreliable narrator is every narrator; and everyone is a narrator at some time or other. The truth is that we can’t help telling what happened to us, however we package it up: a gossip, a bitch, a book.” – Ella Risbridger

Good things

“Yet more reasons to look on the bright side.”
A missive about my favourite – cheese on toast!
Last week’s edition of my weekly newsletter Feeling A Bit Sh*t.
Ten simple garden-inspired mocktails.
Gentle nature hobbies to try this year.
This Nathalie Lete collection is very gorgeous.

Somewhere in here I bought a Cinnamon Scroll and a Kouign Amann to take over to Rin’s house. They’re from a new bakery on Sydney Road called Simply Mike’s.

Thursday 16 April

Avocado on Irrewarra seeded toast for breakfast this morning, with a slosh of this chilli sauce and a big cup of Yorkshire tea. It all was delicious. Looks like a gorgeous day out there too. I am going out for an hour or two with the kids this morning, and everything is on track for a lovely morning, I think.

I watched a couple of gentle YouTube videos while I dried my hair and got sorted for the day.

I managed to do a bit of weeding and whipper snipping yesterday, so I’m super pleased to have made a tiny dent in the gardening work. I also tidied up my geranium pots and pulled out the aging silver beet and their gnarly roots, the now-fried tomato plants and some dried out cornflowers, ready to start afresh. Progress!

I also kept going down the unexplained phenomenon rabbit hole yesterday, watching Encounters on Netflix. So weird and fascinating. Then I watched the Australian Story episode about the Westall UFO sightings. You know, I was obsessed with ideas of UFOs, fairies, ghosts and all the mystery and cultural stories attached to Ancient Egyptian history when I was a kid. Perhaps there is something healing in returning to these themes as an adult? Now I want to revisit the Cottingley fairy hoax, which I refused to believe was fakery as a young person. We all need more magic in our lives at times like this, I think. There’s a comfort in submitting to the unexplained.

Getting dressed: New ASOS jeans, old pink Yale sweatshirt, silver Birkenstocks

(I finished Hannah Richell’s The River Home this week. It was really good!)

I was too tired to make the steak bowls last night, so I’m going to try and make them tonight instead. I could do with the nutritional pick-me-up and I’m craving that zingy dressing too. The version I make is based on a Jill Dupleix recipe:

Thai Beef Salad Dressing

In a blender, whizz up …
4 tbsp of lime juice
2 tbsp of fish sauce
2 tbsp of soy sauce
3 tbsp of sugar
1 finely chopped red chilli
1 crushed clove of garlic
2 tbsp of neutral oil
Taste and then adjust flavour to your liking.

Thai Beef Salad bowl

Monday 20 April

Rin and June and I are going to the zoo today! They bought a membership in an effort to visit more often, so today I am tagging along on our own little Girls and Animals Day!

Getting dressed: ASOS jeans, blue and white striped thermal long sleeved tee, green spotty socks, red cardigan from the op shop, Blundstone boots.

It’s very chilly this morning, but I think it’s going to be a lovely day. It will be June’s second time at the zoo. She went for her birthday a few weeks ago. I haven’t been for at least ten years, so I’m excited to see what’s changed and especially excited to see the baby giraffe and the new baby snow leopards.

… Zoo morning was a success and the snow leopard cubs were even more adorable than I’d imagined. It was the perfect not-too-hot day and we wheeled June around the grounds, possibly even more excited by the animal exhibits than she was. The seals seem to be her favourite, so I bought here a little seal soft toy at the zoo shop and she kissed it and hugged it all the way home in the car. Perfection.

The zoo was full of a particularly lovely demographic … parents with small children, grandparents, extended family, mum friends, the folk who look after the grounds and animals. It felt special to around such an invested and interested bunch of people … so different to the more mysterious general public cohort outside the grounds. Adults and kids were so openly expressing their delight and softness. I highly recommend it if you’re keen to dip out of the real world for a little while.

Of course, a few hours of activity has taken the complete wind out of my sails, so I hopped into bed when I got home and rested, slept, medicated for the rest of the day. Hopefully I will be back up to speed in a day or two.

Tuesday 21 April

I finished Opal this morning (the cats woke me up at 5am!) and started a new book I saw posted on Instagram, so that was a good start to the day. I’m still feeling super knackered and pain-y, so I think a quick pharmacy trip and then home to recover is the order of the day. Perhaps a simple soup to advance my restoration too?

Wednesday 22 April

(I did not make the soup!)

Breakfast was Vegemite toast and a big cup of tea, followed by a couple of chapters of my new book Nemesis by Patricia Wolf. Then I got dressed and headed over to look after June for a little while Rin goes to the physio.

Getting dressed: Black smock dress from Saver’s (originally H&M), black leggings, brown Birkenstocks from Saver’s.

June and I popped into the op shop and chatted/read some stories/ate some snacks while her mum was busy. We bought a couple of board books too.

Still not feeling up to scratch so it was home to rest after that. Maybe tomorrow will be better?

Thursday 23 April

Still on the mend, so a quieter day is on the cards again. Paying the price for that zoo visit, but sometimes you have to do these things because to miss out would be too awful. I’m going to make something nice to eat today, do a little bit of low impact gardening and read, I think.

I watched Unchosen yesterday, which was quite good. A bit Handmaid’s Tale and a bit Keep Sweet and dark, a lot ‘suspend disbelief’ too. Still. Worth a watch, I think. It features some excellent actors and is interesting to look at.

I’ve become quite obsessed with two Instagram accounts this week. The first one is a man who picks up old bottles and makes them into gorgeous glass fish. The second is a man who is hoping to find a diamond on the ground and documents the little treasures he picks up. Perhaps you have been seeing them in your social media timeline too?

Breakfast today was Vegemite toast and tea and a watch of a couple of Ruth Aisling videos. Then some reading of Nemesis. Then a very hot shower, getting dressed and writing to you. So nice.

Getting dressed: Old Kmart jeans, pink Yale sweatshirt, brown Birkenstocks.

It’s going to be a lovely day here, I think, so hopefully I can rally a bit with some meds and some sunshine. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed, dear reader. Maybe it’s a soup day today? Perhaps? Will it be?!

Friday 24 April

Reader … it was FINALLY a soup day. I managed to hit up ALDI for supplies (pumpkin, potatoes, pet food, milk rolls, cream, milk, peppermint chocolate) and then came home to make a vat of pumpkin soup. I ate mine with two warmed sesame milk rolls (from ALDI) outside in the garden and it was perfection. I watched the latest episode of The Valley (a very rubbishy reality show which I like) and then crocheted three granny squares afterwards.

Today I’m still not feeling well. Really paying for those hours spent walking around VERY SLOWLY at the zoo. I don’t usually go on outings that are more than an hour or two, so four hours out of the house was clearly too much (but also was so lovely!)

I’m going to go and read June a story or two this morning, then come back home to rest and sit out in the back yard. Hopefully read some of my books too? I am also really enjoying listening to How To Read A Book in the car when I’m out and about. It’s so well written! I want to make some Anzac Biscuits too, but will see how the day pans out.

Getting dressed: ASOS jeans, ASOS checked dress, brown Birkenstocks

Breakfast this morning was Vegemite toast and a cup of tea, eaten while watching a gentle YouTube video. The sky is the bluest outside and I’m wish wish wishing I had the energy one day to drive down to a Gippsland beach and take it in away from the city and suburban clutter. I haven’t been to the beach since we left Tasmania. I’m a cooler days beach sort of person, growing up in and around Hobart means that those are the circumstances of my most treasured beachy memories. I really miss doing little trips with the kids to have those sorts of windy walks and cosy days. Hopefully I will be able to do that again one day. Is there anything more lovely than a blue sky Autumn beach day?

Pizza and rosé outdoors on a lovely Autumn day

Sunday 26 April

Hi. Hello. Hey! I started the day with a scorching hot shower, washed my hair and then got dressed and watered the garden. I planted 100 or so ranunculi corms yesterday (Bunnings and ALDI had them for cheap!), so I’m on baby corm duty from hereon in. I also did a bit of tidying up in the backyard and made some plans for extending the current garden bed. I want a yard full of flowers come Spring Summer so now is the time to prepare for that.

Getting dressed: Old Kmart jeans, denim shacket from Saver’s, brown Birkenstocks

Breakfast was … same same … Vegemite toast and a cup of tea. I washed all my bed linen yesterday but was too tired and pained to put it back on the bed. I’m going to do that this morning, friends. I know it is ridiculous to sleep on a linen-less bed, but sometimes we have to make these concessions, don’t we?

I made coffee after breakfast and sat down to watch a couple of videos and (loosely) plan the week ahead. Then Rin sent me a video of June saying “UP! UP!” and I watched that 128 times.

Yesterday was ANZAC Day in Australia, so it was a pretty quiet one. I woke up to the thudding of dozens of car doors in the very early morning darkness. We’re near the RSL (Returned Services League) so every ANZAC day nearby streets like ours fill up with the cars of servicefolk and their families. Later in the day I read a few chapters of Nemesis and a few chapters of The Secrets of the Huon Wren. I also watched a bit of telly, to round the day out nicely! And made Thai Basil Chicken with Peas for dinner. Yum.

I’m going to publish this Dailies before I get bogged down in other things, friends. Hoping you are doing as well as possible. Thanks for reading/skimming/tagging along with me. So nice of you.