August ...ing

I jinxed myself by stating how relaxed I felt after my break in France. I crashed back into reality with a bang, a hard landing. Iris is really not having a good time. I do worry so much. Life as a teenager is hard enough and life a transgender teenager is throwing up extra challenges for her. She is ready to talk though, and ready to accept support. Iris started college, which is an excellent distraction.

Anyway, a brief update on all things happening in August.

:: Listening to a new crime series. New to me that is, the first was published in 2003. It is the detective Karen Pirie series by Val McDermid, set in Scotland. The first in the series, The Distant Echo, had DS Karen Pirie appear only tangentially. We encounter her in a more active detecting role in A Darker Domain and she was promoted to DI in The Skeleton Road. I am a bit torn about the books, I do like a neat resolution, which you will not get with this series, at least not in the stories I listened to so far. The storytelling is good and I enjoyed it once I let go of the notion of this being a straightforward police procedural. I'll probably listen to the next book but will need a bit of a break. 

:: Ordering a million pakoras from Mother India for Richard's 60th Birthday party in a couple of weeks. Ok maybe not quite a million but an unbelievably large number. I ordered vegetable, fish and chicken pakoras, and threw in some vegetable samosas for good measure. 

:: Travelling to France - but you already know about that and I'll refer you to my previous post for details, and a future one for a round-up of my visit to the African wax fabric exhibition in Paris.

:: Planning more travelling, this time for work. From November onwards, I'll be on the road more than I like. Starting with Toronto, then London. In the new year, more destinations are on the menu. No teasers just yet, only for the trips already booked. 

:: Catching up with friends, in France and also here. I love my friends. We are all so busy, it is difficult to find opportunities to meet. A Sunday lunch with old friends here last weekend was planned back in May! And my meet up with two of my oldest friends in Switzerland has been in the planning since January.

:: Looking through the window in my office into my garden and thinking that it needed much more attention. Next year.

:: Instead I am focusing my outdoor work energy on volunteering. We are clearing rhododendron just now but in October, we’ll be digging a new pond right next to the existing newt pond up in the woods. We already extended the fencing to accommodate the new pond earlier in the year. It took some time to secure funding for the pond liner. 

:: Eating chanterelle mushroom and cream tagliatelle. The chanterelles are an annual highlight, foraged by a good friend. Also eating a delicious Sunday lunch inspired by Dishoom (an Indian restaurant in Glasgow) cooked by friends. Finally banana muffins. I am determined to use up all those ripe bananas in the freezer. 

:: Cooking simple meals, none really memorable. We have lots of courgettes at the moment and I like to make courgette fritters for lunch. Also cucumber salad with fresh dill. Iris and I like tofu and because nowadays, it is often just the two of us for dinner, we have variations on a tofu theme. Also just put a carnivore stew in the oven for dinner. And then neither teen bothered showing up. 

:: Sewing a dress and a simple blouse. I took photos so can write this up soon. I would like to make a plain linen short next, I bought a length of dark blue European linen in Paris for it. I don’t have a pattern for a classic shirt so need to find one that I like. 

:: Cursing the cat. Josie likes to torture her people during the night. We can’t win. If she is locked out of our bedroom, she meows miserably and scratches on the door. If she is in the bedroom, she meows miserably and scratches the door. If we leave the door open, Jack sneaks out and barks at imaginary foxes in the garden. And Josie still meows.

:: Being diagnosed with globus pharyngeus (“the feeling of an obstruction or lump in the throat when no physical mass is present”). This has been bothering me all summer and I had two GP appointments. The first an urgent video appointment because my hypochondriac inner demon was shouting. There were no red flags. The second was to have an examination and a chat. This is condition associated with anxiety and stress primarily. Well, I’ve had plenty of that since June. It is a reasonable diagnosis, all things considering and it is quite telling that I had no frog in my throat while living my best life in France. I have to learn not to swallow excessively when I feel it, and I need to take better care of myself. 

:: Treating myself to regular manicures, which is both relaxing and beautifying. See above. I couldn’t be bothered with my stick on gel nails anymore and I visit Two Coats on Hyndland Rd. I have a favourite nail technician now. I don’t know what this says about me…. But he is a magician, for sure, although he told me off for trimming my cuticles. I do this instead of biting nails, and I do it badly, sometimes I cut so deep I bleed. Anyway, I have the thinnest ever BIAB overlay and gel polish in beautiful colours. I am working through the different reds. 

:: Resisting the temptation to vandalise those ginormous SUV that people now seem to need for their weekly messages at Lidl. It is difficult to manoeuvre our small Honda Jazz into a spot between a Land Rover Defender and a Porsche Cayenne (and still be able to squeeze out of a barely open door). I guess they need a big boot for the Lidl-in-the-middle bargains and cases of cheap Prosecco. Definitely a pet peeve of mine. 

:: Feeling the pressure…  because the new terms is around the corner and I’ll have to do a whole year of teaching all over again with ~120 students on one course and ~ 8 on another. I am ready but it is daunting.

:: Also feeling full because I had a nice dinner. 

Thanks for visiting, as always 😊