anyresemblance

Did you miss me?

It's a public holiday today for Reconciliation Day, a holiday peculiar to our state but which marks the beginning of National Sorry Week so one I am happy to have.  It is also kind of nice to share a public holiday with some northern hemisphere ones and feel some long weekend stuff I read makes sense to our own situation.

I had a very successful work year in financial results last year and have won a sales award which means me and a person of my choosing (oldest daughter) are headed for an all expenses trip to Miami next week.  The fact that I was in Orlando for a work event two weeks ago means it is not quite as exciting but at least I got to test out the weather (hot) and be more rational in my packing.

This is my second trip to Miami (and the kid has been there in the past also) but I am pretty excited to have a glam time on South Beach especially as a mini break from winter.  Youngest daughter got a healthy injection of cash to enable her and her boyfriend to have a holiday in Thailand so we are all winners.

My health has improved enormously in the past year.  My knee is way better and I walk without a limp, the breathlessness which I was convinced was the residue of the pulmonary embolism has gone and I am sleeping quite well.  Fingers crossed it continues to get better as being low level not well is a miserable side effect of age.

I'm seriously considering if I should shutter this blog as for some reason I have a paid typepad subscription (and no option to downgrade) and I am convinced type pad's days are numbered.  I'm thinking of switching to Substack but everyone there seems to have a theme and I am not very theme focused.  Rambling and erratic is probably more my vibe.

 

Is this thing still on

It's been a while (frankly too tedious to enumerate why I have not been writing) but today was the first day when I felt like myself in a while so let's try an easy list.

1. Cooking: rather obsessed with Ramadan recipe Tik Tok and am craving crunchy fatoush salads, also cafe de Paris butter is the bomb
2. Watching: Bosch Legacy as have zero attention span for anything harder
3. Listening: fascinating Ezra Pound episode on the declining population growth and listened with interest to Caitlyn Collins talking about intensive parenting vs work devotion
4. Missing: my sister.  She has had a giant loss and it is her birthday today and I wish I were there with her
5. Enjoying: the onset of autumn weather - the nights are cooler but the days are still balmy
6. Baking: quiche! I had a couple of weeks in the UK last month and everyone (except ganching) served me quiche.  I had forgotten what a staple of middle class Britons so I hauled out Delia Smith to make one with courgettes and cheese and it is delicious.
7. Reading: slowly.  I really liked Green Dot after a slow start.
8. Collecting: I have developed a small obsession for pottery birds and after visiting Rye Pottery with my pal above, I found a delightful little robin on eBay.
9. Hoping: that a work trip to Paris in June comes off but the timing is looking tricky.  I was envying people at the Rothko exhibition (unfortunately closes in April) and then realised there is a really great little Rothko collection in the NGA here that I ought to go and look at.
10. Buying: shoes! I bought a pair of shoes for a funeral and realised I am ready to balance out wearing trainers (which I have done every day for three years) with some proper shoes.

 

That's enough for now.

Emerging stocktake

 

1. Puzzling: over my health. My cardiologist says "you are a puzzle but luckily I love a puzzle".  All tests are ok but still the swelling in my foot and ankle and still the breathlessness and the slight vertigo.  I have two Pulmonary Embolisms in my lungs and am on medication to prevent formation of any more.  The ones that are there should dissolve over the next few months.  It sounds alarming and can be life threatening when undiagnosed but I was diagnosed and my life continues.  On the plus side, there is no reason why I can not fly as long as I continue on blood thinners and take all the usual precautions.   
2. Discovering: Ted Lasso, I know I am late but have been watching it this over the past couple of weeks and find myself delighted by it. Can't wait for Season 3.
3. Baking: eclairs.  I was inspired by Celebrity Bake Off and made some excellent choux which I filled with creme pat.  I love a custard filling.
4. Assembling: salads as it has been unspeakably hot.  My current favourite is teeny tiny chop like those Persian salads with tomato and cucumber.
5. Watching: The Last of Us.  Oof, every episode hits somewhere.  I am loving the slow burn of an episode a week.  I still haven't finished Happy Valley as the streaming service is so pants.
6. Organising: my home office.  I bought another Ikea desk for $50 off marketplace as I feel my desk was over crowded and I want to get a big monitor as well.  I manhandled it with the help of my neighbours but I am still not convinced I have the right configuration.  I'll get there.
7. Anticipating: the arrival of my sister and her husband.  She is currently in Perth but comes here in ten days.  I've seen her lots in the interim but I think it is nearly 10 years since she was visited me.  I am taking a week off work and planning outings.
8. Drinking: tea, water and am trying some no alcohol beers for socialising.  This one is not bad.
9. Listening: lots of podcasts.  I really liked the You're Wrong About episode about Napster and early days of file sharing. 
10. Loving: Rihanna at the Super Bowl and her take no prisoners, zero fucks.  She really does not care about wanting people to love her and I love her for her lack of neediness.  By the way, I did see her live more than a decade about and she was a shockingly flat singer but I actually don't care.

 

 

Still afflicted

Tedious and dull and hard to get a full breath but my lovely daughter has arranged to work from home and it is nice to have company and lie on the sofa.  Maddeningly, Binge, the streaming service showing Happy Valley keeps crashing so I have had to give up for a bit and have started watching Redemption on BritBox.

Last night I read Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day which I can't believe I have never read.  I found it utterly charming, like PG Wodehouse mixed with an Astaire movie.  I see there is a movie with Frances McDormand which I now must seek out.

The cats are enjoying my enforced rest and are loafing with me.

Modern medicine

I've had a week of it, specialists and specialist scans and finally a diagnosis of what ails me and scary medical terms which I am assured are not as scary as they sound (too many episodes of hospital dramas) and a promise of something to make it feel better.  But unfortunately, I don't feel better, but maybe my expectation of "a few days" is different from the specialists?  Either way, I woke up Monday morning and thought "I can not work today" and am off for the week.  

I lay on the sofa and finished Lockwood and Co which I ended up really enjoying.  I am obsessed with the lead character's cobalt blue* wardrobe and spent some fruitless time looking for fashion sources.  As my daughter says, you love a fashion account.  Then I started watching Happy Valley Season 3 but after 3 episodes thought I needed some light relief and watched some cooking shows.  I plan to do much the same today.

*here is something I have never said.  Years ago, a friend gifted me a cobalt blue cowboy shirt with little bits of embroidery on it.  For some unfathomable reason, I gave it to this person and always secretly regretted it.  In fact, I still think about that shirt.

 

The rule of three

 

1. I drove my daughter to work this morning so she can save on parking but when we got there she had forgotten her laptop so had to drive home in the worst traffic which then meant I was late for an 8.30 meeting.
2. In my first batch of email was notification we had been unsuccessful in some work I was sure we were going to win.  The client left the agency suddenly and there was silence and then this.  Time kills deals.
3. I am losing my battle with my "no bad hair days" quest as I didn't have time to do more than screw it in a pony tail and then felt miserable on the video conference.

On the upside, I grabbed a really good coffee and a nice almond croissant, I saw a Labrador puppy and I finished two pieces of work that were hanging over me and turned out not to be that hard.

Post apocalyptic romance

Every so often, a piece of television comes along which is so moving and beautiful, you just want to watch it again and again.  I've got hooked on The Last of Us (possible spoilers) and if I tell you it is a quest during a post apocalyptic zombie world you might think that is not for you but actually it all about love.  Last night's episode (3) was the story of two older men finding each other during this time and their years together growing intimacy, bickering, tenderness.  It blew my mind to see love between middle aged men shown this way on screen.  At the end the Murray Bartlett character says something to the effect of I won't say every day was a gift from God but I would rather have spent these days with you than anyone else.  The pitch and the acting and the script are just wonderful.  I can't stop thinking about it. 

Sidenote: Linda Ronstadt on heavy rotation this morning.

Under the weather

It is rainy, hot and humid here, a rare combination for our inland and high altitude city.  It is vile and saps every ounce of energy out of me.  I have been sitting at my desk trying to do the tiniest of tasks and not concentrating at all.

However, it was a good weekend and here are ten things:

1. Finished painting S's apartment with the help of her dad who was super helpful and worked with speed
2. Went to see What's Love Got to do with it which as instantly forgettable but mildly entertaining.  Honestly, did not thing I had the mental fortitude for Tar right now
3. Eventually got the spinach pie to work and it was tasty
4. S made cauliflower tacos for dinner last night and they were delicious
5. Finally watched the Bake Off final where my favourite won but felt like everything is becoming about sculpture not flavour (noel has excellent knitwear)
6. Watched all four episodes of Poker Face which is hugely enjoyable and has a range of wonderful guest stars
7. Listening to the Caroline O'Donoghue podcast on Gilmore Girls and immediately commenced watching a couple of episodes from Season 5 which confirmed all her observations.  Rory is a terrible kisser!
8. Washed the dog as he decided to lie down in a smelly stream on Saturday but at least he is now sweetly scented
9. Got an amazing, if remarkably ugly, cushion thing off Amazon which really helps elevate my legs while in bed or on the sofa
10. Had a pedicure

 

What day of the week is it: episode 873

Yesterday's public holiday was on a Thursday and I booked today as leave but I am so behind so don't know whether to cancel my leave and just put my head down or keep my leave so at least I can do a number of errands without guilt between calls.  Also, that waking up and having no idea which day of the week it is has me struggling.

It was so hot last night in the house and despite a cool breeze coming through nothing seemed to come in through the screen.  I watched In Bruges for the first time and then a Jennifer Lawrence movie on Apple TV that creaked along and gave up after an hour.  I had a cool shower and cracked open the latest Garry Disher.  It wasn't my favourite and I would have decried the plot for being far fetched if it were not for that covid denier/sovereign rights shit playing out with tragic results in recent weeks.  He is such a great writer and I will always read his books. 

Charlie is home from his farm stay and we walked along the Foreshore this morning and met our favourite psychiatrist and border collie owner and her lovely dog who we have known for nearly a decade.  It is always a calming experience talking to her.  She told me she has her own dog classified as a therapy dog so she can take her to work everywhere.  I love her imperfections (the dog, not the medic) - when a motorcycle when by, she has to be held as she has a camp dog predilection to despise motor cyclists and chase at their heels.