What is the saying- Pride comes before a fall? Well I boasted about my flourishing balcony garden and the very next day when I went to pick some basil, horrors of horrors it had been chomped and decimated by voracious green caterpillars!
I try not to kill things but my inner Buddhist evaporated and I picked as many as I could see and squashed them vigorously! They are superbly camouflaged so I had to check the plant twice before I succeeded in removing them all. My basil is a sad shadow of its former glory and in social isolation now like me! Who would have thought that 6 floors up I would still have pests in the garden.
An exciting development( this is how desperate I have become,) is the completion of the sky train overpass across Toorak Road. No more railway crossing bells dinging, and traffic backed up because the train now goes over the road. It looks like a toy train from a train set. It seems to be quieter now ( well at the least we have no more dinging bells!) and I get a great view from my balcony which is how the toy train feeling started. I was going to rush down and go for a ride until I realised I am meant to stay home unless going to work! It can wait. I just wish the Tooronga road crossing had also been removed too. It cause such a bottle neck as well.
I have been irritated by a sore knee lately so I decided to stop the gym sessions and focus on Pilates. There is less knee action. Well I have completed two advanced classes this week and my thighs were so sore I couldn’t sleep until I took a nurafen last night. Using different muscles and an intense zoom session really reminded me every exercise regime has different demands! I enjoyed it and my knee didn’t hurt but oh! the thighs!
This week we commemorated Anzac Day in our own homes. There was a national broadcast from Canberra and people stood in their driveways to watch the sun come up. There were candles and flags draped over fences and balconies. It was a very different feel without the parades of veterans and armed forces, and yet I think it was still very respectful and less about the WAR and more about remembering those who lost their lives. Sometimes quiet events still have impact.
I finally got around to playing with the water colours. They are another medium that I really enjoyed but since moving to Acrylics I have lost my touch. Still using means improving and I expect I will get better. I had a conversation with a friend on Face time and showed them my very average effort. My friend identified the poplar tree( good) but her husband asked what was the cucumber in the corner? I had to laugh, because I had meant it to be a clump of trees but it just morphed into a big green patch. I have to hold back and let the paint dry! It was a disappointing outcome but it was also a learning exercise. It is the process which matters. I initially wanted to do something quite abstract but I struggle to let go of details!
Alfie has been endlessly entertaining and engaging during this social restrictions and I am very grateful for his company. He is a great excuse to go for a walk and also his devotion is very heartwarming. He barks at all the animals on TV and then when I don’t play games he lies with his head on his squeeze bone staring at me and talking to me with little growls.
I made a dash to Ziggy with some new books in a series about dragons that his Mum and Dad have become hooked on reading to him. It was so weird. I stand at the bottom of the steps and talk to them and exchange items by leaving them on the stairs but Ziggy came down and gave me a hug around the waist. That meant so much. He is writing little stories and illustrating them. They are very amusing. With Jonathan drawing characters for Uncle Gary’s s website and Ziggy writing, the family is getting quite literary. Gary has published a book for families dealing with obesity and has now started a website to complement the book.
That is it for this week. Life goes on, CoVid19 is being contained in Australia and New Zealand due to our governments’ strong action and hopefully a more normal life is not too far away.
Keep your distance, wash your hands and stay safe.
fleetfootkath 