Day 18 and gardening

After 3 days of rain, snow, fog, and cold, it is spring again. The temperature was not officially very warm, but the sun was heating more than ever. So it was in this very nice afternoon that I made my first steps to gardening.

I went first to do groceries, and I needed quite a lot as I didn’t buy anything for two weeks. The town was empty… After advising social distancing mid-March, the Governor made a stay-at-home executive order 5 days ago, and people are taking extra precautions. Most of the shops are actually closed, or propose online shopping in addition to no-contact free delivery. The community is actually continuing to surprise me: there is a lot going on to help at all levels: extra help for home-schooling from the teachers, meals distributed, masks and gears sewed by small hands at home or produced by local outdoor sport gears companies who rethink their production lines, award nominations on the social media to support the new heroes, furnitures and cloths that would have been sold a month ago but are now given free to those who have lost their job, houses that would be rent but are provided free to first line workers to avoid them to commute (and this happened long before yesterday’s suspension of lodging activities in the state)…. it is just extraordinary how the human being can show resources and empathy in times of crisis….

Well, I went to town…. I found all what I needed except a thermometer. Hopefully I won’t need any! but I found a bicycle pump, few pots, plus I bought a pot of lavender and a small Gerbera. And that’s how I probably get inspired to plant the seeds I bought some days ago!

  • Celeri, Garlic
  • Seeds and avocado
  • Thym, romarin, minthe, sweet basil, tomatoes, peppers, chilis, squash, among others!

The furnace was down

The furnace went down Sunday evening.

Monday: Bad luck, especially because in spite of having felt a bit of spring last Sunday, it is back to be winter again – it was snowing all day, and without heater, the house went down to 8 degrees C this evening… luckily I have a fire place, and I took the car for a ride to buy wood before night (it has been 4 days since I took the car out!). And I had a special e-dinner tonight, so I needed to get prepared! The landlord came, but couldn’t identify the issue. The caretaker of my landlord came, but had no clue either. They called the repairman who said he would come tomorrow afternoon. I prepared a cosy bed for tonight!

Tuesday: I had to go buy some wood again. I was working in front of the fire place, I was eating in front of the fire place, I am reading in front of the fire place, and soon I may be sleeping in front of the fire place! I also made some gardening and collected small wood from the field. The repairman didn’t come. Did I mention that I also had no warm water? And that the water comes directly from the well…cold!!? I hope that tomorrow will be more successful…

Wednesday early morning: Cold morning. Shower with a bassin in the tub. I feel like I am in a chalet house in the mountain…. Unfortunately not on holiday! Small headache… am I alright? Without panicking I really think this has gone too far. Working remotely in a cold house is not sustainable. I shall be firm in my next text to the landlord.

Wednesday late afternoon: Yes! Mr. Repairman came, it seems that he had to « only » clean extensively like a usual servicing! Strange and scary as this looked like just carbon that built up, but I am happy that it is fixed! Good evening everyone!

E-dinner

I had my first official e-dinner tonight. It was part of an art project, and that’s probably why I felt involved and comitted. But it was also kind of weird, especially because they were in Australia, basically taken their mid-morning break when I was dinning. It took me some time before I could feel relaxed…

This was a special dinner because they were my neighbours in Singapore but we never found time to set a dinner at that time. COVID19 made us reunite. In addition, I invited them to join me in front of the fireplace: I don’t have heater since yesterday evening and it is the only place where I feel warm! (It was snowing all day – to tell you how cold it is now! But this will be the next post!).

Thank you for having me for dinner!

Meals – day 11

Staying home means that I need to eat at home – and alone. I have more access to the kitchen, so I better cook some healthy meals that I super enjoy. I sometimes think I will get bored and end up ordering from a restaurant (I was craving for Indian food few days ago and I know that a nice restaurant is doing free « no contact » deliveries on the island… ). But this has not happened yet. I alternate between rice, home made pizza, and all kind of salads; and I even discovered a great recipe with raw fennel. I am going on with my vegan-with-cheese diet, coming also slowly back to intermittent fasting – but this for another post…

  • fresh fennel cut in slices, red onions, avocado, lettuce, blue cheese, and maybe next time pomelo if I can,
  • Rice cooked in the wok with brocoli, carrots, onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, chili, salt and pepper
  • Bruxelles sprouts boiled with carrots, onions and garlic in turmeric and chili
  • Red cabbage salad with shallots, apples, raisins, walnuts, sunflower seeds, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper
  • Boiled baby potatoes
  • green salad with avocado, cucumber, red onions, tomato, sunflowers and chia seeds…

Bon appetit!

And because I would love to eat from my own garden, I talked to a local nursery and just got a starter kit to begin growing things…(ordered in advance on the phone and collected under the porch – no contact purchase!). I am looking forward to it – for sure I’ll let you know!

Apprivoisement*

Today I listened to the nature around me. I mean, it is the first time that I could sit outside on the terrace for more than 5 min without freezing! It was 7 degrees Celsius but a bright and warm sun that warmed so much that I took out for the first time the outdoor chair and listened….

Birds were suddenly all around And no further than 20 meters from me. Singing, flying, discussing. Through my binoculars I could identify at least 4 main species, apart from sparrows: a grey, a brown, a blue and a red! I didn’t manage to get nice personal pictures, so here are they from the web:

– dark-eyed Junco, who was firt totally invisible in the trees but had a very strong song, so I could spot him;

– an entire family of blue jay, gathering for half an hour or so and then disappearing completely;

– my friend the pileated woodpecker, a familiar one who is always there on the same tree when I go at work in the morning usually. I recorded his song this winter;

– Three robins, walking on the ground, looking for worms obviously. They were much bigger than the European robins I am used to see, about the size of pigeons.

The best was when I finally decided to lie on the chair and close my eyes. It was calm but birdly noisy at the same time, warm but fresh from a very light brise, all together telling you that spring is just at the corner…. And when I opened my eyes again this bright light and blue vision dazzling me…. Spring!

*Taming in french

Good morning (2)

Yesterday I was thinking of beginning to make the garden, asking to my colleagues at the end of our video conference which kind of plants would be easy to pick, which nursery to buy from etc.

Today it is snowing! Not much but no wonder the nurseries are still closed, and everybody told me to wait for a while… I just thought the snow would not stay and pass like rain. But we got a wonderful white cotton field this morning…. the garden will wait a bit!

And maybe I can ask Mr and Mrs Jo some advices too!!

7 in the morning

Food to enjoy

It is better to enjoy the food if you stay home, and to enjoy to make the food too! I made few dishes over these days, so that I am no really tired or bored about eating – one of the good reasons to eat chips or other snacks otherwise…

So here it is:

  • A soup, as usual, with tons of good things: carrots, potatoes, parsnips, kale, turnips, brocoli, egg plants, onions, garlic, 3 cloves, salt and pepper.
  • Quinoa salad, with tomatoes, spring onions, acorn squash, feta, raisins, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and chia seeds. Another day I added avocado too.
  • Boiled leeks in olive oil with salt and pepper.
  • Red cabbage salad, with shallots, orange, old cheddar cheese, sunflower seeds, red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
  • Chick peas pot cooked with onions and garlic fried together first with salt, pepper and curry powder.
  • Apple tart with few blackberries and ripe and wrinkled apples. The apples were cut and mixed with raw sugar and cinnamon in lemon juice before placing them in the mould over the dough.

Trying to stay « vegan with cheese »…hem, flexitarianist in fact!

Day 4

It’s been four days that I had no direct contact with anybody. And no direct conversation other than teleconference or Skype. It is just strange…. I will need to make a tour at the supermarket soon and I am actually looking forward to it.

The weather was extremely nice. The light was bright, the sun was shining, no clouds, just a tiny bit of wind…. spring sensations!

I went by the sea. That was great! The water was strong, intense, blue, the tide went down, and each wave produced a loud deep sound on the rocks. The cormorants were playing in the sea, in a group of about 15, swimming and diving all at once, like in a ballet. They are obviously not following the rules of social distance !

I was not the only one on the trail, everyone enjoying the sun and the opportunity to be outside, at a reasonable distance one from another. What a strange feeling…

Spring ?

The weather is rather warm these days oscillating between -3 and +8 degrees Celcius. We also just change the time in our time zone, and it feels like we are more in harmony with our environment.

Ideal for social distancing!

And as a matter of fact, it seems like Mother Nature feels like it is close to spring: the water is melting, trails are quite unstable and muddy, birds are coming out, singing and flying happily, owls are hooting, beavers are pretty active too, and even the trees are budding! I don’t know where this will go but snow is planned for next week….I’ll keep you updated!