I don’t know, my mind just goes nuts as soon as I want
to sleep! Would you believe I had more of those bright ideas? Rose showed me
some crafting thing she was introduced to a long time ago, it’s similar to ‘knüpfen’,
which is a type of knotting, where you basically knot strands of wool to make
either wall hangings or carpets. Her crafting group was using old clothes,
cutting strands from them. I could use the old duvet covers, dye them and make
a carpet – as long as the material I use can all be washed at the same
temperature ... Or I could cut longer strips and actually weave a carpet.
On tiled floor, in winter, some sort of carpeting
becomes essential! I remember in the flat where I stayed before I first moved
to East London, I’d have a mat under my feet plus socks in warm shoes – and could
still feel the cold floor on my feet when I sat at the desk! But tiles are the
easiest to keep clean – carpets are a nightmare! Wooden floors are a good
compromise, but expensive. Especially when you don’t want to risk splinters!
Another idea came from a childhood ‘toy’ – it was
called something like a lacquer deco. It got lost in one of the many moves.
Basically it was malleable wire strips, which you’d shape around a form,
something like flower petals or such, but always so it’s a closed loop. Then
you dip that ‘loop’ into coloured lacquer, let it dry and you’d have coloured
petals. Twist the stems together to make a flower. Or, instead of lacquer, you
could tie dyed pantyhose over the loop. But I could think of no practical use
for that idea … which kept me thinking for quite a while before I gave up!
And then, of course, there’s Makramee! The art of
knotting yarn into mostly wall-hangings, but you can also make string bags or
flower pot hangers with it.
Notice how my whole outlook, my whole way of thinking
is changing? Adapting to the new life ahead? With no more long distance moves
in my future, it’s a completely different paradigm – instead of minimizing my
hoard, I shift towards ‘using’ what I have to beautify my home.
In a way it’s a step backwards, as I was in a similar
mind-set when I first started this job. I bought furniture, which I stained
myself – it was a start. I continued, to some extent, in East London – and then
I ‘discovered’ East London itself! And started exploring, hiking, beach-walks,
driving around the Easter Cape, researching it’s history and it’s architecture.
The interlude back in Pretoria was mostly about recovering from the armed
robbery – not so much personally, since I got over the trauma fairly quickly
thanks to the experience I gained the first time, but financially, and all the
data on those hard drives, I lost! I also started a bit of gardening on the
balcony. And PE has been all about gardening and cats! No regrets, I’ve loved
it all! Well, except Pretoria.
Pretoria holds far too many bad memories, and far too
many graves for me. So I really need to work at not getting depressed that I’m
going back to the one town I’ve spent most of my energy on trying to escape! I’ve
really got to work at finding a good spin on the situation – so good, that I
believe it, myself! Ha Ha, in a way, I’m selling myself a trip to hell in such
a way that I look forward to the trip! Well, not quite hell, just my private
one. At least I’ve outgrown the peer-thing. I’m quite happy by myself, I no
longer ‘need’ to have friends. Friends are welcome, but not a necessity. Work
provides all the human interaction I need.
So, with my head doing the midnight marathon – or should
I call it thinkathon? – I woke up late again this morning. Sigh. Ziva woke me
up, since it was time the door was opened for her. Clever girl! I got caught up
with the online game, I’m afraid, and it was nearly noon before I made myself
breakfast.
Then I sat down to write this, after which I went into
the garden, collecting seeds to clear my mind. Mewthos and Ziva were in
roly-poly rub-my-tummy mood – first Ziva, and when Mewly showed up, she stalked
off in disgust. Well, she had already had a session with Rose just before I
came down. And Mewly is such an insistent cuddler – who can resist? He came
last night as well rolling over and over when I scratched his tummy! He did his talking purr again, that’s how
happy he was!
Back upstairs I washed the dishes and Lady Jane did
her ‘surprise appearance’ act again! One minute she’s in the garden, then I
turn around and nearly step on her! For some reason she ALWAYS wants attention
when I’m washing dishes, lately! As I was carrying her on my shoulder, I
thought: Lady Jane would LOVE me to do Makramee! Ha ha ha, can you imagine?
Dangly white strings? She’ll be in heaven!
I’m not feeling up to much today, still that drain of
my energy. I don’t have it in me to do any packing today, though I should.
Tomorrow I want to go get those socks and ID photos. It’ll be tricky getting
away, though, since I don’t want to walk around an hour again, so either keep
the Mips in an hour longer, then trick them with a treat or hope they come in
around nine and I can trick them with a treat and get away.
I’m chopping the celery for my dinner when Mewly come
mew-mew-mew-sirening under my feet. I pick him up, he purrs … and carries on
mewling! He is the only cat I know who complains and purrs at the same time!
What a goofball! The two of them are tearing around the lounge as if their paws
are on fire! It’s such a pleasure to watch them!
I considered taking another steak out of the freezer,
but then decided to use up the last veggies while they’re still fresh. Well,
sort of fresh, anyway. I’m just trying to decide what I want to do with the
rest of the carrots. Hmmm, maybe dice them and give them a quick fry with the
potatoes?
Okay, dinner just turned exotic! And when I say ‘exotic’
I actually mean weird, ha ha! I did the above, then chopped some anchovies in
for salt … and when I put them away, saw the ginger. Yeah, I had some pickled
ginger – can’t take it with me, so I did a taste-try: put a piece of each
ingredient on a fork, added a slice of ginger and tried it. It actually tasted
quite … well, I like it! Yes, really!
Oh crap, I just got a notification that Load Shedding
Stage 1 is in effect. Apparently has been since noon today! I can’t find our
suburb on the website, so I can only hope it means we won’t be affected. I
called Rose to let her know as well, if she had known, she would have called
me. But seriously, this is unbelievable! Sometimes I ask myself why not just
leave? But then again, every country has its own problems – and bonuses! Africa
is in my blood – I couldn’t be happy anywhere else! Crime, corruption and all.
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