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Need to Getaway

6 Nov

Maybe I need to get away from the usual routine and life. Stay away from golf and carving, and take out that bikini to wear to even out all the uneven golf tan lines.

I saw a sports doctor yesterday to evaluate the wrist. Thankfully it’s not what I thought initially – Avulsion Fracture and no necessity for an X-ray or MRI. Rather it’s a case of De Quervain’s stenosing tenosynovitis, inflammation of the tissue on the thumb side of the wrist. Commonly known as Wrist Tendinitis, it is due to overuse.

On top of over usage, it seems that Tendinitis is part and parcel with age, being the dinosaur that I am. Gee, as if I don’t have enough problems already what with the Infectious Collitis and Endometriosis diagnosed earlier in the year. I’m such a problematic dinosaur this year.

But with the weather so wonky these days and M2’s big exam looming closer each day, will we have time for a much needed escapade? Frankly, I don’t think it will be enjoyable with constant wet weather nor will there be ease of mind knowing what’s ahead for her.

It’s a good thing that today’s a public holiday and I am home taking a mini break as recommended by the doctor.

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A Colorful Bloom

2 Nov

I may not be a garden or plant person like hubby but I do appreciate a full bloom when I see one. Yesterday when he showed me this colorful air plant, I must say the heart did a funny flip albeit tiny. Still… a flip’s a flip.

Other times when hubby showed me little baby shoots coming out at the sides of a mummy air plant, honestly I don’t know what I am looking at. Likewise when I stand in front of his bromeliad collection, I can’t relate. I don’t know what I am looking at to appreciate. I’m pathetic…

But colors on a bloom, they are different and I can appreciate. So perhaps I am not that pathetic after all?

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Mounted on a piece of wood and hanging with a wire, this beauty is looking darn pretty!

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Thriving Garden

29 Oct

Although I am not a garden person, I am happy to say that our garden and plants are thriving despite the wonky weather that we are experiencing. Wonky in the sense that it’s either super hot or super wet.

The frangipani tree is all good, so are hubby’s collection of air plants and bromeliads. Even the staghorn ferns that he acquired are healthy.

The smaller ones, remounted on wood planks, are doing really well and now hangs in one corner of the garden. They were purchased from our trip back to his hometown for Chinese New Year early this year.

As for the two big ones, they are mounted on the trees in front of the house and are also thriving beautifully despite their exposed fern leaves or fronds looking brown. These fronds are known as the shield frond because they protect the roots from damage and store water and nutrients. And the brown look is due to humidity issues and not because the fern is dying, so they should never be removed.

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The three amigos

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Giant staghorn #1

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Giant staghorn #2

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Our Frangipani Tree, Part 3

25 Oct

It is slightly more than a month since its pruning and our frangipani tree has stabilised. New leaves are growing and so far they look healthy. No rust fungus splotches in other words.

I hope the netting covering the top, which has been providing an excellent shade for all the plants hanging on the branches beneath, won’t hinder the sprouting leaves. Maybe in time, the netting has to be removed; we will monitor the situation.

Thank goodness we didn’t have the tree chopped down as it’s been given a new lease in life.

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Busted Nail, Part 2

23 Oct

These few days I am more aware of my busted nail now that the bruised part has almost reached the tip. It is interesting to note that the white and brown coloring of the injury has ‘evolved’. From the time I took the two pictures two weeks ago and comparing to the most recent shots, it’s looking very different.

And no, I did not scratch the underside of the nail. On closer inspection, the brown on the underside looked like dried blood, stuck there for three months. Ugh.

Maybe by the end of this week, the nail can be trimmed and gone is the reminder of my unfortunate bathroom incident.

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up close on the ever evolving bruised nail

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Not Getting Better

19 Oct

I am afraid the left wrist is not getting any better. The last two golf games I played was most painful especially from impact. And I haven’t even been doing any serious carving, just them tiny Gnomes. I don’t think I will ever recover fully.

The vein is constantly swollen and every night I use the battery-operated Acupuncture Meridian Pen to administer relief which it does albeit temporary. But perhaps the usage is insufficient and I need to use it more than once a day.

I play another game this Saturday; let’s see how I fare…

 

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Tiny bumps along the vein

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We Have to Be Patient, Part 2

18 Oct

We are getting two chillies a week and not more. The habanero chillies are growing ever so slowly but thank goodness all those harvested can be refrigerated. There are several more green ones on the plant and one on the verge of turning red soon. We reckon another week or so before we can harvest all.

Do I plan to eat them all? Of course not! I’d share them with friends and let them have a fiery experience of tasting these hot babies.

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It’s Not a Box

16 Oct

Hubby has won the battle of the boxes this time around with his latest online purchase except that it didn’t come in a box. So what could it be that it did not come in a box? Obviously it’s not another plant but a rack for plants!

The package, if you can call it that, came just wrapped in newspaper and clear plastic wrap, and not even bubble wrap! At three feet tall and flattened, I guess it’s the sensible thing to do for transporting purposes; we have to assemble it when we bring it home.

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Busted Nail

12 Oct

Three months ago, I slammed the bathroom door into my finger. Ouch. It hurt to high heaven and back. But thank goodness, it was one of those public bathroom wooden door that was not so heavy like the bathroom doors at home. Still… the pain was excruciating.

The finger bruised instantly at the proximal nail fold/eponychium/cuticle/lunula area. In layman terms, at the area between the flesh and the start of the nail of the fourth finger of the right hand.

Amazingly, the bruise stayed with the nail and it has been very fascinating then to see it moving outwards as the nail grew. I should have taken a picture of the accident back then in July. But then again, when one was tipsy and in pain at the time of the incident, taking a picture was the last thing on the mind.

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Taken a week apart, 3rd Oct (L) & 11th Oct (R)

 

 

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Pretty Colors

11 Oct

Hubby’s air plants have bloomed and the colors are so so pretty. I guess staying under the shaded Frangipani tree has really done wonders for them, protected from the onslaught of direct sunlight and rain.

I should go out to the garden more often to admire and appreciate all the greens and colors, weather permitting of course as rainy season has started.

 

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