Whether I like it or not, subliminally, I think DIY project number 13 or 12A is a jinx. I have not sat down at my little workstation to work on it for almost two weeks. Then again, I have been busy with house chores, office work, and of course, golf games.
Four more DIY sets are waiting in the queue, and it’s a long wait. Thank goodness I have stopped buying more DIY sets from my favorite online shopping site. I have to be more disciplined and forget the superstitious number attachment. Otherwise, I may hold off finishing the set, horror of all horrors to even think this, and jump straight to DIY project number 12B. It will be a first for me to abandon a project midway.
Two years ago, after months of serious searching, I finally found the perfect teacup to use with my Nessie and the Deep Tea Diver tea gadgets. And coincidentally, the glass cup is a whale-themed one, perfect for me who, once upon a time, carved Whales (besides my Gnomes and Citizens of Gigglesville). These days, there is hardly any carving done because I ran out of wood.
Anyway, the teacup comes with a ceramic lid and spoon and just nice to keep my tea hot. However, these days I hardly go into the office because of the pandemic and MCO restrictions. The glass cup and the two tea gadgets are left unused. Pity.
Once in a blue moon, it is okay to have a cheat bake day. One can only eat so much bread and scones, and after a while, it gets boring. The palate needs a new taste to jolt its senses.
So I was craving brownies, but hubby dearest did not want to make them (from scratch) for me initially. He said there’s too much sugar involved, and brownies are bad for both of us.
I was persistent, and in the end, we picked up a ready-mix box instead. I figured, what I don’t know (as in how much sugar in the ingredients), I will not fret too much when I eat the brownies. I even feebly suggested I make the brownies, but hubby–knowing my sad baking skills—baked the tray of brownies for me. Sweet, rich, and very yummy, it was a job well done!
A piece each time to keep the tummy happy everyday!
Just when we thought the situation was going well for the little birdie we rescued, things went awry. We had our usual weekend golf game, and as always, I would check with the halfway hut attendant who adopted our feathered rescue on its well-being.
Initially, little birdie was cared for by him, but he gave it to his brother because the brother wanted the bird. And since brother dearest had a birdcage, he agreed.
But he questioned the decision of leaving the birdcage outside the house. Brother dearest explained that it was too hot inside the house for the little bird. And if hung outside, it’s not so warm and more comfortable.
Unfortunately, this proved to be a terrible decision as the birdcage went missing the next day! The little birdie was bird-napped! Dear, oh dear.
While I am mildly upset, I’m just appalled at the fate that has befallen our feathered friend. I hope whoever swiped the birdcage is a true bird lover and would provide for the little birdie with just as much love as the attendant and his brother.
The progress for the latest DIY project has been at a snail’s pace. Could it be due to the superstitious stigma of the number 13? I should refer to it as 12A; then there won’t be all these clouds of doubts or distraction.
But I have to admit, the pieces of this set are very tedious and minute. And I find myself feeling intimidated having to make all those minuscule fruits and vegetables. Sigh. So I have been procrastinating, hence the slow progress. The Chinese instruction manual does not help. Luckily, I managed to download an English PDF version of the manual to cross-check.
Every day, I try to get a piece done up, even if it is at a snail’s pace. Something better than nothing, right? Also, this set is very different from all the others that I have completed.
There are more hands-on steps required, as in painting up pieces of furniture and accessories. Things like the display racks and cabinets need either a paint job or sanded down for a worn look. Vegetable stalks, as well as their display wraps, also require painting! So much work.
The eye-boggling step for the display wraps involves untwirling the paper rope to spread it open before painting! Unbelievable and a real test of patience. With so much effort put in, I’d like to customize the set to my liking by changing and omitting things. We’ll see how it goes as I progress along.
After the recent pineapple theft right before our eyes by the garden squirrel, hubby took no chances with the latest pineapple as it is almost ripe and ready. He had put a wire mesh around the fruit as it grew to protect it from the squirrels. Of late, squirrels have been visiting us.
Last week, hubby set out a cage trap intended for a suspected rat intruder in the wet kitchen area, but a silly young squirrel fell for it instead. It wasn’t a big-sized squirrel, nor was it the scalded squirrel. He let it go because the furry critter did look rather cute but not our intention to trap it. Then several days later, two squirrels was simultaneously trapped! Two, I thought it was quite a feat.
I suspect the critters are coming around because there are fruits in the kitchen, and they can smell the enticing fragrance of ripe fruits. Thankfully, we are one step ahead of them this time, and our fruits are not compromised.
But with the whiff of the ripe fruits, we have to be careful, and since the current pineapple is almost ready, hubby decided to harvest it. I think it should be two or three days before we can savor this fruit of his labor.
And yesterday morning, the scalded squirrel had a brief encounter with me. It contemplated coming inside the house as we left the terrace door wide open. We had a short staring moment, and I won as I got up, causing it to scurry off.
Again out of pity, hubby left a piece of bread for the poor squirrel. I hope the birds will not eat it and continue pecking at their provided bird seeds. The things we do for our garden visitors.
Sometimes when sports equipment is left unused for too long, it will deteriorate in performance and strength – case in point, golf shoes. I have had many different brands of golf shoes. And it does not matter what brand, the rubber outsole, will deteriorate with time and usage or harden if underutilized.
Although I was golfing so much last year, I rotated only the newer three pairs of shoes. The two remaining older Adidas pairs were left collecting dust. Last week, I decided to wear the brown Adidas pair to walk 18-holes on Saturday. Bad idea.
As I have not worn the shoes for a long time, I did not check the shoe outsoles properly before donning them. Right after the first hole, a piece from the bottom fell off! Uh oh. A little unbalanced but still okay. I continued with the game. We were walking 18-holes, hubby using the golf trolley, and myself carrying my bag with 11 clubs. I wanted the exercise.
Eight holes later, the left outsole was flapping! Oh no, this is not good as we are only halfway through the game. I had to save the situation; otherwise, we cannot go on. Luckily, there were rubber bands on hubby’s golf trolley. So a quick DIY and the problem was resolved.
Three holes later, the rubber band snapped! Hmm. Why did it not occur to me in the morning that the shoes may not survive the walk? We’re talking about 8.25 kilometers and about 12,000 steps for the 18 holes. On foot, there is so much more stress to the shoes’ performance. I should have known better.
So there I was, that Saturday morning with a flapping left outsole and some other missing outsole parts on both shoes! On top of this, water seeped in, and my socks were soaking wet. Let’s not even go into details about my pruned toes and my heavy matchplay loss to hubby.
The moral of the story – never assume all unused equipment will still be okay for use. Always do a thorough check, not a quick glimpse, to ensure everything is tip-top before teeing off for a golf game challenge or tournament.
The shoes were immediately retired when we got home after the game.
Ta my Adidas, you served me well except this last game.
The past year during our various MCO (Movement Control Order) to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, hubby learned to bake while I cooked. Initially, I baked using ingredients from ready cake-mix boxes, but baking did not interest me. So I stopped and, instead, focused on cooking to expand the menu for our meals.
But hubby enjoyed this activity and baked stuff from scratch. Admirable considering the kitchen was never his place to be, more in the garden. And we had a variety of baked goods. From scones, cakes, and all sorts of bread, I have never eaten so much of these things daily prior.
Hubby’s lovely herb bread……and perfectly shaped cranberry scones
Once in a blue moon, I itch to bake, and I only do one thing – apple pies. And mind you, I do just the filling; hubby prepares the dough. I don’t know why I find this fun. But my approach to this is more by feel than by measured steps. Nothing is ever accurate because I always read the instructions halfway, never pass what is needed. So the amount required is sometimes missed out!
And you can imagine what comes out when I bake! When hubby bakes, the result is predictable and almost to perfection. Occasionally, a slight burn on the scone surfaces or the bread did not rise. But we know what to expect. When I bake, well, you don’t know what to expect. Thank goodness, I don’t bake so often, if not at all!
My recent attempt was the perfect example. I was craving apple pies, but hubby was not too keen. So he suggested I use ready-made puff pastry skin. Knowing I will mess up the dough part of the pie, I agreed.
The apple pie recipe that I scribbled on a paper was missing from the kitchen counter! Oh dear, so I had to google it up again. When I found something similar to what I had in mind, I just read half of it and jumped right in. Very brave because I used only the ingredients that we have, skipping those that we don’t. The only thing I measured was the amount of sugar. The rest was just thrown in by looks and feel.
And I had to improvise because, with puff pastry, I was making puffs now instead of apple pies. Hubby was appalled at the situation because nothing was standardized! Besides the pie-looking puffs, there was also a real puff, a dim sum, a wrap, and a blob. It was spectacular!
My spectacular apple puffs of all shapes!
He could not understand why I can craft laboriously on DIY miniature houses and cafes with their minuscule detailed accessories, but not the apple pies, or in this case, apple puffs. Hmm, unexplainable.
Horrid as they look, they turned out good, I must say. The filling was just right in taste, while the puff pastry was perfectly flaky and buttery. Will I bake again? Well, there’s another pack of the puff pastry in the freezer, and I just might. Whether the taste will be the same or what they will look like remains, we will only know when that day comes.
Our garden is a sanctuary of sorts for all the critters in the area. Birds flock to our place for bird seeds provided on a timely schedule, squirrels romp here hoping for the same fortune as the birds, and earthworms make a mess of the garden surface while having a galore underground. The smaller critters – the bees and caterpillars enjoy the nectar and leaves at their own pace without any disturbance. It is a very fertile and happy place.
Recently we spotted an injured squirrel from the kitchen window. Unfortunately, I was too slow with the phone to get a picture. The poor thing looked like it got scalded for its tail, and part of its face and body is missing some fur with the bare pink skin showing. The poor critter is constantly looking very frightened and wary of the surroundings and still surviving.
One day, hubby – out of pity – threw out a piece of bread for the injured squirrel to eat. It came around and sniffed at the bread, unsure what it was. It is evident bread is something that is not in the squirrel’s natural environment. It even sniffed at the surrounding plants, wondering if the bread fell off from one of the nearby potted plants.
We couldn’t wait for it to eat the offering and left for the office soon after. That night, when we got home, the bread is gone. I am assuming the squirrel ate it, and we have not seen it since. Hopefully, it gained some strength from the offered food and is recovering well. We have to keep a lookout for it to appear again.
It looks like our other papaya tree is finally fruiting! Yay. Just when we thought we would not have any papaya to eat after chopping the big tree down to a manageable height, the newer six-foot-tall tree has come to our answer.
Will this tree give us papayas to enjoy?
The young papaya tree failed to pollinate several times. Previously, there were lots of flowers, but nothing more. This time, I guess the insects and bees have finally cooperated, and there are fruits now. Let’s hope the fruits will grow. We will have to monitor to ensure that the squirrels don’t get to them.
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