Evening now

Turns out this entire month there will be converts and music events and so tonight I'm going to another one!!
It's supposed to be rather special and it's called 'baroque rock'.

And sweat

I think I'll have to wash my hair today

Other things

I'm News, I have downloaded 'nexus and other stories' and it's lined up neatly in my to listen once 'republic of thieves' is finished!

Also, these are wild flowers growing around the shrub fence of my house and I find them quite pretty. Not sure I'll get rid of them.

This Thursday

I have become something of a regular at the only nearby restaurant and I spend some afternoons there sipping coffee and writing in my journal.
Today the hostess was gracious enough to make me an americano (after conforming twice that it was the coffee and not the cocktail I wanted) however it was only a few mls more than the regular espresso. Didn't make sense .
I'll stick to the usual from now on and tell her to give me two of those.
The coffee was quite delicious though!!

Babes

My fur brood

This morning

This morning after turning off my alarm once again after resolving to wake up I dreamt that I was being served a large platter of hot hot hot pakoras, and they were so delicious that I could actually taste them in my sleep and in fact I think I was also chewing them in my sleep.
What even?!
They smelled just right and I woke up because good dreams never have a happy ending and it was most disappointing to know that not only had I overslept but I also didn't have any pakoras.

—

How can I start waking up early again. I don't lack the motivation I lack the discipline.

It was such a routine back in SH, and I'd end up accomplishing a whole lot before my cup of tea, but nowadays I'm like fuck the alarm and I wake up around 8!! I mean not that there's anything wrong with it but I want to get a bit more streamlined!!

In the night

Nighttime and Meera is musing.

It’s true

I don't know who those people are who label their jars in kitchen and pantries but I'm pretty sure they're not people who cook often because if you're a person who haunts the kitchen most of the day and cooks and cleans and empties out jars of their contents monthly then you know most jars don't have the same stuff going in as labelled.

Sometimes you find an empty jar that has a few spoons of whatever it was labelled as and fill it up with something else since you've realised ragi though fastidiously labelled in its beautiful glass jar isn't something you eat on the regular and perhaps won't buy it again.
And now there's rajmah in the ragi jar.

Ditto with a jar of croix seeds that now holds a steady mound of leftover bits of spaghettis.

So really, labelling jars is silly.
There, I said it!

Upcycling

I'm not wasteful as a person which is why my collection of empty glass jars has already begun and I saw people rolling their eyes when I washed out an empty mayonnaise and jam jar and started filling it with spices.
Well, you can roll your eyes as much as you want but this is what's gonna happen in my house.
Also, some bottles are just so pretty and they lend such a unique design to whatever spice I've put in them. So what if it's dhaniya powder!

Phews

Might as well just start sweating blood.
Gasps. I need a fan.
This air inside the house is hot, stifling and ugh!!
But also, great workout.
40 minutes, low impact, high intensity.
Exhausted!!

It’s gone and come back

Morning and I finished my cup of tea whilst sitting near the window looking at babes play in the garden.
I'm waiting for my garden chairs and tables to reach so I can sit comfortably and go about my day as I used to once.

Each morning as I am beginning to wake up, small pinpricks of flashbacks from my life a few months ago broadcast themselves like a small feature film with utmost clarity.

I can see the clothes I wore while treading small gingko leaves under my suede boots, the shirt I wore to have a solo supper at the nearby Japanese restaurant, the long walks I had with my friend before we could finally reach the coffee shop we were looking for, my solo, almost therapeutic escapades on public transport to reach a certain place where certain imported products were sold.
The small restaurants from which I'd get a vat of noodles packed for lunch when I was too lazy, the dingdong delivery men who often populated the compound coming in droves along with package delivery persons.

My coffee runs, my sidekick store runs, my scooter rides to the nearby superstore and the annoyance of carrying all the stuff on the scooter as it rained.
The immediate presence of hundreds of foods, juice stores, tea beverages shops , cafés every 20 metres. The fun of sitting down for a small bite to eat before I embarked on any mission outside.
The scanning of codes, the paying through alipay, the bar streets and hundred of people walking to and from, the smell of barbecues.

I lay on my bed this morning and as I tried to wake up I saw everything in 4K.
As wakefulness begins to dawn this film
reel begins to fade and now I sit think about what I saw.

These are memories which I don't want to get nostalgic or emotional about.
It happened. It because a part of my life.
It shaped me, imprinted on me and it'll always be with me.
I am now somewhere else, and I have to let this place make me new memories.

Tuesday

Morning from Muizon

And scene

Nighttime and all the babes are with me

And done

Lunch and sighs

Lunch today is my fabulous rice noodle salad so perfect for this hot weather.
It's sweet, spicy, salty, zingy and crunchy!! Just the best with some delicious softy cooked fish to go with.

On a Sunday

Morning from Muizon
Gogi basking in the harsh cloudless sunlight and looking happy after the entire lawn got a mowing. Things look manageable and cleaner.

No no no

I cannot understand people who eat food in bed.
I mean eating food proper like a bowl of Maggi and fried chicken in bed!!!
This is blasphemy.
These people are heretic

Déchèterie

This is the garbage station where you have to come and throw the garbage that is too large or too much for the trash can.
Today we had to throw about 100 kilos of gras after mowing the entire lawn and lemme tell you it was pretty damn hard.

In pastels

No filter skies

Friday is it?

Morning from Muizon

The rush the sweat

And dead!

Humph

Morning and I barely slept!
I need a fan because I need air circulation because it got far too humid and I got invaded by an army of critters in my room.

Little flies that live for an evening of sorts had conquered my entire bedroom and as I lied down on the bed reading on my iPad they swarmed all over me and made my life quite awful to live through in those moments.

This is a new experience. It was only painful mosquitoes before and here there are no mosquitoes (yet) but there are these tedious buzzing things that kept zapping across my ears, my face and some even settled in my hair.
There were phantom itches all over my body, I could hear thrumming of their teeny wings and they defeated me with their consistent attraction to the light of my iPad screen.

I had to turn off my screen and bring forth sleep time which evaded me like true love for a good hour.
After that I tuned on the iPad screen again to get back to my reading and two minutes had scarcely passed that the exact same thing happened again.
History repeated itself and there was only so much I could do; to fling the iPad into the void of my empty bed and try to sleep again was for me a thing of the moment and slowly I drifted off and it wasn't comfortable.

Just when I was almost dreaming the cats woke me up cuz they're used to getting their first meal quite early, and early it was. Barely 5:30 in the AM and I shuffled in a drowsy stupor and fed them, and immediately got back to assume the same position I was in except now I felt awake.

I was not going to leave the bed no matter what and so I stayed as I was, and finally the cats came to wake me up again around 8, demanding another meal and pamper.

My entire face has broken out in some strange itchy breakouts that need calming and a lathering of salve.
It's raining and the house is quite cool.

I am both listless and annoyed.

Whaaa

WTF is this shit?!

Love me

Nighttime and Meera demands petting

Small smiles

I'm using empty wine bottles as glass bottles for the fridge and sometimes I like to drink cold water straight out of them and pretend I'm in the movies, drinking alcohol straight out of the bottle!
It doesn't get me drunk but does hella good job at quenching my thirst.

To date

Today has been a bit lazier than usual. I ate leftovers! Didn't even cook lunch which is why I'm going to make a bit of a delicious spread for dinner.
Baked chicken and veg.
Yes sir cuz I'm alone and maybe I'll even do a bit of Campari and continue with dorohedoro.
I'm reading the manga and after this I'll watch the anime.

Also, totally obsessed with 'David hunter' series and I've got the third book 'whispers of yeh dead'. Yes I think I'm going to over saturate myself but what if it!? It's awesome!

It’s not here

It's the dragon boat festival tomorrow and once upon a time I was a part of those revelries, be it holidays, eating zongzi or giving gifts and receiving holiday gifts.
How suddenly it's all changed and the entire cultural spectrum is not what it was just a couple months ago.
Ah!! It's not as much love for what was as it's the habit that was.

Ah well.

Fur meow

Morning from Muizon.

My darling Gogi enjoying his pre nap siesta.

The usual

I have donned my watch after charging it just cuz I want to feel anxious and give myself a hard time.

Little moments

Morning from Muizon.
Sheru has adopted an empty box as his new home within home where he relaxes and insists it sits in the middle of our living space.

Boohoo

There isn't a single Izakaya around me.
I feel sad.

I have come to the conclusion that I won't be eating any Asian food at least in my area.

The other day I ate at a Japanese restaurant and the food wasn't really Japanese. Why and how will it be? The owner was Chinese but even so Japanese restaurants in China were a lot more better. (Could also be cuz I'm living near a small city and things would be different in Paris)

Yesterday I ate Vietnamese food and it was an insult to anything Vietnamese.
Fuck this!
I'm gonna make Asian foods at home now.

Sunday as usual

Each day a mini quest looking for twinkle

Whaddya know

Sunday and the lawn needs mowing and there's a nice petrol operated lawn mower that we've finally bought but apparently it's near illegal to do anything on a Sunday which might disrupt/disturb the neighbourhood tranquility as they like to call it.
noises from children and animals are an exception but if you've got a lawn mower making noise in the yard anytime after 12 noon, the wrath of the community will rain down on you like a miserable torrent of French curses.

Seems like there's a time to operate heavy machinery which emanates noise.
This was something I got to know of yesterday when a sweet handyman helped us with the lawn mower, apparently it needed engine oil and he turned it on to check and almost immediately got reprimanded by an elderly gentleman who near shouted out his annoyance over his glass of wine which he was having in his backyard with his wife.

We all looked at each other and the sweet handyman/neighbour stuck out his tongue, checked his watch and realised it was ten minutes past noon and on Saturday's the timings for making noise outside is 09-12 and then 2-5PM
And Sundays the timings are 9-12 only. Nothing after noon should be done. Not even vacuuming if you're living in a flat or a semi detached.

And weekdays the timings are
9-5PM.
Weekdays it is then!

I mean it's a bit strange to actually have these timings when one comes from a culture where such things are accepted.
I mean Chinese people usually complained about the noise from dogs and often complained even to the police about it but nothing about lawn mowers or people welding in their backyards or construction noises.

Right then.
Today is pleasant and I need another cuppa.

Don’t mind

No one is offended I'm sure and yet when one says it aloud!!

Bright and right

City streets

T‘Day

A right to passage to have properly travelled France is to shop at the French pharmacy!

What I’m watching

Oh yes
I forgot to mention about the anime I'm currently obsessed with.
It's called 'Claymore' and man oh man is it fabulous.
Think berserk meets Joan of Arc and has a magical baby.
That is claymore. It's a pretty old anime. From quite long ago. And I love the graphics of it. It's got that late 2000 feel to it and the graphics don't have that sharp edgy highly animated quality that ones nowadays have.
Actually I like this sort of art style. A bit megalobox.
But yeah!
Claymore is absolutely wonderful.

Morning from Muizon

Yes yes it might be morning for you but we have eaten, pooped, played, eaten again played some more and eaten again and now it's time for a siesta.
Keep your excitement decibels low and try not to get too happy about anything, will you?

Like a lady

Excuse me!!
Can't you see I'm busy grooming?!!

From the past

Just got a message from a Chinese cheesecake shop I used to frequent regarding a coupon I can avail for being such a good customer. :(
I mean I do miss the Japanese cotton cheesecakes but man oh man I almost forgot about that stuff ever since I introduced myself full fledged to the French patisserie's. I mean come on.

Afternoon eats

And lunch!!

Is it Thursday?

sitting and chilling. Lending some contrast to an otherwise same day. Looking cute all the way.

Tracking

Twinkle hasn't come back yet though we seen him almost everyday in the fields where he's run off to.
Twice a day his food is kept and not once did he come to get petted or responded to his name in fact he ran away the moment he set eyes on us.
So now I've got this! It's a GPS specifically for pets and this is going on hope because she's most susceptible to getting lost, not running away but yes she tends to get lost and doesn't find her way back.

Things that are

I had paused my artwork the last couple days cuz things got a bit hectic for whatever reason I can't seem to remember but today I continue.

Still listening to red country.

Which audiobook next?
Should I listen to the 3rd book 'republic of thieves' or go on to some other pastures before returning to well known green fields?
Ah! Decisions decisions.

Such babes

My afternoon bright
My skin dry
My cats fussy

Good morning and get lost

Is it tea you wish to make? 

You don't have my permission. 

Misses

Nighttime
And I miss thee
As usual
Intensely
I so want to talk
And today I wrote you a message
Which I later deleted
lost in the voids of digital black hole
I almost sent you an Ola

No night lamps yet

That time of night
When it's dark out
Yet the room is bright

Ins and outs

That I slept long in a posture that has resulted in a a strange tightness around my neck shoulder joint and resultant in a horrible migraine is all on me because I sort of was out of it all night after giving myself a hard time over Meera yesterday and now I'm hurting.

I have to be more cautious I tell myself and every two weeks I get this headache from something I did wrong with my neck.
Right!!

What's the latest then?
I think I'm gonna make some pulao for dinner cuz I don't feel like anything.

Also I think I'll do a cup of tea first.
Right then
To the induction.
Ugh!
I want my kettle so that I don't have to keep heating water in a pot like a Neanderthal.

Phews

Meera is relaxing, in his comfort zone and I am relieved. 

Ok

The vet called and Meera seems to be doing much better than how he was this morning.
His blood work was fine and they don't think there's any indications for him to stay at the hospital for the night but I have to keep him under constant supervision for the next 24 hours.
What the hell?!
I have been bawling my eyes out since morning and I am relieved!! Relieved I tell you.
I hope this doesn't repeat again because I will give myself a stroke and probably won't be able to bear my babes any sufferings.
I will burn down this world if anything happens to them. It killed me to see his tiny fur body unmoving, unresponsive, paralysed on the ground.

Today

Monday and the morning began as usual except around 9 when I was just about to have a cup of tea I heard a loud thud in my background and heard Meera wailing.
I ran towards the sound and found him thrashing on the floor with a sort of seizure.
Suddenly he stopped thrashing and went still and his eyes were wide.
I thought I'd lost him but then he started breathing fast and stayed motionless on the floor. I kept trying to bring him back to consciousness but he couldn't react to anything.
Slowly his eyes started moving and he could love his face as he responded to his name.
A few minutes later he began to slightly move but not completely..
I didn't know what to do.
I was scared, worried and couldn't react.
Thankfully people had still not left for work and we immediately left for a nearby vet.
By the time I loaded Meera into the car he had started moving and walking albeit shakily and couldn't completely stand up.
The nearby vet told us that they couldn't do such full fledged check ups and after I told her about the seizure she kindly brought him into the hospital and did some peripheral tests.
She informed us that his lower limbs were quite cold and that it couldn't be thrombosis.
Or that perhaps he's ingested some toxic substance.

We were told to go to the big hospital in the city and once we reached there Meera had resumed most of his movements.
His lowers limbs were still cold and the doctor doesn't think it's thrombosis but they feel it might be some toxins in his system that he ingested.
He is now at the vet hospital for the day while the doctors run some tests on him and we will get a full breakdown of his condition today evening.

Ugh!!!
I am so upset and sad.
Upset because the whole vet situation here is new to me and I don't know where to easily go as I used to back in Shanghai.
I was able to manage it all but here I'm still quite amazed that small clinics don't do things that big clinics do and an emergency situation can get a bit complicated.

I'm very angry with myself because I don't know what suddenly happened to my darling Meera. He who has braved several cat fights and bites and never fell sick once suddenly had a seizure.

I am scared and for a moment I stood frozen because a few years ago I lost my 'jugnu' after witnessing a similar seizure and today at that moment all I could think of was what if my Meera was suddenly dead. Which he isn't but I cannot explain how deliriously startled and scared I was.
My poor darling.
All I want is for my little family of fur to be okay. Is it too much to ask for?

Nice things

My lovely neighbour gifted me a pâte en croûte. It's a very French dish with the outer layer made of puff pastry encasing a filling of a typically French style meat. I will post a cross intersection soon. 

This one is pork and lardons. (Which is basically French bacon). 

Trifecta

I'm order of appearance 

Gogi, hope, sheru 

Maybe no

It might be good but I probably won't like it. 

Marche

Farmers market where people drink champagne on barrels with cheese and olives 

Happening

The progress is slow but it's getting there 

Joined at the hip

Always together 

Hope and Meera share a strange bond and I'm beginning to think if maybe they're from the same mother a few years apart? 

None of that crap

For all this pride month bullshit, I sit here in one of the most liberal countries of this world with their motto of liberté, égalité, fraternité (freedom, equality, fraternity) and there's not a single freaking rainbow in sight, nor a singular store hoisting the rainbow flag or people dressed as clowns claiming their rights to be celebrated for their silliness.
I am pleasantly surprised and quite happy!

Whilst cooking

Aaaaah! A drink a drink a drink a drink 

I need things

By the gods it's gotten warm and I need a fan.
But of course everything is on sea and will only reach me next month so I gotta bear this warm house and deal with it.
It's still better in evenings but gods it's warm and I could do with a bit of cool winds about and of course there's no air conditioner here cuz no one needs it.
What does that mean? I am supposed to tolerate this lukewarm weather in stride without a fan?
Where is my cargo?
I'm missing stuff.

Wait what?!

Who me?
Walking upstairs with a tea mug in my hand to wash it in the kitchen except the kitchen in this house is downstairs and subconsciously my brain still seems to be wired to my Shanghai house and this is getting a bit much!
I am a little lost and sort of out of it.
Maybe I'm down with the sickness.
The ughs are here!

In other news

Also, started 'red country' yesterday.
And while listening to it the second time there's just so much more clarity and unravelling of all the incidents and names from the previous books that it almost makes me chuckle.

I want Logan nine fingers to resurrect in some future books or at least have like a spin off books for him.

Yum yum

I have been engrossed in the new book which is the second in the 'David hunter' series by 'Simon Beckett' called 'written in bone' and man oh man is it deliciously addictive.

This is the third book I've read by this author and his style of writing and framing of moments and inserting interesting dialogues with an easy flow and engaging incidents is so well thought out and neatly described that it's hard to tear away once you've sunk your teeth into it.

Night and I am going to let myself sink into dreams whilst reading this book.

I think I have to find all the books from this series and eat them up.

;;

My skin dry
My mood meh
My cats happy

Red country

Every time I'm alone in the shower or in the bathroom I cannot shake off the feeling that someone will suddenly start thumping on my door and start screaming my house number out loud or continuously ring my doorbell to summon me.
It makes me stupidly anxious and I have been turning down the shower just to pay attention to outside noises to ensure there's no one outside screaming for me to come out.
I need to shake this off.
It's all over it's done!
I can't keep getting worried about these things.
In fact I'm as far away from these problems as possible and nothing remotely similar to any above mentioned episodes will happen here.
I have to stop myself from shaking myself into this strange anxiety.

Another day

Morning from Meera and moi.

Fur fur

When you're utterly cute and an unbelievable asshole at the same time.

Lunch it is

My fabulously delicious spinach salad!!
With spinach, peppers, tomatoes, apples and cheese.

Yap

I am angry that my last post about me complaining about lack of sleep due to Meera's howling didn't stick!
Here's a gist!- I have not been able to sleep for almost two weeks cuz of how Meera begins his solitary orchestra of cacophony a little after 3 AM every night or morning and begins to fragment my deep sleep in jagged bits of shorn jigsaw pieces.
I am so angry with him.
My entire body and eyes ache and burn simultaneously.
What's it today?
Tuesday?
Yes it is!

Arghhhh

Okay wow!!!
I'd written this one long ass blogpost only for it to get stuck somewhere in the matrix and then have it to post only as a subject??!!!
What even?!

Destroyed

New new

A new drawing and I spilled some coffee on it and so I sort of had to smear it everywhere 

:(

As I deep cleaned the house today I had cranked out my Bluetooth headphones and was listening to 'red seas under red skies' and cleaning has never felt so fun, but just as I was dusting baking soda over vinegar in the bathroom sink 'Ezri' the love interest of 'Jean' died in an attempt to save everyone's life and as I scrubbed the ceramic surface to a glimmer I bawled and sobbed my eyes out.
Their love arc was so utterly beautiful, so heart wrenching perfect and then she died and it was so fucking sad.
I've not been this sad in a while and I cried for a good hour through the entire episode of her death and Jean's mourning and 'locke's' final words.
Today the house is clean and the floor for sure must be salty with my tears mixed in.
I'm so sad.

Come hither

Mr. Meera requests everyone pay attention!! 

Goat stuff

From the time of Joan of Arc

Argh

Fucking vegetarians!!!!!

I've had to switch 3 restaurants where I so wanted to eat food just cuz people couldn't find anything they wanted there!
This is annoyingly irritating!

Fuck vegetarians!

Pic perfect

Morning from Muizon 

Strike a pose

Struck 

Morning

Neutral tones