Sat

So the neighbours are shifting out today
The only people I talk to sometimes and exchange desserts with are leaving!
What shite luck!

Sighs.
Let's see how things unfold.

Latest

My head seems screwed back on after the medicine and I feel like kicking myself for enduring 36 hours of crippling pain just cuz I didn't want to take the medicine and I felt that 'maybe' the pain would subside on its own! Yeah as if that ever happened except a couple times.

Still, taking it a bit easy for now.
Sitting and trying to breathe deep and keeping myself out of any sudden movements that might propel another shock to my neck.
I think I should be totes better by evening.

Now the real question!
What should I make for dinner?

Also I've been in the mood for some delicious cake. I think I'll bake a lovely French apple cake soon!

Argh

Struggling with a crippling headache today
Brought on my neck
My posture has been wrong I'm a way that I have been trying to fix it so much that I actually started trying to not bend me neck creating a stiff position for neck in question that would stay upright and far too taught for its own good.
I have now understood and recognised my mistake .
I need to fix this issue and I no longer need to prop my art on a cushion because that would bring it so close to my face that I actually had to tilt my head up and that's another mistake!

Now I'm going to fix it on my easel and work but I need to figure out exactly how?!
This needs a bit of R&D

Scams

Everyday I get at least 2 calls from Nigeria and I want to know how my number has reached that country and who's calling me and why must they insist on bothering me so much?!!

Things must go

Why oh why do people put labels on their food storage jars when they're made of glass or plastic and are literally transparent!
Like can't you see it's full of dahl or pasta or sugar or whatever that you've to stick a white sheet and scrawl the exact thing everyone can see?
This aesthetic is ridiculous!

Crinkle

8:47 and I'm in bed!
My neck is feeling it today
It's given me a strange heaviness in the head which has resulted in an odd weariness and I didn't want to sit while 'prison break' blared loud on tv as I nursed a strange heavy headedness!
The dinner is done
The dishes are washed
The leftovers are in the fridge
And I'm in bed
Onwards I say
Now reading 'the restless dead' and as usual loving it to bits !

Things done

Visa work done!
It's strange how sometimes things can be as easy as walking into the prefecture office and getting things done without saying as much as two lines.
Usually this procedure involves a bit of a while as the documents (passport) get collected and the process takes a couple weeks but today I simply had to walk in at the designated time and collect what I needed and done!

While it was easy for me there were also refugees and immigrants with their social workers who were going back and forth with their discussions and documentations and elaborate certifications and what not.

I felt for some of those families that might have evacuated their countries for a better life for their children and are now stuck in this loop of incomprehensible document provision where they might be certified as refugees or might have special status as immigrants or what not from war torn countries or maybe just nations that don't treat their people well.
I don't know!

I realised my privilege when a stricken looking woman from some Islamic nation with a small family and with her kids in tow gave my resident card a wistful look, almost yearning and then she glared at me probably trying to figure out why some things are so easy for some and so impossibly difficult for some.

There were people who were visiting this bureau on the daily apparently, sometimes imploring, sometimes pleading, sometimes appending their documents and getting new appointment days each time.

Sighs. I don't know. Sometimes some things don't make much sense.

Going French

The French way of eating along the roadsides in small cafés.

Yeah well fuck

Today then
I have to be at the French ministry of bla bla for my residence visa etc and all that annoying garbage!
What a fucking Tuesday this Wednesday is gonna be!
Argh!

;(;

That time of night
When the only place bright
Is a nook in my heart

And scene

Well well well it's night already bringing Tuesday to an end. 

I didn't write all day today not least because I got busy in things that weren't as demanding as I'd made them up in my head. 

Does that happen to you? 

Currently sitting in bed 

Hope by my side

And the loud sounds of 'prison break' series filtering into my ears. 

Why people are watching this horrible series again is beyond me!! 

But here is a nighttime mirror selfie 

Hear hear

More on obsessive listening!
'The poison song' which is the third and final instalment in winnowing flame trilogy gets stranger, weirder, awesomer.
I mean it's so weird like what?! And it's so fabulously astounding at the same time.
I wouldn't have thought things would get this way in the first book which was actually really just world building and character development and just when things felt streamlined stuff got stranger and stranger.
It's pleasantly wondrous and I'm already sad that after 20 hours of listening this book will be finished :(

Fast forward

By the time I finished y lunch today the clock ring three.
By the heavens I got late today.
The house cleaning itself took almost 3 hours and then the bathing the cooking and eating and now it's evening?!
What a Monday and a half
Lost in some silly stupor of work
Looks like autumn is officially going to start soon and the weather here is shifting slightly.
Having said that it's full blown sunshine and light today.
Lovely weather.
I think I'll sit outside and have a cup of coffee

Lounge

Utter bliss 

When you see it you will know it 

Sundae

One of my utterly favourite snack that I often crave

Art dates

Am update on my very long exhausting drawing

Bubble

My fabulous 75% hydration dough for pizza tonight 

Weeps in kimchi

I want to eat some delicious dumplings.
Like the ones I used to often make.
I think I want to eat chicken katsu curry
Yeah that's what I want
With some udon
Yeah that's exactly what I want
But haha where am I gonna get it?
Will have to make it myself
But I don't have any curry cubes :(

Craves

Why do I feel like eating fried chicken??
What even?
Fried chicken is barely as popular here as it was in China and I might have to go to some fast food chain to eat it which I won't!
So here I am craving fried chicken and readying to make pizza
Such is life

Morning post

The village magazine 

Evening time

Today then
I got busy with drawing
Also had to pause the audiobook when a particularly painful episode happened in the book and bawled my eyes out for a good few minutes that I was sobbing.

My cats looked at me .

Now I'm cooking dinner
Kerala egg roast and rice

I do love a good egg curry and I utterly hate curries that begin with first frying the egg to colour the skin. I hate it. I feel like it changes the texture of the eggs and makes it taste leathery and worn.
Ugh!

I don't fry my eggs after boiling them. That's a cardinal sin in my book!

The things I’ve been up to

Thursday morning and I was in cooking frenzy this morning, dishing out sprout salads and fruit yogurt and I must say although unconventional my lunchboxes are quite delicious. (I think so :) )

Right, the winnowing trilogy book two; bitter twins is driving me a little crazy.
In that yesterday as I sat drawing I found myself getting up and pacing and then throwing wrists in the air and then yelping out 'yessss' at that gorgeous hero moment that had my hair in knots.
I can tell you one thing this book is so unexpected, so fantastically strange and twisted that I am taken unawares.
The first book in the series started out rather simply with good intentions and straight forward storyline and now it seems more like a setup for what was about to unfold.
I mean come on!
I can't stand to not find out what's going to happen and I can't understand how damn puzzling it actually gets.
Loving it!

Right then, I have some things on my agenda, some small goals I need to achieve but before that I need to spruce up my house a bit.

Also, sitting in a room with my cup of tea, feeling cozy and wondering why the weather is so overcast!

French way

Argh!!
I don't like how slow things get here sometimes in terms of working and service industry.
I mean all I want is to talk to someone at the reception but I'm being asked to call after noon. Cuz it's the lunch time. I called at 11:50. What kind of lunch hour is that?
Things are massively exhausting if you're still working on some other understanding of how things in life operate.
You gotta slow down.
Hit the snooze button.
Let things be.
Make conversations.
Be easy.

I'm usually just expecting to get a bill after getting the service done than making conversation and elongating my time while someone gets a print out while chirping about niceties.
Dude just gimme the bill and let me fuck off.

Also, pick the phone and don't make an automated voice tell me to call after noon cuz the lunch time is one barely a few hours after your office opened.

Morning duty

Nothing more painful than not feeding your little fur ball for before his medical exam and the said babe in question following you around the house wondering and requesting for his breakfast.
I am sad my heart is breaking and the sooner I get done with it the better.
I will feed Gogi a whole platter of his favourite things once we get back from the vet.

Bitter twins

This book is so stressful.
I can't keep hearing it but I want to!
I've paused it several times cause I don't want to know what's going on ahead i don't want the pain of hurt and I'm far too attached to some characters and I can't bear to have nasty stuff happen to them.
I'm sad but I want to hear everything!

In the lull of Monday

Evening time and today has been exhausting in ways that some days are a well prior to the ughs.
Nothing unusual about anything but the usual workload that my body easily accepts and is pretty normal but gave me a bit of a done with the day feel momentarily which was gone once I began cooking dinner and listening to the audiobook. (The bitter twins;winnowing trilogy)
I have realised it's a lot funner to clean the house when listening to audiobooks. I don't know if you've tried it but maybe give it a go.
It's quite engaging and you realise one can clean for a lot longer and if you're deep cleaning it's great help.
Monday's are for deep cleaning in my house and it ordinarily takes about 2-3 hours to clean the house in which I dust, vacuum the rugs along with cobwebs along the walls, the floors, change the beddings and mop thoroughly.

It's quite rewarding to see the house neatly sparkle and look like a magazine spread.

Right then.
Evening time like I said and and I'm going for a short post dinner walk.

And Monday

Morning and I look at the aftermath of the storm that violated my plants in the garden last night.
The chairs bench and all my potted plants had toppled over and reached nether regions of the garden and the lashings of rain percolated through an open window and made sort of a sad puddle in one of the rooms which although almost dried by morning was a testimony to my carelessness.
It's strange that the flashing lightning and noisy gurgling of clouds couldn't wake me up and it was in fact people making a din, scampering about the house to close open windows and cooing to worried cats that actually woke me up.
I couldn't care less about a storm happening outside and I didn't pretend to care either cuz I went right back to sleep.
But this morning the garden was quite the mess.
Right then.
Monday.
I have a house to clean.

Sunday

And lunch. 

This is a French speciality of pork in delicious mushroom sauce with a side of fresh fries and some salad. 

Mid autumn festival

I've never liked moon cakes
But my WeChat is flooded with moon cakes photos and friends asking for my address to send me those ghastly things and I think of all those years when each year after year I used to have an abundance of moon cakes which I then gave away to housekeepers and neighbours barring a few which were the non traditional sort of moon cakes filled with pineapples and covered in a crispy layer.

No moon cakes here :)

I did however buy some delicious chocolate gâteux!
Dinner is being made by not me and I just finished a cup of coffee.
Life feels good for now.

Small things

Just in case I hadn't mentioned I bought this wooden tray from the flea market as well. 

Lunch yes

My totes delicious chicken sandwich with a Kathi roll twist 

Close comes the night

And the day is done! 

And dine

Dinner today is gnocchi in creamy spinach sauce baked with a sprinkle of mimolette cheese

Je dîne

Sitting outside looking at my lounging babies and giving my very hot lobhiya rice a few minutes to calm down from their simmering selves.
My ultimate comfort food.

Also, have you ever tried 'दही की मिर्ची' ? I think they're commonly available online or at some speciality store.
I have bought some from a South Indian grocery shop but of course they're not anything compared to the ones made by my mothers family but these are not bad.

If you ever try let me know.

Argh!!!

So used to am I putting my blog address in place of e mail, lost in some reverie that I legit sent that mail meant for the vet to my damned blog??
How fucking ridiculous and I'm wondering why there has been no response.
Damn it!
So damn silly.
Thanks for reminding.
Gotta live in the now, in the present instead of typing with one hand while working on something else.
So very dumb!

Thanks babe

Bilan rénal

Bonjour,

Pouvez-vous s'il vous plaît suggérer une date à laquelle je pourrai amener mon chat 'Gogi' pour son examen rénal.

Merci
Salama

Don’t connect

The more updates I get about LinkedIn and connections wanting to friend me or mutual connections with xyz people the more I realise their designations are a made mass of words.
Come to think of it my designation back in the day was pretty made up sounding too.
Glad to not be a part of that race race anymore. I don't think I can get myself to work in that environment. Hauling myself every morning, working like a mule, feeling ecstatic over having enough time to drink a cup of tea, eating lunch at my desk while working, coming home late and leaving early.
Salary was a good perk but I worked hard for it. And I don't think it justified the horrible quality of life I got in return.
No sir. That's not for me anymore. Nope!

In the greens

Who me? 

Sitting out in the garden 

Embracing monotony 

Morning

Morning and it rained and now it's quite cool. 

Pleasantly lovely weather. 

What's on the agenda? The usual and a lot of it. 

Also, what on earth is wrong with me? I slept late last night which is normal but I didn't even wake up at my usual time in fact I woke hella late! At 9!!! What?! Only cuz I kept dreaming that I was making delicious food and I assumed that I'll pack it for lunch and I'm fact I was sleeping and dreaming the entire time. 

I woke up only when someone was hovering over my face saying stuff like 'bye I'll see you in evening' and that's how my slumber was broken. I really wanted to taste the food I dream prepared :/ 

Tuesday done

And scene 

Mutants

Pistachio puffs because why not 

And done

Ghost times

What am I doing watching pottery videos so late at night?
Somehow I have stumbled upon a strange world of under glazing ceramics and I am quite mesmerised by them and now I'm beginning to wonder why and how did I reach here?
One moment I was watching a video on cutting boards for a DIY bench and the next moment I was watching pottery getting glazed in a kiln.
What?
Mighty satisfying though.

Coffee bits

also picked these beautiful 1970's cups and saucers from the brocante yesterday. 

Another morn

Yuck Monday
Have to deep clean the house today instead of workout.
There's a lot that needs to be done and somehow Monday's kill my will to do anything.
I'm still stuck in residual Sunday resin and don't much feel like moving into the thick of things.
But I really need to clean the house.
I want it to sparkle!
On with it then.
A small cup of coffee before I hit the road or tiles! But by the heavens cleaning house on a level that involves dusting, vacuuming and mopping is a bit perilous because the cats don't like it one bit!
Now that I'm thinking about it why don't I change the cushion covers too!!!
Hmm.

Sip sip waaah

Not me getting drunk and clicking pics on my vintage looking mirror (it's not vintage) I picked up today 

Hic

Drunk and dancing 

Steal

Today's prize however was this solid wood table that I bought for 5€. 

Some shopping

I bought a lot. 

Brocante

Today

There's flea market in our village and these are just the cars outside my house

Needs

Nighttime and the air is warm 

My heart melts 

My groin smoulders 

Sips

And now for some rose sparkling wine 

Oh come on

Evening!! My my.
I thought it's still noon time but how could it be? A lot got accomplished today.
The lawn got mowed. Groceries got bought and now it's time to cook dinner?
But I'd just made breakfast. But how that was around 9:30 in the morning.
It's been a long day or rather a pretty short one.
Yikes!

Elixir

Morning dew and lots of tea 

Seeing stars

Night sky 

Need to feel the feels

Now looking for
बेबाक़ दीवानापन

and food please

Late as fuck lunch 

Phew and gasp

The only thing that gets me through

Impossible shitty days 

Argh

Morning and I am sullen
So many reasons for always being upset :(
Sitting in the sun
Contemplating today's workout
I'm thinking why sometimes I get so unhappy.
It's just a strange mood to be in

But at least I have my delicious cup of tea and a couple toasts.

Today is Thursday and I have work work work !!
Damn it!

/\

I'm in a strange rage space today.
Something has triggered me and I have perhaps reached beyond a point.
I think I need to put myself first before anyone else. I don't know somewhere between domesticity and everyday mundane I tend to forget that I have a life which I want to dedicate to myself.

Morning from Muizon

Contemplating his invasion on Poland, Mr Gogi looks on.

Hell yeah

Another lunch pic 

Well you know lunch

So then! 

I was thinking about the delicious patties we get back home and suddenly with a jolt I realised that now that I'm in France, the country that legit birthed 'puff pastry' why not I make these babies at home and voila!! 

From Muizon

Morning meow and chai 

Whaaa

Phew what a Monday!
I'd think this be Tuesday but no! Just the first day of the week and I'm already done with this damned week!
Friday come to me.
But no!

Right now I'm sitting outside and taking a breather.

Monday updates

There's a major typhoon approaching mainland China and I am quite used to their typhoon protocols by now as they issue a warning well in advance, the people know to prepare for it, however I'm not in mainland anymore but my WeChat is rife with several warning typhoon messages, telling me to stay indoors and keep myself safe.
Haha, well, the one thing I won't be experiencing here is the wet moist floors that used to stay perennially dewy in humid weathers and rainy season which was most times.
Having said that I have waded in fistfuls of dew in the garden and I don't even mind it.

The one thing I keep constant is the time I spend outside, sitting in my garden akin to how I used to sit in the balcony once upon a time.
It's the morning time for me which gives me comfort, solace and time to collect my thoughts where I decide how today and the rest of the week will pan out.

Monday and I need to cleanse my house. It needs a rigorous deep cleaning and that will be my workout.

Orange hue

I mean look at the colours

Buy don’t buy

Some pretty things

There were people

About yesterdays crowd!
Yes there was a lot of people and somehow after making it through the throngs of everyone I reached the serious part of antiquing which wasn't crowded but thriving.

And now

My chalice of champagne making gorgeous bubbles

Little loot

Here's some stuff I bought yesterday at the flea/antique market in Lille.
A framed artwork from god knows when by who knows who, a Crystal carafe with a silver bottom, a brass candle holder, a trio of Spanish soul bowls hand painted by an artist, and a Dutch style hand painted olive oil bottle.
A lot of these things are old and used and a few more things that I really wanted to buy 'people' put a stop because he thinks we might start getting haunted.
I'm still in the market for a beautiful large serving bowl and a set of plates which were aplenty there yesterday but I got so exhausted looking at things that Brian stopped functioning.
But all in all I rather like what I got.
What say you?

Milling

And now

Yawn steady

6 in the AM and I sit sipping tea readying to leave in an hour.
Scarcely slept all night my slumber beginning to hit just a couple hours before the alarm clock blared and now here we are!!

Dots

I have whipped out my fine tipped nibs to stipple the hell outta my shrooms

And now

Lunch is a store bought quiche with a homemade salad

:/

Right
So my brother is officially single today!
Don't know how to feel about this entire mess, or whatever it was.

Flow chart

Friday morning and I have made plans for tomorrow.
Tomorrow early morning around 7 we travel to 'lille' which is a city in the north of France, a couple hours away from us.
Each year in the first weekend of September it hosts the largest flea market in Europe with over 2 million visitors and it's a sight to behold I'm told.
I want to see this vintage brouhaha which is known as the place to get some of the most underrated treasures.
I'm no treasure hunter but I would love to see this part of European or rather French culture.
Also I'm interested in getting something like a coffee mug, or dessert plate or a tea cozy or anything small that could serve as a reminder of that day.
People come to haggle over antiques, and collect things from days past. Apparently some people find exquisite furniture's, old time gadgets, silverware etc.
Hmm, maybe I'll get a spoon or something :)
Honestly I'm just going in for the views and the experience and the moment.