Category: just life

weeknotes 38/21

– one of my uncles passed away earlier this week. dying isn’t easy for those who stay behind, so we went up north to be with the family — especially my mom, who spent a lot of time caring for him in the past few years. the family is ok, mourning, but hanging in there.

– this is the best photo i ever saw of him, taken a few years before i was even born, at my parent’s wedding. me and him weren’t close, but i remember him like this, laughing and playing around, getting along with everyone.

– incidentally, if we ever caught covid, it would be at a funeral. jesus christ, so much hugging and touching from everyone… nobody (me included) knows what to do to express grief and empathy without touch, without getting close and whispering comforting words.

– since we were already up north, we stayed for the grape harvest on friday. a few of my cousins and uncles came to help, and made quick work of the task of making the wine. my mom cooked a really nice bean stew, my grandma fried some codfish for a hearty snack, and everyone was happy and relieved that it barely rained the whole day.

just life weeknotes

weenotes 37/21

– rain, at last! a couple of stormy days early in the week brought on lots and lots of rain. it’s definitely good news for our poor neglected garden… but bad news for all the infiltrations we haven’t taken care of yet. sigh.

– after watching one too many mark rober‘s videos, the boy wanted to give it a try making elephant’s toothpaste, so we grabbed some hydrogen peroxide, soap, food colouring and yeast, and did it! the result was a super pretty foam.

– this year’s edition of the rota do petisco has started, and we’ve timidly ventured to a couple of restaurants to try new dishes. we’re not quite at ease with eating out yet… but we’re slowly coming out of our shells and getting there.

– we made the hot and sour soup! i looked very convincing, but confess i didn’t enjoy it all that much… i guess sour soups are not my thing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

– dani, the last of our summer guests has left. the house is super quiet and it feels a bit like summer has ended. there’s less than 2 weeks left for world postcard day though, and much to get done… but today has been declared a day-off, so hurray for that! :)

just life weeknotes

weeknotes 36/21

– one week of treadmill desk, and going well so far — a steady 1.5-2km/h pace, about 10K steps in a workday, which isn’t bad at all! i get still tired after a couple of hours, and step off to give it (and my legs) a break. i dread the initial inertia of getting up there and walking… but once i start walking, it’s actually easy-going and i manage just fine. still figuring out what to wear on my feet.

– last week we had my parents staying over, now we’re hosting dani for a few days. the house feels like a whirlwind of activity the whole summer, we’ve scarcely been alone. i like it though — it’s a nice change of pace from the winter months, and it’s nice to have company when we can’t really go anywhere.

– because of dani and the boy’s desire for hot and sour soup, we went to the chinese supermarket in albufeira to source some ingredients. we manage to find about half of the stuff, but a few ingredients remained elusive. so i showed the shopkeeper my list of things, and then we had a conversation about which kind of pepper i was looking for. alas, they didn’t have it, but it was still nice to talk in chinese to someone for a bit. :) the soup is currently cooking… wish me luck!

just life weeknotes

weeknotes 35/21

– the parents are here for a few days, spoiling us with their fresh produce and cooking skills! :D

– been listening to SW945 as background noise when i’m working. the sounds of craig‘s walks in japan are a soothing company — my favourites 15mins are the roadside dinner (the background music is permanently stuck in my head) and the rain on his tent.

– clouds that looks like feathers!

– got myself a cheap treadmill to put under my desk and walk while i work, which is something i’ve been wanting to do for a while now. i’m still getting used to the slow walking pace, but so far so good. it’s funny how the hands type and the mind thinks, all the while the legs just do their own thing. i’ll report back on it in some time.

– i’ve finished watching falling into your smile, another e-sports-themed c-drama. i don’t know why i like e-sports dramas so much, but by now i could probably play league of legends, from having watched so many people play it in tv shows. 😅

just life weeknotes

weeknotes 34/21

another quiet week over here. i feel very much overwhelmed by the amount of things that still need to get done at work, but i’m also terrible at delegating… so here we are, in a perpetual state of mild distress. it’s nothing new, and i deal with it the best i can, but it still feels unsettling to not have a grip on what i want to get done.

in other news:

– really enjoying the second-hand camera our friends gifted us. i haven’t learned half of what it can do yet, and already i can get decent shots of the black-winged stilts that cry like loud squeaky toys whenever we get too close.

– speaking of birds, we’ve become the kind of people who can immediately spot something moving in our peripheral vision and, more often than not, know what bird it is. i’m not sure how this happened, but it feels like a super power!

– yesterday we were driving to a farm to grab a “too good to go” basket and thinking about the last time we had eaten meat… and we couldn’t remember when it was. our eating habits have changed over the last few months. these days, we often eat just once per day, and meat is more of a “special occasions” kind of thing. feels right to me.

– because of samuel west, we started watching all creatures great and small, and it’s been a welcome break from youtube. i hope one day we’ll be able to walk those green pastures of the british countryside.