I'm going into my fifth week of being sick now, and my frustration levels are maxing out :-) Hubby has been working from home this week, thank goodness, so I've been able to to take it easy and try and recover. I'm fine when I'm sitting around doing nothing, but as soon as I think I feel better and try to do something, even as simple as putting a load of washing on, I dissolve into a coughing fit, which usually ends in an asthma attack. I'm new to this asthma thing, so I have the deepest sympathy for those of you who've suffered most of your life! My Dr thinks I will get over it when I am recovered from the chest infection, so fingers crossed.
Anyway, although I've been trying to do some reading, my brain is a bit foggy and I'm suffering from I-just-finished-the-page-but-I-can't-remember-what-I-read syndrome. Luckily however, the weather has taken on a distinctly autumnal feel in the past week; the days are noticeably shortening a little and the evening air is getting an ever-so-slightly crisp feel to it. It must be time for some knitting and crochet!
Learning to crochet has been an ambition for a while now. I did manage to crochet a granny square last year, but oh! The frustration! I just couldn't get my hands to work in a co-ordinated manner, LOL.
With nothing better to do but sit with a hook, yarn and the lap top open to learn-to-crochet videos such as
this one on YouTube, I persisted and persisted on my first crocheted dishcloth. I lost count of how many times I had to unravel bits (or most!) of it because I just couldn't get the tension right or because I gained/lost stitches, but finally I finished a basic double-crochet dishcloth! Ta da!
Inspired by that, I am now working on getting the hang of treble stitch in the second dishcloth you can see at the front. The only problem is, I think I now have RSI, LOL. Ah well, once I come back to it, I'll have a better idea what I am doing so I won't be so tensed up :-)
As far as knitting goes, I haven't abandoned it either - I've cast on
this cardigan in a black Australian wool/ soy blend. Not the best choice of colour to show off the moss stitch, but it was the only suitable yarn I could find quickly which had the required number of balls in stock (and black goes with everything ;-).
To give my hand a break now I'm going to make another cup of
turmeric tea (oh, ginger and turmeric tea, how I love thee), and attack another pile of old gardening magazines. Tearing articles out of magazines used to seem almost sacrilegious to me once upon a time, but now I'm getting older and more fanatical about storage space, and filing only the useful information in display folders seems an entirely sensible thing to do - now the I have the time to do it that is :-)
Wishing you all a happy and healthy weekend!
Cheers,
My regular bicarb soda 'shampoo' and rosemary-infused vinegar rinse.
Another of the 'spinach substitute' leafy greens, but not bad at all in a quiche with other mixed greens.
Another edible weed, although generally nicer in spring. All parts are edible, but pick the leaves when they are young, before the plant flowers and they become bitter.
Since Cardamon is a tropical plant, I doubt it will ever produce pods this far south, however the leaves still give dishes a lovely cardamon flavour. True cardamon is Elettaria cardamomum; if you want to grow it don't confuse it with the ornamental cardamon-leaf ginger, Alpinia calcarata, which is often sold as Cardamon but doesn't produce pods.
Nice as a side dish, stir-fried with garlic and soy sauce, when you've had to prune back your rampant vines. Waste not, want not :-)
Not to be confused with the Curry Leaf Tree (an Asian plant which I also have), curry plant is actually more closely related to sage. It gives a very mild curry flavour to dressings & such.
A sweet addition to salads, although the girls think they are too pretty to eat ;-)
The first of the season, and eagerly devoured - pronto - by the hungry hoards. But not before I had my share - I do need the vitamin C after all ;-)
Super-useful garden herb, both medicinally and in permaculture systems as an awesome soil conditioner, compost activator & mulch.
Wow, an actual zucchini! Probably the first and the last of the year, and not really missed I must say, as we're still eating them out of the freezer from last year :-)
The first of the the season, "bandicooted" from the sweet potato patch and destined for this roasted vegetable salad.
These seeds originally came from the Veggie Gnome, (thanks Veg!) and are actually a variety of mustard leaf. These readily self-sowed around my garden last year and seedlings are now coming up everywhere with the onset of cooler night time temperatures. The stems do taste rather like celery, but the whole leaf is lovely chopped into stir fries. 
Yeah, yeah, I know, everyone is bored with herbs now. There's nothing much in the veggie garden at the moment though as it is between seasons, and I've been too sick to plant out much. Thank heavens for low-maintenance herbs to add some freshness and greenery to our plates.
Destined for chicken laksa. Because I'm still sick but bored with chicken soup and my taste buds are on holiday - I'm craving chillies!
