It has been a tough week, as you can tell by the irregularity of the blog this week. It is the most stressful week for Maike as she manages the last stages of the move in Berlin, emptying the apartment, moving things to storage, and disposing of the rest. Needless to say it is her baptism of fire as far as relocations are concerned. This is the first one she manages entirely on her own, since she was mostly on the sidelines for the previous ones. On the other hand, she has an incredible support network around her, and for that I am eternally grateful.
Nevertheless, it has been like having three parallel jobs these past days. After working my eight hours a day, I jump immediately into relocation mode and we sort out things over phone or video calls. I can’t even begin to tell you how frustrating it is to be so far away from her and the apartment. The decision to move to Portugal was so sudden that we never sorted anything before I left, since her move to Fuerteventura was not on the tangible horizon yet either. So here we are, scouring through cabinets and boxes over video and figuring out what goes into storage and what can be ditched. It has been a series of painful decisions to some extent, but I keep telling myself this is the time to finally shed all that that unwanted baggage and whittle everything down to the bare minimum.
Reality check: Travel light in order to travel far. (there is a book with a similar title, To Walk Far, Carry Less, by Jean-Chritie Ashmore The author originally wrote it for those doing the Camino de Santiago de Compostela).
Out of sheer exhaustion last night and no remaining desire to cook, I craved for a pizza, having a throwback to my days (months) in Vila Franca de Xira when I lived above the pizza place! It was disgustingly convenient to just drop in on the way home from the train station. I have absolutely no food delivery service up here in the Shire, which is a good thing, because it got me off a lot of junk food and I know I end up freshly cooked healthy food. So it was a bit of a reality check but then Cherry and I (who else am I going to talk to?) had a conversation and I ended up making a pizza, telling myself I was just trying out a new no-yeast dough recipe that I found. Pizza dough in five minutes plus twelve minutes in the oven is not shabby, and beats any delivery service, so I am going to keep this handy!
No-Yeast Pizza Dough
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup warm water
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Herbs de Provence
(I used a cast iron pan)
The weather continues to be incredibly volatile, with more clouds and rain and far less sunshine. So, it is time to look inwards, and that also means the house. Some weeks ago I ventured into the garden and snipped a couple of branches from the fig tree. I was determined to root them and create bonsai fig trees. Empty wine bottles are great for this experiment, and really had no idea whether it was going to work or not. Not only do they go well with the rustic look of the house, but they also provide an eclectic look for the upcoming Halloween. Who needs ghosts and witches when I can have wonky branches?
Much to my delight, tiny roots have sprouted and the first of the new leaves have burst open! Since I received several empty pots over the weekend, I can proceed with my project in a couple more weeks!
Reality check: Have faith. The universe will give you the roots to settle, and the leaves to grow when the time is right.
FrogDiva Thoughts 