Finally, I’m updating my Now page for June-July. These past six weeks have been rather eventful relative to the prior period: we visited a beautiful graveyard reminiscent of a jungle (twice), the apartment-turned-museum of a canonical author, a few beautiful parks replete with wildlife (one had a gorgeous lake with boats for rent), a taxidermist museum, and on top of that we’ve been preparing for the baby by gathering up the essentials we’ll need. Additionally, my spouse’s parents also visited the city and unexpectedly extended their stay, so we got to spend a fair amount of time with them.
As for my windowsill garden, the plants have mostly been growing well. Chilies, mint, lemon balm, spring onions, and parsley are all thriving; I also have a little orange tree coming up. However, the tomatoes didn’t fare well; they grew nicely at first, soaring in height like a well-fed child, but just as it started fruiting, it was as though it contracted an illness and nothing could save the poor thing. The leaves fell, the stem rotted, and only one fruit ripened in the end, yet decayed in the time it takes a lightning bolt to strike. The rocket/arugula was doing very well, but suddenly developed strange mottling on the leaves which I’m still investigating when I have time and energy. As I mentioned in my last update, the coriander/cilantro was impossible from the beginning, bolting almost immediately after growth. In my home country, growing things felt easy, whether it was in a garden or on a windowsill, so it’s been an interesting learning curve trying to grow in a different climate and latitude.
Regarding language learning, my spouse forced me onto a long hiatus, citing my symptoms of loathing as evidence for burnout. Even if I tried to study, they stopped me, announcing I could start studying again after a six-week break. The break is over now, and the animosity seems to have mostly passed too, yet my energy has waned as our errands and appointments for the yet-to-arrive-baby have grown, so resuming study is quite far from my mind currently.
And of course, this lack of time and energy has also taken from my novel, which too is on indefinite hiatus. I still have ideas crop up, which I note down, but the actual writing process has mostly ground to a halt—at least for now.
Reading was going steadily for a good while, increasing in proportion to the reduction of my internet use. Alas, I’ve neglected it for the past week or two out of sheer exhaustion. I’m not sure where my free time is going currently, because I’m not doing anything in particular to pass it (not even games or internet), so maybe it’s time for a time-audit. Or perhaps I really do just need rest… I feel itchy just thinking about taking “naps”.