season of plenty

The middle of the dry season is the peak time for produce. Carrots have arrived, tomatoes are in abundance, cauliflower make a brief appearance, cucumbers are sweet, and lettuce thrives in the cooler temperature. Kan kung (water spinach) is always plentiful and very cheap (top photo), and it provides the green in our green smoothie; the fuel for fearless paddling and blogging.  The local tofu is firm, delicious and versatile - scrambled, steamed, marinated, blended with cacao...I'll prepare it any way except fried.  The fridge is fully stocked this week for the arrival of Aquaman's parents, and we called upon our friendly neighbours to deliver the bounty in their ute. This called for morning tea, followed by the great veggie wash-up and a market day feast for the goats. There goes another simple morning. 

may i introduce you...

After the sad departure of our dear Bo last October, we are excited to have adopted new free range pets into our yard. This year's goats are Eva and her baby boy, Mittens, who was born in the shade of our bedroom. He had a rough start as mum wasn't letting him feed very often, and for a while we didn't think the little fella would make it.  We coaxed him along with soft leafy greens and now he is on a varied vegan diet and is confident to forage away from mum, he is strong and vigorous. Eva isn't the prettiest girl in the paddock and could do with a "hornicure" and beard trim, but we love her daily visits and friendly nibbles.

golden hour

An hour before sunset, the warm light penetrates beneath the palm canopy in our front yard and illuminates the living room. It is perfect for highlighting the day's accumulation of dust and sand on the floor; so the trick is, don't look down, keep gazing at the horizon.  We recently replaced our light shade with a big rooster basket, designed to keep the prize cock under control, but more beautiful and compassionate when strung from the ceiling.  

double overhead

When I look up from my screen, the high tide is an aqua sheet over the lagoon bed and the waves are cracking the horizon. Double overhead down the line, light offshore, water 22 degrees, air temp a very pleasant 28, with enough humidity to keep my skin from cracking and condense water on the outside of a cold smoothie glass, but not enough to induce perspiration. Homeostatically perfect. Aquaman is in the office on his 6'8" board. It should be a good giggle session and there will be plenty of happy water boys in the camp tonight. 

Now to more important topics, like running water. Having progressed over the years from a bucket in the well to a tank, pump and taps, we never take this precious commodity for granted. Almost everything we do regularly requires more than a few drops - wash the dishes, brush our teeth, water the garden, boil the kettle, paint a picture, wash the floor, blend a smoothie…without it I might as well read a book and sleep until it is reconnected. All it takes is an insensible shovel blow to the pipe (trust me, I only did this once) and it is back to the bucket. Until one of the rotten posts holding up the tank stand falls down and pierces a hole in the bucket, then it is a very dry argument, dear Liza, dear Liza. 

The architecturally designed steel and timber tank stand is set to become a tourist attraction, and is receiving positive feedback from the locals. Going to the toilet is no longer a death risk, and the push button flusher is one step closer to reality. Then we'll really be sitting in style. 

goodbye pizza, hello papaya

After a six week stint of macchiato, vegan pizza and art study in Italy, I am back on the beach with my toes wiggling happily in the sand and my arms rejoicing the daily lagoon swims.  If you don't already, you can follow my Italian journey, and other off-island activities on my Treacle blog here.  Good for those times when you are overcome with my palm tree gazing activities or Aquaman's barrel riding prestige. 

It was a long haul from Madrid via Hong Kong and Jakarta to the City of Dreams, where I was able to catch a few horizontal hours sleep before the ferry ride home to my hubby. What a blissful moment.  He was very patient with my first three days of travel stories and nightly slide shows. Now I'm back in the groove of the simple life with updates to share from the latest island activities, so blend up a green smoothie or pack the moka pot, it's blog time.