Till I Get A Second Wind

Its Saturday again but its going to be a quiet one for me. There was no news about the girls coming over though the one week school holiday for the Deepavali has started. Perhaps their parents have no off days or may be they have some other plans. My own girl has her tennis coaching this weekend. And I am not able to enjoy sporting activities with the cronies due to the unwellness.

Few days back malaise swept over me for no apparent reason. It later turned out to be a cold/flu. The virus is always there in the air, I think, ready to pounce on you. You get caught whenever your body resistance is low. When I think back, that was it. I carelessly allowed my body to get chilled after the last Saturday's trial zumba session at the club.

Never let the body get chilled after exercise.

When feeling down like this it gets me thinking of things I miss and should be doing when in the best of wellness and health. But most time we, sorry,  I, blame the weather.

A few posts back I wrote an entry on my side garden. Yes it is messy and has long been neglected. I just keep thinking of an overhaul but never get to do it, well it is, the rain!

Many thoughts are running through the my head in time of inactivity.

The potted plants are to be rearranged, loosen and top up the soil. The plants are all hungry for fertilizer. Don't know when was the last time they were fed. Can't do much to the trees and the bigger plants. Perhaps call somebody to trim and cut off some branches. When will I get it done?

Aha why not I start planting vegetables and more herbs. If I start now I can harvest in three months time and save some marketing money. A retiree need to be prudent. Money is hard to come by and things are getting expensive. Everybody is now whining at the high cost of whatever, not just me.

If I am hard working and clever enough to maximize the use of the compound area I could have free vegetables through out my meals. But then .  . .

The trees we planted are not giving any returns. I wonder when those gaharu trees will give me money hehe. At least enough to pay for my tennis shoes, swim wear or sports bag. Now I have five trees but one is half dead being under attack by the termites.

The five trees are experimental ones, already maybe five years(?) old and they are taller than a two-story house. How much taller will it grow I wonder. We bought about a hundred more gaharu saplings and had them planted on our land in the kampung and  then we dreamed of bundles of notes coming our way hahaha.

The mulberry trees are for birds though I also like a share. Tried making my own jam with the fruits but it was not very successful. It looks like I cannot save on the jam money in fact now I have to pay more for my favorite jam. Now I lessen my jam intake. Don't call me cheapskate. I now strictly watch my diet ok!

I must talk again about the cempaka. The second generation trees. They are yet to flower. If they do it must be abundant because now I have two trees. I should be able to sell it to the man selling scented flowers by the road side. Do I sound like a pokai? If you don't know, pokai means broke.

The dukong tree is occupying extensive air space. Once I talked to cutting  it down when in that very same year soon it fruit a lot. The tree is spared till today. I think I must threaten it again to induce it to fruit. But today my throat is sore, I lost my voice, can't talk much to wake the tree up hmm.

The belimbing tree has been here for so many years already. When its time, and quite often, its fruit come in abundance. But it has limited use. Even the birds shun them, may be too sour. I use some for masak lemak but the rest will drop to the ground and be squished away. However I have tried making it into sandwich filling and I assure you it is nice. The recipe is in my past entry Some Like It Hot. Try it.

The lime plants are quite straggly. I must take note, spruce it when I get well.

I put kafir lime leaves along the window frames to shoo away the house lizards. I see less lizards now but I really don't think it's because of the lime leaves. I have decluttered my house, thrown off lots of useless stuffs. That may be the reason but the lime leaves give fresh aroma to my store and kitchen. So why not continue with the practice of putting the limau purut leaves on the window frames.

The best ever and so useful is the karveppilai but it is always being attacked by the small-waisted slimy black gnat which I really don't know what's the name. The whole bunch of leaves will become crinkled and will look burnt. Time and time again the top of the tree got to be chopped off to let new branches and leaves to grow . I have to get some ashes to sprinkle over the lower branches with the new leaves before it get attacked again.

Looks like I got a lot of work to do . . . yes I will do but wait till I get my second wind . . .

Meantime browse the flowers . . .

Sit back and listen to this song from the youtube .