when the pieces fit together

Evelina recommended me the podcast  The Gateway: Teal Swan (spotify link). investigative story about this self-help guru. i immediately started listening because when she recommended Wind of Change podcast (spotify link), i LOVED it, well done and interesting historically and culturally. im now 2 episodes in on The Gateway and its certainly interesting. not black and white. so the best kind.

so i finally got into podcasts - only like, 5 years after everyone else? haha. i just needed to warm up.  sometimes im a late bloomer. with the internet, i was not. some wonder if online dating is safe or sensible - i started that in 1998. but i didnt start using a mobile phone even semi-regularly until around 2007-2008, and that was a 10 yr old nokia. now, its an iphone and i barely go to bathroom without it. but with the podcasts the problem was always also that i couldnt think of where and when i'd listen to them. people say they listen to podcasts while: commuting to work, jogging, taking dog out for a walk, dusting, doing the dishes, folding laundry. out of those, i only do 'folding laundry' and thats only doctors shirts, pants or sheets, and i try to get it done in less than a minute. i just cant find that suitable side activity. until puzzles under lockdown. so they seem to feed each other now, podcasts get listened to and puzzles get done.

 

finished this finally. one piece missing though in the top right corner! im not too huffed when that happens, i buy 2nd hand puzzles from eBay usually as that makes the most sense and so it can happen, very rare though.

....and started a new one. easy for a change. 

puzzles are very soothing and nice activity for me. friends recommended the movie Puzzle earlier this week and we watched it on friday. friday was also our 'lunaversary', 10 years 5 months. anyway Puzzle was pretty good, not great. and it was more about a woman finding her own voice, but the puzzles played a big part. i wish it was bigger. i had been wondering if there is competitiing puzzling and googled now, indeed there is. how cool is that? i'd love to understand it better. reminds me, i just heard yesterday that Carlsen and Kasparov will have their first ever chess match next month. thats something to watch. not sure if its exactly fair, with kasparov semi-retired from chess (or so it seems) as well as age... but its a wet dream sort of, so.

this sunflower we got as a random gift in mid-may quickly grew taller than an adult human. i realised suddenly a plant WAS interesting, because it had such a short reaction time and i could see my actions have an effect. like it changed and grew so quickly. if it was dry and the leaves were down and i gacve it water, within half an hour the leaves were perky again. so maybe im not so anti-plant, i just want to see something happen. the sunflower matured and died last week. not sure if there was a way to have it as a annual plant, if maybe we made a mistake... i just googled "fast growing indoor plants" and went from there. now expecting a purple velvet plant called Gary from Aberdeen. i found one small purple velvet plant on Amazon and then an even smaller baby one in Etsy. and the Etsy one had the name Gary and care instructions so obviously i got Gary. i specifically wanted as small as possible in order to see the growth. i dont see point in buying a full grown plant. 

these buildings on our street are fascinating. i'd love to know more about them and how functional the residents find it. looks beautiful.

dinner with doctor a couple weeks back when it was 35c. rooftop terrace on our street (Aquum).

friends gave us this colouring book, and i got pens from WHSmith. i am anti-pencil as they need more pressure and would make my hand hurt, not to mention sharpening etc. we started colouring Brighton with doctor.  feels childish in a positive way.

new soft slippers!

our project new windows has been a bit of a disaster. i found the best possible company (Fensa certified etc etc) and yet they are utterly incompetent at times. installations issues, quality problems, carelessness, poor time management and what seesm sometimes as just lazines...  but there were also other things, they had to order a completely new bedroom window (below) as there were technical problems with it, and some other stuff.

they were gonna just silicone seal the outside... leaving gaps like this (ignore the satellite cable sticking next to it). ff's sake.

 we've had a lot of back and forth about the quality of the work - we are not specialist, but i do know seals should be weather proof, windows not clonky and other obvious things. so a month later, the windows are still not done . only guest room window needs fixing though and astragal bars missing. so getting there. it is a bit quieter for sure, so the acoustic glass is doing its job. the double glazing and insulation are maybe ...too good though? during the july and august heatwaves our livingroom got 'istanbul warm'. i will be thankful in the winter but in the summer...eh, we need to find a solution for next year.