I’ve been watching this little mama patiently sitting on her eggs for a couple of weeks, and they finally hatched a few days ago. They are very close to the wall, so it’s hard to get the right angle to video them, but I had a go anyway. I don’t think National Geographic is going to hire me any time soon.
I’ll try again when they are starting to try to fly. Stay tuned!
I’m currently ghostwriting a book for a couple in Canada, and every Saturday morning we have a two-hour Zoom call when I interview them about their stories for the book.
This morning, as always, the adventure they were telling me about was exciting and I was living it vicariously through them. But then I had an adventure of sorts myself. This morning dawned sunny and hot, with clear blue skies. I went for my early morning walk, ate breakfast outside and walked home. All good.
As always, before the interview I set my table up in front of the window so that I would get good natural light for the video, and we started our meeting. All was well for about the first hour, and then, as often happens in Argentine summer, the sky darkened very suddenly and very quickly. Then the rain came on. And then the wind came up, and the palm tree outside my balcony began to waffle about. Then it started to thunder.
My image on the screen was becoming so dark you could hardly seem me. At one point, my client said, “Helen, are you still there? Can you hear us?” I assured him I was, and told him just to keep talking!
I think I’ve mentioned that there are a lot of pigeons across from my apartment, and there’s currently a mourning dove sitting on eggs on my bedroom window ledge. I can put up with that, but they all seem to have taken this as a sign that a party is going on, and my balcony sometimes look like a pigeon convention until I shoo them away.
I could see them all starting to gather on the balcony for shelter, and at first I ignored them because I didn’t want to interrupt. But I was so distracted I had to tell them, and we took a short break from the interview while I chased off these birds!
The Argentine word for a thunderstorm is tormenta, which I think you’ll agree is very descriptive!
Anyway, before we finished our call the sky had lightened considerably and they could see me again by the time we finished! But the tormenta isn’t over, although it’s not so dark now. I think it’s on for the day — although they often stop just as suddenly as they begin.
I’m going to a local restaurant for dinner tonight, so I’ll just go and get the raincoat and wellies at the ready just in case!
Two years ago today I arrived in Argentina, and today I celebrated my anniversary over lunch with Venetia, Gillian and Joanna. We went to an open air restaurant in the grounds of the Museum of Decorative Arts, and it was lovely.
The first photo is the main gate, with yet another lovely jacaranda outside.
Turns out that November 24 is Argentine Wine Day — the very day I arrived. What a coincidence!
We had champagne to celebrate my special day and it was lovely. Gracias chicas!
Next day, Wednesday 25. This is a mourning dove, and I just found out on Google that it takes about 14 days to hatch their eggs, and then the chicks stay in the next for another two weeks, I guess she’s here for the long haul!
Last night we had thunderstorms and heavy rain all night and she sat there patiently on her eggs. Although I’m not keen on these birds (I don’t care what people say, I still say they are pigeons!) I do have a reluctant admiration for her. So maybe I’ll just enjoy watching all this nature happening on my window sill!
Today I went with Venetia to San Telmo, where the Sunday artesan market has reopened. Since they can only line one side of the street because of social distancing, they have spread out along other side streets too, which made for a lot of walking.
We had lunch at Il Sorpasso, a beautiful Italian restaurant with a cool Italian style patio. The food was excellent, which is good because we’re going there again with some girlfriends for dinner on Friday night.
These photos will give you an idea of how beautiful the courtyard is.
As if lunch at Museo Evita wasn’t enough, another opportunity for fun later presented itself last night. It was billed as Wine and Flamenco, so four of us decided to go for it. It was more than just a wine tasting though, as there was also good food to go with each wine.
Unfortunately there was no flamenco dancing, but the singing and guitar music was lovely.
Undoubtedly, though, the star of the show was the place itself. It’s called El Jardin (the garden) and it’s another of those San Telmo gems you don’t see from the street, but when you get inside it’s absolutely beautiful. We climbed some lovely stone steps to the second level, which was where the wine tasting and show were. The tables are in a long narrow space surrounded by flowers and trees, and being outdoors we could look up to see the sky above us. We all said we’d like to see it during the day, but right now they are only open for special events in the evening. Fingers crossed they will open for lunch soon.
The place has an Andalusian vibe, which was perfect for the Flamenco music.
A few people have written to say they missed my blog posts, and wondered if I was OK. When I looked, I was quite shocked to see the previous post was on October 12. My excuse is always that nothing is happening, but the truth is there’s a big laziness component there. There’s always something I could be writing, but I’ve just been too lazy.
Today I heard Marie Forleo interview Seth Goden — two of my favourite online people — about Seth’s new book, “The Practice — shipping creative work”. He talks about the myth of writer’s block, and says you must create a practice around writing and get it done whether you are in the mood or not. So that’s what I’m going to do, starting now.
I do, of course, have to give priority to the writing I have to do for my clients and my business, but there’s no reason I can’t do more on this blog as well. I don’t promise a post every day, but at least three a week — and you can hold me to that!
It’s a beautiful warm, sunny spring day. I’m just in the beginning stage of work on a new client’s book. At this point it’s all about thinking and planning, and I don’t need my computer. So I decided to take a note book and pen and walk up to La Biela, have some fizzy water and do my thinking there.
Imagine my surprise when I couldn’t get a table — on a Monday! The whole outdoor patio, as well as the spillover tables on the sidewalk, were full of people enjoying their “freedom”! There are lots of cafes in this area near me, so I just kept walking. I walked past four others, all full!
But it’s good to see people out and about again, even though it meant a change of plans. Now I’m home and am going to do my thinking on the balcony, amidst my plants and flowers, with a nice cup of tea!
I know I should eat healthy salads more for lunch, but the truth is I don’t have the time or inclination for all that washing and chopping every day for lunch. Well, the other day I found the solution online — salad in a jar!
Here’s what it looks like in the jar and on the plate.
I just emptied the whole jar onto a plate, it all came out nicely mixed and the dressing (which is on the bottom) drizzled beautifully over everything. I made three jars, just the one mason jar size and two smaller. This was one of the smaller ones and it was enough for me.
Apparently you can make enough for five days (all the same or all different, your choice) and it will all keep in the fridge. So I figure an hour’s work on Sunday night makes five lunches which take 30 seconds to prepare!
I think I’ve got this!
In case you’d like to give it a go, here’s a link to the site where I found the information:
Buen apetito!
Before the sun comes up and makes too many harsh shadows, I thought I’d give you a glimpse of my little balcony garden. You’ll be able to tell from some of my comments that I’m very much a novice at this!