Apple crumble

    

This evening, I found myself thinking about the time when I was still relatively fresh off the boat i.e. had left home to move to a strange land for higher education. Things were still feeling quiet and quite lonely even though I'd somehow managed to make a few (fair-weather) friends. And then one day, completely out of the blue, my email inbox pinged. It was an acquaintance who sent a recipe for apple cinnamon crumble without a prompt. This gesture felt like a warm hug.

I've made that crumble quite a few times since but lately, it's been a while and I feel like that warm hug.

We went on a weekend getaway to the seaside at the tip of the continent. I put a picture on this post but took it out in favour of these baby apples from a past life. The last time we went to a peaceful place for a little holiday was May last year, so this felt nice. We took little walks but mostly drove along the coastline, ate okay-ish food, minus that one pizza drizzled with honey, and took some pictures for posterity. It was lovely and relaxing and needed.

I painted my nails a nice deep lilac. And we had some of the salad I made yesterday. I also made MIL's pulao yesterday itself. And today I made tuna potato cutlets––a family favourite. Although I owned what I called my "days of unemployment" up until the recent past, my views have changed. There's nothing about my life that screams "I don't work". Every day is a work day, even Sundays. I felt oddly insulted when a friend referred to my social media as proof of unemployment, earlier during the year. A correction was given when I laughed in disbelief, "I don't mean it that way", but the damage (or what I believe it to be) was done. Anyway, this was a while back.

Can you believe June's at our doorstep already? I feel like we say this every year at the half-year mark and then once more before the year ends. But I'm looking forward to this one, even as I roll my eyes at myself because I look forward to every year––it's all just so exciting and different and you never know what life will throw your way but it's fun to anticipate? And just as I write that, I also feel my energy come crashing down. I think it may be time for a nap. But should I get my two remaining chores out of the way first? Let's see.