No Time to be Bored!

It seems that the main 2 questions on everyone’s mind when they learn I’m 1) retired and 2) living on an island is, “What do you do all day“ and “Don’t you get bored?” I’m here to tell you that unless you are a vegetable or completely without any skills whatsoever, life cannot possibly be boring.

For my part I love crafts; sewing, stamping, basket making, cooking, gardening, reading, crocheting, origami flowers out of cloth, photography. Well, the list could go on. When I finish with my daily chores of laundry, making the bed, cooking, washing dishes, sweeping the floors, tending to the garden and seeing that all the animals (see my prior blog) are fed, I can then devote time to e-mail, letter writing and my on-going projects at the time.

Since I have “so much time on my hands” I come up with new projects constantly. One month I may be “into” cooking and the next sewing aprons and making cloth baskets. For a while I had a streak going where I made handmade envelopes and cards to use for special occasions.

The middle photo is that of the envelope.

To the left the card; to the right the inside of the card. I write poetry (not very well) and as long as it is short and to the point it suffices for whatever project I apply it to, generally cards for birthdays, anniversaries, etc..

When this bored me I started a quilt wall hanging. I have completed this particular project but have not hung it yet or taken a photo of it. From there I went to making coasters with quilted patterns.

I go through times when I want to create driftwood articles and the latest thing is picking up stalks of bamboo washed up on the beach and cutting it up into tall cups, decorating it and inserting an air plant.

Over the years, for Christmas I have made recipe books, handmade bags with the initials of the person on the front done in counted cross stitch, lovely organza wine bottle bags and now for Xmas 2007, I’m making aprons, baskets and bamboo plant holders and/or napkin rings.

I am organizing all my old photos and plan on buying a scanner, scanning the photos and putting them into book form to give to my children. Hopefully I’ll find enough photos to give them a real “family” album with pictures and printed information on their family tree.

I cleaned out my “storage space” and found lots of old projects that I had packed away when we moved into the house. I found a crocheted placemat I started 10 years ago and forgot about during the move to the house so am finishing that up to give to a friend. A lot of yarn was discovered during my cleanup and since it is too hot to work with yarn (constant hot flashes are a hinderance), I gave the yarn, books of designs, and kits of small items to one of the local women here. Boy, did her eyes light up.

The problem with all of these activities is that supplies are hard to come by here in Honduras. Most of my material, glue, stamps, ink, paper, etc. come from orders I place on-line and then a friend who flies down here twice a month brings the items with her for which I am very, very thankful.

I read at night when we don’t watch a DVD movie (also ordered on-line as we don’t have Television) or crochet. I play Sudoku usually once a day and try to do one or two games. And, since moving to the island I do more baking/cooking then I ever did. I love making deserts and trying out new recipes which is difficult especially since we have a limited supply of food/canned items available. Sometimes, however, things don't come out exactly as planned!

One of the things in that category that I have my friend bring down are small cans of chopped green chilies. You cannot get them here! Most Mexican dishes and even some I have picked up from Roatan call for these rascals yet no one carries them. I make homemade pineapple rum and hot sauce in my spare time, also to give as gifts.

I love entertaining and making bocas and lovely dinners. So, most of the time I meet myself coming and cannot find enough hours in the day. Then I have to photograph the projects, wrap them (make wrapping), prepare a card and deliver it by boat and it boggles the mind.

Say, now that I think of it, preparing this blog is taking too much of my "spare time".