Embroidery

I started embroidering today. never imagined myself embroidering in DDA (deepest darkest africa) but here I am, embroidering a turtle- well- its a super old Madagascan tortoise - but I'm sure that won't be evident by the time I'm finished.

Why? well, a few weeks back we had some visitors from Australia and one of them asked- 'what are your hobbies?' and my housemate helpfully replied that I 'play that colourful block game', to which i retorted that I play scrabble as well as tetris and then frantically tried to think of something cool and un-facebook related that I do to un-wind...

I drew a blank. I also bake bread, cakes and cookies and tend my veggie patch- but we've got a weevil infestation at the moment, not to mention the shopping list is out-doing the pantry and the last lot of seeds I planted were out of date and haven't germinated. None of which fits the 'cool' category I'm sure.

It's really important to find a way to unwind here. A way to switch off the sickness, hunger, funerals, domestic violence, sense of fatalism that pervades everything. Some nights I go to sleep wondering whether donor funded community development is really the best way forward? and if not- what do I suggest to replace it? what are the implications for my life - am I willing to put my life where my mouth is and commit to this place - or any other- long term? etc etc etc So I think it's understandable that if the power and the internet is on - I drop colourful shapes to make lines until I'm within millimeters of sleep...

So, 15 months in and I still don't have a 'hobby' ( I don't mean a brain numb-er- i mean something constructive I enjoy doing). I came back from holidays with a new camera and a sketch pad with great hopes of being artistic... but i just had a look at the pics i took this week and it's not very encouraging. below is a sneak peak:

Some disease or nutrient deficiency in the kidney bean crop


The drain being overworked - and underpaid no doubt.

Two lovely gentlemen adjusting the brakes on the bike I was riding so I could acttually stop on downhills if i wanted to.


Ooh- she's taken a photo of a pretty flower! nope- it's 'witch weed' disasterous for maixe as it grows around the base of the plant sucking nutrients straight form the root system. pretty though don't ya think?

The truth is, I've got more photos of soil profiles, sick plants and the water drain than anything else. Maybe I'm so 1 dimensional that my job IS my hobbie? I suspect that's not healthy.

SO, although I'm a little dubious, I'm giving embroidery a shot- but I would really like some ideas on what else I could try out. It'd have to be something I could do here- and by myself or learn off the internet. What do YOU do to chill out and enjoy yourself?