The weekend in review

via Ermie

While it is admittedly awesome to be able to hop on a bus and/or plane to Bangkok for a weekend, it also tends to throw my schedule off kilter.  This weekend was the first in weeks that felt normal and lazy.  It's so funny how not being able to cook a full breakfast, bake something, read, and  dawdle in my home on a Saturday or Sunday can throw me off balance.   I must be more a creature of ritual than I imagined.

I love weekends that are open and not riddled with appointments, meetings, or tasks that require  my immediate attention.  Yesterday, I had brunch with some lovely women at the new gastrobar in town, Botanico.  It was a good way to catch up with people I haven't seen in a while - J is back from Baltimore to work on women's health rights  and I hadn't seen F since fall last year.   We talked about life developments, about working in Burma, about travel and life in India (F previously lived in Bangalore), and friends' planned trip to Sri Lanka this fall.

Other than that brunch, I declined other invitations.  Instead, I stayed home.  I baked this and cooked, and fed the ornery brown and black spotted feral kitten, "Cookie," which has taken over my terrace.

April brings with it another Khmer holiday, then there's May with another holiday, and then it's June, my last month at work.  I started my application for the Indian visa and with that, I allowed myself to daydream about the trip.  I've also become aware that the pace of life may pick up again for a while until the respite in July and August.

Oh yes, before I forget:  I finally ordered the Ermie shirt above, and what service!  Jennifer ordered more material for me in the Talitha print (which was out), offered to pre-wash the silk for me (because  I don't have a dry cleaner in Cambodia), and is currently having the shirt made with my measurements.  I'm not a big fan of fast fashion these days, particularly given all the garment factory finds in the local markets, but this type of service alone reminds me why I would rather spend my money to support the work of artisans like Jennifer. I am super excited to own one of her pieces.