Some rambling and crochet...

I haven't had any finished projects or crochet design to post for quite a while already. I still  haven't got any for now, and unfortunately some bad news. Maybe not so relevant to my blog readers, but thought I would share.
About the second half of July, two unrelated incidents  disturbed the normal, peaceful and creative aspect of my ordinary life.
First, the vacant lot beside our house is now going to be occupied. For many years (at least 2 decades) it was left practically on its own and nature took over. There were already trees on there, most of it bore fruit and the land owner would occasionally have the fruits picked. That includes the indian mangoes on the tree pictured above. Actually, this tree and several others grew because of the seeds that we threw on there. Now suddenly, one morning that started beautiful became ugly when the unscrupulous new owner businessman, had the trees destroyed!

We learned that they are going to use the land for storage of equipment. That might be illegal, since our subdivision is a residential area - another issue to be dealt with :p

I felt sad to lose all the trees that provided shade and privacy. If you notice in my modeled shots, some of it were taken with those trees in the background...
So the past weeks I felt quite exposed here (since my house is on the second floor). Anyways to save on expense, I thought of some DIY solution to the problem. I bought some lattice dividers and hinges. I still have to figure out how best to prop it up. I also have to paint it, and I don't like that kind of work :p

Ok, while the reality of losing the trees hasn't fully sinked in yet, my poor computer broke down! I have permanently lost some files in the hard disk :(
I don't want to account what's in there, but I know there are plenty of useful stuff. My brother saved what's left and got my computer working again. Don't know if I should bring the hard disk to a professional and pay him to retrieve my other files.My brother said there's some hope that the files could still be extracted. But I haven't decided if its worth it, or maybe I'd just start all over again :(

On the crochet side, I have several WIPs and don't know what to pick up! I really have to finish my SIL's tunic first. She wanted the same color and style shown on the printed pattern.
Then I need to put a curtain on my bathroom window. I want to crochet one and already made up a swatch...
Other than that, the cross-stitch project that I have to finish for my sister as a (late) wedding gift is laid on the table and I should be working on it too...
Hopefully I'll get back into designing soon. While I'm trying to do that, I might be reviewing a new crochet book, which I was told would be sent to me (keeping my fingers crossed on this). The book looks really worth it for inspiration and lovely projects to make :)