Another Day of Creativity...

Today being Wednesday I escape off to Neo Chorio and craft chez Jeanette.  We woke to find we were without water although thankfully as it turned out not for long so I was able to grab a shower before setting off.  I left poor John home alone (save for the cats) - I say poor because work continues at a pace in the field next door although we are uncertain as to what exactly they are doing.  The road is being relaid and in places now seems to be a good six foot above the level of the surrounding land.  I had a vain hope that there would be no activity there for years but I think it was just wishful thinking as John says they worked all day and had paving slabs and kerb stones delivered. 

The noise and the strange people clattering about outside have spooked the cats and so they have found comfort and peace indoors rather than go hunting and hiding over in the field.  We really prefer them being in so we know that they are not being exposed to any unknown dangers and let's face it they hardly look unhappy about being indoors and at least John gets some company - can you tell I am feeling guilty about being away from the house three days in a row?

It had been my intention to finish the coasters that I started the other week and to do some new ones.  My grouting and finishing off last week had been interrupted because we were going off to Pissouri so the end result was not as good as it could have been - grouting is, apparently, an art and one which I need to perfect - clearly!!!  Still I have got four snazzy jazzy coasters in shades of pinky purple to grace our table under the gazebo.  I have to thank Jeanette for cleaning most of them for me.  On the subject of Jeanette she was well below par today.  I think that yesterday's trip took it out of her. She suffers with deep vein eczema which is pretty horrible and today she was forced to have her legs elevated and take it easy - which she hates.  The oppressive humid heat wasn't helping either.  My plan to create a second set of coasters failed for two reasons - one: the glass coasters I had purchased were smaller than the ones I used last week and didn't lend themselves to size of tile normally used and two: the glass tiles I had saved from the builders scrap heap next door were about twice the thickness of any of the small tiles which left me with a right old problem.

Having played about for ages with my coasters and tiles I realised it was a no-go so Jeanette offered me a lizard blank to mosaic properly - I say properly because in order to cover the blank I am going to have to cut tiles to fit the gaps rather than just place squares side by side.  I don't have a clue about this so I have started by doing the outline with the small tiles I bought at the Mosaic workshop yesterday.  Fortunately I just about had enough even though I hadn't bought them with this project in mind.  Crafty Jane was sat next to me working on a really lovely Kingfisher cutting tiny bits of tiles and fitting them all together to give an illusion of feathers.  I am guessing that my lizard is going to end up looking like it has some horrendous skin condition rather than scales!!  Still it will give me something else to work on whilst it is too hot for me to work outside on my cuboid snail.

On returning home I think John wanted to get away from the sounds of the workmen so we decided to go for a walk around the village and stop in one or other of the tavernas for a drink.  Our neighbour Gregoris was up meeting someone to give him a quote for laying stamped concrete in his garden - the cost of tiling proved to be too expensive.  Droushia seems to be a very popular place at the moment with a lot of properties being done up - perhaps somebody knows something that we dont!  The buildings that we believe may have been old school rooms are being turned into a small traditional agrotourism complex which may provide some nice accommodation for people wanting to visit us if we are unable to put them up ourselves.  There are some pretty lovely places available through the agrotourism scheme http://www.agrotourism.com.cy/ and maybe if there are more visitors to the village the tavernas will become a little more reliable with their opening times and menus!

Progress is inevitable but it was the old-fashioned charm and sleepiness of the village that attracted us to it in the first place so we dont want it to change too much!!!  We stopped off for a beer in Stathmos joining the local men and the local fire brigade!  We were joined by Dennis (Irene's husband) and spent a pleasant half an hour or so chewing the fat together.  We then walked up the hill and found that Alkisti was open so slipped in there too.  We were telling her that in the UK a black cat is deemed to be good luck - Alkisti tells us that in Cyprus it is the opposite and that black cats are seen to be bad luck - maybe that is why so many of the strays we see are black.

Another very hot and sticky day means another hot and sticky night and a poor night's sleep no doubt!