Μαχαλεπί Λιβανέζικο ...

I should never underestimate the power of the internet and this blog in particular.  On days when I don't have much to say and it is an effort to write my news I should remember that the blog and the internet allows me to keep in touch with old friends and make new ones and that I never know who is reading or what they learn about me.

A case in point is that a couple of weeks ago I went for lunch at the 5th Floor restaurant in Paphos with my Mum's Harmony Group and had a delicious pudding which was something like a pannacotta with pistachio and rosewater syrup.  I must have written about it on my blog because this morning I had a phone call from my lovely neighbour Galadia, who is staying up here with her son Γιώργος (George), called me to say that she read that I liked the pudding and that she had made some and was bringing it round for me.  The pudding is called Μαχαλεπί Λιβανέζικο and is heaven.  Not only did Galadia bring the pudding she also brought one of Chivers' missing collars which is just as well as Minnie pitched up this morning minus hers.  I am really struggling to keep up with them now and will have to enlist the help of Mrs Pamment to try and locate me some cheap and cheerful quick release ones in the UK as they are expensive over here.

On the subject of Chivers he has a new friend - we caught him playing with Gingin.  Gingin is the kitten that I kidnapped or should I say catnapped from Sheila and Klaus's one rainy day when he had sought refuge under the car and I drove him all the way back to ours without realising until he shot out from under the car and disappeared.  He has made himself a new home just up the road from us and looks to be thriving very nicely thank you.  He is very timid and shoots off when we approach but obviously loves Chivers and they look like they are plotting some sort of mischief together!

Today I got round to painting some pebbles with the tree names for the trees we have in the garden.  All in all I did four of them for the lemon, lime, clementine and olive.  I had to rely on the internet for the scientific and Greek names so I apologise now if I got them wrong.  The garden is beginning to get more established but we will need to get through another winter to see what does and what does not survive.  I hate to say it (for all those of you in the UK up to your knees in flood water) but we are experiencing a heatwave this weekend and that will probably have an adverse effect on some of the plants unfortunately.

It is nice to have our neighbours back and up the road - if nothing else they will be able to give Gingin a bit of company!!  John is going to give Sean a hand tomorrow to try and fix their pool problem but in the meantime we invited them over this afternoon so that they could have a dip in ours.  I know we briefly flirted with the idea of replacing the pool with a hot tub but to be honest on a day like today there is nothing better than a lovely clean and cool pool to sink into.  John is doing a brilliant job with ours and an equally brilliant job with Gregoris's next door which was dayglo green only two weeks ago and is now clean and inviting - just look what a difference a little TLC can make!