The Week Begins...

Late Posting - Blame Running Sue!!!

It is amazing how quickly Mondays come around - don't they say that time flies quickly when you are enjoying yourself!!  Maybe it is more to do with being woken at some ungodly hour by a stone picker in the field doing its stuff.  God help us when they finally start to build as there is so much stone that will need to be removed - I think I shall move out at that stage! 

We learned yesterday that my friend Hazel is coming out to see us in a couple of weeks and we are so excited - I am willing to bribe the builders to bugger off but hope it wont be necessary and that even they wont want to work in the heat of August - failing that it will be lots of trips to the beach.

Although I only had a small amount of my picture left from last week it was amazing that it took me all morning to get the bottom bit done and I can't put that down to too much chatting between Sheila and I!!  I think it took time because (a) I now have a better idea of what I am supposed to be doing so take more care and (b) wanted to make the bottom of the picture more detailed than the top to get a bit of perspective.  The picture is now all but complete but there are some areas on the top which were done ages ago which have begun to fade a bit so next week I will finish off by putting in a bit of definition here and there.  I am really rather proud of this picture and will be almost sorry to see it finished as I have enjoyed doing it so much - still it means I can get on with the next project which is going to be a picture of Morning Glory flowers taken in Sheila's garden as was the picture of the Clematis.  It will probably take me a little while to get into a new picture but at least the subject matter wont be too unfamiliar and the techniques will be much the same.

I went from Art to Greek down in Prodromi with Sam.  Still no breakthrough with her cat James Bond and the catflap unless it is propped open but I am sure it will come in time - it makes me realise how quickly our two got to grips with it but then they are exceptionally clever (being our cats!).  Last week I was learning items of clothing and although I didn't think I had done my homework particularly well I didn't disgrace myself!

I returned home as the builders were packing up.  We now have what is quite clearly a road with kerbs and pavement next door but unusually they are doing quite a tidy job so it isn't quite so horrendous as I thought it was going to be.  Poor John had been home alone with the dust and the noise all day but he didn't seem too bothered as there was plenty to keep him occupied on the TV now that the Olympics has started.

At the moment the cats tend to spend more time in and around the garden now that there are strange things happening in the field - a place which they have, up till now, considered as their own personal playground.  Last night Chivers actually sat on the fence and growled at a man who was walking down surveying the works and Minnie gave him 'one of her stares'.  Last night Minnie Mou found that my ornamental grass is flowering again - last year as a small kitten she battered the hell out of it and ate all the seed heads - this year is no different and so my beautiful plant will look pretty straggly again once she has finished destroying it.  Shortly after this picture was taken I found that she had jumped right in the middle of the plant and most of it was crushed into a jaunty 45 degree angle!  I can't get cross with her though as we like to have her around where we can see her and recently she took a chunk of fur and skin off of the top of her head somehow and looks like she is sporting a bit of a Mohican!  She wont let us have a good look at it and nearly hit the roof when I tried to bathe it with a bit of watered-down tea tree oil - not surprising really.

Chivers has a fascination with water at the moment and loves to be in the bathroom either when you are on the loo or in the shower (when he waits very patiently outside).  He is desperate to watch the water disappear down the plughole or watch the flush - in fact he cries for you to flush the loo so he can watch what is happening.  We say he is on toilet inspection duty and he takes it very seriously!  No doubt he will be giving our place a once over before Hazel arrives to make sure it reaches his exacting standards!  For some reason both he and Minnie Mou came to bed with us last night - he normally does but she doesn't - I think it was because it was cooler than it has been of late and will be the lull before the storm if the forecasters are correct as the temperature is supposed to ramp up again at the weekend.  It may be cooler outside but with Minnie stretched out along John's neck like a fur wrap and Chivers on my feet (he loves feet) it wasn't particularly cool for either of us!

We have had quite a gastronomic time of it recently with all our meals out so it was a simple salad for John and I last night.  Having said that I had some cherry tomatoes that were a bit past their prime and decided to pan roast them with some peppers before chucking in some halloumi.

I just thought the vibrant colours were worth a photograph and I can assure you that if it looked good enough to eat then it certainly was.  Not quite so many meals out this week but having said that we are off to Sheila and Klaus's tomorrow to sample the hot-tub and some of Klaus's legendary food, then it is Ladies Lunch at Alkisti's on Wednesday and then a meal at Running Sue's on Friday.  The diet is just going to have to wait.