Craft

Here is photographic evidence of the interloper who is bedding down at night in the protective shelter which John built for Chivers and Minnie Mou - it is most definitely Fluffer from up the road.  And yes, you can see some food but this was some wet food that was going to be thrown away because neither Chivers nor MM would eat it, in fact MM had licked it to within an inch of its life!  As a homeless feral Fluffer cannot afford to be too picky, having said that Irene feeds her better than ours!  She is a lovely cat and makes herself fully at home in Number 12b when Sharon and Sean are over and Sharon always asks us to make sure that Fluffer is ok and to give her a cuddle every now and then.  John has just pointed out that she is colour coordinated with our other two and they just seem to give her a stiff ignoring so we don't mind if she is finding some peace and quiet around at ours.  I have been feeding the ferals whilst Irene has been away and although I have only seen Fluffer, Domino and one of the Slappers the amount of food being consumed is extraordinary - we think that our two must be dining out up the road!

Just to show how disinterested our two are we found them asleep like a pair of bookends in the conservatory where some winter sunshine was breaking through and making them feel warm.  It was bright enough and warm enough that I got up early and put some washing on because we have to grab drying days when we can.  I am not sure why I was so keen as the world was due to end today at 12:12 it being the twelfth day of the twelfth month of the twelfth year!

I was going to craft at Jeannette's in Neo Chorio today and stopped off en route to take a picture of the coastline which was completely deserted.  For me it would have been a great morning to blow away the cobwebs as there was some heat in the sun but I was running late and didn't have time to do more than take a photograph.

As I drove up the hill away from Latchi the landscape became greener and greener, in fact you could almost be forgiven for thinking you were somewhere in the UK looking at this photograph!  It was a lovely morning and I was very hopeful that early morning laundry exercise was not in vain.  I had left John in charge of keeping an eye on the skies!

You can tell how much rain we have had recently because the river bed that I cross, and which is normally bone dry, now has running water - this is just up the road from where the river burst its banks back in January when it pushed mud through the shops and tavernas by the marina.  Let's hope that the flood defence work they have done in the interim will not get tested this year, or if it does that it works properly.

We were working indoors today.  Jeannette had visitors staying (her husband Graham's sister and brother in law) and when I arrived they were both outside enjoying the sunshine.  The house was fully decked out in readiness for Christmas and looked lovely and although the sun was shining it was really nice to have some central heating on as the houses over here just do not retain the heat.  We were a small group, Prodromi Pam, Curry Rival Chris, Painting Pauline, Jeannette and me!

I had decided in advance what I was going to be working on today.  I wanted to create a gecko sitting on a large pebble using smaller pebbles and beads.  I had been inspired by something Prodromi Pam had done previously and by the fact that I had found a pebble perfect for a gecko head.  I had selected the pebbles I wanted yesterday and taken a photograph on my phone so that I had something to refer to.  I have to admit that I was really pleased with how this turned out and John loved it and thinks I should try and make a really big one for the garden.

The good weather did not last - in fact it deteriorated quickly and we were soon experiencing monsoon like conditions.  John managed to get my washing in but it wasn't fully dry.  Bless him he had spent the day trying to find ways to stop the rain coming in through the conservatory windows and flowing like a river under the front door.  It looks like he made some seriously good progress as I didn't have to wade home!