Mucky Monday...

After the glorious day that was yesterday I woke to sunshine and raced out of bed to get a load of washing on.  I had looked down to the bay where it was clear and bright but I had not looked behind me where black clouds were amassing and in my regular morning text from Mum she told me that the weather in Paphos was filthy and was moving up the hills towards us - great!!

I went down to Sheila's for art - we worked under difficult conditions as the sun quickly disappeared, the skies blackened and the electric went off and on!!!  Sheila has started a new picture of her daughter's late boxer - early stages as yet but looking good - and I am still working on my reproduction of her placemats.

This is how the picture was looking at the end of today as I have been concentrating on the shading of the flower.  Sheila has taken the picture of the African Lady with Baby down to be framed and is picking it up tomorrow.  My picture of the Morning Glory is also down at the same framers so I have asked her to pick mine up at the same time if it has been done.  Then we will no longer have to look at the two empty picture hooks that are above the TV!!

I am really enjoying this picture although I have to admit I have enjoyed all the ones that I have done so far.  I dont think this one is going to take me too long to complete so I shall soon have to look for a different subject matter - Sheila has suggested an orchid which isn't a bad idea if I can find the right sort of picture to inspire - it needs to be impressionistic rather than a photograph so that it can complement the other one.  

As we worked together the weather deteriorated and we had torrents of rain and hail with thunder and lightning mixed in - it was truly a horrible day and later on in Greek I would be learning the words for the weather!

As Klaus worked in the kitchen he had a right old audience.  A fleeting bit of sunshine had brought the feral cats out of hiding and they were making it known that they were hungry and wanted feeding.  Klaus was preparing a scrummy hot chicken and bacon salad with all sorts thrown in - it was delicious.

I dropped off John at Prodromi so that he could play badminton and I made my way to Sam's arriving early so it gave me the opportunity to do a bit of revision before my lesson.  When I arrived it was dry but the weather was coming from the hills and the sky was black as your hat.  Having said that the fields and hills are full of colour and look so green and lush that I poked my head out of the car to take a photograph.  Shortly afterwards the heavens opened and I was glad to be sheltered inside although I am always a bit worried that I might get hit by lightning.  The thunder and lightning was incredible and then it was joined by bloody great hailstones battering the car.

I had to run into Sam's dodging the rain and settled down to learn the weather - βρέχει - it is raining - that's a useful one at the moment along with είναι πολύ θυελλώδεις - it is very windy - and βροντές και αστραπές - thunder and lightning!!

I managed to get back to the car without getting too wet and shot off down to Paps and its waterlogged carpark to pick up a few bits as the weather got worse and worse and worse. 

When we got home we were faced with quite a flood.  All the paths slope towards the front door, the waterbutt was overflowing and there is no guttering at the end of the conservatory which all adds to the deluge.   John did his best but he was pushing water uphill which is a waste of time.  We are going to have to think about how to tackle this.  

It was batten down the hatches - eat the remainder of the rump steak with chips and cuddle up with the log burner.