Saturday 9 February 2013

Friday 1st February...


Blimey January has been and gone already and fortunately it was nowhere near as bad as last year!  Let's hope that February does not have a sting in its tale!!  If this morning was anything to go by hopefully not as it was fine and bright if not a bit chilly - there is still a smattering of snow on the Troodos which is only really evident when the sun shines - it makes for a magnificent sight.


When I checked the post yesterday I had a parcel - I had ordered some artificial calla lilies to go on the dining room table.  I am not a lover of artificial flowers as a rule but I wanted something bright and red to match the colours of the place mats and these fitted the bill perfectly plus fresh flowers cost an arm and a leg and unfortunately it would appear that I have mealy bugs on my one and only rose which valiantly flowered this year but is clearly destined to never quite make it.  Lacking any bug killer (don't like to use it because of the cats) I washed the rose with washing up liquid and squished as many of the bugs as I could find.

I must have been a very naughty girl (maybe it was because John didn't like his supper yesterday) but he went off to Badminton and bolted the garden gate with me inside and unable to get out!  He said he was on auto pilot but I am not so sure myself.  I was confined to barracks from 12.30pm until he returned at around 4.15pm!!


I spent the warmest part of the afternoon outside gardening - I have wanted to do some for ages but it has either been too wet or too cold.  Dad had given me some fertiliser for the fruit trees so I thought I ought to put some of that down and I also but back some of the geraniums that were looking leggy.  It would appear that plants have survived better this winter than last winter and it looks like the gazanias have self seeded in places which is great.  Chivers likes to keep me company when I am weeding - for some reason he likes to sniff the soil when it has been disturbed.  It was good to keep him occupied because the fine weather had brought out a number of the goat herders with their goats and you know what Chivers thinks of them.  The guy in the picture is not one that I have seen before and he had rather a powerful looking dog with him so I was glad to keep Chivers occupied whilst they passed by.  Fortunately this flock were not wearing bells so Chivs was unaware of their presence.


Once it got too cold to garden, and bearing in mind I was locked in, there was nothing left but for me to sit in the conservatory which had been nicely warmed by the sun and find something to do.  I am still knitting my scarf but this can be difficult if one or other of the cats is in play mode!!  This scarf will require two balls of wool and I am at last near the end of the first one - I am obviously doing something wrong when I get to the end of a row because the wool is twisted beyond belief.

John thought it was hysterically funny when he got home to find me locked in and held his hands up admitting that he had done it - makes a change for it not to be his sister Janice's fault - it usually is!!!

We had offered Vix and Trev an outside table and chairs that we no longer had room for and so we decided to take it round - they have ordered some outside furniture but this would at least tide them over until it arrived.

This was our first opportunity to meet up with Murphy who arrived last Sunday.  Boy he has grown since we last saw him but that was 18 months ago and he was just a very young puppy then.  At that age he looked very much like their old dog Smudge but now he is quite different - he seems much stockier and has a big strong head and Smudge was much older when we got to know him, older and more placid!!!  Vix says that Murphy is getting better at walking over here and has a muzzle so that he doesn't eat anything he shouldn't plus they have been to the vets to get their anti poison kit.  As Vix says he will never have the same freedom to run and roam as he did in England because there are so many more dangers over here but they are finding some nice routes around them and it will only be a matter of time before Murphy forgets what the walks back in Somerset were like.


Trevor and Vicky are very lucky that their new home faces out to Lara and that they get sunshine most of the day and are then treated to some wonderful sunsets.  We are not so lucky as our house faces North so although we get a view of Chrysochou Bay the main part of our house does not get any sun which is great in the summer but not so great in the winter.  We had toyed with the idea of having a window put in but now we have the conservatory this doesn't seem quite so important - it would be quite a major job anyway and one which we probably couldn't afford.

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