Sunday February 17th - Presidential Elections...

Thank you John for passing on your lurgy to me - my throat is killing

In amongst the goodies which Mum brought back with her from the UK was some chocolate from my Sister.  Asda's own Fruit and Nut - HEAVEN - Kaye we love you xxx  She must have known that we had just about got to the end of the Red Cross Sweet parcel that was sent to us by Laura and Mark for Christmas.  We are so looking forward to a couple of squares with a coffee after supper tonight.

It was strange to have the house back to ourselves.  Strange but nice and I expect that Dad will have liked being back in his own bed and that Mum was back safe and sound.  We did not rush to get up but with fingers of sunlight having at us through the shutters I felt the need to get up and crack on with some chores.

Top of the list was to get our bedding washed and out on the line and then I wanted to make the spare bed up and my clothes needed a serious sort out as I could hardly get the drawers open and closed they were in such a mess.

Minnie Mou likes to sleep in the drawers that are under our bed - hence my black trousers are always covered in cat hairs so when I emptied the chest of drawers this was new territory to her and when my back was turned she was in there trying to decide exactly where she wanted to sleep.

She had the hump as we had squirted her ears with gunk - they look better until you stick a cotton bud in them and then you realise that she still has a problem.  She still has the eczema patch under her chin too so it will be a trip to the vets for her this week.  On that subject John saw Irene today who suggested we keep either some iodine or some peroxide in the house so that we can immediately clean any wounds the cats come in with.  She also said they had a lovely meal at Running John and Susan's last night but I stuck my fingers in my ears and sang 'la la la' when she was telling me!!!  Actually because we couldn't make it last night Irene, Dennis, John, Susan, John and I are going to go out for a meal instead at some point to be agreed.

Another of the goodies in Mum's bag was a packet of bulbs mum had picked up for me when she went to visit a garden centre with John and Jane.

As bulbs seem to do quite well up here I was really pleased and I am very hopeful that, as there seems to be wild anemones everywhere at the moment, these anemones will thrive and add some welcome colour into the garden in spring. 

I was in the midst of planting them up when I had a phonecall from Orexi Elena to ask if there was plenty of lavender up here in flower.  There is - there always is - and particularly in the front gardens of the houses where the builder has gone bust so no-one ever picks it.

She explained that she has a friend who makes soap and other beauty products who was after some lavender and so she would be up with her to help pick some.  This also meant that at long last Elena would be able to come and see where we live.  She has been threatening to come for a coffee for weeks and weeks but is always too busy.

I returned to the jobs in hand and got the spare bed made back up with nice clean fresh linen and had all the doors and windows open as the sun was streaming in.  Chivers has now bagged the spare bed as his own - I couldn't really blame him as ours was totally uninviting as it had been stripped.  To be honest on a Sunday we quite like the cats to be in and around the house so that they are out of harms way and the hunters.  Yesterday a car went down the road with a youngster hanging out of it shooting a rifle.  Today is a special Sunday as the Cypriot nation goes to the voting stations to elect a new President.  We await the result with great interest as the future of the Island will very much depend on the new President and how he steers it out of the economic crisis it has found itself in.

MM was clearly disinterested by any talk of elections or by my empty drawers, she chose to sun herself on the back of one of the sofas in the conservatory - it was sunny but the wind still keen so she was in the right place.  We have obviously been forgiven for squirting stuff in her ears.

Elena eventually arrived with daughter Amoura and Jo Soap (Joanne Baskott) and her daughter.  Joanne creates all sorts of goodies using natural products http://www.sapooni.com/index.html and so we helped her to harvest lavender flowers.  I have offered to let her have the lemon balm from our garden when I cut it back as it grows like a weed and self seeds everywhere.  I said that the rose geranium was promised to Herb Garden Caroline so that had to be left alone!  Orexi Elena was toying with the idea of some sort of workshop with Jo Soap and Orexi Food which sounded like a good idea to me - maybe a Ladies Lunch date if the price is right - who knows?