Saturday March 2nd...

I had yet another poor night's sleep - this cough thing is really getting me down.  In the afternoons apart from the husky voice I am fine but when I lie down it all starts again with the cough and the snot (sorry) and so I keep myself awake and John into the bargain.  This morning he woke in the early hours and was gobsmacked to find that Chivers had settled down in the bed between us knocking out a load of zeds with his head on the pillow - we couldn't believe it - normally if he gets onto the bed when we are trying to make it we put the duvet on top of him and he scoots out because he doesn't like it.  He was in no hurry to move either and actually who could blame him - we had fresh bedding on and it was really cosy.  And YES I know we said that the cats weren't going to be allowed into the bedroom but I LIED!

Fluffer was outside the back door calling for food when I got up and I turned my back for a second only to hear her bang a paw on the door and capture a tiny yellow bird that had unfortunately flown into the glass.  When I removed it from her clutches it was still alive but died almost immediately - it was such a shame as it was a beautiful little thing and had probably managed to survive all sorts of horrors, including hunting Cypriots only to be mauled to death by Fluffer.

I was having a quiet day today which was just as well as I was feeling well below par.  John was going to footie at Ayia Marina this afternoon with Trevor and Running John although Running John had to do an airport run so was making his own way on his trusty Vespa 300.  Trevor was driving and I reminded him and John that I didn't want any phone calls from the Police this week!!  

It was a glorious day today and everything is beginning to spring to life so I am filling this blog with photographs of the flowers that are currently in bloom and brightening up this little corner of Droushia.  Above is a photograph of the vibrant osteospermum which was given to me by Sheila and Klaus.

The gazanias are beginning to flower - well those which survived - those which have self seeded are still pretty small - it is good job I have pointed out which ones they are to John as he thinks he was been busy pulling them out as weeds - still I did leave a whole load of weeds in the ground thinking that they were the wild poppies we get over here only to find that they were in fact weeds after all!

Although we have been here nearly two years the garden is still very much in its infancy as we are getting to grips with what will and what will not survive and I have adopted the view that I am not going to fuss with plants too much - if they survive then they will survive.  John and I don't agree of course on what should go in and where so I generally take advantage of the day's when he is off doing something else to plant things up.  I am keen to grow some taller plants around the boundary particularly if there are to be houses built in the field next door at some point - it is nice having it all open at the moment and being able to look down to the bay but I think we will be able to create an equally nice vista with some careful planting.  I was very impressed with the planting around the pool area at the Wheelies which has framed the area and then leads your eyes to the views beyond.

I have never really been an indoor plant person but I do like the range of succulents that you get here - unfortunately I don't think they would survive particularly well outside so I have a nice selection in the conservatory.  Most of them have been grown from tiny little cuttings acquired here and there!  I am hopeful that John is going to build me a shelf to house them as they are now taking up too much space on the floor and periodically Chivers decides he wants to scrape out the compost for some reason!

I did manage to do some cooking this afternoon.  John wanted a chilli for tea and so I got one of those in the pressure cooker bubbling away ready to warm him up after sitting around at the football - with a 3.30pm kick off it was bound to get a little cool before the end of the game!

I also had some halloumi that needed eating up so I knocked up a batch of my carrot, coriander and halloumi fritters so that we can either eat them for lunch one day and/or freeze them.  I haven't tried freezing them as yet so it will be interesting to see what they turn out like. 

I do like cooking and I particularly like cooking when John isn't about then he can't moan that the kitchen looks like it has been hit by a hurricane!  I don't know how I manage to use so many utensils and pots and pans but I do!  Still he can't really complain because he says I knock out some pretty good scran!  On the subject of cooking can anyone recommend a really good tool for removing the skin of citrus fruit and turning it into julienne strips?  I have a funny little thing with holes in the top which was brilliant until it got blunt and now it is dangerous.  I have looked everywhere and I can't find anything like it.

We had yet another cat in the garden today.  A beaut who looked quite similar to Sheila and Klaus's 'Peach' but he is the same colour all over.  This one was quite obviously a stray and very skittish as it disappeared as soon as it heard the shutter on the camera.