Wednesday 5 June 2013

May 26th...

I am hoping that my lovely friend Galadia is reading the blog because I wanted her to see that the cactus she gave me the Easter before last has flowered again this year.  

This beautiful bloom will only last about one day so I was keen to capture it before it wilts and dies. There only appears to be one flower this year as I can't see any other buds but one flower is better than none!

It is such a shame that by August when John's family are due to visit we will probably not have a single bloom anywhere in the garden to show them - the jasmine and honeysuckle have finished, the Californian poppies are all but over and the anemones will be finished.  I may have to take a visit to the garden centre beforehand and buy some cheap and cheerful pot plants!

On the subject of plants I wanted to take some photographic evidence that at long last one of my loofah seeds has started to grow.

It is nowhere near as big as the one that Crafty Jane has managed to germinate but with neither Trevor nor Helen having any success it looks like the Loofah Challenge is a simple two horse race at this stage!  

Ours has been planted directly into the soil and by an upright to the gazebo so that it can be encouraged to grow up and over the gazebo and then possibly onto the railings of the roof terrace as these plants can grow some distance!

Today we were taking the trusty bike on a long trip down to Emba as we were returning to our regular Sunday get togethers with Mum and Dad although not staying to eat as we had been invited to Wheelie Helen's birthday BBQ and then subsequently to go out on Pete and Jo's boat which we had to decline!

John wanted to give the bike a good run and we didn't have our car so it was the bike or Shanks' Pony today!  Actually once he gets it going it is really a nice little machine - it is just too big for me to manage on my own as I cannot get my feet down on the floor if I need to stop in a hurry - which is a bit of a shame because it is such an economical mode of transport!


Mum and Dad are now getting back to some sort of normality after having guests which can be tiring because you cram so much  more into a week or two weeks than you would do normally and you eat and drink more than you would do normally!

We stayed to play a game of Canasta - John and I are still learning so we probably drive Mum and Dad nuts with our questions and our method of playing but we enjoy it and it makes a nice change from Noms.

Dad had arranged for us to go to Franks as Frank was giving us a screen which , although in need of some serious TLC, is a pretty thing and will afford us some privacy when we are in the conservatory at night with the lights on.  

Slowly but surely Frank is dealing with the contents of his house before he moves back to the UK.  I wouldn't like to contemplate it so heaven only knows how Frank feels at 90!

We weren't staying as long as we would normally because we were going to Helen's birthday barbeque at 6.00pm.  John took the bike back and I followed behind in Mum and Dad's CRV.


I had made Helen's card - I am now very into 'pebble art' as Vicki seemed to be so pleased with the pebble flower picture I had made for her birthday.  I only use what I need so four little black pebbles and a piece of wiggly driftwood was all I used for this project.


I had also made Helen's birthday present using two pieces of driftwood and a glass bead set into a frame and grouted.  For anyone that it not sure this is supposed to be a stylised picture of a fish and not, if you turn it 90 degrees to the right, a one-eyed fat person walking!  Anyway Helen seemed to be pleased which is good.


The barbeque was a lovely evening and it gave us the opportunity to meet some new people.  In fairness we had met David and Marian briefly at a Christmas 'do' at Crafty Jane's.  Jane and Mark couldn't be there tonight as they were taking Jane's Mum Margaret back to the airport.  We met Lorraine and George from Paphos and Debs from Argaka.  Unbelievably Debs used to live in Kingsdon which is a tiny village in Somerset practically next door to Keinton Mandeville.  Her best friend used to go to Bruton School for Girls as did my sister Kaye and I.  She knew so many places that I know it was amazing and she is a complete hoot.


Poor Arni wasn't very well and kept coughing or snorting - Helen and Al seemed to think he had either eaten something or inhaled something in the morning and he was looking very sorry for himself!!

We had a lovely evening with good company and good food - I have got to get the barbeque lamb recipe from Helen because it was delicious.

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