Monday 20 May 2013

May 6th - Easter Monday...

Art today and a glorious morning for taking a stroll down through the village to where the Dead People live and Klaus and Sheila's house.

It is Easter Monday here in Cyprus and the village decorations have been dusted off and put out again.  These are multi purpose decorations as the bells most definitely are in evidence over Christmas!

Easter is the big celebration here for the Cypriots and what with the May Day bank holiday on Wednesday they have also been off Friday, today and again tomorrow.

Due to the current economic crisis celebrations this year have been low-key to non-existent in places but that hasn't stopped the fascination with letting off fire crackers and bangers - home made, noisy and dangerous - someone in Lissos lost several fingers this year.  Fortunately we only had them being set off about a week before Easter and hopefully only for a couple more days and then any bangs we hear will be down to the hunters.

It was a hive of activity in the Village today - I did not see a single person to say hello to or nod at until I was about cross the road and turn off towards the Cemetery.  I very nearly got mown down by a small tractor and its driver!  This is rush-hour Droushia style!

I am guessing that as it was a bank holiday and as the weather was so beautiful that people had taken themselves off out into the countryside or down to the coast.

Anyway I completed my journey unharmed and was grateful for the cool of the Knips' house.  Cool and calm - until Charlie and Benji rush in to say hello!!  Both looking very smart with their newly shorn locks - their summer haircut!

Sheila has her good friend Heather coming over shortly for a brief visit so I wont be seeing her next week which meant that I was keen to get my picture of the seahorse completed and ready to be framed.  I only had the background left to do but I didn't want to do some of it and have to leave it.

I managed to get the background finished.  Wishy-Washy background is not as easy to do as you would think!  I started off a bit wrong and needed Sheila's guidance to make sure that I didn't ruin my picture.

Poor Sheila seems to spend most of our Monday mornings sharpening my pencils and giving me direction so at this rate her picture of the boat is going to take forever!

Klaus treated us to a lovely lunch which he had taken from a diabetic cookbook.  I had no idea that he was a diabetic - I can't think that he had mentioned it before but he is, Type 2 and controlled by drugs.  Anyway the recipe for sweet and sour was delicious - not that diabetic food wouldn't be!  

I did my initial preparations for my next picture which is to be a hermit crab and I think it could take me quite a while to get that one completed.  I now need to go and visit Fitos down in Paphos to get my framing done - will probably do that later this week.

I want to give the picture of the seahorse as a present so would like it to look a bit special!


I hadn't been home long when John returned from badders - he had been down on the bike which needed a run.  He said they had a really good session today as a new guy had been introduced who was a bit handy with the racquet!  

It was a lovely afternoon and we sat out under the gazebo watching the world go by.  We had always planned to do a bit of photography together but we are both a bit competitive so whenever a good photograph is taken we both lay claim to it!

Today the gauntlet was well and truly thrown down and we decided to take a camera each and shoot what we could find in and around the estate - the subject being flowers and/or insects!

The best two photographs are here but I wont tell you which photograph was taken by whom - we will let the public decide!

As you know the other Friday John and I went down to Peyia, the Elysium, Green Hills and Pano Akourdalia to take photographs of our friends Elaine and Paul's civil wedding.  We took nearly 1,000 photographs and it has taken us quite a while to sift through all the pictures and send up with just short of 500 for them to have on a DVD.  We have chosen about 30 to put in an album but I had to use Vistaprint to get it done at a reasonable price and for some reason they wouldn't send to Cyprus to I have had to have it sent to my sister and ask her to send it out.

I didn't want to post any of the photographs before Elaine and Paul had had a chance to look at them themselves.

You can never be sure exactly what people are expecting and at the end of the day I am simply an enthusiastic amateur but they did seem to be very pleased with the end result which is good news so I am looking forward to the album arriving to see what that looks like.

We had been invited to join Elaine and Paul for supper and sat on their decked veranda looking out at the hills as the sun went down.

It was a lovely evening and their house, garden and view is absolutely stunning.  

On Mum's birthday (May 18th) they are having their church blessing in the little church in Pano Akourdalia and then a reception in the garden of their friends' house in the village.  

Before that we have a hen and a stag do to attend.  The hen do is on Tuesday 14th at a house down by the Sea Caves and the stag do is on some posh boat going out of Latchi on Thursday 16th!

1 comment:

  1. A lovely little picture, well done. You can be proud of your work.

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