May 7th...

 A very happy Birthday to Vix - 21st May

Gutted not to have been at your birthday meal - hopefully next time.

A couple of weeks ago I think that the island was looking at its absolute best - green and lush with a veritable plethora of wild flowers adding their own colours to the landscape.  Fresh green vine leaves provided a perfect foil for yellow mustard or bright red poppies.

However, an extended period of early dry hot weather has begun to take its toll as some of the fields are beginning to look very brown - particularly those that have been recently harvested.

At times you could be forgiven for thinking you were still in the UK with the hay bales all around but then the scrawny goats/sheep (shoats/geep) wander through with the wizened one-eyed goatherd shouting something incomprehensible and then you know that you most definitely are not!

I was wending my way down to Emba to have lunch with Mum and Dad before Mum and I went to play what was going to be a very hot game of pickleball!

The fields may be looking brown but the poppies are still very much in evidence on the roadsides.  They look so lovely and cheerful.  It is a shame that the ones that have self-seeded in our garden are miniscule and pale by comparison.  John has always said that May is a lovely time of the year here - it is a shame that his family will miss the flowers but hopefully the photographs go some way to showing them what things are like.

It was exceptionally hot today - Mum and I walked down to the court which nearly knackered me before I started.  Even worse my trainers rubbed my feet so I had to wear my grotty pumps!  No Jeff today meant that with five players I was only going to get a brief sit out between games!

We decided to try out the ceiling fans - we weren't sure whether or not they would have an effect on the flight of the ball but we were desperate for some air so braved it.  We were delighted that the fans provided us with some welcome air movement but they did not make the ball deviate - RESULT

On my return home John was busy taunting a very bright spider that had appeared on the pumphouse.  It was very bright - I almost mistook it for a ladybird and then it jumped - JUMPED!!!  On further examination and with the help of Wikipedia we managed to identify it as a Phidippus Clarus jumping spider http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phidippus_clarus and apparently it is nothing to worry about - John always reckons the spiders we find are either baby tarantula or baby funnel-web - he is such a drama queen!

It was such a glorious evening that we decided to have an early sundowner up on the roof terrace where we were accompanied by Chivers and Minnie Mou who love to come up there with us.

Nothing too strong - just a glass or two of cheapo Lidl rose - John did want to make sure I was compos mentis enough to produce some sort of supper!

We still haven't found a tray that we like or can afford for bringing the drinks up and down to the terrace so it can be a bit of a juggling act when negotiating the ladder particularly when you have fatty sitting at the top as a trip hazard!

We think we ought to use this area a bit more than we do as it gets the last of the sun before it disappears down below the buildings.  It is a bit difficult to know what to do for the best as it is the flat roof above the kitchen and flat roofs are a bit of a problem.  We have had ours treated (twice) but John is keen to do something more to protect the surface if we are going to use it or visitors are going to sunbathe up there.

John decided to take advantage of the evening rays, copied by Chivers who adopted a similar pose on my sunbed and Minnie Mou who dissed the sunbed preferring to stretch out on the warm roof legs akimbo - she is such a tart and a vocal tart at that!

MM and Chivs like being up high as it gives them a really good vantage point to watch what is going on and to glare at anyone who has the cheek to walk up the new footpath!  They have had quite a few to glare at this weekend - it being bank holiday weekend and visitors up staying at 1b and 2a!

We know that Summer has arrived because tonight we could hear the bee-eaters - they have such a distinctive sound and arrive at the beginning of Summer and then pass through again heralding the end of the Summer.  They are stunning birds - I would like to pass this photograph off as my own but one never quite got close enough.