Sunday May 5th... Easter Sunday

There are two posts to read today - this one for May 5th and the one below for May 4th
 

If I had not been careful this morning I would have had some rather large company for my early morning swim and I am not talking about John!  Having taken the cover off of the pool I found an Olympic sized centipede doing front crawl so had to hook it out and lob it over into the field before Chivers set eyes on it.

We were not seeing Mum and Dad today because the original members of Dad's walking group were holding a 90th birthday party for Frank.  Unfortunately due to an unexpected bereavement the party took place but without Frank attending.  We are not sure if he will make it up to ours on Wednesday when Mum and I are going to the Ladies Lunch and John takes Dad out at the same time as we had invited him up to Droushia to see where we live before he moves back to the UK.

Our day had been earmarked as one in the garden which was in need of a tidy as everything has gone a bit wild.  It was incredibly hot and gardening is not John's idea of a pleasant Sunday occupation but needs must!

Part way through clearing the front garden Chivers pitched up absolutely soaked to the skin.  We think that he probably went for a unexpected dip in one of the pools nearby or he was in a garden where his presence was unwelcome and he was given a hosing down.  Whatever the circumstances he was wet through and looked about half his size but he came home to get his Dad to give him a towelling off!

Good job it was Chivers and not Minnie Mou because as John says she is like a greased pig in a passage!  Chivers dutifully lay still whilst he was dried off and then looked all fluffy and clean - John reckons he would even have sat still if we had got the hairdryer on him - fortunately we didn't need to because the sun dried him off in minutes and as he struggles a bit in the hot weather and pants when he exerts himself he might have been shocked but actually grateful for the cooling off.

He is none the worse for his experience and unless he learns from his lesson he will probably get soaked again however it happened.

We worked like Trojans all day clearing and pruning and snipping and weeding - the herbs got a good old haircut and we bagged up the cuttings to give to Elena when she called in this afternoon with the pudding I had left behind yesterday - Mahalepi - one of my favourites!

It seemed a shame to be cutting back some of the plants which were in flower but they had grown so wild across the paths that you could hardly walk from one side of the garden to the other.  Things have flowered much earlier this year and we may need to plant some annuals later on if we are to have any colour left in the garden when John's family come out and visit us - some 50 cent gazanias might not be a bad idea!

John decided that there is no way that he would want to do gardening as a living and we take our hats off to our friends who look after villas and are now having to work overtime to get them looking nice before visitors begin to arrive for the summer season.

Just when you think you have a lovely weed-free border some little buggers will shoot their heads up above the ground behind you, laughing at you!

I should have been a bit more careful with my shoulders as they began to feel really tight from the sun as the afternoon wore on but luckily John had insisted that I wore a hat and as always he kept a t-shirt on because he is extra careful with his skin and the sun.

We were really glad when we looked round and declared that we had done as much as we wanted to do.  We cleared up, admired our handiwork and had a long shower to wash away the grime.

I was eternally grateful that I didn't have to cook this evening as we had been invited to Steni by Running John and Susan.  John was already eating his ribs before we arrived!