Saturday - hot in more ways than one!

As you will know if you have read this blog previously there is a Drouseian man who lives in London who has been kindly commenting on photographs I have been taking of the old houses in the village many of which are near to ruin.  My objective is to put together some information that can be given to villagers and visitors alike which will give them a better understanding of the social history of the village.  There has been a book produced about the village fairly recently but unfortunately my Greek is not good enough to understand it and there is no English translation.  I have to thank Sheila and Klaus for letting me borrow this to have a look.  They are mentioned in it and Sharon and Sean are mentioned in it (albeit separately) along with quite a number of ex-pats but we are not - we think the names were taken from the register of those who were in receipt of the village winter fuel allowance - a perk which sadly disappeared when the credit crunch bit.  Prior to that residents in a village where the local church was a certain level above sea-level qualified for a heating allowance apparently - we just missed out but then that is the story of our lives!

Cooking this morning in readiness for John and Susan coming round this evening.  We haven't seen them for ages so thought we would grab the opportunity whilst we could.  After the curry last night we opted for Mexican this evening.  We were having nachos with melted cheese then fajitas with a spicy chicken mix and tacos with a beef chili mix and shredded salad and cheese followed by a home-made lime and chili pannacotta.

Boris was clearly bored with the whole cooking thing - he is a cat who loves a blinkie so when he is on our bed he snuggles up in the blanket which my sister knitted and when he is on the sofa he snuggles up in the blanket I knitted and when I say in I mean in.  Tucked up and snuggly warm he was exhausted!

John had disappeared off this afternoon to go down to John and Susan's to sort out some wood for the winter and I tackled removing the clock vine from the roof terrace because on Wednesday Bassam is due to start on the flatroof and also Tony should be coming to paint the outside of the house - how exciting!  I was joined by Charlie - who still manages to haul his bulky body from the gazebo below!   The clock vine has gone berserk this year but it will be in the way of the roof work and will be in the way of the outside walls being painted so it needed to be trimmed back a bit whilst still trying to retain some of the flowers as it is still looking beautiful.

We were visited by the goats again this afternoon but as I looked up on hearing their bells I could smell that familiar smell of smoke and then I could see it billowing across the horizon.  It must have been down somewhere near John and Susan and there must have been one nearer the village as I heard the engines fairly nearby.

John returned - he had also been to the Winery and had filled up the wine rack - he is a happy man - he says that happiness is a full wine rack so I am guessing after tonight he might be a bit grumpy as there will be a couple of gaps in it!!!

 A different view of our dining table tonight - set ready for John and Susan and our Mexican meal.  Actually it was such a warm evening we could have eaten outside but with so many small dishes on the menu I would have been in and out of the kitchen like a fiddler's elbow!!!

We had a lovely evening and the food went down well - although I think the chili in the pannacotta may have been a step too far but it was a chili that John had given me in the past!  It was good to catch up and even better that John's poorly hand is now looking to be healing well.  I know that Susan is a lover of carbs so this should have been right up her street!