Monday no pool progress...

We had been expecting the men today as we are working to a tight schedule but no they weren't coming as they were off to Limassol to get our 'mix' of bird seed for the pool finish.  John is not impressed as it is another day lost and we had hoped that the tiling would have started.

This meant that we had a day to get things done which we hadn't been expecting.  With Kenny in need of a battery and a few things to get sorted at the bank we got up early and went off down to Polis.  There must of been some special atmospheric conditions today which resulted in some pretty spectacular vapour trails in the sky - that or the bombing runs from Akrotiri have increased.  I am not joking - they are using Akrotiri in the fight against ISIS - this may make Cyprus an increased target in the future - we hope not but then the world is a pretty terrible place at the moment.

It is hard to think about these things when you have such a lovely run down to the coast to sort out your affairs.  Today the sea was a spectacular blue and you could see the mountains of Turkey in the distance - I would say they have had some snow recently as there appeared to be white on the top of some of the peaks.

We decided to try out the garage in Polis that Hywel had recommended for a battery and the guy was very helpful and spoke good English and a new battery was only €70 which was a bit of a bargain as we were expecting a bit more than that.  It is good to know there is somewhere locally we can go if we need a battery and as Sharon's car wouldn't start we may be visiting there again and soon!

Whilst I was waiting for John to sort the battery I was approached by a very very friendly little kitten - and guess what it was a ginger!!!  No more definitely no more but this one was very sweet!!

On the way back home we were stopped by a herd of goats just before the turn off to John and Susan's.  We were calling in to feed Millie anyway.  She wasn't there - this is not unusual but we do like to see her when we go.  The food was gone but then we can't guarantee that it is her that is eating it.  The goats had set off the dogs down in the valley and when I was feeding her yesterday she seemed nervous when the dogs were barking so maybe that was keeping her away.

On the way back through the village we stopped off to check the post.  We are waiting for a few items to be delivered but it is getting close to Christmas and the post always goes completely haywire - I am still waiting for a parcel from my sister which she sent the first year we were here.

As it happened we had a Christmas Card to our Cats from the Cats up the road (via Sharon obviously).  The good news is that Sean has been issued with a replacement passport and driving licence and will now be traveling as planned.  This is good news for them otherwise their plans would have been scuppered.  Let's hope that their moving now all goes to plan and they can settle back down to life in Cyprus having tasted it once before.

I know that the resident strays will love having them back as they miss them when they are not here in particular little Jazzy-B-Peanut who will make a lovely pet and deserves to have some regular love and attention - I know that Irene does a sterling job but she only has so much time she can spend with them each day.   On the subject of Jazzy-B-Peanut she appears to have been in the wars and has had a bite on the base of her tail and may have a bit of an abscess forming.  She certainly has a lump and I could see a bit of blood but it didn't seem to be bothering her.

All this and I hadn't even made it to art yet!!!  My project on the Cypriot Lady collecting water continues.  although it is only a small picture but I wanted to stretch myself - I haven't done a person before and the picture is quite monochrome so again the shading was going to stretch me.  I didn't seem to make much progress today because I struggled with her hands - it is really hard to get the proportions right and if I look at the original picture I would guess she was a lady with arthritis so the hands looked a bit deformed anyway.

The trouble is that when you are working on a picture like this you look at it so closely you actually don't see the picture as others will do and you are comparing your work to the original all the time.  Now that I look at it from a distance it doesn't look too bad.


Klaus is really getting into the swing of his gourd carving and decorating and coming up with some amazing designs.  These are two new additions to his range which can be used with a tea-light or some room fragrance.  Today he was working on carving some bird houses - I shall look forward to seeing how they turn out.

So another lovely morning chez-Knips - although looking at my picture I think it is unlikely I will complete it before Christmas but it saves me trying to find my next subject!!

I had a very pleasant walk home - amazing for December!

On my return I was greeted by Charlie Farley aka Chunky Monkey.  Charlie has decided to come out as Trans-Species.  This is like Trans-Gender but rather than us bringing him up as the wrong sex (he is very much a boy) we are bringing him up as the wrong animal - he says he is a Vietnamese Pot Bellied Pig trapped in a domestic cats body and as such his calorie intake is significantly greater than that of Boris, Chivers or Minnie Mou hence the fact that he is constantly hungry!!!!

Belly dancing was cancelled this evening - so we felt there was nothing for it but to have a wobble Xmas get together at Fitos instead - it seemed only fair!!!  Fab evening and fab food - will just have to wobble a little bit more next week now!!