A Glorious Day Beachcombing...

So today was the most beautiful day - what a change from Thursday when it was like Hurricane Kate. We decided to make the most of the day and I started with a quick visit to Elena's to drop off the picture of the lady which she had asked to buy from me and after a coffee and a chat I left with two bags of popcorn - John will be delighted because he is always hopeful that we will watch a movie in the evening and I can never stay awake long enough but now we will have to have that movie night together to take full advantage of the popcorn.

Once we had got ourselves sorted and started to pack up the car before going down to Polis we realised that we were being watched...

...Charlie was sitting sentry on the wall between us and Paul. He is our Chunky Monkey (Charlie not neighbour Paul!!!) and he likes to sit at the end of the wall and survey all that is happening around him and if he is unhappy about anyone or anything he makes it known by emitting a long and loud growl like a guard-dog!

When Charlie is nice he is very very nice but when he is not he is horrible.  His mood can change on a whim and when it does you have to look out because his eyes turn black and his mood turns even blacker.  We love him to pieces but he is a challenge!!  He is our equivalent to a child with ADHD

We gave him a 'stiff ignoring' and continued to get ourselves sorted for our trip to the coast because we decided to check whether there was any flotsam (or is it jetsam? - I think it is jetsam) that we could liberate and use in our woodburner and, if not, we would just take a lovely walk along the coast in January- we have to keep reminding ourselves that it is only early January and we are enjoying a beautiful day.

Today was the sort of day that makes everything worthwhile and puts things into perspective - although we retired on next to no money being able to make the most of what is around us and enjoying being together is priceless. When I say it was a glorious day I really mean it was glorious even here up in Droushia where it can be considerably colder and greyer than on the coast.  We had no cloud and unbroken sunshine and the estate looked all the better for it.

We needed to go and do some grocery shopping but went to the beach first in search of the driftwood that would be bound to be loafing about after the recent storms.  This is a really good time to go and have a beach-comb - some of the wood might be good for a craft project otherwise it burns really well once it has dried!

On the coast the sunshine was really warm and it was good to get out for fresh air.  As soon as we arrived we were not disappointed and found wood and a big piece and there was plenty more of that as we walked along.

I had the strangest find because I came across the skull of a turtle. This is not too unusual as this is one of the beaches that they come to, to lay their eggs although this is not one of the more high profile beaches.

When we have been beachcombing in the past we have come across complete carcasses of some poor turtle that has not made it in the great circle of life.

It didn't take too long before we had managed to fill Kenny's boot and the back seat and the footwells and we still left a large tree-trunk behind because we couldn't cut it up and fit it in!!

We had been invited to our friends Melanie and Simon's house this afternoon for a cuppa and a mince pie and, as we had something to drop off to Kelly at the Droushia Heights Hotel we decided to walk the long way round and finish up at the hotel where John believes he took the winning photograph!!

They have a beautiful house in the village - it is typically traditional from the outside but inside you can tell that it belonged to an interior designer previously because it has been sympathetically brought into the 21st century without losing its charm.

Simon and John were discussing wood - this is is a subject that is dear to the hearts of any of us who have wood burners!!  Apparently Simon has a 'ticker' and tickers should be burned at the earliest opportunity because some of these 'tickers' are the worst possible creatures for causing woodworm.

Melanie and Simon's girls are growing up so quickly and we were amazed by the younger one, Frances, who is not yet two and talking away like a little grown up.  She got out her doctors bag and started to listen to my chest with her 'telescope'!!!

There was football on this afternoon/evening - it was a key match which I will report on tomorrow but safe to say I didn't want to watch so as I had been asked by Rebecca at the Blue Olive to make some Mother's Day cards I thought I would get on with them instead of watching the footie.

I am keen to use up some of the craft stuff that I have packed away in boxes in the conservatory and Rebecca has only asked for a dozen cards but I don't want her to get left with them so I want to create cards which can be used for Mother's day or just a birthday.  Apparently Mothering Sunday as we would know it in the UK is 14th March so I have a bit of time to get them sorted.