New Year's Day 2016

It was somewhat of a shock today that we found ourselves in a truly winter wonderland.  Only two days ago we were on the beach in shorts!!!!!!   The forecasters had got it right for once and the snow that we talked about when we were at the winery had arrived on schedule.

Today had been earmarked as a slob out in front of the fire TV kind of day with a final date with Luther.  Just as well as we didn't fancy venturing outside for long - the wind was biting!  We did go down and check Millie for one last time as John and Susan return today.  She has retreated to the safety of the gym where she has a bed and has access via a catflap - she has retreated in there and very firmly refused to come out the last twice we have been no matter how much we tried to encourage her otherwise.  We can only assume she is ok but something clearly has upset her.  Thank goodness John and Susan return today.  Further down the hill where they live the weather was reasonable - cold but not much else but probably by the end of the day they two had a covering of snow.  As we returned home the view across the field to our house looked pretty wintery and as we had further snow falls during the day only got worse!

Oh how jolly and festive the Christmas wreath now looks hanging on our wooden gate!!!  I must admit I never actually expected it to be covered in snow!!!  This may well be our Christmas Card for next year!!!  All the cats are fine with snow now as they experienced it in February but even they decided enough was enough and all four kept us company for most of the day which seems sensible to us as the log burner was kicking out all day.

This weather wreaks havoc with the garden - it is so hard to find plants that withstand the baking heat of the summer, floods in the spring when the heavy rains have no-where to go and snow and ice.  Last year the snow in February did real damage to plants that were just emerging with their new spring growth - I am hopeful that this will be the only snow we have this winter and that the plants will recover without any more setbacks.  I did not do much pruning before Christmas, partly because I learned my lesson last year and partly because the garden had been so disrupted by Bodge-it and Scarper when they were doing the pool.

The pool project will now not be completed until the spring - the weather will be against us and if we do go with tiles then they will not come onto the island until February even if we order them next week.  We aren't in a hurry because this time it has got to be right - we are not going through this again - EVER.

After all the excesses of the past couple of weeks we were more than happy to sit down to cheesy beans on toast and a cup of tea for our meal today.

Mum said that she and Dad had decided to get some air and go for a little walk along the coast where we had walked on Boxing Day.  She said it was bitter and at times the wind took their breath away - like she says what a difference a week makes.  So glad that they have got their central heating sorted so at least we know they will have been warm and cosy when they got back home.  Dad must be feeling a bit better to have gone out but sometimes it is just good to get out for some fresh air even if you are feeling off colour.

We are hoping to get out tomorrow with Elena, Bassam, Elena's mum and the children.  We had thought about going down to the coast and wandering along for a bit before coming back to ours for some hot soup.  Elena has suggested wandering out the back of Droushia towards Pittokoppos and if there is still snow hanging about we can take the bum boards for the kids to play with.  Seems sensible not to be going out in the car.

We had flurries of snow throughout the day and temperatures which dipped down to below freezing by the evening but we were snug as bugs indoors and really quite grateful for a nice quiet day together doing not a great deal.



Who knows what 2016 is going to bring?  Let's hope that it will be a good year for us all.

We are looking forward to all the visitors who are planning on coming to see us.

We are looking forward to our silver wedding anniversary.

We are looking forward...