Another week begins...

Boris is systematically spending our little pension all on his own.  He is in disgrace because yesterday and today over the course of a few hours he lost not one, not two, not three but four collars.  We only give the cats collars so that people know they belong to someone and we use the quick release ones so they don't get caught anywhere and strangle themselves but Boris has a habit of sitting and flicking his collar off - why he can't be more like Minnie I don't know - her collar is soooooooooo old that it is in a disgusting state and really should be replaced but it doesn't bother her and the less we fuss her about and stress her the better as far as she is concerned.

Art today, still not quite back to normal as, once again, I was declining a Klaus lunch - oh how good are they going to taste by next week when it will be art followed by lunch as per normal?  Klaus was busy in the garden doing a massive chopping back exercise today so I didn't see very much of him.  Sheila and I worked hard today on our respective pictures.  I always say it doesn't look like I have done very much so the picture above shows the state of progress after last Monday and then the state of progress after this Monday - three hours work and the main rose is just about completed although by the time I have finished the remainder of the picture I may need to go back and add some more definition because over time areas seem to fade and soften.  We are both enjoying our pictures - you can tell because we don't tend to chat so much when we are concentrating!

This afternoon we were all going down to Emba for tea and stickies.  We had all done our own thing yesterday except that the car incident meant the Mum and Dad couldn't go out for Sunday lunch as they had planned.  The good news is that Mum and Dad's car has been fixed so we were able to take Dad to the garage to pick it up.  Apparently they needed a new battery - it was not the starter motor and as they don't think they have ever bought a battery for the car since they purchased it I don't suppose that was too bad.

Anyway on the way down to Emba we called at the big Paps bakery on the Mesoghi Avenue at the traffic lights and bought a selection of stickies.  Apple Cake, Orange Cake, Walnut Cake, Fruit Tartlets, Cream Eclairs, Dark Chocolate Mini Bombes, Dark Chocolate Larva Cake and all for less than €8!!!  We hoped we had chosen something to suit everybody.

Mum got out her precious Denby tea service - in Ode - a colour which was probably discontinued back in the 70s.  This was the first time she had used it all together.  She started collecting Ode when it was used in the coffee shop in Denners of Yeovil (now Beales).  Initially when it was discontinued you could pick up odd bits and pieces quite cheaply as they would crop up in charity shops or car boot sales but then people got wise to the fact that there would be people willing to pay good money for one odd piece and as this is quite rare replacement pieces can be pretty expensive.  I started collecting Denby in Colonial Blue when the Clarks Village first opened and you could sign up to their Denby club and then they would let you know what item was on special offer each month.  This colour has since been discontinued too and on the occasions I have needed to replace a piece I have broken I have had to scour Ebay to find a reasonably priced piece and then have it sent to John's mum so she can bring it out for me.  The last time I replaced a dish the replacement was everso slightly a different size - not too much of a problem unless I am feeding eight people in which case it is noticeably so.  Moral of the story is to take care because as we know nothing bounces over here!

We had our afternoon tea, Mum had made some sandwiches so it was more than tea and stickies and then we all sat and played Mexican Train dominoes - even though John didn't score this time (I did) he still managed to win with his mum coming in as AEC (Ass End Charlie) - John will say that the world is still spinning on its axis - normal order restored!

John dropped me off at home so I could feed the cats who were sitting there looking like their throats had been cut and he took Janet and Hadge back to Polis.  I then called in to say Welcome Back to Sharon and Sean who have returned from their Ireland adventure (with numerous other stops along the way) and then shot up to Elena's to drop off a form I had picked up for her from Paphos.

It was 9.00 before we actually sat down and watched something on TV!