Monday 14 November 2016

Monday

A new week begins and it is going to be a busy one as our friends arrive on Thursday evening and on Wednesday I start my mosaic course - bad timing I know but it couldn't be helped so what I miss on Friday I will have to make up next week.


Monday means art and with the weather so nice a walk through the village down to see Sheila and Klaus.  It is now a typical Monday morning where the village seems deserted - it is not until I get down towards the weaving museum that I actually see another living soul!  Once Marianna moves her office up to the new community building that bit of the village will be much quieter too - it's a bit of a shame really as it is nice to walk past and stick my head in the door to say hello - still now that she has appeared on TV and it something of a local celebrity she may no long have time for that!!


En route I pass the lemon chicken Clampett house on the corner of Framenon Street where the seepage from their oil tank has made a pattern on the wall that looks like a big heart.  John spotted it the other day when we were walking up to the school.

We are well into the throws of Autumn - the night time temperatures, the morning dew, the colours of the leaves and the fruits bear witness to that.  The pomegranates are being left on the trees to wither and fall and the lemons are now coming into their own - Rob will be pleased as I will soon start to make some of my famous lemon pickle which he consumes with relish (sorry for the pun!!!).  In fact our departing neighbours Lakis and Argy have given me a bag of lemons and if I get a second before Tommy and Sally arrive I will make some pickle.


One of the houses has a whole load of olives outside drying in the sunshine - I wasn't entire sure why as when we picked olives we took them immediately to the pressing mill so that we could make our olive oil.  That was four years ago and I am still using the oil that we made then!  Looking it up on the internet it would appear that the olives are dried before curing them in salt and preserving in olive oil.  The salt will draw out any bitterness in the olives and the olive oil can be flavoured with herbs, spices or citrus fruits which is what I have done with the ones that Effie gave us - they are in olive oil with coriander seeds and lime.


I was spoiled at Art today because Sheila had been baking so our first cuppa of the day was accompanied by a rather nice fruit scone - pronounced so it rhymes with 'gone' for anyone in doubt - I know this to be true because it was in the paper last week so ends any dispute in our house - I have always been a scone rhymes with gone kind of girl whereas John is a scone rhymes with bone sort of guy but that is par for the course as we never agree on anything!

I am getting on with my current picture and have finished the bunch of leaves on the left of the picture which means that I am onto the hydrangea flower heads which as you will know are made up of hundreds of individual little flowers.

This will keep me out of mischief for weeks I think if the picture is to look any good.  I think if I don't pay attention to the shading the picture will look 'flat' rather than have any depth to it.  Still no-one is waiting for a picture from me at the moment so I have all the time in the world to work on it.  Sheila is busy with her picture of the oriental lady which has lots of intricate areas so between that and my flowers there was a lot of sighing going on today.

Klaus is in full-on light-up gourd production as he has some commissions.  His latest creations are fabulous and the addition of the colour changing led light is a brilliant idea.  He has certainly found himself a niche market and all his hard work is beginning to pay off - now all he needs is a bumper crop of gourds from this year's vines and he will have something to keep him occupied next year.


My morning's colouring was followed by a lovely lunch - a warming take on a cottage pie which was just right for the day.  Even though in the sun it is warm outside the houses tend to feel quite cool and it is really difficult to know what to wear if you are going to be sitting around indoors.

I walked home and came across more evidence of autumn in the shape of some interesting seed pods which have come from a tree in Savvas' garden - no idea what they are but I seem to think they feature in fancy pot pourri packages I have seen - I may go and collect some for a Christmas display with some cones.


With some time to spare before belly dancing tonight I got out my crochet once again - this is most definitely an autumn/winter occupation which I took up primarily to have something over my knees in the evening whilst I was watching the TV!!!  Still the resulting blankets have been welcome - we have one on the spare bed and I made one for mum last year.

I almost forgot that I was due to make a stifado but remembered just in time and got it underway and left in John's tender care whilst I was wobbling my bits down in Polis.  This is going to be one of the meals for our guests and is all the better for being made in advance.


There was a very strange moon tonight - lying in its back above the houses and shining so very brightly, had it been full it looked like ET would have been cycling past.  I think the next full moon is the real biggy so I want to make sure I get a good shot of that.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.