saturday...

Today being Saturday, John was going to footie with the boys and I thought I would be kind to Elena and entertain Lola for a couple of hours so that Elena could have some peace and quiet.  I thought I would enter her with some craft so put together a mystery bag of bits and pieces which would make up a picture and thanks Lou-Lou your little bag came in very handy for this exercise!!.  I thought I could get Lola to make a family picture like the one which John's cousin Gail made us.

John dropped me off at Elena's when he went to pick up Rabia and we had a little chat over some onion marmalade before Lola and I took the scenic walk back to our house.  Elena wanted some lavender for some heat bags where the contents had fallen out and Lola wanted some so that she could hang it in her wardrobe and keep her clothes smelling nice.  We took some from the empty house opposite and then found that the flowers outside Gregoris' house was young and fresh and ideal and as I will be cutting it back shortly anyway I knew he wouldn't mind if we cut some.

My nicely laid out craft table with the neat little bag of items soon turned into chaos as Lola decided what she did and what she didn't want on her picture!  We agreed that she would come up with the ideas and I would execute them!!!  I showed her the picture I thought we should try and copy and she loved the idea so we spent time deciding on how her family should look and what colours they should be wearing...

So eventually we settled on the clothes and the colours and the hearts and the flowers and we painted a canvass and added the family,  Rabia, Elena, Amoura, Bassam and Miss Lola and Miss Lola was happy and we put the picture out in the conservatory to dry in the sunshine and then went for a wall outside to visit the horses.

The weather is now quite changeable.  When the sun is shining it is lovely but when it goes behind the clouds it can feel quite chilly - well chilly for us but positively balmy for anyone visiting from the UK where we see the temperatures are now plummeting.  

The sun and the clouds paint magical pictures in the skies - the colours can sometimes be unbelievable.  At the moment the sunsets and the sunrises are beautiful.

We are keeping a beady eye on the weather forecast and trying to keep our mini break itinerary fluid so that we don't wear our visitors out but give them a bit of a taste of what our life is like and how beautiful this corner of the island is. 

Short days and venues being closed for the season have meant it has been harder to organise the days many of our favourite 'must-sees' are no longer open so there will be no Oniros or Last Castle which are normally high on the list.


Lola and I nipped out whilst the sun was shining to go and see Bigfoot and her foal.  The foal is now very inquisitive and being used to regular visits from Sharon comes up to see what is going on and whether you have anything for it to eat! 

Lola wasn't too sure she wanted to be quite that close particularly as the foal is not tethered and when it gets bothered by a fly or something sets off at a rate of knots running around like a mad thing!!  Lola wanted to know why the mare was tethered but not the foal - I guess it is because the foal will always stay relatively close to the mum - I assume that is why because none of the foals nearby are tethered but all of the mares are.

Lola told me she likes horses from a distance or when someone is holding on to them and she is riding - she told me she is off to Caroline's next week with Amoura and Rabia for an afternoon ride - that should be lovely up at Lysos at this time of year - I bet the countryside looks beautiful with the autumn colours on show.

I can't believe that it is about 9 months since we organised Jane's special birthday surprise up at Caroline's yurts - what weather we had that day and what a wet old walk we had - but I think the yurts were all the more magical because of the conditions.

We walked back and Lola decided she thought it would be nice to go and sit up on the roof terrace particularly as this is where we now get the majority of the sunshine during the day as the sun is now so low the garden is in shade for a lot of the time.  It was lovely up there and she wanted to be chief photographer so for once I was the subject of the photograph and she actually made a pretty good job!  November 5th and we were sat outside - can't be bad really!

She asked if she could make one last picture before she went home.  She said she wanted to make me a picture to say thank-you for having a lovely afternoon.  How could I say no???  On her own and with a project to keep her occupied she had been an absolute angel - she had only asked for a drink which was fair enough and I had offered her a biscuit which she did have.  Apart from having to show her how to spell my name all the rest was her own work and I now have it hanging on the fridge.

I returned Lola home and set about creating something for tea as I thought John might be a bit chilly after his afternoon on the terraces.  Fridge surprise day has come early as I have been running down the contents ready to stock back up when Tommy and Sally are here. 

Tonight's offering was a chicken and bacon pasty bake with a creamy barbeque chilli sauce and cheesy breadcrumb topping with a little fresh basil sprinkled on top - I had no idea how it was going to taste but it was absolutely delicious and John was more than happy that there will be some left over for his lunch on Monday when I am at art with Sheila.

A nice tea and a nice glass of wine (thanks to Elena who gave me a bottle for entertaining Miss Lola) was followed by some easy watching TV and a bit of an early night - we seem to be waking at 6.00am or being woken at 6.00am by one or other of the cats and getting up early - this is having an effect at the other end of the day and I am struggling to keep my eyes open - particularly if John is watching something I am not particularly interested in!!