Monday 5 December 2016

Monday


Today we were to enjoy the last settled day of warm weather before the storms come tomorrow.  It is most definitely cooler in the mornings and the evenings.  I have relented today and put the 9.4 tog duvet on the bed - I no longer have a problem about being cold in bed - it is one of the few advantages of being a woman of a certain age but John has been suffering with only the wafer-thin 4.5 tog to keep him warm.  Charlie approves - so much so that he made himself well comfy and once again I had to make the bed around him.

I start my mornings now with porridge - it sets me up for the day and I like it - today however I didn't have my glasses on when I started to make it and put in a generous slug of ground pepper rather than the normal salt.  Oh well maybe it would be the start of something new?  To be fair it didn't really affect the flavour, if anything it gave it a bit of heat.  I am not sure I will be doing it again but I ate what I had made and it wasn't disgusting!

As the weather forecast for the rest of the week isn't good John and Sean were going to go out on a bike ride today instead of later in the week and when I left to go to Art John was getting himself sorted for his trip to Fitos and back.   We had a bit of a discussion about the best way to go to avoid the main road as much as possible - all routes have a bit of a hill to negotiate but there is no shame in getting off and pushing if the going gets tough - this is supposed to be enjoyable rather than a beasting.

I didn't walk to Sheila's today because I wanted to call round and check Diana and Rob's garden to see what needed watering - this is bound to change the weather - guaranteed that if I went and watered today it would rain tomorrow!

So a good morning's work at Sheila and Klaus's - Sheila has finished her picture of the oriental woman and is now deciding upon her next project - it was great to hear that she has sold a couple of her pictures recently - they are at That Nice Shop in Polis if anyone wants to see them.  Klaus is also doing well with his gourd lights and was thrilled today when Kelly pitched up with some old gourds for him to work on.  They were all those nice bulbous shapes which people seem to prefer. 

I carried on with my picture of the hydrangeas.  It doesn't look like I achieved very much today but I can assure you that blending the colour on the leaves takes forever.  Still as I keep telling myself I am in no rush to finish this picture so I can take my time unless someone decides they want it.  If not I shall probably replace one of the pictures in the lounge which are the first two I did under Sheila's beady eye and my work has improved quite a bit since then.

I called into Chateau Veasey to check it out.  Their garden is looking lovely and one or two things did need a spot of water.  I am not sure what is going on with the white solanum I gave Diana as a present - she says it seems to thrive and look healthy and then all of a sudden something happens and new leaves seem to wither and drop off.   I have done a bit of investigation and it would appear that it could be a virus which you would normally see in Tomato plants as they are from the same family - not sure how you treat it but I expect one of then nurseries here would be able to help. 


En route home I stopped at Despina's coffee shop to catch up with Elena's Aunty Maura who returns to South Africa next week - she is such a character - larger than life in every sense.  She is also the neighbour of Despina and Chriso and probably related as well.  Chriso was busy putting heating into the room - courtesy of a woodburner and a gas patio heater.  He is a character as well and normally life and soul of the party but with no-one other than me and Aunty Maura to entertain was quiet and actually quite interesting to talk to as we set the village if not the world to rights.

Back home I am quite excited that my new hibiscus is in flower.  Nothing too exciting because I think this plant is mainly grown for its exceptional folliage and I have no idea whether it will survive up here over winter so I may need to try and protect it a bit.  There are plenty of buds waiting to open and the flowers are a deep blood red colour.  

This plant fills a nice gap near the back door of the guest bedroom and is where I have removed the old white moon flower - the blue one remains there and where I cut it back a couple of weeks ago I see that all new growth has come back - it will be in for a shock later this week when the bad weather comes - there has been talk of snow up in the hills and I expect if there is some we will get it.

iI finished my day with a trip to Paps to do some shopping as we seem to have forgotten a few things when we went previously and then my weekly session at Belly Dancing.

We were a reduced group this evening as both Diana and Paula are in the UK but the six of us who did turn up were worked hard this week with lots of movements concentrating on our core and the muscles that would, given time, probably lead to a six pack if worked often enough.  I shall pay for this tomorrow when I am trying to run round on the pickleball court!!!

Another week begins - we have one or two things organised and Di and Rob return on Friday.  Nicky and Mark are coming to stay on Saturday which will be great - I hope it doesn't rain too much otherwise watching the Mighty ENAD will be more like watching a damp squib and may affect Nicky and my cocktail drinking at Latchi Harbour!








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