Visitors and lots of them

We have now come to the time of year when our visitors start arriving.  Not being rude they are a bit like buses - none come for a while and then three lots come at once!!!!  It is lovely that people want to visit and we really want to try and get to see them all as much as possible but it means spreading ourselves pretty thinly in order to accommodate everyone and still manage our existing responsibilities to family and friends and our normal routines.

The weather has bucked up its ideas and has gone from indifferent to very hot and I am spending the day cleaning to visitor standard!!!  We love that generally people come and say 'wow' and I have to admit that just at the moment the garden certainly has that wow factor except for a couple of plants that just don't seem to have made it through the wet winter.

It would appear that my bougainvillea which started to grow some leaves has given up the ghost - although I will leave it in situ and be patient.  My lovely Duranda is an interesting stick with just one branch showing signs of life.  The clock vine has done nothing as yet but that always seems to be the case.  I have found a home for my new climber - it is a yellow Mandevilla which I hope will be sheltered enough in a spot outside the backdoor - it is in a pot so I can bring it indoors if I need to.

John has found a way of dumping our excess hot water into the pool and has started to put the cover on overnight - in so doing he has raised the temperature by a couple of degrees which is good news - the water seems so much colder this year - either that or we are getting soft in our old age!!  We have Kim and Steve coming this afternoon so if they fancy a swim we reckon our pool temperature is similar to that of the water in their pool down in the orange groves.  It is their last full day as they return home tomorrow but they have enjoyed themselves so much and in that specific villa that they plan to return and for longer next time.

They were using their landlord's taxi facilities to and from the Droushia Heights which meant that no-one had to worry about driving and we got there just before them and sat out on the terrace.  The view was probably not at its best because there is a lot of dust in the atmosphere at the moment plus we could smell smoke from somewhere.

Kim remembers the old Droushia Heights so the new incarnation was quite a surprise to her - there are some features left over from the original building like the arches and the turret but everything else is modern and stylish.  We enjoyed an hour or so sampling some rather nice brandy sours before making our way back to our villa and spending another few hours sitting in the garden.

We had arranged to have a meze in Finikas this evening and the village was buzzing as it was the Church's name day so there are two days of celebration with stalls set up around the church.

There were others in Finikas - girls who had just arrived and were staying in the Akamas Spa and who were freaking out because a minuscule spider was making its way down to their table from the roof above.  God help them if they ever encounter one of our local tarantulas, scorpions or snakes!!!

Because it was the church's name day it is apparently traditional to have kleftiko so this was to be included in our meze if we wanted it and we thought it would be just rude not to!

The food was outstanding and far too much with pastichio, afelia, kleftiko, sheftalia, lounza and souvlaki making up the meat element.

We returned to the Droushia Heights hotel for a nightcap before the taxi arrived - a stretched merc limo - no slumming it tonight for the Haslam's

It had been a lovely afternoon and evening and good to catch up - let's hope it wont be too long before they are back here again.