A new week

A new week - the last week of summertime as the clocks will change on Saturday night/Sunday morning and then the days are shorter and always seem to be cooler.  The weather this week is set to be changeable with rain forecast midweek so these days are precious.  We are still going into the pool - the temperature has been much the same for about the last two weeks so really we have no excuse.

I decided to walk to Sheila and Klaus's - it was too nice not to.  It is clear that the tourist season in Droushia is all but over.  At 10.30am on a Monday morning I met no-one at all on my travels until I got down to where the coffee shops are when in the distance I could see one of the village stalwarts making his way across the road towards Despinas.

Everything has returned to normal - all is quiet and there is a faint whiff of woodsmoke in the air so some of the more elderly are beginning to feel the cold.  We didn't light our woodburner in earnest until late November last year and we are keen not to get ourselves too winterised too soon!  The house is definitely cooler at night but by no means cold.  We will be packing away garden cushions this week before the rain that is forecast.

I was greeted at Sheila's by one of their beautiful kittens - they have a colony of cats which live in and around their bungalow and which they feed but do not encourage in any other way, if they did their dogs Charlie and Benji just might have something to say about that.  Over the years that they have lived where they do the number in the colony has remained fairly static but with the bungalow being up for sale they do not really want to encourage too many extras because the new incumbents may not be so keen on the feline population!

My picture is really beginning to take shape now - I have a bit more work to do on the wooden table and now only have the bowl full of water and pebbles to complete.  I don't know what I will be tackling next there is still a couple of Monday's left!  I hope that wherever Sheila and Klaus end up I will be able to continue with my lovely Mondays - my week would not be the same otherwise.

While I was being creative John was doing his own bit of craft at home - turning my old bread bin into a storage box for the fire lighters and fireproof gloves that he uses.  I am concerned that he will have it lit sooner rather than later.  As he was finishing off a few jobs in and around the garden I varnished the bathmat that I had made for Mum.  John is trying to get some maintenance done to the outside of the house before it rains - there is such a short window of opportunity between it being too hot to work and the autumn rains.

Di and I went off to belly dancing - it was hard work this week as we did some exercises sat on a pilates ball with a resistance band - all good fun though and I felt all the better for it but know I will suffer tomorrow.  Diana had kindly invited us to have supper with them after our wobbling.  It was a lovely meal - salad and dips followed by a sausage casserole with mash but the piece de resistance was the Mary Berry toffee pudding which was fabulous and I didn't argue when she wanted us to take some home!