Sunday - Hazel is Home...

Poor Haze had a bit of a nightmare journey home because her flight was delayed and her paid-for seat double booked so she was asked to move because a family wanted to be seated together - she was shoved to the back of the plane with a coffee and a Kit-Kat as compensation which is not good enough and then she didn't get in until 2.00am this morning and was hit with horrible weather as the heatwave had finally broken although it is due to return in a couple of days.

She sent me a picture of her curtains now resplendent with new tie-backs which we gave her.  She had seen them on the curtains in our guest room and not having time to nip into Jumbos before she left I gave her mine and will replace them when I am next in the shop - they look lovely and it was such a small thing to give her to take home as a memento of her holiday with us.

We hope that her dog Lily's stay away from home will have been successful so that she feels able to come over again although we may have to see what effect Brexit may have on flights, prices and visa requirements because there is all sorts of speculation and scare mongering!

We had a fairly lazy start to the day - it was strange not to see Hazel swimming in the pool before breakfast so John took her place this morning.  It had been, as Rudyard Kipling would have said, a grey, green and greasy Limpopo start to the day with rolling mists, grey skies, high winds and heavy condensation more reminiscent of Autumn than Summer.

I was in the kitchen getting ready for lunch with Mum joining us as she will do now for a while as long as the weather is good and she is happy to drive or isn't entertaining visitors.  It was to be a light meal, Mum had suggested halloumi and lounza but I had lots of lovely bacon that needed eating so we had salad, coleslaw, jacket potatoes and a mix of pan fried halloumi, bacon and onion.  Mum doesn't like tomato and cucumber so I made her a special salad with lettuce, orange, grapes and cashew nuts which I hoped she would enjoy.

Mum had also requested a light pudding so I had found a creme caramel kit in the cupboard which I know is probably not really what she had in mind so I got some pears on the way home from the airport last night and poached them with some grapes.  The pears really needed to have been a tad riper but poached grapes are a winner as they retain their shape and added a nice tartness to the rest of the pudding.

After lunch we played Rummikub outside in the garden by the kitchen where it was slightly less windy and I managed to be leadingmost in one game and bummer in the next!  It is all good fun and our Sundays would not be the same without some good natured banter and a bit of competitiveness around the table although John manages to take that to a different level sometimes!  He does it to wind us up and succeeds but doesn't mean anything by it.

After Mum had left we tidied up and as we were taking rubbish out in readiness for the bin-men tomorrow we decided to wander over to see how our neighbours were as their London alarm had gone off in the middle of the night waking them in Cyprus, their son in London and their neighbours who were less than pleased.  Poor Lakis has just about had enough what with that and the building works but hopefully they are now nearing the end of the project and, as they were this evening, can sit looking at this view from their patio and relax and enjoy.