Wednesday 20 February 2019

Spring...

It is amazing how much better everything looks and feels when you wake up to sunshine.  It may only be the third of February but I reckon we have had more sun this month than in the whole of January.  Hopefully this sort of weather will continue throughout the month as we need to start accruing some more electricity.

Mum was coming for lunch today but beforehand it was good to get out in the garden for a while to take stock of what has and what has not survived.  It is hard to tell at this time of year and in the past I have been too quick to ditch plants which seemed to have died so this year I will leave them longer to see if they will come back.  Two big casualties are the Crowns of Thorn plants which belonged to Wendy and which I had nurtured lovingly, sadly the hail has decimated them and I don't think they like the cold either - I maybe should have brought them indoors but thought they were in a reasonably sheltered position.  We also have two ficus trees, one variegated and one not although you couldn't tell as both look like they have come from Chernobyl - neither has a single leaf remaining, this could be terminal. 


It seems like a long time since we last swam although for John he did a quick dip on Christmas Day and putting my toe in the water it seems like it will be a long time before I get back in.  Worryingly Mr Boo pitched up this evening absolutely soaking having fallen in a pool somewhere - we cannot be sure how long he was in the water but he was freezing and so we were glad that we had lit the fire so we could towel him off and warm him up - he looked so bedraggled and was crying - I hope he will be ok and not have a chill or worse.


It is fabulous to be able to throw the shutters open and have good fresh air coming into the house.  We haven't actually gone so far as to have the mega duvet on our bed this year - we are still only using the 4.5tog and a thick throw and even then sometimes I find it too warm.   I like our bedroom - it may only be small but it is cosy.


It was a lovely day for mum to drive up and she arrived quicker than we anticipated - she said that she didn't see another car on the road the whole of the journey.  As you know if you read yesterday's entry I decided to cook Hunter's Chicken - this is new to me but a super easy recipe which turned out to be really delicious.  I served the chicken with coleslaw which is always a hit with mum and wedges which I did myself and which were absolutely top notch thanks to the 'old' potatoes I had managed to get from Paps and which seemed to be a bit on the limp side but cooked up a treat.


I suggested we went for a little walk down to the Cemetery as it was dry and fine and then we would return to have our pudding which was banana bread and cream - another hit with mum so it has featured on the menu two weeks running.  It is so lovely to cook something that I know she will enjoy and to be able to send her back home with a portion for in the week.  Anyway we went for our walk and passed the horse en route as we stopped to have a look at it we took our life in our hands as a small red 4x4 driven by a lad who looked about 12 flew past us at such speed we thought he might not make the next corner.  Thank goodness there was nothing actually walking on the road, cat, dog, child or adult as they would have been mown down in an instant.


We made our way down through the village and I took Mum to show her where they have started to dig up the road around the amphitheatre to cobble it.  This is all part of some massive renovation scheme which looks to be a bone of contention for some in the village - we aren't quite sure about all the politics but hope that once completed it will be a positive thing and everyone will be pleased with the result.  Certainly where this has been done in Kathikas and Inea I would think it is a great improvement.  I guess there will always be opinions on whether this is the best use of village funds.

John kindly came and picked us up from the Cemetery as it is all uphill on the way back and I know that mum struggles with hills - mind you I reckon with the promise of banana loaf at the end she might well have sprinted!  All in all I think this was probably one of my better lunch offerings with no complaints from any quarter!


We always breathe a sigh of relief when we get the message to say that mum has made it home safe and sound.  After that we can settle for the evening - my reward for a job well done was to have a little gin with the minted lemonade I had found in Paps yesterday.  John watched the footie and I continued with my crochet and we were just about to turn in when, as I have already said, we discovered Mr Boo had had his impromptu dip this evening.  Poor Mr Boo.

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