Food with Friends...

Today was a right old mixed bag of weather - most of which was miserable.  I can't believe that yesterday we sat outside and ate our lunch - today we would have been hard-pressed to see our lunch as we were treated to rolling mists and rain at midday.  

We did managed to rush out during a brief dry spell and cover the new bit of the wood store with some polythene.  As we have seasoned wood arriving on Monday to go with the wood-burner we have to make sure we can keep it is dry as possible.  

John had planned to tile the top and we went out to the local DIY container but it was shut again - we called into another at Polis which was like the Marie Celeste - open, everything there but not a soul to speak to!  So we will have to find somewhere next week and do that job then.  The ones we have looked at are around 35 cents each and are made of terracotta which seems a comparable price to tiles in the UK - in fact most DIY stuff seems reasonably priced over here and Maria in our local store is very helpful and always manages to give us some sort of discount.

That is why John is sporting his new toy - a petrol chainsaw!  He has planned to get one for ages but the requirement for wood has brought this forward - we have a couple of tree stumps that need removing and which will burn once they have dried out and if we are able to get thinnings from the forest at Argaka we are going to have to cut them down so that they at least fit in the back of the car before they get cut to fit into the burner.  Maria did a good deal on this model together with a fuel can and the oil you need to mix with the petrol so that it becomes 2-stroke of whatever it is that it has to be!  John was all set to complete his impression of Eminem until he remembered that he had no petrol.

In the meantime I concluded my scrounging from Angela's builders and picked up the remaining wood that they had chucked out for rubbish as it will make excellent kindling once it has dried out - if it ever dries out!  We have enough wood now to get us started and we will be on the lookout for anything loafing around!

Look at the difference in the view when the mists clear and the rain stops.  For a short while we could see down to the bay and I even sat out in the conservatory for a while but it didn't last long.  Mum rang just as I was about to get into the shower to say that the weather down in Paphos was appalling with absolutely torrential rain and that we should be careful on our way down.  This evening we had been invited down to Nicky and Mark's for a meal and we were calling in on Mum and Dad for a couple of hours beforehand.

Nicky and Mark bought Mum and Dad's old house in Emba.  So it is always a bit strange for us to go there and would be even stranger tonight as we were staying over and would be sleeping in the same bedroom we used to use when Mum and Dad lived there.  Over the years that the Kirby's have lived there they have begun to stamp their own personality on the place so it looks less and less like "Mandeville".

Nicky has reinvented herself in Cyprus turning a hobby into a business and she is a successful photographer - mainly weddings but branching out into other areas.  I have spent some great days with her learning how best to use my camera so you could say she is partly to blame for my happy snapping.  She is obviously a very creative person as her cooking is legendary - particularly her sweet making.

Together Nicky and Mark have created a really nice style to their home - one which I would aspire to but John and I are such hoarders that we are, and will always be, surrounded by 'stuff'' and our 'stuff' reminds us of places or friends and good times and our past!

Mum was right and the weather was appalling but we ignored the torrents of rain and enjoyed a really lovely evening firstly with Mum and Dad and our inevitable game of crib with its associated good tempered manking and moaning and then onto Nicky and Mark's for a beautiful home cooked Indian meal.  Nicky produced fantastic home-made onion bhajees and samosas with dips, poppadums and naan bread followed by two different curries and baked rice.

Her piece de resistance was a superb pud - I can't remember what she called it but it was a choux ring eclair type affair which was light and sweet and yummy and gave her the opportunity to use the brilliant cake slice which she had been given as a Christmas present.

And finally to bed - our bedroom looked beautiful and so inviting and I loved the colour-scheme and the simplicity of it all - and although Nicky and Mark were concerned we may find it cold it wasn't at all but then we are used to the sub zero temperatures that Droushia offers.  John is now very concerned that I am going to go on a de-cluttering rampage, and I might do a bit, but our house is so different and so much smaller that I don't think I am going to achieve very much.