'Wood' you Believe it...

After crawling into a snuggly warm bed at Mum and Dad's I proceeded to have a poor night's sleep - I think I had a red wine headache which I didn't manage to shake off all night.  I heard the dustmen come at around five-ish and heard every cockerel in the vicinity doing its stuff before tuning into what sounded like someone hammering but was in fact water dripping onto an upturned ice cream container in Ray's garden.  My best bit of sleep was just seconds before Mum knocked on the door before she went for her very early morning hair appointment with Des.  John and I were keen to get back home early just to make sure the cats were ok.

I have banged on about how cold it is up here in Droushia and how much warmer it is down at Mum and Dad's - case in point yesterday was that Dad was sat outside in the sun lunchtime enjoying the rays.  They are particularly lucky with the position of their house, in full sun (when it is shining) and tucked back out of any wind. You can walk round the corner from their house in shorts and suddenly think you had arrived in Siberia.  However, even Mum and Dad hadn't escaped the particularly cold snap that Cyprus is 'enjoying'.  As we went to leave we realised that the windscreen of our car was frozen and Mum said it was only about 4 degrees according to her weather station (Dad was very sensibly still tucked up in bed at this point).

Not much to defrost admittedly but quite a surprise all the same!  It didn't take long as it was a beautiful clear and sunny day once again and the temperatures began to rise as we made our way back home.  We hoped that the cats had been ok and not too cold as the house had not been heated all day and if it was only 4 degrees in Emba it was bound to have been in minus figures up at Droushia.

The DIY shops seem to open really early over here so we took the opportunity to call in as we were passing to pick up some supplies - we are going to have to move the clock for the wood burner so we will no doubt be left with a hole that needs filling and painting and we have no magnolia paint left.  We also need primer and paint for the downstairs loo and it would mean a special trip down to Polis otherwise.

As we approached Stroumbi the temperature in the car showed a healthy 6 degrees outside but Stroumbi is always colder and it fell down to 2 degrees.  As we drove up and out to Kathikas (where Kaye and Co will be holidaying in May) it increased to 4 degrees and remained steady all the way to Droushia.

On arriving home we were pleased and relieved to see both Chivers and Minnie Mou outside in the conservatory waiting for us - or to be exact waiting for their cat litter trays to be cleaned.  This was my first job and as soon as I had cleared them both Chivs and MM refilled them for me - the loves!!!  We are trying to wean them off of trays (which are now located outside) but they don't like cold or wet feet so prefer to use a nice dry box rather than soil.  

Having been fed and watered they decided to knock seven bells of shit out of one another - they never seem to tire of this game and it is fine when they do it outside but they wanted to be close to us so played it indoors - they might not tire of it but John and I do and my poor curtains always seem to get it.  MM is becoming the master of the bunny kick right into Chivers' face!

Anyway one minute they are killing one another and the next they are snuggled up in bed together - MM is keeping Chivs at arms length though and still has her feet ready for a well positioned bunny kick if needs be!

It was tempting to stay indoors and catch up with Masterchef but it was considerably warmer outside and we do have jobs to do!

A priority now is to ensure that we have somewhere to store wood and keep it dry - particularly as we are paying quite a price for a load to arrive on Monday.  John had already created a small wood store but decided that he would use up some of our liberated pallets to extend it.  I know that he likes making things and he is really good at it and for once I did a reasonable job as his Part Four - we did not have a cross word today and I managed to keep myself from wandering off when I was needed.  I even managed to get a load of washing done and out on the line!  Anyway here is our newly extended wood store which will be complete when the side has been made more rain-proof and we have tiled the roof.  

We were so chuffed with our progress that we tidied up all the tools etc and sat outside and had lunch - how mad is that - heavy frost followed by sufficient sunshine to sit outside and sit outside comfortably.  We ate up the remainder of the carrot, coriander and ginger soup I had made and luxuriated in the warm sunshine.

My washing dried with ease today so I have a basket of lovely fresh washing waiting to be ironed and if I am lucky I will be able to take the board outside tomorrow and do it in the conservatory. The additional layer of polythene was another good idea of John's as that area is now very comfortable and was probably frost free last night.  It is certainly the cats' favourite place in the afternoon - if we cant find them then odds on they are snuggled up together on the sofa!

We took a trip out this afternoon hoping to get the tiles for the wood store from the DIY container up the road.  We took the back road out of the village past the 'dump' (unofficial I am sure and a bit of an eyesore unfortunately) but we were on the look out for sources of wood - just stuff that has been discarded - old pallets being a favourite and good for kindling if nothing else. The DIY container was shut this afternoon which is unusual - Wednesday and Saturday afternoons are the norm so the tiles will have to wait and we will try again in the morning.  Quite a few jobs lined up for tomorrow before we go down to spend the evening at Nicky and Mark's - good food will be guaranteed as Nicky is a bit of a cook and we are staying overnight now that we know the cats can be trusted not to wreck the place.

Please Note
I have decided to keep a food diary of things I make/cook/bake and eat!  This is as an aide memoire because I tend to make up recipes on the hoof or find something on the internet and then can't find it again.  If you go to the right hand side panel of the blog you will find the food diary link.  You may find some recipes interesting - or disgusting - all comments or recipes gratefully received!!!