Crafty Wednesday...

We were woken this morning by a massive thunderstorm - we have taken a step backwards in terms of the seasons - spring came for a short while and has disappeared again.  There was nothing for it but to whack on the immersion so that I could go to craft at Jeanette's this week looking half human!  When you are inside it is hard to appreciate how cold it is out but it was cold today - so cold that John had to light the fire midway through the day especially as Mum and Dad were coming up this afternoon and he didn't want them to be cold.

I had to wait for the storm to pass to be able to run out to the car for craft - I was determined to go this week as I had missed it last week due to the power cut.  I called into our neighbours to water their plants whilst they are in the UK and into the post office where two parcels and some redirected post was waiting for me.  The redirected post will come to an end shortly as we only did it for a year so our Screwfix and Tool Station catalogues will become a thing of the past!

The village is preparing for Easter celebrations this weekend and we have had municipal decorations erected but ours do not say Kallo Pascha (Happy Easter) ours say Kristos Anesti and I have no idea what this means!  We are going to celebrate Easter Sunday at Christos' Taverna and on Easter Monday will go down into the village as we understand there will be stalls and the local children doing traditional dancing at the amphitheatre - as they say "when in Rome!".

I love the drive down to Latchi and today the landscape looked fantastic as it is still relatively green and the heavy cloud was obscuring the mountains.  All too soon this will all look brown and dusty.  How lucky are we to have this on our doorstep?

 

It was lovely to go back to Jeanettes - I haven't been since Vix was staying with us back in February.  There were only five of us crafting today and we were inside, fortunately, but I do enjoy watching what others are doing and catching up on the gossip.  Today Jeanette's husband Graham was an honorary woman as he joined us to do some art.  He is painting some panels to exhibit with Jeanette's mosaics when she takes over En Plo in a couple of weeks' time.  He is a very talented artist and we were all blown away by the Bird of Paradise flower he had started to reproduce.

 

During my four hours there I managed to produce three Christmas Cards and turn away now if you don't want to see the card that I may well send you later this year! I have taken a photograph of Chivers and MM when they were little and used software to turn it into a pencil sketch and then I have added Christmas hats.  You wouldn't believe how long it takes to cut a piece of red felt to make it look like a Santa Hat! 

 

I also managed to decorate three geckos which we are going to use in the conservatory to hide a couple of rawl plugs.  It is amazing what you can achieve with nail varnish and a few little beads!  I have to thank Vicki so much for giving me the inspiration to do this.

Before too long we had the five minute warning from Graham to tell us that lunch was ready and today he had cooked up a wonderful Mediterranean pasta dish.  He must be a good cook because he was got me to eat things I would never chose given a menu and what is more thoroughly enjoy - but what is not to enjoy when you are sharing lunch with great company and in fantastic surroundings - the view today was stunning!

My route home was barred today - goats AGAIN!  A huge herd this time so I just sat and waited for them to pass by and then I made my way back home via the Kiosk where I needed to pick up milk.  I picked it up but there was no-one in the shop to pay.  A local looked at me and said "if there is no-one we leave our money and we go" sounded good to me so I left the correct amount of change for three litres of milk and made my way home.  That is just so Cyprus and I love it!

Mum and Dad came up this afternoon for tea.  I had prepared a chicken dish in advance and served it with red cabbage, carrots, peas and jacket potatoes.  Dad seems to be making slow and steady progress and he had to see the surgeon again today and she is happy with the way things are going so that is good - it is difficult for him to judge how things are going as he is constantly having to have gloopey stuff put into his eye.

We spent a lovely few hours together, when the sun was out the Conservatory was lovely and then in the lounge with the fire lit it was cosiness personified - we have just had a text to say they are home safe and sound.  We will see them again tomorrow as John is going to clean their pool without the aid of a handlebar moustache!  We will also be seeing Bill and Wendy and trying the Steak and Prawn house in Paphos.  Life is good!