July 8th...

This morning we were shooting down to Pano Akourdaleia to drop off the mosquito fish to their new home at Elaine and Paul's so that hopefully the water in their water feature could be rid of the larvae.  

When we arrived Elaine was busy out in the garden. She had been pruning and thinning out one of the big orange trees and in the process had come across a complete snake skin which had been 'sloughed'.  Not sure which snake this had come from but it was probably better to meet it in this state than when it was alive!  This is going to be added to Elaine's 'treasures' - her collection of weird and wonderful finds which includes, of all things, a cat's skull!  I reckon she would get on famously with the man in Polis that has all those creatures preserved in bottles!

The fish were introduced to their new home - well homes actually as some were put in the water feature and some were put into some external water tanks to see if they could keep the water there clean.

They soon settled into the water feature. Paul has built it so that there is quite a lot of depth to the water and plenty of nooks and crannies for the fish to hide away from heat of the sun.

I like the thought of wildlife in the garden - John could see the cogs turning but as he was quick to point out a pond or a water feature would be a nightmare with the cats and Charlie in particular who has No Fear Whatsoever!!!

So for the time-being I have shelved the idea of a water feature but just for the time-being - the cogs are turning... watch out John I may have a little project for you!!

It being Monday and with the cupboards relatively bare at Clampettsvilla I was going to drop John off at badminton - go and kill some time on the beach - do the shopping and then we were heading back home for a quiet afternoon as we were going out quite a lot this week - particularly as my sister and her husband arrive on Wednesday.

I went down to the campsite for a walk along the beach and to take some snaps.  There are quite a few people camping and making use of the facilities.  I think it all looks so much better now the trees have been thinnned out and it is good to see it being used.

The river that runs down the side of the campsite is still flowing and today there were loads of pretty blue dragonflies sunning themselves on the rocks and dipping in and out of the water.  We get loads of red ones up here at home round the swimming pool but not blue ones.

The beaches are now marked out with signs and cages to protect the Turtle nests.  Both Loggerhead and Green turtles continue to use the beaches up and around the Akamas as breeding grounds and whilst some effort is made towards their conservation there is going to be a battle between their protection and the need to increase tourist footfall.  

Shopping done and badminton over we went home via John and Susan's.  John had called because they currently have a glut of tomatoes and peppers and they are delicious and they had told us to help ourselves - we don't need asking twice!! We are so grateful to them that we can enjoy the fruits of their labour.

We are pleased to report that Running John and Susan's dog Zac is fighting fit after his recent operation and Susan was proud to show off his newly acquired skill of sitting on command and offering his paws in greeting!  He is a sweetie.

Bad news however for Al (Wheelie Helen's husband) who has knackered something in his knee and looks like he is going to have to have an operation and is currently on crutches.  Helen had text from Paphos to let us know what was going on.

On returning home I got my cooking head on - some of the tomatoes were a little on the overripe side so I thought I would 'sun dry' in the microwave and at the same time I took a load of the red peppers and decided to preserve them using a recipe I found which was called Fire Roasted Red Pepper in Garlic Olive Oil Fire Roasted Red Peppers  

We don't waste anything here at Clampettsvilla so I needed to find something I could do with the 'marrows' that Effie had given to us.

When I was in Paps I realised that the marrows were in fact white courgettes (also known as zucchini).

Having looked on the internet it transpires that you can use these like cucumber in a salad.  I knew John would be dubious because he doesn't normally 'do' mushy veg and marrows can be mushy.

I decided to ribbon the courgettes, discarding the pippy bit in the centre, ribbon some carrots and then toss in lemon juice, black pepper, basil and a little balsamic reduction.  Verdict?  Delicious and that was from John!!!!  White courgette is now firmly on our menu and we will accept any which we are offered from now on!

We limited ourselves to the penultimate episode of Frankie this evening - we have really enjoyed this series and are saving the last episode for a time when we can sit down and savour it - and then what?  Any suggestions?