Friday - a shift in the weather

It was definitely a much cooler night last night as all four cats were in this morning and we had clouds in the sky - these have now burned off and it promises to be another hot day.  This is good because our No1 Stalkers Wendy and Bill are coming for the afternoon and then we are going to the last Supper Club at Orexi HQ with Diana and Rob Veasey and their visitors.  This should be an interesting evening as diners will be in greater numbers than usual - how Elena is going to get everyone in God only knows but she will and we will have a great night I am sure.

Whilst I was busy getting the house tidy and changing the sheets on the guest bed John was preparing himself for the next Green Monday or Clean Monday which falls on Monday March 14th next year.  Green/Clean Monday is a day when traditionally the Cypriots go out flying kites.   Over the past couple of years the weather has been against us - this year it rained and there was not a breath of moving air to enable us to launch our kites.  Apparently the design of the kites we had was all wrong so yesterday John bought a cheap and cheerful kite from Tiger in the Mall so that he could bastardise it and construct one which is (in his words) the Rolls Royce of Green Monday kites and guaranteed to fly.

I had a little time on my hands before Wendy and Bill arrived - or should I say time on my feet!!!  Conscious that my plates looked pretty awful when I was at Kate's yesterday I thought the least I could do was to remove the old and chipped nail varnish and give them a quick French polish as I realised I had some varnish that I had bought for a craft project some time ago.  Not a great job but they do look better.

The garden is not looking its best at the moment but in the corner over by the shower the native bulbs are about to flower.  I dont know what the tall one's are called - the remind me of Foxtail Lillies and normally you would expect to see them flowering in the Spring - these always flower in the Autumn.  When they cleared the field next door of the vines and marked out the plots there were some bulbs that had been dug up and were just drying out and shriveling up so we rescued them not knowing what they were and we STILL don't know what they are so hopefully someone can enlighten us.

Behind these unknowns you can see some green shoots of sea daffodils Pancratium Maritimum.  Again we found some drying bulbs when we were out and about and put a couple in a pot to try and save them.  These produce lots of lush green leaves which wither yellow and die and just when you think the whole thing has perished little green shoots appear followed by the pretty papery white blooms which are not unlike a daffodil hence their names.

Apart from some osteospurmum and the Morning Glory there is little else in flower at the moment and everything looks a little tired and ready for a good haircut.

We are also inundated by caterpillars of the bagworm moth which can be found carrying their houses around them clinging to furniture and the outside walls or creeping across the carpet in the conservatory. They are a right nuisance as at this time of the year they are evident in their hundreds!

Wendy and Bill arrived from Pissouri - we were just saying that we see less of them now that they are almost permanently here in Cyprus than we did when they came here on holiday!

Wendy and I settled down in the sunshine with a bottle of Prosecco - I have to say that I normally struggle with white wine as it tends to give me cronic heartburn but I always think that in the Summer white wine would be much better tipple.

I have to say this one didn't go down too badly at all but again by the end of the bottle I had the beginnings of heart-burn which I hate!  It was going to have to be red at Orexi for sure if I was going to enjoy my meal.

Whilst Wendy and I caught up on the news John and Bill went in the pool.  Bill was absolutely determined to get into the swim ring we have got - he would get so far and then turn turtle and end up upside down in the water.  Eventually we persuaded him to take the easy option and climb down the steps into the ring before he did himself a mischief!

We had a fabulous evening at Orexi.  It started with quite a laugh when we were taken to our table which I recognised as having previously belonged to my Mum and Dad.  For some reason the table top was rather rocky - it appeared to be missing a locking pin (apparently) so John went into action and got some blocks of wood and wedged everything so it was reasonably rigid.  We had to keep telling Bill to take his elbows off the table as we could just envisage the blocks moving and then the items on the table being catapulted skywards!

It was a magical evening - everything was perfect, the food, the service, the company, the ambiance.   Our table was under the eagle-eye of Elena's elder daughter Amoura but periodically we were served by the younger daughter Lola who is a complete one-off.  Normally Lola puts the food on the table and if you ask her what it is she looks at you incredulously and says "its ... of course!"  Last night though she brought a dish to the table which her Lebanese cousin had cooked and one which she was not familiar with so when we asked her what it was she peered at it closely and then declared "it's Lebanese - eat it!"

I know I have said it before but I have no idea how Bassam manages to produce the succulent chicken skewers every time without them being underdone or overdone - it is a real art!

Elena had a saxophonist to entertain us whilst we ate which was lovely and it could have been the wine or it could have just been the moment but it prompted John to get up and dance!

Before we knew it we looked at our watches and it was gone Midnight - where had that time and how lucky that for once Drouseia refrained from throwing in one of its very damp and condensation laden evenings.

Rob had hoped for a really special evening for his visitors and I think that is what we managed to provide for them.  It was really nice to meet Kim and Ian and hopefully we will catch up with them again sometime.

We sauntered home in the dark only to be joined by Charlie who suddenly shot out from under one of the fig trees en route - he had been waiting for us to come home having been ejected from George and Pam's and made his dissatisfaction at our tardiness known all the way back to Villa 10b!