Sunday at home

It was Sunday at home today and my turn to cook lunch - it being the first of November John wanted a roast and so we had opted good old pork.  Pork here in Cyprus is so reasonably priced and tastes fantastic nothing like what we used to get in the UK.  In fact when we lived there I would never eat pork as I found it dry grey and tasteless.  We got a little wrapped in a net joint which I think is probably boned and rolled shoulder although it's hard to tell as they call the cuts of meat differently here but that is how I treated it and, uncertain of the cooking time, got out the trusty meat thermometer to make sure that it wasn't raw inside when I served it!!!

November heralds the return of the hunting season here - the joy of this to a Cypriot is something we ex-pats just cant quite understand - there appears to be quite strict rules about what the hunters should wear, what they can shoot and when, where they can shoot and how much they can shoot but somehow this obviously gets lost in translation.  Signposts seem to be a regular target and on several occasions we have had the garden peppered with shot.  We worry about the cats with the shoot first, discover what later approach and unfortunately this will be the case now every Sunday and Wednesday for quite some time.  As I ventured up onto the roof to take a look at the 'almost finished'  terrace I contemplated waving a white flag just in case I was mistaken for a hare, partridge, francolin, thrush, woodpigeon or woodcock.  We had regular salvos all day but nothing too close thank goodness.

Previously I had bought an artificial tree that I was going to put up on the roof terrace but we were always worried that the wind would blow it over even though we had it in a rather weighty pot.  We had it in the garden in various places but over time the wind started to strip the leaves and I used to find loads of them floating around - the tree then started to look like it had come from Chernobyl so this morning I decided to strip off any remaining leaves and was going to throw it away but decided I rather liked the structure of the skeleton.  I remember I had some rattan balls in the cupboard which had come from some now defunct strings of lights which used to hang in the lounge and which have subsequently been replaced so I decided to dig them out and hang them on the tree with a few lights added it will provide some decoration at Christmas!

John was out and about having a bit of a tidy up.  He is concerned about the state of the abandoned pool next door and rightly so.  It has always looked mucky because nothing ever gets done with it save it being filled with rainwater but at some point in the past someone introduced some mosquito fish into it and whilst they survived in the grotty water they did their job and kept the mosquito larvae at bay.  There are still some in the pool but now there is something much more disgusting - leeches and hundreds of them - the last time we looked a month or so ago we only saw evidence of one so I guess there had to have been at least two and they have now multiplied.  They were about to make light work of a large Jurassic lizard that had met its maker in the water.  Strange as we rarely see these up here - we think the resident cat population keeps them at bay. -

I wanted to finish off the blinds for the conservatory this morning - particularly as Dad likes to take an afternoon snooze in there once we have eaten and without them it is far too bright and we have realised that they also provide some insulation in the evenings - it has felt considerably colder in there without them.  I needed to do some remedial work on the middle blind because even though I thought I had it measured correctly it was sagging more than the others so needed to be sorted out.  It didn't take long and it is good to have them up.  We couldn't get the same material as the voiles we have along the sliding doors but these seem to match quite well and we are contemplating getting some more to replace the string curtains we have at the windows.  It will be just our luck that Jumbos don't have any more!

We still have the acroprops up in the conservatory as this will be the last bit of painting Tony does for us - which will hopefully be sometime soon.  He is working his way methodically around the house doing 3-4 hours each morning as he says his price is for the job so we don't need to worry about the hours he puts in.

I needed to get my cameras sorted for tomorrow. I am taking some photographs at a wedding as a favour to friends who have done several favours for us in the past - they have opened their restaurant The Blue Olive on nights when they would normally be closed because we wanted to celebrate Mum's birthday there and Dad and John's birthday there.

Rebecca's son is getting married in Peyia tomorrow and she asked if I would take some photographs which I am more than happy to do so I got out both the big Canon's and John's small Canon and made sure that all the batteries were charged and that I had spare memory cards and that they were all clean and working ready for the day - so glad the wedding wasn't last Monday as the weather wasn't good but tomorrow looks like it will be perfect.  Also good news is that the bride and groom's little boy has come out of hospital following a nasty asthma attack.

Anyway fingers crossed all goes well tomorrow and that I manage to get some good photographs for them!!

So Mum and Dad arrived for lunch and the pork turned out beautifully along with the rather nice lemon curd bread and butter pudding made with Mum's own lemon curd - I have added the recipe to the food section on the blog.

We managed several hands of Crib and Mum and I even had a turn around the estate - the weather is beautiful even though the days are short.  We like to see them set off in daylight so that they can get home safely.  All change next weekend as John is off to Nicosia with the badminton club!