Mother's Day

Spring has even reached the garden in Droushia and we have some Californian poppies out in bloom - they are lovely when they first flower but as the season continues the flowers get smaller and the plants get leggier and then John wants to rip them out as they become untidy.  In the meantime they will have self-seeded which is good and now I can see that they have self-seeded everywhere!

The weather has returned to the lovely sunshine of earlier last week - I am so disappointed that it chose to rain on Jane's birthday and that she could not follow her overnight stay with the planned horse ride but such is life.

Boris is happy about the sunshine as he likes to lie in the conservatory and make the most of it - nothing ever looks quite as comfortable as a cat asleep in the warm.

This is his chair, it is the chair he chose to sleep on when he would steal into the conservatory at night before we had taken him on permanently - he feels safe in that chair and he should think himself very lucky that we decided to keep him so he can continue to sleep in it!!

Today is Mother's Day in the UK - it will be celebrated at a different time in Cyprus but we mark the one which we are familiar with and, lucky me, it was my turn to cook but I got a reprieve today as we were going to the Blue Olive for a special lunch with Mum and Dad and Jane and John.

We knew that they were fully booked with a large party coming in so we opted to arrive early and beat the rush.  John and I set off in plenty of time which gave me the opportunity to take a wander down from the restaurant to the coast - I have often meant to do it but never had time.

The area around the Blue Olive is really lovely - the restaurant itself sits in the midst of a holiday complex which is beautifully looked after with very neatly manicured gardens and a well maintained swimming pool.  In front there are some pretty nice villas hidden from site with a pathway leading down to the sea.  Even though it was a lovely warm day there was quite a lot of white water around and over towards Banana Bay the sea looked very rough.

We had a very good lunch - even though the restaurant was packed they had sensibly staggered the tables so people did not all arrive at once.

John had managed to get Mum some of her favourite perfume when he was back in the UK so she was a happy bunny and I had been out with her last week to get a plant in a nice pot from my sister for the occasion.

It was my turn to drive today - the Blue Olive stocks the beers from the brewery so I normally drive when we go there so he can have a bottle or two of his favourite tipple.

Good news Jane and John have managed to rearrange their horse ride for next Sunday and will be taking Mike with them as he arrives on Wednesday.  John and I will shoot up and take some photographs so that Jane has a complete record of her birthday treat.

I am not always a great lover of Sunday Lunch type meals out as they can often disappoint but this was good.  I had a nice avocado prawn starter followed by roast pork with all the trimmings and then Eton Mess.  At this rate I shall be glad when Jane and John go back to the UK as we seem to be eating out and eating loads!!!

A nice touch was that all the ladies were given a potted plant at the end of the meal.  I had a very pretty two-tone marigold - and it would appear that over the years they have bred out of these marigolds the strong unpleasant smell and it is now replaced with a smell similar to pinks or carnations!  Jane wont be able to take hers back to the UK so I shall plant it in our garden for her.  These make excellent companion plants - good for warding off whitefly and other bugs so we are thinking they might do well planted under one of the fruit trees.  John is desperate to be able to pick his own lemons from his own lemon tree but so far we have managed to get blossom and some teeny tiny fruits and then nothing as they all fall off.  We know it takes time but we see every other lemon tree in the village producing fruit!!

On our return from lunch I left John watching football and decided to go out and see if I could find any of the wild asparagus which should be around at the moment.  I had seen a neighbour in the field opposite with a huge handful so thought I would try there even though he had probably had what was about.  Luckily he had either not picked it all or new stuff had appeared since he was there as I was able to pick a reasonable amount which I will offer to Klaus tomorrow as I think he is partial!

The terrain where the asparagus was growing was also just the terrain where I thought I might find some orchids and I wasn't disappointed - the big tall flowering ones are simple to spot as they look a bit like a pale pink hyacinth and flower early and are pretty common - these are Himantoglossum robertianum but I managed to find two others - the yellow is Ophrys Sicula - the pink I am not sure but think it is the Syrian Orchid - Orchis syriaca.  Aren't they beautiful?