Monday

 I am eternally grateful that I have custody of Mum's sewing machine because for zipping stuff up it is a godsend.  I have wasted time money and effort with throws for the sofa because our cats moult like nobody's business and for some reason their fur just sticks to the fleece throws even after I have washed them so I decided enough was enough and as we had some spare curtains I would cut them up and make some throws with them.

It was a fairly quick job to remove the heading tape and cut them down and then run some stitches up the seams a couple of times so they don't fray.  I don't remember our previous cats causing us such a problem but then they weren't ginger and we weren't living in such a climate where they appear to moult all year round.  So tick in the box and hopefully when Debra comes she wont spent the whole week removing cat hairs from her clothing.

John has worked like an absolute trojan to get the garden into shape and it is looking fabulous so far.  He got up early this morning to treat the tiles on the barbeque so that the excess grout was removed.  There is a little bit that requires some masonry paint before it is completely finished but it is looking great and Dionysos has eventually found his final resting place looking down from the chimney.

This still leaves us with a blank space on the wall by the bedroom window but we plan to go back down to the plaque shop tomorrow when we go down to Paphos.  There is no rush except that the bare screw head is beginning to irritate me!!!

My job this afternoon is earmarked to be staining the decking next to the barbeque - this is fine I don't mind staining plus we are expecting Marek this afternoon to deal with the tiny leak that has appeared in the pump room and then we can draw a line under the swimming pool project at last - hallelujah it has only been nearly 6 months but we have got there in the end.

It is tipped to be an exceptionally long and hot summer - good news for visitors but not such good news for residents if we are short on water - the signs that it is going to be a hot summer are all there as everything this year is so much more advanced than it was at the same time last year - remember we had snow in February last year and things were set back a couple of months.

Seasonal visiting birds appear to be here earlier than normal and lots of the wild flowers are in bloom earlier than I remember.  As I walked down to Sheila and Klaus's I could see that there are wild Aliums ready to burst into full bloom - I would have expected them a little later than April under normal circumstances.

It was a very warm walk down through the village.  It would appear that many of the houses are being prepared for the Easter weekend which comes at the end of April.  It is very late this year and apparently May 1st will be particularly significant for the orthodox Cypriots.

It was lovely walking this morning.  The village is a little more lively than normal and there is a bit of a buzz in the air - Easter is a much more important celebration here than Christmas.

I called into the village post office and was greeted by Marina and Phillippos who had forms for me to sign to accept a number of parcels which were waiting for us.  One very large one from my Mother in Law which I knew would house some chair covers which Mum wanted and apparently something for John and I - of which more later.

My picture for Sofi our Belly Dancing teacher progresses.  We have no lesson tonight as poor Sofi is unwell so I am keen to try and get this finished reasonably quickly but I think the colours and shading on the dress could take me quite a while!

This is quite a different subject matter for me and I am enjoying the challenge of the fabric.  Sheila gave a huge sigh of relief as she has eventually finished her picture of the lady and her pot - this has been causing her some angst as she was working from a none to clear photograph so there was a danger that her hands would look like a bunch of bananas!!!

Sheila kindly gave me a lift home as I was struggling to carry my parcels!  John had been working hard to repair the gazebo where the cats have been using it as a hammock and as you know Charlie is a bit of a porker and I think he probably fell through it at some point.

In amongst the parcel from John's Mum were some very pretty solar lights which were rather unusual and the silver colour of the surrounds is in recognition of our anniversary in July.  There were two sets of each type and we now have to work out where we are going to put them.

The hearts have white lights inside them and the swirly ones have blue lights inside and when they lit up later they were really bright so will look fabulous in the garden - if John and I can agree on their location!!


Marek came as promised and I managed to get the decking stained so two more jobs can be ticked off the list.  John's reward for his busy day was a takeaway from Fitos sat up on the roof terrace in the evening sunshine with a beer or two to wash it down with all four cats as company.

We are so keen to get the garden to a point when we can just sit back and enjoy it without looking round and seeing a million things that need doing - is that possible I wonder??