Droushia/Drouseia Dits: Monday catching up with old friends of the Soroptimist kind...

So today is the beginning of a new week and today was Elena's birthday and I wanted to catch her and give her a card even though I know she was probably worn out by the weekend.

I had made her a simple card but sometimes simple is best and it was made with love to someone who makes living in Droushia so much nicer. Even with everything that is going on we have a laugh together and we are always here for her and the family - in fact I think I am in line to take Amoura down to Polis tomorrow. She had her final school exam today - History and came in happy with her performance and happy that now she can enjoy her summer holiday. Next term she will no longer be the newbie - where on earth has that year gone and boy how she has grown up in that year but then again so have Rabia and Lola!

On leaving Orexi HQ I was greeted by one of the village ladies randomly clutching a black chicken which was tied at the foot by a belt. Apparently from what I can gather this is how she found the bird and now she was trying to find the owner. Now Elena has a number of chickens as we know but a scruffy old black one is not part of their menagerie so I am reckoning that this one will be bound for a pot somewhere - good luck. I cooked the roadrunner that Bassam gave us the other week and did it in the pressure cooker to make sure that it was as tender as it could be and then fought with the carcass for about an hour only to extract about two small servings of rather stringy breast.

On the subject of food Charlie has been quite fussy about his of late which is unusual for him as he used to be such a gannet and he was/is such a chunky monkey in the winter with extra weight and extra fur. I have been a little worried about him but today he was back to normal with his head stuck in the food cupboard trying to find breakfast. He doesn't seem overly impressed with the chicken's liver that we are feeding Boris and Minnie and which they devour with relish. He will eat a little but as he was the one that used to hoover his food up and then push the others off this is not like him. Maybe, and hopefully, it is the heat.

I was at Sheila's for art today and apart from the misunderstanding about Father's Day Lunch all went well and I have now finished the picture of the footballers that I am doing for a certain little boy's birthday which is coming up soon. I need to find a nice frame for this or go and have it framed.

I am pleased with this picture in as much as I feel the bodies and body shapes have come out ok but faces are a different matter and I struggled with the face of the footballer and it is ok but not anything like the original and try as I might I just couldn't get it to look any better than it does.

Sheila has finished her acrylic picture of the kitten. She has not enjoyed this picture at all and will be much happier with her new subject matter - I will wait until she has done a little more to put a picture up - this time she is back to her old favourite medium of pastel pencils and on that subject I am on the lookout for some white ones to replace her stock - I must use more than my fair share and I like to contribute to the materials if I can.

On my return from Sheila's I found Mr Boo and Chivvy-Pops asleep on our bed all cuddled up - we love it when they are in and settled - so much less for us to worry about particularly after whatever it was that happened to Boris the other day.

It was my final day for watering around at Ollie and Trish's - they were returning from holiday but I was not sure when so I got up early and went and gave everything a soak so that when they returned today all would be well. Previously when they have gone away something fairly major has happened but I am pleased to report that this time the only 'incident' was that an already broken jug was blown off of a table and broke a little more - I rescued the plant inside and planted it in another pot so no real damage done.

Just as we were shooting off to Paphos Trish came round for her keys and gave me a thank you gift for my troubles. Inside was a cheery ceramic cat which will go on the wall outside. I rather like him - he is bright and cheerful.

It was very kind of them - we are quite happy to do their watering and keep an eye on the house whilst they are away and don't really expect anything in return but the gift was kind.

As a result of her visit we were a little later leaving Droushia than we should have been to get down to Paphos Harbour for 3.00pm and you all know how John loves to be late and then we had to sit behind a bloody tourist who resolutely stuck to the speed limit. In the end we were only about five minutes late and Kim and Steve didn't mind.

When I was in the UK I belonged to a ladies group called Soroptimist International and that is where I met Kim - we got on well but didn't really meet up much other than at our meetings but have a mutual friend in Debbie Lambert. I was really chuffed when Kim decided to contact me when she and husband Steve decided on a last minute week in Limassol. I don't think I have met Steve before but as ex-forces he and John had a lot to talk about and spookily Steve's mum lives in Inkersall only a couple of hundred yards away from John's mum!!! It was great to catch up and we are hoping that if they do come back again they will visit our end of the island so we can spend a bit more time with them than the very pleasant couple of hours we had this afternoon.

It was rather nice playing the tourist this afternoon down at the harbour - I love seeing all the boats and watching the world go by. Afterwards we had a brief visit to Mum and Dad which was just as well as they were having trouble with their TV box but we eventually managed to get it sorted.

On our way home from the minute we left Emba we could see that there was a big fire somewhere on our route home. As it happened it was in the hills just past the Aphrodite Rock Brewery and seemed to be getting out of control. Apparently the water bearing helicopters were called in and worked for hours getting it under control.