A new week...

It was a real pleasure to have a normal Monday morning at Art (although sadly not followed by one of Klaus's lunches as we were eating out this evening and I really cannot manage two large meals a day now or at any time).  I am continuing with my picture of the rose and butterfly which I am doing for Lola.  Both Sheila and I must have been concentrating hard today as every time Klaus popped his head round the door there was little to no conversation!  Progress is slow and by the end of this morning I was going cross eyed as all the tiny little petals on the inside of the large rose take so much time to blend and form -  when you are working on a picture you get too close to it - literally and can see all its imperfections - once you step back and see if from a distance then it all becomes clear.

On my walk home I was stopped by the Australian woman who comes each year for the summer with her husband and stays in the family home down the road.  She is very sweet and has a very strange hybrid accent and tells me that Boris comes to visit her in the mornings - apparently he is her 'frynd' (friend) but she does not touch him she just leaves him bits of chicken to eat!  Anyway she was brandishing a courgette from her garden today and told me that this year's harvest was poor as they do not have any water - I think she was implying that they had a bore hole and it was now empty - she then told me she blamed the panels that are being erected everywhere for the change in the climate - well I think that is what she said and who knows maybe she is right!

So surprise surprise we were out tonight - this time we were going to the Herb Garden in Polis with Diana and Rob, Susan and John and Janet and Hadge.  This will be the first time we have caught up with Susan and John since their return from the UK and as they gave us the voucher at TD as a thankyou in advance for looking after Millie we thought it would be a good time to use it.  I drove as we can get six in the Peugeot now we have the additional seat.  As we pulled up at John and Susan's we were treated to the most beautiful of sunsets as the sun slipped below the hills over towards Pittokopos.

The Herb Garden is a new restaurant in Polis which is a lovely setting as it actually has a herb garden at the rear.  It is a little more upmarket than our usual haunts but it is good to try somewhere new now and again.  We had eaten here once before inside in the winter.  We had a nice evening but the service at the restaurant let the meal down.  I asked for my meal to come with salad instead of vegetables which is a common enough request but was met with a steely stare and I was told no - but I got my own way in the end.  The staff look like students - which is probably exactly what they are and there is no real attention to detail or attentiveness (if that is such a word).  My steak was good but it was just a steak with chips and a small bowl of lettuce and tomato (my salad) but my crepe suzette was probably frozen and was somewhat charred and stodgy on the reheat.  John said his stifado was excellent but the jury was well out on the 'lemon' cheesecake that comes smothered in forest fruits!