Thursday - you cannot get the staff....

On Sunday it is Father's Day and my sister had contacted me to ask us to put some flowers on his grave to mark the occasion.  We do have pots of flowers on there at all times but they have been somewhat ravaged by the exceptionally hot weather we have had then the heavy rains of the storms which have passed through.  As John was going to physio this morning down in Polis I went to see what the local florists had on offer and eventually decided upon some large busy lizzie type plants which were multi-coloured.  I do not have to worry about them drying out as I know Klaus will keep an eye on them.

We did have a gerbera in a pot there until recently but it had gone brown and crispy so I removed the pot and cut it back meaning to do something with it but left it outside the back door where it got watered along with the geranium cuttings I have there.  I noticed yesterday that the whole plant had started to regenerate and there were fresh new green leaves emerging - I am hopeful that it will come back and when it does I can put it back on the grave again.  Mum is coming up Sunday so we intend to go the cemetery and maybe have a coffee at the Hotel before returning for lunch - will see what she would like to do.

My sister is going to Cornwall this weekend and was delighted that the plaque she had ordered in Dad's memory, and which is to be installed on the family bench in Portholland had arrived in time for her to take unfortunately on closer inspection we realised they had put the wrong birth date as it should read 16/09/1931 and then worse along the bottom had put Bother and not Brother!

Actually Beloved Bother rather suited him!  Anyway the upshot is that it will have to be remade and will be attached to the family bench in due course.  There is no rush, Dad isn't going anywhere anytime soon and as a stickler for attention to detail would like things to be right!

We were going out this evening meeting up with Di and Rob and John and Susan.  I don't think we have seen John and Susan since Dad's funeral but the six of us had last been together for a meal when I cooked here the week before Dad died.  It was a glorious evening so John and I walked down to the edge of Lordos 1 to wait for Rob to arrive and to check that the sign we did was still complete and readable.

We decided to eat indoors because although it was at 6.30pm when we sat down the temperature cools quickly and we didn't want cold food.  We are never disappointed with our food at Fitos's and today our pre-nibble nibbles was a plate of cooked chickens livers and some baby cucumbers halved and sprinkled with sea-salt and then a plate of boiled lamb - the boiled lamb was not a hit but the other two dishes were.  Big thanks to Di for driving, the wine and brandies went down well as did the food - I went completely off-piste and opted for the cod and chips!

As always we were treated to a fabulous sunset and what turned out to be a warm and balmy evening although to be fair most diners opted to eat inside so we didn't feel too stupid by having made that decision early-doors!