Happy Birthday John and Dad...

Today is John's birthday and it would have been my Dad's - we approached the day with mixed feelings - who would have thought that this time last year when we were all on a village bus heading to Tsangarides Winery and having such fun that Dad would not be with us this year.  I still cannot get my head round it - he looked so well when we celebrated again the following day - specifically to mark his birthday - with a private meal at the Lodge in Akourdaleia courtesy of Elaine.

It is a bit of shame that Dad didn't have a glass of red wine in his hand in this photograph - that would have made it perfect, that or a gin and tonic because he was partial to one of those except when we were in Shimmers in Dubai earlier in the year for Matthew's wedding - he nearly had a nosebleed when he heard how much one cost well actually how much the gin cost on its own without the addition of a tonic!

We had decided that we would go to the hotel and raise a glass this afternoon - he loved the Hotel and had he been with us he would have approved.

Before all of that though John decided he needed to get up early because he wanted to get the lounge wall painted before we did anything else!!

I don't know anyone else who would want to spend their birthday doing DIY but once he has got the bit between his teeth he just cracks on.  I had done as much as I could manage from the small set of steps but being a short arse that was only just above the light switches and I just cannot do the top of the big ladder - it makes me feel dizzy.

As you can see he got the wall painted and now we are waiting for the new pipework for the woodburner so that we will be warm in the winter.  I am warming to the 'battleship' grey although I would dearly love to decorate the hole in the wall so it looks like a porthole!  It looks like this colour is to stay so now I am looking to get some new seat pads for the dining chairs in grey or something patterned but predominantly grey.  If I could find some material I could even make them myself.

Once John was happy he had done what he wanted to do he sat down and opened his cards and presents.  He was absolutely delighted with the gift from Rob and Di because, as regular readers to the blog will know, he wanted to find two flat backed terracotta 'urns' to hang on the wall just as you approach our front gate.  These are exactly what he had in mind so thank you so much Veaseys for getting absolutely the right gift for him - I, on the other hand, am footing the bill for replacement pipework to the woodburner - surely every man's dream birthday present??

We had a brief visit from the lovely Mike this morning - he arrived on the island late last night and stayed at the Droushia Heights Hotel.  He is now going off to housesit for Elaine for a few days, then he is coming to stay with us as she has AirBnB guests on Friday and Saturday and the hotel is full although he is booked to stay there again on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday night before he goes home.  He is a fellow Blade and an all round good guy so he came with presents for both of us but he had been to the official SUFC shop and brought John some lovely gifts - John was ecstatic with the pint pot which you will see later.  He had a hand decorated one for his 50th which he was always loathe to use so now he has an official proper job.  I got Yorkshire Tea and Asda Fruit and Nut - my cup runneth over and Mike also brought me a beautiful ceramic tile which used to grace his kitchen (he is about to move).  I want John to build a frame around it - when he has I will show you the finished article - it is beautiful, personal and hopefully some very rare Majolica ware although Mike feels it is more likely to be B&Q.

Mum arrived - I know this will have been a difficult day for her so we had decided to go somewhere that held no memories for us as a family.  We had decided to head on out along the coast towards Pomos and stop on the corner where Koula has her sandwich wagon and sit looking at the beautiful coastline and eat something simple - Dad would have loved it.  It would have been 'magic'.  Hopefully he was there with us in spirit.  He would have devoured the mixed sandwich - all four euros worth of it.  In fact I feel a little guilty as my sister had wired some money to pay for our lunch and I think we actually owe her some change from her 25 quid!

We sat under the trees eating our food, drinking our drinks, admiring the views and tried to ignore the scraggy ginger tom and the oh so cute black and white tom kitten that were looking plaintively in our direction at our sandwiches.  They may have looked cute but were quite feral so you had to be careful to keep your hands out of their way otherwise they were likely to take a swipe - as mum found out.  Fortunately there was no real damage but lesson learned!  It reminded me of the time we went to the Rode Bird Gardens and there was a sign by a Chinese Crane saying "Do not Feed" and Dad decided to ignore the notice, held out his pot of seed and then hastily had to withdraw it and count that he still had the requisite number of fingers.

We returned to the village and stopped off at the cemetery so that we could put the lovely pink gerbera we had bought in pride of place.  We cannot do anything permanent to the site until winter is over so in the meantime John and I will make sure it looks loved and we will, as a family, decide how best to mark the spot.

The gerbera are self seeding all over the place and have grown enough to start flowering.  I decided that when I go tomorrow before art I will rearrange some of the pots and stones so that the seedlings have free range to reach their full potential - they are bright and cheerful and fairly hardy in all sorts of conditions.

We then moved on to the Hotel where there had been a massive christening taking place.  We managed to find a relatively quiet spot on the terrace out of the way of screaming kids to have the Gins we had promised ourselves (not Mum obviously as she would be driving!).  The Hotel is to close for a month for refurbishment - I hope it does not change too much because we like it the way it is although we guess the discerning traveler probably expects something a little more and some of the furnishings do look like they have seen better days.

After Mum had left and let us know she was home safe and sound (she had to circumnavigate the large fire that was being tackled at Pickni which is on her way home) we could relax a little and John decided to christen his new beer glass.

The weather today was considerably hotter than it has been of late and it was a lovely evening.  However we know that clear skies now mean dropping temperatures at night and masses of condensation so the plants really don't need much water now.

It had been an emotional day one way and another but we have got through another 'first' milestone although we still have plenty left to negotiate.

A big big thank you to everyone who remembered John's birthday he was quite taken by all the kind wishes, the cards and the gifts - he says it is just another day but he is one in a million and he deserves to made to feel special even if it is only once a year!