Wave Goodbye - Say Hello!!!!

The day has finally come to say goodbye to John's Mum and her friends Jackie and Stan and it has been so easy having them here because they have been able to entertain themselves when we have had other commitments and have been happy to go with the flow with we have had ideas about places to visit or places to eat.  We appreciate how difficult this can be for John's Mum but she has been fabulous and we reckon that as soon as they get back home they will be busy planning their return visit.

John and I went down to Polis Gardens for the last time - I was collecting all the things that they were leaving behind and John was packing the peeps up and taking them down to Bona Mare so they could eat before they flew without panicking about time.

Our visitors have given us a new addition for the garden.  It is a dwarf bougainvillea which is different to the one we currently have because the flowers are concentrated along the length of each shoot - I have been looking at these before but never bought one.  We are going to make a space for it on the same wall as the current plant but at the opposite end - the one currently in the garden is looking good so it is clearly a suitable spot for this plant even though we were told that they don't grow in Droushia!!

I also have a new wind-chime for the garden - it is like a collection of goat bells so will confuse the hell out of them when they are next around grazing in the field!!!  John has found a home for them - replacing the bamboo chimes we had which have split so are not as melodic as they used to be.  It was very kind of them and anything for the garden is a hit with me and as we have the day at home tomorrow that is where I plan to spend my time weather permitting!!!

On that subject the weather up here in the hills was distinctly average today although down on the coast it was sunshine all the way.  At one point the thunder above was so loud the cats all shot off in different directions trying to find somewhere safe to hide.

I returned home with a car full of bits and pieces which needed to be housed and set about putting things away before I tackled the ironing!!

I got everything sorted and went out to the rubbish bin where I encountered two people taking photographs of the abandoned houses across the road.  They were an Israeli couple who had been to look at the properties before.  We had quite a chat and I brought them in to show them what we had managed to do with a two bedroomed property like the ones they are considering.  They seemed really nice and it would be good to have those properties occupied and by nice like-minded people - they loved the cats and loved the quiet - two big ticks in my book!  Anyway we are happy to help them in any way we can and if they have managed to find this blog they should be reading it now!

I thought I would just show you Stan's parting gift for John - a tribute to Sheffield Wednesday lovingly fashioned out of a beer-mat but Stan's own fair hands and stuck on the back of Kenny!!!  We were so impressed by his attention to detail that we couldn't bring ourselves to consign it to the bin and it is currently on the notice board!!

So whilst I tackled the ironing and ran in and out rescuing the washing John and his group were sat in glorious sunshine down at Bona Mare enjoying a spot of lunch before getting their flight - which eventually set off about 20 minutes late.

We had thought that we were now getting to the end of our visitors with only my Aunt and Uncle left (they go home next week) but Karen (John's Cousin) got in touch today to say that she and Dip are over for a month!!!  It's fine though as they have an apartment down in the Universal Area and look after themselves but we will be catching up with them in due course.  It would seem that there are no rules as to when visitors will come over - it certainly isn't confined to the summer months!!