A new week begins...

It would appear that my Mum is getting well into her Doro smartphone as witnessed by the fact that she sent me a photograph of her resident tree frog - to be fair I think it was a joint effort between her and her gardener Graham.  I say gardener - he certainly comes and does her gardening but he is a man of many talents and is currently getting to grips with our aged mantle clock which suddenly stopped working.  He is determined to get it working and to refurbish the casing.  I love that clock so I am very hopeful that he will succeed and mum says that failure, according to Graham, is not an option!!

So this is the start of a new week and I was going to Art today.  I am about to start a new picture which is a challenge in itself and Sheila is working on a new picture too - she has chosen a buffalo and I have chosen pomegranates!

In ancient Greek mythology the pomegranate was known as the "fruit of the dead" and believed to have sprung from the blood of Adonis and in the myth of Persephone, the goddess of the underworld, the pomegranate is featured prominently.  Apparently Persephone was captured by Hades and taken to live in the underworld as his wife.  Her mother, Demeter, goddess of the harvest went into mourning for her lost daughter and so all green things then ceased to grow.  Zeus could not allow the Earth to die so he commanded Hades to release Persephone.  It was the rule of the fates that anyone who consumed food or drink in the underworld was doomed to spend eternity there and Persephone had been offered a pomegranate by Hades and ate six seeds so every year she had to spend six months back in the underworld and during these six months her mother Demeter mourns and the earth is not fertile - thus explaining away the seasons (although to my mind that means there were only two - a fertile season and a non fertile one rather than Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter).

It was nice to be back at art - I had had to miss last week as I had gone to a funeral with Mum in Paphos.  I made good progress with my new picture but started on the easy bit - a complete fruit but as you can see from the outline the one in the front is halved and so has each individual seed to complete.

I called in to see Dad.  Although the chrysanthemum my aunt and uncle bought is beginning to fade there is still colour in it and the gerbera.  It is also good to see that the new grave next door is being tended - all the old flowers have been removed and some flowering heather planted in its place.  It still looks to be a bit close though although I am sure when we come to do something permanent at Dads they will be able to sort it out.

Whilst I was at art I was contacted by Georgia Aristos who helps out at the village school on the Parent Teachers or something and she is trying to organise another village clean involving the children and wants us to come along so we have agreed a date in December when I guess the kids are on a wind-down.  It is good to try and educate them though and last time they seemed to have fun.

On my return from Art we went up to visit Bassam.  This is long overdue but the last couple of times we have called by he has been out racing around after one or other of the children no doubt.  Today we had arranged we would be there and I took a cake up for him (I know he has a sweet tooth).  He looks well and has been so busy in the house it is hardly recognisable!!!  He has knocked down the wall between the lounge and the study and opened it up and laid laminate floor which makes it look so much bigger.  It looks cleaner and feels warmer!

He has also knocked a doorway out the back of the lounge and built a balcony over the downstairs kitchen which gets the morning sun and gives a view over the garden.  It was a little cool there late afternoon in the shade but then it is November!!!  I sat on the swing seat and watched the chickens running around down below thinking how much Elena would have loved what he has done to the house.

It would appear that Bassam has not finished with his renovations and this area is to the side of the balcony and he is thinking of turning it into a study area with lots of glass.  I am sure he will do it although we didn't quite understand his explanation about how it will be movable so that if he needs to get to the roof underneath he can still do so.  Maybe I should contact Kevin McCabe from Grand Designs as I am sure he would be interested!

Rabia returned home from school while we were there.  He has grown up - he is taller and thinner and his voice is breaking and although he is now an adolescent he is still a lovely boy and chats to us with ease particularly if it is about football!!!

I returned home to complete the project John started today - He had built a wooden pelmet over the back door and we have a new curtain in the mandatory battleship grey of the dining area to hang - previously it was on a pole but John thought a pelmet would look better here and also above the kitchen window so it is more in keeping with the wooden kitchen cupboards.

The weather has remained good so the temperature in the house is steady and we are keeping the door between the kitchen and the conservatory open at the moment to even it out and it has been around 21 - 22 degrees in the evening which is very comfortable.

We are off down to Paphos in the morning to catch up with Dip and Karen (Karen returns to the UK next week) and to see the electrician who is hopefully going to put a long ethernet cable from the lounge to her sunroom to try and make the tv there more stable.

Finally I cant let the day go by without reference to Hadge - it would have been his birthday today and we know that special days like these are difficult for John's mum.  We have spoken to her today - to be fair she is brilliant even on days like today.  So tonight we raise a glass to Hadge in his memory - a glass of his favourite Cypriot red wine and say "love you" to Janet xxxx