Getting back to normal now John-Boy is home...

After a good night's sleep John-Boy is back in the swing of being in Droushia.  It is Friday and we were going to pickleball but not before a leisurely breakfast and a catch up on everything that has been happening both here and in the UK.  His trip was a success and he enjoyed his time catching up with friends and family.

He spent the morning trying to suss out what I had been doing to the house in his absence.  He liked the changes I had made to the furniture and the picture frames in the spare bedroom so much so that he thinks we should take it a bit further, change the knobs to the wardrobe doors so they match and paint the tops of the chests of drawers - they are pine and so would be easy to 'upcycle' using the chalk paint and a bit of wax.  I am amazed that for once we are in full agreement - this does not happen very often!!!

He also thought I had made a reasonable stab at keeping the pool under control although we do have water boatmen back in it again and the buggers can be hooked out in a net and then they jump back in!!!

It was a beautiful day with real warmth in the sunshine, in fact we nearly put the fans on at pickleball as we were all feeling warm.  I was a bit worried about Mum as she seems to have aggravated an injury she had to her right arm.  She pulled a muscle or tore it some time ago when she tried to remove a plant from a large pot and she seems to have done something to it again.  At one point I didn't think she would be able to continue to play but she managed although she might have been wiser to give it a rest.  Anyway there were only five of us this week - Liselotte has returned to Denmark to organise her area's annual collection for Cancer.  John and I returned to Emba for a cuppa and a catch up with Mum.

Last year on International Women's Day we went into the nursery in Chlorakas to thank them for the beautiful flowers they had prepared for Dad's funeral which was two days previous.  The nursery gave both Mum and I a Dianthus for International Women's Day and although mine has survived it is nowhere near flowering but Mums is looking stunning, full of flowers and buds and the most vibrant colour.  I seem to remember hers was more pink than mine but I will have to wait some time to see if mine puts on a show like this!!!

As we returned home via Banana Bay the sea was like a millpond - I couldn't capture it as you need to be high up with a zoom lens to get the shadow of the buildings reflected on the surface.  This is most unusual because this area coastline is rough at the best of times and has been particularly so this winter.

Tonight all was calm and we are reminded that Summer is just round the corner, in fact the clocks change next weekend.  This is apparently going to come to an end but takes about 2 years for it to be ratified.  We lose an hour next week which always comes as a bit of a shock to the system.

I think the exertions of pickleball this afternoon coupled with the long day yesterday was making John feel tired so we decided we would eat fairly early this evening, watch a bit of crap TV and then have an early night which was fine by me as I had had a long day yesterday too.  

We got home and it was such a beautiful evening we decided to sit outside and have a drink in the garden and use our old garden furniture for one last time.  We bought this from Paps about seven years ago for 199 euros and have replaced the cushions when the original ones fell to pieces but the weather has taken its toll and the 'rattan' is beginning to disintegrate so we used some the money John's Mum had given us and found a replacement set in Paphos Home Market a few weeks' ago - it has been sitting in George's house ever since and we don't want to take advantage so want to get it out from there.

I advertised the old set free to a good home on the internet pointing out that it was in a poor state of repair so wouldn't last long without some TLC and it was snapped up almost immediately.  This is so much easier than trying to get rid of it and find it pushing up daisies in the local dump - the rattan is plastic so will disintegrate but not disappear - the remainder is metal so will hang around for ages.  It will now be someone else's responsibility to upcycle, repurpose or dump!

I had got in fillet steak for tea tonight - this was Cypriot fillet steak from Paps and was absolutely beautiful.  We celebrated John's return with a lovely supper and a glass of wine and then he watched England play football and I got my early night!