Magic!

There was something missing from the skies today - CLOUDS!!!  About bloody time as this is nearly mid-May and Summer is most definitely late this year.  We have visitors coming over shortly who are looking forward to some sunshine and who keep asking what the weather is doing and we have to tell them "not settled yet".  Hopefully now it will be but who knows?  It has certainly been a very strange year so far.  In fact we have a very busy time coming up and it is a juggling act trying to keep everyone happy - I am a little disappointed that due to work rotas I will miss all but one day of Laura, Mark and Gramps holiday at the Spa in Droushia.  They are such good friends and we so enjoy their company.  I shall just have to make sure that we make their last day here a good one - as they did last time they will check out of the spa and spend the remainder of the day with us.

Everything looks better when the sun shines - John has been working hard to get the pool sparkly and inviting but the annual swarming of teeny tiny beetles is proving a problem - no sooner does he skim them off then they are back again and they look dead but aren't.  Also our beloved pool cover is on its way out.  This cover originally belonged to Mum and Dad and was bigger and we inherited it and had a piece the size of our pool cut out of the middle and the edges bound - we reckon it is over 20 years old and they don't seem to make them like this anymore - it has been excellent but is now beginning to disintegrate.

We were going out for lunch today for which I was really glad particularly as we were going to the Magic Garden in Mesa Chorio which is one of our favourite places and although you can sit inside the real joy comes from being out in Mimi's beautiful garden.  When we arrived we thought it might be busy as the parking spaces nearby were all taken bar one which we left for Mum so she didn't have to worry.  Actually there was no-one else in the Garden.

This is the sort of place where you want to keep it a secret because the peace and tranquillity and individual attention is so lovely but clearly places like this cannot survive with just us visiting a handful of times a year.

As we were early we got ourselves a welcome cold drink and took a wander around looking at the plants and chatting to Michael and Mimi - well Michael and Mimi speaks very little English but smiles a lot!  We were greeted enthusiastically by the two dogs who did their stuff and then settled under the table and the three legged cat which bounds around like a mad thing seemingly unperturbed by its disability - Mum says it was found with its paw stuck in concrete poor thing hence loosing the leg but fortunately it has found itself a lovely and loving home.


It is amazing to think that this tiny little venue with a normal domestic sized kitchen can produce restaurant quality food and a great choice of starters and main courses - we all went for different.  Mum and I shared a pate starter, Joyce and David shared garlic mushrooms and John managed a deep fried brie to himself.

For our mains Mum had liver, bacon and onions, I had baby calamari, John had kleftiko, Joyce had duck and David had pork and mushrooms.  All the meals were served with fresh home-made chips and carrots cooked in butter and fennel seeds.  The food was absolutely delicious and only David and John managed to take in a creme brulee each for puds.

Magic Garden is a really apt description for this place - I would recommend anyone coming to the island to take the time to check it out and have themselves a meal - I would be very surprised if you were disappointed.