For the last two days I have been getting Villa 10b ready for the arrival of my lovely friend Hazel who deserves the best week we can give her.  On day 1 I weeded and snipped and swept and moved and potted and discarded and huffed and puffed and on day 2 I washed and ironed and cleaned and mopped and polished and primped and plumped and huffed and puffed - I am exhausted but thankfully these last two days have been much cooler than of late so things could have been worse.

I had a particularly early Wednesday morning because I wanted to catch some of the lunar eclipse and it was a clear night.  I couldn't get a decent close up shot - sadly my Canon with the really good zoom died on my trip back to the UK so I am hoping that I might get a replacement for my big birthday last year.  This picture was posted on the internet and is of Glastonbury Tor with the lunar eclipse happening behind - quite possibly photoshopped or something but still a fabulous picture and when I was a small child I could look out of my bedroom window across the levels and see Glastonbury Tor in the distance.

John did a load of running around for me today including going down to Polis to try and get liver to satisfy Miss Minnie-Mou's dietary requirements which meant I could get on with the garden - John and I don't work together too well - we both want to be Chief and neither of us want to be Part IV and sometimes it is just easier to do what is needed rather than have to explain.  I worked from the front garden all the way round to Wendy and Bill Corner.  Having done that bit of front garden I am more inspired to have some order to the garden rather than just let it run wild.  Wendy and Bill Corner was the finish line and that bit of decked area is ready and waiting for our guest.

I have adopted the Bobster approach to keeping the shingle clean in the garden, which means getting down on your hands and knees and picking up unwanted items.  It may be time consuming but there is a sense of deep satisfaction when you look at the shingle afterwards.

My trip around the garden today yielded three buckets of crap which had been gracing the borders.  Unfortunately some of the bigger plants in the garden - like the Solanums - are going through their annual Summer shed so are messy plus it was very windy today so no sooner had I thought I had finished an area than there was a gust and more detritus appeared.

Eventually though my hands, knees and back told me it was time to stop and I then moved indoors because I had a couple of sewing jobs that needed doing.

John has a favourite pair of shorts which are now more covered in patches than original material but they will last for a couple more wears yet!  I am so grateful that I have mum's sewing machine because it certainly makes jobs like that easier to do than by hand.

Yesterday when I was down in Paphos I was in search of something to use as a footstool with the day bed.  I looked around and eventually found a shoe rack which, when the cushion is removed, will slide under the day bed and I had one curtain left so that I could make a cover to match the others.  It will do the job just fine and we now have a mosquito net (tied up in the middle of the picture) so we could sleep outside now without fear of getting bitten to death.  Subsequently my waterproof cover arrived which fits over the whole shebang so I dont have to run out and rescue the cushions if I have not put them away.

Yesterday was just a blur of cleaning - a real bottoming the like of which the house has not had for some time - I even cleaned the tops of the skirting tiles with a bloody toothbrush!!!!  Dust is an occupational hazard here in Cyprus and couple that with four constantly moulting cats and it is a nightmare to keep on top of the tumbleweed that appears.  Does anyone else get that sausage of guff that accumulates on the underside of doors and only becomes visible when you have mopped the floor and closed the door and the guff sticks to the mopped surface?  Yuk yuk yuk!!!

Disaster struck when I realised I had a pin sized hole in my mop bucket which meant that it was slowly releasing its contents all over my floor.  We had to improvise a solution until I can get a new bucket when next near a bucket-ishery.

I was more than happy when we declared the house done and I could jump in the shower as I was absolutely filthy.  I was even more happy that we had been invited to go down to Latchi Family Resort for supper with Lakis, Argy and Kia to meet up with their niece Louisa who is working there.  She only started on Monday so they have given her a little while to settle in.  She seems to be doing absolutely fine and seemed happy and relaxed when she came to join us.

A big thank you to Lakis and Argy for treating us and big big hugs to them both - they will know why - and it goes without saying that we are here for them if they need anything.

Will just finish with this photo - the kids of today - what are they like???