Sad News...

These are my two latest pieces of artwork and I am particularly pleased with them and so I plan to go to Paphos tomorrow to find matching frames for them if I can.  John loves the picture of the poppy seed head but is not so keen on the clematis although they have been done with the same colour palate.  Looking at them I can see that my art has come a long way since I first started and I cannot thank Sheila enough for allowing me to learn and grow and use all her stuff!!!  Thank you Sheila - I know today will have been very difficult for you and Klaus as you say goodbye to a dear friend so I am sending you a big big hug xxx

Today was Ladies Lunch at Stathmos, sadly having organised it Sheila could not attend.  I decided to walk and so the two pictures are for my lovely friend Georgia who I met for just a brief moment in time and who I hope will dip in and out of my life when she returns to her family home in Droushia from South Africa.  

I hope her art exhibition in New York went well and I am just sorry that we didn't get more time together.  I love her family home and was so blessed to be able to have a nose inside this time and I am recommending that our friends in the village, who are thinking about renovating their village house, go and have a look at Georgia's cousins house which is tacked onto the side and which looks quite uninspiring from the outside but which is super modern and stylish on the inside.

We had a lovely lunch at Stathmos - but were very sad to learn that this place will be closing shortly - apparently the building is owned by the Government and administered by the Mukhtar and they want it back - for what?  who knows?  

For as long as we have been visiting Droushia, Bambos and O Stathmos have been there.  In fact we have had some of the finest Stifado in that establishment and some brilliant evenings although maybe not as many as we should.

It would seem that, unlike surrounding villages, ours is going backwards in terms of what it can offer the residents both Cypriot and non-Cypriot and the tourists.  Everything is upside down whilst the roads are being 'cobbled' and we fear that once that project is completed there will be little to nothing left which is operating.  Time will tell.

So our food for 12 euros comprised, salad and dips and olives and bread with olive oil and herbs, stuffed vegetable, pastichio, marinaded vegetables, chips and chicken souvla with cake and water melon to finish - all lovely.

This afternoon we had invited the Rogers Family to come and have a drink and enjoy the pool.  The girls are absolutely in love with John who wasn't allowed a spare minute without one or other of them asking when Uncle John was coming back in with them.  It is wonderful to see that they are so much at ease in our company - at one point Miss Frances was sitting on his lap discussing the various bruises and scrapes she had collected on her knees!

We had a lovely afternoon/early evening and we are hoping that they might be able to call in on Sunday so that the children can catch up with Granny Mo.  I know they will like that and Mum will like it too as they are such lovely children.  

It is fair to say that John was exhausted after more than four hours in the pool and his head looked like it had been boiled because he had caught the sun.

Sadly whilst Simon and Melanie were with us they learned that a close friend of theirs and running partner of Simon's had died in an accident.  When they first arrived with us they knew that she was missing on holiday on a Greek Island and their running group had been raising funds to send out a search and rescue team.  All of that was rendered unnecessary when news broke that her body had been found.  Simon will be taking part in a memorial run in her memory on Saturday and we hope that this is well supported.