It is Friday and the island has been gripped by a heatwave for the last week or so and they are giving warnings for even higher temperatures over the weekend and to be fair, I am struggling. I am no longer the sun-worshiper I used to be and John has never been one so I was more than happy not to be doing much today. John did nip down to Polis for a bit of shopping and to go and get our living money and I was happy to stay at home.
The 'pond' is proving to be a big hit with Minnie who uses it as her after breakfast watering hole but I am not sure who would be more surprised by a close encounter - Miss Minnie-Mou herself or one of the resident mosquito fish! On the subject of the 'pond' the first water lily flower is now at an end but we have two others in bloom today and more on the way. I am so chuffed because sometimes it can take a long time for a water lily to flower so it must be happy.
The challenge this week is 'all things wood' and I have taken some photographs but the art section needs bolstering so I wanted to paint something but wasn't sure what as I now have very limited paint to work with.
I trolled the internet and found a technique which uses cotton-buds - yes really cotton-buds - to create the illusion of cherry blossom (amongst other things) and so I was keen to give it a go.
Whilst John was down in Polis I got out the remains of my watercolours and some paper and a bunch of q-tips. Who knew that you could get such a great effect from something we use to clean our our ear holes!!!
To start with I watched a video on YouTube and then gave it a go myself and was pretty pleased with the end result. I have never had much success recreating trees and I would definitely give it a go on a larger canvas if anyone wanted one - we don't have anywhere else for my artwork to go unfortunately. I shall stick it into the weekly challenge although I know that there are much better entries for people to choose.
This evening, being no-cook Friday for me, we were going to the Gin Bar in Kathikas. This is where we first met Das and Belinda. Initially they weren't going for ribs but we had decided we would because we want to support Rachel, Savvas and Valentina. Then they changed their mind and so we shared a table. The food was excellent again and I ended up bringing half of mine home because I couldn't manage it all. Das and Belinda are settling in. They are awaiting the arrival of their own belongings and are trying to decide whether the property they are renting will be their forever home although it is somewhat overpriced but they have time to look around to see if anything else grabs them in the way that this traditional Cypriot home has. They now have the dog they rescued before lockdown living with them and although they only rescued her the day before they returned to the UK and have been stuck there for 4 months she has settled in and is part of the family already.

It was not a late night - in fact John was home in time to catch the football and watch the Bobster's beloved Charlton Athletic.
At the Gin Bar John's beer had been served in a very nice Marston's Glass and John likes a nice beer glass so was tempted to ask Savvas if he could have one. Before he got the opportunity Savvas asked him if he would like one to take home which was fabulous - apparently a good beer glass makes all the difference - I guess it is like having tea served out of a china cup.
We had covered the pool to prevent iggies committing hari-kari but left the pool light on because we rarely, if ever, use it. Charlie was fascinated by the black dot of our duck thermometer trapped underneath - so much so that we thought he might launch and attack and get a soaking. For that reason it seemed sensible to turn it out!
The 'pond' is proving to be a big hit with Minnie who uses it as her after breakfast watering hole but I am not sure who would be more surprised by a close encounter - Miss Minnie-Mou herself or one of the resident mosquito fish! On the subject of the 'pond' the first water lily flower is now at an end but we have two others in bloom today and more on the way. I am so chuffed because sometimes it can take a long time for a water lily to flower so it must be happy.
The challenge this week is 'all things wood' and I have taken some photographs but the art section needs bolstering so I wanted to paint something but wasn't sure what as I now have very limited paint to work with.
I trolled the internet and found a technique which uses cotton-buds - yes really cotton-buds - to create the illusion of cherry blossom (amongst other things) and so I was keen to give it a go.
Whilst John was down in Polis I got out the remains of my watercolours and some paper and a bunch of q-tips. Who knew that you could get such a great effect from something we use to clean our our ear holes!!!
To start with I watched a video on YouTube and then gave it a go myself and was pretty pleased with the end result. I have never had much success recreating trees and I would definitely give it a go on a larger canvas if anyone wanted one - we don't have anywhere else for my artwork to go unfortunately. I shall stick it into the weekly challenge although I know that there are much better entries for people to choose.
This evening, being no-cook Friday for me, we were going to the Gin Bar in Kathikas. This is where we first met Das and Belinda. Initially they weren't going for ribs but we had decided we would because we want to support Rachel, Savvas and Valentina. Then they changed their mind and so we shared a table. The food was excellent again and I ended up bringing half of mine home because I couldn't manage it all. Das and Belinda are settling in. They are awaiting the arrival of their own belongings and are trying to decide whether the property they are renting will be their forever home although it is somewhat overpriced but they have time to look around to see if anything else grabs them in the way that this traditional Cypriot home has. They now have the dog they rescued before lockdown living with them and although they only rescued her the day before they returned to the UK and have been stuck there for 4 months she has settled in and is part of the family already.


At the Gin Bar John's beer had been served in a very nice Marston's Glass and John likes a nice beer glass so was tempted to ask Savvas if he could have one. Before he got the opportunity Savvas asked him if he would like one to take home which was fabulous - apparently a good beer glass makes all the difference - I guess it is like having tea served out of a china cup.
We had covered the pool to prevent iggies committing hari-kari but left the pool light on because we rarely, if ever, use it. Charlie was fascinated by the black dot of our duck thermometer trapped underneath - so much so that we thought he might launch and attack and get a soaking. For that reason it seemed sensible to turn it out!
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