Brisk and Bracing

Oh how my lovely friend Elena will be smiling down on me today.  I used to find her in her kitchen in the winter dressed in her big old dressing gown, beanie on head and a row of hot water bottles slung around her waist.  I didn't go quite that far - mainly because I only have one hot water bottle and I wouldn't trust that one not to have perished.

We had planned to go out for a picnic today - REALLY?  did John not read his weather forecast???  This was downgraded to a walk and then further downgraded to a quick trip to Polis for a coffee and a bit of shopping and maybe a wander on Limni Pier when the weather stymied everything else.

So as it was supposed to be 'brighter' later we were doing jobs around the house this morning and I was making some lemon pickle and some soup. The only trouble is that my "perfect for making pastry" work surfaces are like a morgue when it is cold and today was no exception.

Cooking at least keeps me warm and we had planned to have some leftover chicken curry tonight so I was getting ingredients ready for onion bhajis later.

John got the fire laid up ready to light after we had been out and we were going out whatever the weather apparently!!

John noticed that I had a screw in my driver's side front tyre as we were about to set off so we went in the Pug not Kenny.  We think it may have been in there a while and wasn't deflating the tyre but obviously needed sorting so John said he would do that tomorrow.  

As we got down to the coast the skies began to clear as forecast, and we actually got some sun coming through and it was quite warm so we had a wander along the beach.  I used to come down here on a Saturday afternoon when John was watching ENAD play at home and do some beachcombing - I picked up a lot of drift wood here - some for craft and quite a lot for burning but today there was very little of interest.

It was lovely to get out and get some fresh air.  We finished our wander and decided to go and treat ourselves to a coffee and a muffin at Coffee Island because we wanted to go and investigate the fruit market/supermarket next door.  We went in there first and got the few bits and pieces we needed - it saved going down to Paps and the prices for what we wanted were quite competitive.  The coffee and cake went down a treat and it is really nice in there - clean and very reasonably priced.  We even splashed out and bought some 'proper' coffee for our cafetiere or French Press as the guy who served us called it. 

We returned home feeling glad we had made the effort to go out and were looking forward to our supper.  We were just about to settle down when I got an emergency call from Edda in the village.  Her husband David (Droushia Dixie Seven David) is currently poorly in hospital,  their son is away and their son's partner is in isolation because of covid and Edda had been savaged by one of her garden cats today when it had got trapped in the legs of a folding chair in the garden and Edda had tried to extricate him and he had gone for her.  She had been to A&E earlier but I think the shock had come out and she wanted some reassurance that she was ok.  I drove up to see her and arrived at the same time as my friend Tanja and between us we got her sorted.  Tanja had brought Edda food earlier so we knew she had eaten and I made her a cup of tea and then tried to quell her fears that she had not been treated correctly because they had not stitched her hand.  I showed her the injury Mum had sustained when she feel at home and explained how they had dealt with treating her wound and how well she had healed - I think eventually she believed me and started to calm down.  I put her electric blanket on, gave her a schedule for when she could have pain killers and then when we were satisfied Tanja and I (aka Cagney and Lacey) left satisfied that she was safe and as well as could be expected under the circumstances.  I will ring her in the morning to ensure she is doing ok.