Sunshine

What a difference a day makes - no two days are the same at the moment (thank goodness).  John was taking Lakis's car for a run today and going down to Polis for a haircut and would no doubt get Elias's views on the economy, covid, masks and vaccination.  I wanted to start clearing up the garden before I leave it too late.  I started in Wendy and Bill corner where the living gazebo was getting out of hand and the wooden decking wet and slippery.  If and when my hostas put in an appearance this will be the ideal corner to put them as it is in shade and there is a small border behind the steamers which would benefit from something nice being there.

The large olive tree which is in Wendy and Bill corner we keep cut back into balls so it never gets the opportunity to produce fruit but the small one in the pot at the front by our bedroom has been loaded!  I am guessing I should have picked them but it looks such the archetypal olive tree that I have left them.  That bit of the front garden is reasonably tidy although the recent very cold weather has hammered the lemon tree which means that it probably wont fruit again this year.  We have had one lemon on it in all the years that it has been planted there.  John wants to take it out but I hate doing that to anything that is living.

I have a random wild Cyclamen that has appeared in the garden.  It is at the base of where the jasmine used to be.  The jasmine got some sort of disease so was bald and crispy at the bottom so we cut it right down in the hopes it will come back strong.  This has given this unexpected visitor the chance to bloom this year.  I have no idea where it came from but love the beautifully patterned leaves and delicate flowers and it is completely protected where it is.  This Cyclamen is the national plant of Cyprus.

The solanums look ravaged but fortunately the bald patches are showing the signs of new growth.  Now is a good time to cut them back and keep them in check so that they bloom well later on.  It is supposed to be nice and sunny again tomorrow so I will probably carry on with the garden - it was good being out in the sun today.  Yesterday we generated about 1.5Kw of electricity and today nearly 13!  I also managed to get washing out and dried and will now have to tackle the ironing.

John and I put a curry in the oven for our supper and settled down to watch some of the Winter Olympics which we have been quite enjoying although some of the sports are a bit bonkers and the GB team are champions at clutching defeat from the jaws of victory!

The curry was a new recipe for us Curry Pork Tenderloin it was nice but the jury is out as to the addition of the stock cubes - it made for a bit of a gloopy sauce which we weren't too keen on.