A great meal!

One of my new hostas is flowering - I am never certain whether they should be left to flower or not so previously I would remove the buds thinking that would encourage greater leaf growth research seems to show that there is no real benefit either way except not to let the plant try to set seed after the flowers have gone over.  Anyway this particular plant is a newbie and the first few leaves that it put out got ravaged by slugs so it isn't the most attractive I have in the garden but the flowers are pretty - they open from the bottom of the stalk first and once the top has finished I will remove.

It was a very hot day today so we were out in the garden early because John was going out with the MODS for lunch today to Finnikas in the village - a larger group than normal - seven in total because Rob was bringing along Chris who is staying in one of the villas to the front of Di and Rob's house and I guess Di was entertaining Chris's wife along with her fitness girl friends.

I hadn't planned anything so as Nicky was feeling better and not working we had decided to go into the village separately for a catch-up and a spot of lunch.

As I was getting ready Mum phoned - she had been to see the Cardiologist this morning and there were one or two things that the cardiologist was unhappy with but when questioned I didn't get much clarification from Mum save that she has to go back in three months.  I have suggested I go with her so I can get a handle on what is going on.  I know that Mum struggles to hear Dr Ariadne at times and probably doesn't ask her to repeat what she is saying or explain.  In the meantime I have told her not to worry - if anything was urgent they wouldn't wait another three months.

It was an exceptionally hot day today and Nicky and I were looking forward to sitting in the shade of O Stathmos Tavern and having a cold drink and something nice to eat.  Unfortunately as inviting as it looked there was no-one there and the doors were locked so we decided to trek up the hill to the Palates Hotel where I was sure we would be able to get something to eat.  Sylvia was on reception but said there was no chance of getting anything to eat which seemed a bit strange for a hotel.  As we turned to leave we bumped into Bambos who explained he was out spraying his fields and would not open O Stathmos until after 3.00pm.  He invited us in for coffee but we were starving so politely declined and decided to walk back home and grab the car and go to the Wine Bar except on contacting Rachel realised that we could only get a sarnie and/or a piece of cake at this time - pizzas are served later. Our last resort was to drive to Fitos where we would be guaranteed a meal and then come back to the village drop off the car and walk in for a drink.  Except this ended up as not being our last resort because we chose to walk home via the school opposite which is Kaponas Grill House and inside we found the younger son Panayiotis who got his mum Eleni and she said she could do us food.

Sometimes only a good fresh Village salad will do and a good fresh village salad accompanied by some tzatziki and taramasalata and fresh pitta is the best meal in the world and sat in the shade this absolutely was.  Even better Eleni had a couple of bottles of the lovely award winning Sterna Koralli Xinisteri which disappeared from the shelves a couple of months ago much to my dismay.  It is so smooth that Nicky almost drank it without Sprite!!!

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed that simple fresh meal but reckon that the consumption of two bottles of wine between us was a step too far so we never went back down to the village to catch up with the boys we staggered back to Lordos 1 and gatecrashed B's quiet afternoon because we wanted to see her five new kittens.  Sitting back down was fatal for me -  had to retire early and seek the cool of our bedroom!

I was glad that our plans had changed because we would not have gone into Kaponas otherwise and it was really nice and really cheap!!!