Not feeling so well...

I had a dreadful night's sleep last night - a combination of the heat, the vaccination and something which has aggravated my hiatal hernia.  I was absolutely wiped out when I woke and really out of sorts for most of the day.  I think I am going to have to look closer at my diet because I really cannot cope with the reflux and heartburn during the night.

We had not organised to do much today save for popping in to see Clare as it was her birthday yesterday.  She had contacted us to see if we would join her for a piece of cake and she sounded quite down and a bit lonely so why would we not?

I had made a birthday card previously but decided that I would do a painting, in oriental style, of her cat Lou-Lou.  I even tried to do her name in Chinese lettering as a nod to Clare's previous home which was in Hong Kong.  I am not good at that so her cat is now called just Lou as I couldn't guarantee to replicate that sound twice so that the symbols looked the same.

We wandered down to her house around lunchtime and sat in the garden giving her the card and the gift.  I was so surprised that when she opened the present she burst into tears - I didn't think my artwork was that bad!!  Just kidding, she was overcome by the fact that it was something personal and actually I had been quite close matching the colouring of the picture to Lou-Lou who came to Clare as a waif and stray at the time that Les passed away and has been with her ever since.  

I know that we struggled to understand the reasons why Clare was not with Les when he first took ill but we cannot change the tragic course of events which led to his rapid decline and eventual death and the fact is that she is here now still struggling to come to terms with his passing - it has been less than a year so she is facing first anniversaries of events without him.  She was very emotional yesterday.

We suggested walking into the village and sitting in the garden at Finnikas to have a drink and a bite to eat if anyone was around.  Fortunately Philippos and Marina were there so we could get a light lunch and a glass of wine to mark Clare's birthday.  We were joined by the taverna cats - one of the beautiful kittens is missing from this photo but this is mum in front, dad in the dark stripes and two of the beautiful ginger kittens they have produced.

This is the one that was missing - they are all beautiful but pretty feral as they will come to you for food but don't want to be touched or fussed.  We spent a very pleasant hour or so in the garden - it was in the shade out of the heat of the sun.  We talked about Les and talked about how Clare saw her future.  She is currently teaching at a school in Limassol and intends to stay there as she wants to make Cyprus her home.  It was what she had planned with Les but sadly that was not to be.  

I was grateful to get home and put my feet up glad that I wasn't going to have to cook today.