Getting ready for Visitors...

It was very wet overnight with condensation.  The weather has changed slightly so the evenings are much cooler - this is better for me sleep wise although no-one has told the cats about this.  We had planned a bit of shopping followed by a nice quiet day at home and then John was going to take me out for a drink in the village because I have been a bit of a Billy No Mates of late but that actually didn't happen because John thought the SUFC match was at 10.00pm and it was actually at 5.00pm - I know my place in the pecking order.

John got the bathroom door at George's sorted and we did a quick flick round and left lights on in readiness for Andrew and his families arrival later today and then we went down shopping.  We had been good and done a look at when we were in (all week) what we planned to eat and what we had in the fridge/freezer and cupboards before making our list.  Today was going to be a belated date night so we were having brunch on our return from shopping which was my take on the lovely Cypriot Breakfast they serve at Venetico.  We had some lovely German Bread which I toasted and then served with lounza, halloumi and a fried egg with a small drizzle of honey on the egg accompanied by a fresh salad and some of the spicy mayo dip stuff which Derek had left behind and donated to our cause.  It was yummy.

In my quest to sort out some craft days for Janet and Jackie I have been trawling through the internet for ideas of things we can do that don't need lots of equipment.

I don't know quite what this is called - probably there is no name but all I needed was a black and an ochre watercolour and an umber gouache together with a fine black marker pen.  I thought we could create some greetings cards using this technique.  This had been done quickly on a cheap small canvas from Jumbo so we could do that and I usually have a couple knocking around in my craft cupboard.

I am reminded a bit of the work of Renee Macintosh although somewhat simplified!  Anyway I think we can have a bit of fun with this and I have plenty of blank cards that I can give J&J to have a play with.  The beauty is that there is no right or wrong way of being creative with this unlike so many other crafts which have to be followed to the letter in order to create something pleasing.

Anyway this is work in progress and I am going to make a few cards so that I can see what works and what doesn't.

I am pleased to report that at least a few of my baby fish have survived - I saw several today when I was trying to get this photograph of the water lily - it has been a real beauty this year and has flowered for months.  

Whilst I was in the pool this afternoon I saw what looked like some silicon that was hanging down underneath one of the shelves on the outdoor barbeque.  I went to investigate - grabbing hold of the 'silicon' and pulling - it was trapped and part of it came off on my hand.

On closer inspection I could see that it wasn't silicon or plastic it was in fact the shed skin of a small snake and the other bit of it was still stuck on the shelf.  I removed that bit - this was the head end - you could see where the eyes had been!!!

We have no idea how it got there or whether it had been alive and shed the skin there or if one of the cats had picked up the skin or it had been blown into the garden but it was fascinating to look at.  How amazing that this happens to all sorts of snakes and insects and then the new and improved version emerges.

I was rather glad that the football match that put paid to my big night out in the village was a successful one for the Blades - in fact it could have been even more successful had they not missed a penalty - still John was a happy chappy and it meant that our later than usual date night steak was enjoyed outside in the cool with no need to have a post mortem on an abject performance - every cloud eh?