Bye Bye Michelle

Michelle was leaving today - her time with us has gone by so quickly.  She is easy company even though she says she is a pain in the arse with regard to her food likes and dislikes!  She isn't really - she is a fish eating vegetarian and has an aversion to 'pulses' and spices but we managed to find plenty for her to eat and even got to introduce her to new things.  She was going home armed with recipes to try.

During her visit we had learned that my Mum had lost her last remaining sister.  Aunty Phyl had passed away in Australia having been unwell off and on for years.  Out of 12 children only my Mum and her brother Ivor (in his 90s) remain.  Our thoughts are with Simon who survives Aunty Phyl and for all the other members of her family.  A bit of an end of an era and obviously Mum was upset by the news.  Simon intends to return Phyl's ashes to the UK at some point in the future so that she can be laid to rest with her Mum and Dad, my Gran and Grandad.

We are on a weather warning for the next three days.  Lots of heavy rain, hail and thunder storms.  There was a definite dip in the temperatures but for most of the day we had some pleasant sunshine which meant that we had an easy day doing very little but enjoying the warmth of the conservatory.  John went for a bike ride, Michelle and I read and chatted.  We had arranged to go down to see Mum in the afternoon, Michelle is related on my Dad's side, and we were going to have a takeaway with Mum before I dropped her off at the airport at about 6.30pm.

This turned out to be a good plan.  A lazy day after yesterday's celebrations was just what the doctor ordered and we had a light lunch with John before Michelle packed the remainder of her things.  I had offered to do her washing so she could take everything back all nice and clean but the change in the weather meant that getting it dry wasn't guaranteed so we knocked that idea on the head.

We got to Mum's at about quarter to four and chatted before it was time to go and order the takeaway.  Having the Chinese up the road from Mum is great because although there are only a couple of items on the menu she likes the ones she likes she really likes if you get my drift.  Michelle had a sweet and sour prawn dish and I had the same beef teryaki noodles as I had when I went to pick Michelle up.  In fact I took half of it home for John to have when I got back from the airport.  The weather was good until just as I got to the edge of Droushia and then it began to rain.

As I got to Lordos 1 the sun was setting in spectacular fashion with all the rain clouds that were about.  I was glad to get indoors without getting wet.  It is lovely having visitors but it is also nice having the house back to ourselves.  I shall be on cleaning and getting everything back to normal tomorrow if the weather allows.

I will just end with a picture of my new toy which I picked up on my way down to Paphos with Michelle.  I have invested in a small fountain to aerate the little pond I have and in which we have now spotted five little fishies.  It needs to charge so will see what it is like if we have any sun tomorrow.