In memory of a good friend

We had an early morning call this morning from Phils Home to tell us that they were loading the van and ours would be the first deliver of the day.  I had previously sent a pin for our location and the driver was happy with that so we could no longer languish in bed for a lovely lie in because we reckoned we had about half an hour before they arrived and that was exactly what happened.  

The pin worked, John was out in the road because our pathway is a bit hidden and our new furniture was delivered.  This space was made possible because my lovely, lovely friend Joani had left me some money in her will and I wanted to spend it in her honour.  This is to be Joani's Place and a place where we get the early morning sunshine so where we can take our breakfast or a coffee.

We are really pleased with it - so much so that we sat outside and had our breakfast this morning which we would not have done if we were to use our original seating area outside because it was in the shade and the wind blows through.

It is now John's favourite seating area - a couple of times today he wandered out with a cup of coffee and plonked himself down to enjoy our new space!

I wanted to do some gardening today.  When I was out with Mum I had bought a purple flowering Clematis in Lidl for about 6 euros.  I have two clematis already but they are both pink.  They were not supposed to be but when I asked at the London Road garden centre if the plant I was holding was blue I was told 'of course' which was untrue!

Anyway I have decided to put the new one in the corner of the front garden where previously I had a passion flower.  Passion Flowers are ok but they take over and spring up all over the place.  The clematis will be in a pot.

I have to be careful because in the pot was a lovely variegated ivy but I noticed the tell-tall signs of mealy-bug so I cut the ivy back, treated it and then scoured the remaining growth for any sign of the critters and removed what I could.  I need to keep an eye on this of my new clematis will not survive.  I took some cuttings from the Ivy and will need to check them too.

There is life in the garden but the recent cold winds and very cold nights have taken their toll so new green leaves have been burned brown.  They will recover but everything seems to be very late.

John did the last of the decorating in the kitchen - a final sand down of the ceiling and a final lick of paint and it looked as good as new and tidy and clean and I have wanted to do it for so long so I am a very happy bunny.   All the blue sticky was removed, everything was cleaned and it was declared officially open but I wasn't going to use it tonight because we were going out with Marianne and Jeff!!!

I made a sign for our new eating area - I think Joani would have approved as it was made from a recycled piece of wood which had once been a step on a ship's ladder and incorporated a bit of crafting - she was a brilliant crafter with such flair.  John will put it in its place tomorrow.  Thank you Joani.  I would have much preferred that you were still with us but you will always be with us in the garden.  You loved your gardens and I really hope we have done you proud.

We went to Petradaki this evening.  We haven't been for years because the last couple of times we went we weren't impressed but Marianne and Jeff said that the restaurant has really got its act together now that the boys have joined the team.  The sons have both trained at catering college or similar and are a great asset.

I have to say we were very pleasantly surprised.  The food was lovely and not overly priced by today's standards and we always seem to have a good evening with Jeff and Marianne.

John and I, without prompting, chose the same meal.  We started with Koupes and then had a pork in calvados with chips and salad.  Very nice.  We were even persuaded to buy a box of their own wine - a five litre box of red was 15 euros.  I found the wine to have a strong fruit and vanilla flavour which initially seemed a bit sweet but the others thought was dry - my mouth told me it was dry midway through the night when I was desperate for a glass of water!!!