Winter is approaching

Lovely Lilian has invited Mum, John and I for Sunday lunch and I offered to do the pudding as I have something already in the freezer (Cypriot Orange Cake) so this weekend we were free to do whatever we wanted which was bliss and reminiscent of lockdown!!!

I started by doing some gardening as I continue to get the garden ready for the ravages of winter (yes Stan we do get some bad weather!!!).  Actually not a moment too soon because the glorious morning deteriorated rapidly but fortunately not before Gail had brought her Mum, Yvonne, over to have a look around the garden and the house.

By lunchtime the weather started coming in, firstly it clouded over, then we had gale force winds and then the heavens opened.  A coptic storm is forecast for next week so the chances are it has come early.

Faced with monsoon conditions there was nothing for it but to batten down the hatches and to settle down and watch some movies together which John loves - I don't mind if I have some say as to what we watch...

We started with a nice gentle Irish comedy called The Last Right which was lovely although if you are planning to watch it I would suggest putting on sub-titles because the sound was quite muffled and with the accents meant it was difficult to catch some of the dialogue - it is a 2019 film with loads of well-known faces in it.

We then started a 2023 film about Boudicca which was absolutely dire - talk about Stand Easy Productions - not my choice obviously and eventually after about half an hour we both threw in the towel and I got to choose again.

So this was my second choice - an animated film which came out as the No2 animated film of 2021 - Marcel the Shell with Shoes On which was such a sweet movie but so different to any other animation I have watched before - I thought John would hate it but actually he thought it was well worth sticking with.

I must have realised the weather was going to get rough because I had the foresight to put something in the slow cooker.  I did a sort of Afelia dish (pork in red wine and coriander) which bubbled away all day and so became absolutely melt in the mouth.  With it we had roast honeyed carrots, garden peas and roasted hasselback potatoes.  When I did similar potatoes during Laura's visit I managed to badly burn the roof of my mouth so I have been suffering ever since.  It is gradually getting better but it has been absolute agony - so much so that I have postponed our dentist visit next week just to be on the safe side.

Although the weather was rough the house was warm enough without any additional heating but I am not sure that will be the case next week when the temperatures overnight drop to single figures up here in Droushia.  

It is definitely time to get the rugs down everywhere - just need to find them all and get them out!!!!  We went to bed armed with towels in case we got a late night visit from a soaking cat - we can't understand why they would wish to go outside in these conditions when they can be warm and comfortable inside!!!