Annual field cut back ...

 We understood that any one with land has to cut back the dried undergrowth once a year.

Now, why would we want this to be done now at the end of the dry season?

Well, ours is not to reason why apart from the fact that our landlord has his own tractor which has not been up to the job for years.  So, today, he sent in the troupes... thus the big, blue tractor.

See the results..

Only two of the three which surround us, but looking much better and safer.

Oh, my. What a sun set

 

Garden .... knit .... soup

More work carried out in the garden this week as I finished the cabbages needed to be thinned out and also the lettuce.

II had already collected some more troughs from the garden centre.  I think next year I may like to change over to raised beds. My poor old bones are complaining about bending.

Interesting to look back over the changes in the garden over the last months...

From this ....

To this ...

How good is that!

 I have lost count of the relaxed hours I have spent in this paradise.

I am still ploughing on with my knitting projects, not sure they will be ready for this winter though!

I was very happy with the help from Jackie from Wool and Whatknot to find someone who can repair a crocheted blanket which had belonged to my mother.

It had followed me on all of my travels over the 30 odd years since Mum passed away.

Unfortunately, when we got Daisy the Dog she decided to nibble several holes in it.  But now it is now on its way to being repaired.

We really need a new cooks knife but have had some trouble sourcing one locally.  Help was at hand with some good suggestions for Paphos, so next time we go will try and pick one up.

The soup maker I got last winter is going to be put to good use again this year.  Lentil and bacon chunky soup is the order of today.

I will slightly change choices this year, each batch makes three servings, so I intend to use two then get another batch ready.  I refer you back to blog ‘I like chaos’.

We went for our flu jabs yesterday.  Lucky to get it as supplies are low again this year!

Quite exciting as we are ready for our first fire of the winter, electric blanket already on the bed. Cats in the house over night and Daisy having to share her space on the bed! All is well with the world.

Supper tonight - pork loin chops together with bubble and squeak.  How about that for comfort food?

I hope you are all keeping well and warm and are enjoying my blog.  See you soon.

Oh, my goodness... have you missed me?

 Hi every one.  

Well, it’s been a while but, like my knitting, everything is a bit hit and miss at the moment.

We have had more, and rapidly changing, restrictions here in Cyprus for the virus. Mainly affecting two areas, one being Limassol and the second being Paphos region, which is the area we come under.

It is all too complicated to explain, and probably not a lot different to any other country.  None of them particularly affecting us as we have been shielding anyway.

I have been sticking to my plan to keep busy and not let this get me down,  which I manage most of the time.

Mornings have household chores and afternoon drifts into various things, cooking, knitting, reading, chess, (which I must say seems to be coming along well, even getting Martin into ‘check’ on the third game) and back to gardening.

I have now split the green cabbages, and tomorrow will split the red ones and the lettuce, which are starting to look like lettuce now.

I will take pics tomorrow.  I try not to make it a ‘holiday snap’ moment.

This is the time of year we get fabulous sun set

This was taken from our garden where all the musing goes on.

Some more recent pics are..

We asked our gardener to chop back a rather overgrown yellow flowering tree.  He has done the first cut, but the cats wanted to know why one of their favourite climbing places have been hacked back 

Well, we are sort of prepared for the next few months of cold weather.

Snuggling under an extra duvet, first wood delivery made, chimney swept, and more than enough food to keep us going for the next few weeks.  

Our hearts go out to people on the island who are in a desperate situation.  I have linked up with someone who is involved with helping destitute families.

It may seem like a drop in  the ocean but at least it scratches the surface.

On the knitting front, not such a success.  I completed the snazzy mits, but felt they were a bit of a disappointment.  

I am going on with the jacket, jumper and draft stop, so may go back and do a second pair of mits later.

Well, Mr D is cooking us lamb tomorrow for Sunday lunch and I plan to have a go at fish cakes on Monday

UI hope you have enjoyed today’s blog,. I would welcome any comments or suggestions.

All in the best possible taste, of course.

See you soon.

.

What a dreadful situation

 It is very hard to stay positive today with numbers of infections in Cyprus roaring away and England announcing ( at last) restrictions are to be re- introduced Wednesday of next week.

It’s a bit bloody late now mate.

That’s not to mention France and Germany who have been high news in the media, and everyone else.

Thinking about numbers is mind blowing.

Whatever normality we try and keep I sometimes think who do we think we are kidding.  

But, like millions of others , we knuckle down and learn to adjust to the ‘new’ norm, which now seems to be used as some sort of sick modern phrase.  Not one I have particularly taken to.

I don’t usually use my blog to have a rant but just couldn’t help it this morning.

Just to mark the day complete we have started making preparations to get our driving licences exchanged in line with the law and so I have been sorting out documents that we will need.

We are still enjoying sunshine and spend most days outside, so being a Saturday thinks glass of wine is in order.

Very best of luck to everyone and let’s hope people can stick to the rules and stop this virus from spreading any further.

I will be back soon, hopefully in a better frame of mind.

Stick to the day job!

 Yes,I think my sketching skills need some work putting in on them.

Before ........

Maybe I should have left it alone.

Oh,well, onwards and upwards. I am not going to let one small sketch ruin things.

I maybe can do better with the family tree.  

I was inspired by a post from an Australian friend of mine when she posted one that had been done for her father.

We had our first roasties from the new oven yesterday. Wow, what a delicious meal. Mini roast with chicken and roasted vegetables on the side. 

I did say I was going to keep the oven clean so will get on today to give it a spruce up.

We have been living off the freezer for a couple of weeks.

Every year when we approach the August holiday season we always stock up on food to avoid having to go shopping.  Well this year we sort of overdid it, thus living out of the freezer.

Only about five more days to go and we can go visit our butcher!

I have a feeling I may have mentioned this before, but then I have been known to repeat myself.

I finally worked out how to knit the draught excluder without having to use four needles.  That would have been a bit complicated. But anyway, it is now underway.

One of my mitts is completed and cardigan really looking good.

So, generally, all’s well with the world.

Off to clean the oven!

I enjoy a bit of chaos!

 On the proviso it is fairly organised at the same time.

My brain in chaotic which is why I am forever making lists to keep myself in check, seems to work for me.

Mr D says he thinks it is a touch of OCD, but where would we be without my lists?

One example is that because of the virus and various states of shielding, restrictions etc we have increased our cooking ( also with the use of an oven which actually works). With that being the case we have increased not only our stock of different flours but also a collection of herbs and spices.

In the kitchen. We have a glass fronted cupboard and said herbs and spices lived on the first shelf, sort of eye level.

It wasn’t really a good way of working, we had to move half a dozen to find what we wanted. So, I had a bit of a brain storm this morning.

I found an empty top drawer in the unit and decided to utilise it.  Having scrabbled around and found some (matching) plastic containers and, hey presto, all fitted away nicely.  We can also see the label on each jar - you may think I am slightly mad, which is as maybe but I am quite happy with the result.

Perhaps I should explain about ‘eye level’ and ‘top drawer’, we are both fairly tall and are getting a bit old to be bending to retrieve bits and bobs in the kitchen.

Now most of the hard work has gone from the garden I have started a couple of new projects, one being Mr D teaching me to play chess.

We got the chess set years ago but just never got around to playing.  It was only yesterday we noticed that half way down the left hand side one of the squares is the wrong colour!  Bit late to send it back now so will just have to get something to cover it.

Armed with my new, super duper face mask I made a journey of great importance ( and an acceptable risk) to go to the local wool and whatnot shop where the wonderful Jackie kitted me out with not one but three lots of wool and all the needles I need for the various patterns.

I would have had these needle years ago but went the way of the charity shop before we came to Cyprus.

This was all in an effort to avoid the virus which is running amok locally.

We also went on a small supermarket run at 7 this morning to pickup some essentials.

As usual the veg was awful so we stopped at another shop on the way home, wonderful display of fruit and veg.  Looking tasty and fresh.  But the best bit is they had risotto rice.

Well, in the words of Jamie (Oliver) you will have no trouble finding because no one else wants it.

Not true, we have been looking for at least three years we should have some fun making the two cheese risotto.

We do have a rest from meat every now and then.

Well, it’s been lovely as usual but I really must get on with at least one of my hobbies! Hope to see you soon.