Update on state of plants and flowers

 Hi everyone,  it has been a while but for good reason!  Eye op, all went well.  And, 70th birthday.  Not so brilliant as Mr D was very unwell.  But on the upside my daughter is going to try and make it and has promised me a 70th take two when she gets here.

In the meanwhile here are some pics to show off how far the garden is coming. 

 Irrigation should be next!

Our fab upcycled garden table, mosaic by a very clever lady….

Overloaded raised bed… brimming with all sorts. Beetroots, spring onion, carrots, red peppers…

Garden peas and runner beans.  A bit battered by the wind but coming along…

More squashes and tomatoes.  I have found some interesting recipes for the squashes…

Oh, and a pre-birthday drink. Cheers.

Some of the herbs. A work in progress.

Norman the Gnome keeping watch.

Over spill, maybe another raised bed next year!

Jaz being coy…

Daisy, who had her claws clipped this morning, next will be shampoo and groom..

Lastly, chilliest… not my favourite but a must have…

See you all soon. Thanks for dropping by.

Only two days to go

 With my minor eye op scheduled for Monday I have been house bound for days just to make absolutely sure I don’t get the virus, otherwise no op!  Test planned for Saturday, sure it will be fine.

So, Daisy sitter planned - tick.  Paperwork in place - tick.  My SMS allows up to three hours but assuming hospitals don’t have a time limit.

It is going to be great to be able to see clearly again.

Spent a while in the garden yesterday with final tweaking of pots in readiness for irrigation, which is looming close. 

Mr D and I have had long conversations about a new vacuum cleaner. Not the most exciting of things but since March last year we had to say goodbye to our lovely lady who would come in every week we have struggled with our trusty Miele which has (and still is) great, but just too heavy for our needs.

With virus still rampaging I cannot see us getting a new lady in the near future - so compromise.

The one we have chosen (vacuum not lady) will fit our needs much better.

We have really been enjoying our new mattress, which was long overdue.  I am glad we have been constructive with funds since lock down.

The government are meeting today and we would expect tighter restrictions, but in reality it is more likely restrictions will be relaxed for Easter, which is the biggest religious time of the year.

Meanwhile we continue to sit it out.... will have to branch out with some different pass times though.

The pool is looking more inviting by the day, but not quite yet!

Sometimes feels like we are the only people here! Spooky.

Until next time folks, keep chins up, and Norman says Hi.

Norman the Gnome

 I would like to introduce you to Norman (The Gnome) who has returned home after spending six years travelling the world.

He just arrived with a lovely bunch of flowers because he thought he would be the icing on the cake, so to speak in the garden.

Welcome home, Norman!

Well, it’s been quite a week. The sad news that the Duke of Edinburgh passed away last Friday. There was a lovely quote that it was if someone had taken his hand and he just went away. What a lovely way to put it.

Today’s newspapers are full of the “news” that Harry has arrived back in England for the funeral next Saturday.  It would have been more appropriate if he had made the effort to make it back before the Duke passed away.

Meanwhile, Castle Douglas experienced very strong gusts of winds at eight in the morning on Monday, which tipped over not one but two of our parasols together with stands.

One is completely useless, as is its stand.  Happy to say the other one seemed Ok and we won’t have to replace that one.

Apart from loosing a couple of pots the garden didn’t suffer too much.  The whole thing sent the pets into a tizz, but they are all settled down now.

With thanks for the inspiration from a friend of mine in England, we are now well into experimenting with cocktails.  My lovely gardener (AKA Agent Double O Two) sourced a cocktail shaker for us for the grand price of €2,50!  I was gifted a cocktail book as a birthday present  in 2004 - my, how time flies. My thanks to my past partner in wine and her husband.

We are looking forward to a roast lamb with trimmings later today.  It was supposed to be yesterday but I got carried away with the Sunday breakfast.  Waistline 🙄 

Our new bed arrived last Thursday, and it is a complete joy to sleep on, if a little strange.  When it arrived it was rolled up like a carpet, the men took off the wrapping and this rather flat mattress looked very uninviting mattress. But, ho ho ho , never fear.  We had been assured that within 24 to 48 hours it would have reached its proper size.  I have never seen anything like it.  You could actually see it, bit freaky really, but so comfortable.

Next thing on the wish list is a stick vacuum, light, easy to use and gets underneath the bed without having to bend.

Whatever next?

I  hope you all have a good week and the weather improves wherever you are.

Thanks for reading.

Everything in the garden ....

 

...

Is looking more than lovely after some really nice touches by the gardeners last Thursday.  It was quite a hive of activity with everyone set to by ‘the boss’.

I have really enjoyed playing around with seedlings which are now getting quite big and some have needed transplanting into larger pots.

Some have been identified by garden crew because I got them all mixed up.  The beetroots were east (if you have seen them before) as the leaves are tinged red around the edge (and have reddish roots).

The courgettes are the most exciting after last year’s mishap.  They look like they are getting buds already.  

Tomatoes and celery are looking good with tomatoes showing signs of flowers.  The runners and garden peas are going to need some more patience as they are being a bit slow.

Now the flowers have been moved to the fence area I feel the hard work and help is showing great results. Irrigation will be in place by early May which will make the watering job so much easier.

There has been a lot of work carried out on the lemon grove behind the house, and the strimming has made all the difference.

Weed killer to go down next week and then the whole cycle starts again.  Even the fields around the house have had their tidy up plough.

So, it has all come together and I am so happy.  Especially with restrictions and the virus, we can be in our own little piece of Cyprus without going mad.

Church of England Easter this weekend and Greek Orthodox Easter around the corner, what ever your belief, stay calm, safe and happy.

 

Coptic storms in a teacup

 Tuesday 30th March 

It was quite a turbulent week last week when there was a Coptic storm (and a half for good measure).

Very high winds which were very warm, so your brain telling you one thing and your eyes telling you something else.  It also brought with it orange sand in the rain, which stuck to EVERYTHING.  What a mess, but at least not so much damage to the garden, just a big clean up operation.

Things like this always upset the pets, whether it is the air pressure or nor I don’t know but none of them were happy.

We are forecast more rain this week, hoping it will be clean rain and complete the clean up for us.

We took the opportunity of making some changes to the lay out of the garden.  When we were sitting on the terrace recently looking at a fairly bear fence the other side of the pool it occurred to me that we don’t get to enough of all the pots around the corner with the flowers.  With lock down restrictions I am sure we nee£Ed to brighten up that view so we moved the pots and it has made a Hugh difference.  I need some help from the gardeners to swop over some of the pots so we will get some compost and hope we can do it this week.

That’s better.

I am on a run up to a very special birthday and we are playing with the idea of having lunch out.  That will be the first time for a year.

My second vaccine is on Wednesday and so I should be covered by then but Mr D won’t be as his second one is not until June, but mad really as we live together.

It will be nice to get out and dress up a bit! 

Well, I had better go and make a hair appointment and maybe nails.

Just before I go, this  is proof winter must be coming to an end .....

Bye for now.

Holidays and whistles

 Hi everybody/anybody

I have had a break and holiday from everything and anything.  Not for any particular reason, just needed to take a break from things.

So, what have you all been up to? Trying to keep up with Cyprus government do’s and don’ts.  That is as long as you don’t live in Limassol and as it appears they can get away with murder, which is what I think it will amount to because they refuse to follow any of the restrictions the rest of us have to do or face a 300 euro fine, but oh no, not in Limassol.

Anyway, on a more positive note, I had planned to be exercising on a vigorous basis around the garden on a three times circuit building up to improve balance and lung function.

Well, the first outing was not great!  I told Daisy dog she could help me, so I put her lead on and off we went.  

Circuit one - fine, circuit two - ok, start of circuit three - she sat down, and said “what the hell do you think you are doing” ( or something like that in dog talk) and refused to move.

Well, I don’t have time to mess with all this so will have to look for plan B. Who knows where that will lead.

Everything in the garden is thriving and I have now decided to replace the two rose bushes which seem to have gone to briar.  

We are moving some pots over to the fence where the lemon trees are to make the view more interesting.

I am having a bit of trouble seeing at the moment having been diagnosed with cataracts which were supposed to be sorted out with a minor  procedure last Wednesday but the government (bless them) have cancelled, along with all other non urgent surgery.  

Ho, hum, once again - watch this space!

But, there are good sides to life.  Mr D and I have a really good life and understand each other’s pressures which may occur with this life style, and the pets bring endless fun and  smiles, together with worries.

No pictures with today’s blog but maybe on the next one.

See you soon.  Thanks for reading. xx

Birthdays and sunshine!

We are still getting lots of sunshine and are able to sit in the garden most afternoons to enjoy it.

We are heading for Mr D’s birthday on Sunday and, as usual, we are planning a bit a of feast over a couple of days.

A few kilometres from us is a lovely restaurant called The Farmyard.  We have enjoyed several Chinese meals there, which is part of the menu as well as more Cyprus traditional.

Although they had to close in one of the lockdowns and they lost their chef they are now able to have take away meals and with new chefs they are able to have some service so we will be collecting our meal to enjoy.

Can’t wait.

We have been building up ingredients to use in our wok, the local supermarket has quite a range and we love it.

Some years ago when we first got the wok we spent ages getting oils, spices, weird and wonderful veg. The latest addition is prawn crackers, which I cooked as a side dish the other evening.  Very odd the way they cook, nothing happens and then suddenly they appear and puff up and take.over the hob.

I am being a baby at the moment because for about a week I have had a splinter embedded in the top of my right index finger. Ouch.  Antiseptic every day but not much happening.

I am on the finishing off stage of my knitting and looking forward to that. It has been a long road.

The garden is a great source of patience and soothing.  

I got some tubs for growing runner beans and garden peas.  Can’t wait for the seeds to germinate.

I am very excited about our lemon trees, which we got about four months ago, followed by the orange tree. 

They are all showing sign of blossom 

 If you look carefully about half way down on the left hand side you can just see the start of orange blossom!

The top picture shows our very own lemons, with the second tree coming into its own with tiny blossom waiting to bloom.

We are expecting another announcement from the government tomorrow and will know what, if any, changes are going to be made.  We still have to sent out a SMS message to get permission to leave the house.  As I have said before we try and make just one journey a week but it is still bloody irritating.

I have just re-read this blog and it seems a bit all over the place.  Don’t know why but maybe it is one of my chaos days.

My special thoughts go out to my very dear friend in this very difficult time. I can’t be with you but be sure I am in spirit. x