Another Day

It's felt like a 'heavy' sort of day today. I woke about 6am, but instead of feeling lively as usual, I felt quite drained and exhausted. Dan and Tim were both up by about 7am, and also both said they were tired.

Most of the usual Monday activities were cancelled - no aural lesson as their teacher isn't well; no art lesson for Dan as the other students are doing school exams; no band for Dan this evening, although we don't know why. He used to have a music theory lesson on Mondays too but now he's done the exam, there won't be any more of those. He did have his drum lesson - the first for a while, as he's had wall-to-wall performances with Antidote Theatre in the last few weeks, and there will be another next Monday. After that he'll be on the Doulos until late August. So he spent much of the morning tidying his room and setting up his drums, as he used some of them last night in our church, for a rehearsal.

Richard went first thing to Mantovani Travel, his favourite travel agent locally. He confirmed the booking for Daniel's trip to Africa, paid for it, and collected the tickets. He also confirmed a mini-cruise to Greek Islands which he and I are going to take to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, which comes next month. I still can't quite believe I'm old enough for a Silver Wedding...!

Tim said he felt too tired to do any of his NCSC coursework, but then he realised he was starting two new workbooks, so he could simply read them through to get an overview. After that he went in to Richard's office as he's helping out there with a few technical things which are rather beyond me! How he can concentrate on complex technical computer things but not academic books is beyond me...

I made some apricot jam. Last week there were bags of apricots very cheaply in the supermarket, which have sat in the fridge for several days. So I thought I should start using them. Unfortunately the jam burnt a little; I'm not sure why apricot jam tends to do that. I expect it will taste all right. Tomorrow I may make some more, or may simply make some lightly-sweetened apricot puree to freeze for desserts.

I have ignored our mulberries this year. We have two huge trees: one white mulberries, one purple mulberries. As a recent visitor commented, they're not unpleasant to eat raw... but they're nothing special. We found them very disappointing when we first tried them as the purple ones looked rather like blackberries. But the taste of mulberries is slightly sweet and rather bland. In previous years I've made apple and mulberry jam, but the only person who likes it is Richard. I did find a site with lots of mulberry recipes and thought I might try some - but we rarely eat desserts, and none of them leapt out at me as particularly inspiring.

Actually I can't quite ignore the mulberries, because they drop all over our patio and part of the 'lawn' - and when we tread on them, they stick to our shoes and make the most awful mess in the house. So most mornings I sweep them off the patio, and every time I go out to feed the kitties or hang out laundry, I remember to change my shoes. Usually, anyway! I shall be glad when mulberry season is over.

It feels rather a waste not to use any of them, but we've offered them to friends and nobody is interested. I expect they'll be useful as part of the compost heap anyway. Part of the problem is that they're ripe at just the time when lots of other fruit come into season, and are inexpensive in the supermarket. We bought a watermelon at 13c/kg last Friday, and my bagged apricots were 50c/kg last week*. Strawberries are still 60c/kg though we've actually managed to get bored of those, and there are cherries and peaches and plums all enticing and delicious. Grapes will be around next in great abundance. We don't have a vine, but think we might in future if and when we buy a property of our own.

Tim went back to the office again after lunch, and Dan went to Nicosia with the Antidote Theatre folk, who teach their on Monday afternoons. Dan wanted to visit his favourite music shop to buy a pack of ten clarinet reeds and some cork, to take on the Doulos. Then he caught a service taxi back. These shared taxis are hardly more expensive than buses, and go door-to-door, so they're very convenient.

This evening Tim had a youth band practice, Richard walked down to the PO Box and collected five DVDs and a book which had arrived from Play.com - and various bills and statements, but they're not so interesting! Daniel played his clarinet for 45 minutes, then the piano for about half an hour, and now he's doing his drum practice.

AS for me, I fed the kitties after supper and spent some time playing with them, decided I didn't have enough energy to cut the 'lawn', sat down to read email and catch up on some blogs, and am about to go and tackle the kitchen now...

* For those who think in pounds sterling, just translate the c to p, and it's roughly the same. The Cyprus pound is currently worth about £1.15 sterling, and divides into a hundred cents rather than pence. For those who think in US dollars, and imperial measurements, think of the c as American cents and the kg as pounds weight, and that too will be approximately correct. A kilogram is just over two pounds weight, and a Cyprus pound (money) is just over two US dollars. For those who think in other currencies, try the Oanda currency converter if you're keen to know how prices compare.