Spring has, possibly, sprung in Cyprus

I'm not entirely sure where the past couple of weeks has gone, since I last wrote. Ten days ago we went to our friend Sheila's birthday dinner, taking some (home-mad) vanilla and also some toffee (caramel) ice cream:


- which went rather well with the cake her oldest daughter Marie had baked and decorated:


But my camera is rather devoid of photos since then, other than this one showing Sophia and Tessie, unusually, sharing the beanbag for a catnap:


I suppose nothing noteworthy has happened in our home or neighbourhood, which is all to the good, and a pleasant contrast to the world news which is currently full of terrible disasters and tragedies.

We've had some rain, off and on, which - to my surprise - has not come through the roof at all. And while we're still using our extra-thick duvet at night, and putting on an extra fleece in the evenings, the days are more springlike, the wildflowers are blooming, and our central heating comes on only rarely, when the house dips below the thermostat temperature. As I type, the sun is shining and the sky is blue, but only half an hour ago we had a brief rainstorm. At least I am not yet having to water the plants on the front patio.

We've had a visitor in our guest flat for the past week, and while she's out for most of the day, she's eating lunches and evening meals with us, so I've had to think about cooking for three, and (since our visitor is vegetarian) finding things a little different from our usual menus.

Right now, only just over two weeks after I tried my first experiment with making tomato ketchup, I'm making another batch. Yes, I've got through an entire batch (including some used in cooking) in sixteen days. Still, at a euro for about three kilograms of tomatoes, it's not exactly an expensive addition to our food bill...