I don't know why it surprises us, every year, that April is still mostly spring-like as far as the weather goes. The sun was warm during the middle part of the day, but the evenings and nights were still fairly cool. As May began, the weather became warmer; a pleasant 23-25C [that's around 73-77F] in the shade during the daytime, but still 13-15C overnight. I didn't switch to our medium-weight duvet until the start of April, and then moved to the thin one early in May.
It's still cool enough to need a thin duvet at night, which is just as well since our kitten Joan has a tendency to attack feet - or anything she sees as an intruder under the duvet - when she wakes up in the morning, usually around 5.00am. With a thick duvet, this wasn't a problem. With a thin one, it's uncomfortable. I don't want to think about what will happen when there's only a sheet covering my feet.
Alex and Joan celebrated their first birthday on April 4th. At that stage they were still mostly indoor cats, going out on the balconies but no further. Well, not unless they escaped when we opened the front door.
A week later, Alex discovered how to get down from our utility balcony (which has a cat flap into the kitchen). The first couple of times, we brought him back in the house; then he learned how to reverse the process, which requires quite a jump up, and there was no stopping him. Once or twice I wondered if he had gone for good, particularly when I got up in the morning and he was nowhere to be seen.
But apparently he was venturing further and further afield as he explored our neighbourhood. Since then I've spotted him on roofs of houses on a street parallel to ours, and in some waste ground about a hundred metres away, on yet another street.
After a couple of hours or more he usually comes into the house, has a quick snack and a long drink of water, and then flops on the beanbag:
A couple of weeks later, as the weather warmed still further, I realised I couldn't keep the windows and doors closed all summer. I switched from trainers to sandals, stopped wearing a sweatshirt, and started washing our jackets and fleeces. We opened the windows in the daytime and started to let Joan out too. She didn't go as far as Alex at first, but now she, too, goes off exploring and often stays out for an hour or more.
Last weekend we were invited to a friend's 50th birthday party, which was a barbecue at a national park up a hill not far away. It was a warm day, but there are shady places to sit and an amazing view over Larnaka:
I started using the ceiling fans in the warmest part of the day. Shade temperatures were approaching 28 or even 29C. Then, just as I was thinking it was time to put my jeans away for the summer, and dig out my shorts, it got cooler again. So much so that, whereas Alex and Joan had been spreading themselves out on the tile floors to cool down, I found them a couple of days ago sharing a seat, almost as curled up together as they were when they were little:
May seems to be racing by; I will clean the air conditioners soon, although, as ever, hope not to turn any of them on until at least the start of June.
It's still cool enough to need a thin duvet at night, which is just as well since our kitten Joan has a tendency to attack feet - or anything she sees as an intruder under the duvet - when she wakes up in the morning, usually around 5.00am. With a thick duvet, this wasn't a problem. With a thin one, it's uncomfortable. I don't want to think about what will happen when there's only a sheet covering my feet.
Alex and Joan celebrated their first birthday on April 4th. At that stage they were still mostly indoor cats, going out on the balconies but no further. Well, not unless they escaped when we opened the front door.
A week later, Alex discovered how to get down from our utility balcony (which has a cat flap into the kitchen). The first couple of times, we brought him back in the house; then he learned how to reverse the process, which requires quite a jump up, and there was no stopping him. Once or twice I wondered if he had gone for good, particularly when I got up in the morning and he was nowhere to be seen.
But apparently he was venturing further and further afield as he explored our neighbourhood. Since then I've spotted him on roofs of houses on a street parallel to ours, and in some waste ground about a hundred metres away, on yet another street.
After a couple of hours or more he usually comes into the house, has a quick snack and a long drink of water, and then flops on the beanbag:
A couple of weeks later, as the weather warmed still further, I realised I couldn't keep the windows and doors closed all summer. I switched from trainers to sandals, stopped wearing a sweatshirt, and started washing our jackets and fleeces. We opened the windows in the daytime and started to let Joan out too. She didn't go as far as Alex at first, but now she, too, goes off exploring and often stays out for an hour or more.
Last weekend we were invited to a friend's 50th birthday party, which was a barbecue at a national park up a hill not far away. It was a warm day, but there are shady places to sit and an amazing view over Larnaka:
I started using the ceiling fans in the warmest part of the day. Shade temperatures were approaching 28 or even 29C. Then, just as I was thinking it was time to put my jeans away for the summer, and dig out my shorts, it got cooler again. So much so that, whereas Alex and Joan had been spreading themselves out on the tile floors to cool down, I found them a couple of days ago sharing a seat, almost as curled up together as they were when they were little:
May seems to be racing by; I will clean the air conditioners soon, although, as ever, hope not to turn any of them on until at least the start of June.
1 comment:
It's a worry when they first go out, isn't it? Our two babies don't go out yet, and the weather hasn't been causing any problems as far as wanting to keep the back door open is concerned! Brr...
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