October in Cyprus: kittens, eating out and cooler weather

So much for good intentions. I didn't write a single post last month. So this will be a summary (though probably not brief) of our life here in Cyprus over the past month...

Kittens

At the start of the month, I became aware that we had unexpected visitors. There were two very young kittens, wandering around and crying just outside our boiler room, at the back of our house.

We often see kittens in our neighbourhood, sometimes in one of our side yards. There are a lot of feral cats in Cyprus. They are useful for keeping down the rats and snakes, and the female cats sometimes have two litters per year.  There are sometimes national campaigns to catch, neuter and return feral cats but there are far too many cats for this to make much difference. Historically Cypriots have not liked to neuter cats, so that doesn't help. 

There's a grey cat who often appears in our street. We call 'Mama cat' as she raised three kittens in our side yard in the spring. When these tiny kittens were wandering around I saw her nearby and assumed she was their mother, and that she had gone out hunting or perhaps just to take a break from them. 

But if she was their mother, we quickly discovered, she wasn't looking after them. They looked quite hungry and were mewing loudly. I didn't want to interfere. Touching young kittens can drive a mother cat away, after all. But the little voices were plaintive. So I gave them a bit of yogurt, and they fell on it, lapping rapidly. A few hours later, with still no sign of a mother cat taking care of these kittens, I gave them some of Lady Jane's crunchies (or 'kibble', as I understand the term is now), moistened in a little water. They ate those too, gobbling them down. 

Then they mewed for most of the night. So we decided to buy them some kitten formula, and some kitten food sachets. A visiting friend bought them some other kitten food, too. The kittens seemed quite weak by this time so we realised we would have to be more proactive. Richard built a barricade to keep them in the boiler room, as we were worried about them getting into the road and not being able to get out of the way of a car fast enough. 

Thankfully they were able to lap kitten formula milk from a saucer so we didn't have to bottle-feed, as we did with the seven feral kittens we fostered for six weeks at our old house, over nineteen years ago. We guessed that these kittens were about four weeks old. They loved the wet food from the sachets too, though we were careful not to give them too much at once. And they ate the kibble without any need for adding water. 

However, although we now only have one house cat, we can't keep these kittens. Our existing Lady Jane would not allow it for one thing. For another, we have a very allergic daughter-in-law, so we had agreed already that we won't take on any more cats. And, much as we love having a cat, it is something of a bind at times. We can't go away spontaneously, and when we plan to go away we have to organise a cat-sitter. Usually our close friends do this, but it's not always possible. 

We put photos on Facebook a couple of times, but it seems that none of our local friends want kittens. 

So Richard got in touch with a nearby cat sanctuary, who said they don't take kittens until they're at least twelve weeks old, and have had their first vaccinations. Then they try to find homes for them, and they have a much wider audience on Facebook (and elsewhere) than we do. 

Thus, a month later we are still fostering them, feeding four times a day and taking them out for half an hour to our other side yard where there are plants and fake grass, to give them a chance to jump and run and play. They had their first vaccinations last week, and the vet said they seem to be very healthy. 

We haven't given them names; we refer to them as the little girl kitty and the little boy kitty. I hope that someone, eventually, will adopt them. 

Guests and eating out

We've had several human visitors in the past month, too. We do like having our ground floor used as a guest flat. A long-standing friend and colleague stayed for a few days, with a friend, at the end of September.  They left on the last day of the month, and in the evening some even more long-standing friends arrived for a few days' break. It was wonderful to see them. They spent a lot of time on the beach, soaking up some sunshine (which, they said, had been rather lacking in the UK this year).

They took us out to eat twice; once at our favourite Lebanese restaurant, Al Sultan, and once at our favourite everyday restaurant, Alexander's.  At the Lebanese restaurant we ordered a meze for two, which was more than sufficient for four of us. At Alexander's we had individual meals; I had the vegetarian moussaka, one of my favourites, with grilled vegetables. I learned about this option only in the past year and like it so much better than having a huge pile of chips alongside a moussaka. 

Later in the month we had some other guests who were here for just over a week, and who took us out to our favourite Cypriot meze restaurant, Kyra Giorgena. Meze for two there is also more than sufficient for four of us. 

Indeed, it was quite a month for eating out, something we do quite rarely on our own. But in the middle of the month we went out for a 'platter for one' at Al Sultan, to celebrate Richard's birthday:

We managed to do justice to most of it (though we left most of the extra Arabic bread). 

And towards the end of the month we were treated to yet another meze at Kyra Giorgena, by Richard's cousin-once-removed and her travelling companions. They were visiting Cyprus and spent just one day in Larnaka. 

Bathroom repairs - again

We seem to have had a lot of trouble with our bathroom, one way and another, since it was installed in 2016. There was a team of people who did it originally. While much of the work done was excellent, unfortunately the plumber cut several corners. This means we've had to have several extra repairs in the past few years. 

Most recently we found the points of two screws poking up into the bath, and the base started feeling  spongy, as if there was water below. Richard checked underneath and found several problems, including some totally disintegrated wood supports.  That meant that all the builders' foam had to be pulled out, and concrete put in to replace it. 

Thankfully our young and very competent friend L was here for a few days in the middle of the month, and able to do this for us. 

It meant that we had to shower in my study for about a week, after removing all the things stored in it, but, happily, we're now able to use the bathroom shower again. 

Weather

At the start of October the temperatures were still in the 30s during the daytime, although thankfully less humid than it had been a month earlier. We were still in tee-shirts and shorts, with just a thin sheet at night. We had stopped using the air conditioning in the middle of September, but were still using the ceiling fans until a few weeks ago.

By the end of October, we had put our light (4.5 tog) duvet on the bed, and have started wearing long trousers. First thing in the morning and in the evening I even put on a light jacket. 

Sometimes by the end of the first week of November we have a sudden drop in temperatures, but there's no sign of that predicted this year. Just as well, since we'll have to have our central heating serviced before we use it. We had a new boiler installed in February, and as it's still under warranty, we have to have an official service. But we can't do that until the kittens have moved out of the boiler room. 

And also...

During October, Richard made a brief visit to Egypt, I finished knitting some more baby hats, and continued updating images and links on my book blog. We played lots of board games, watched a few DVDs, and I did some daily Duolingo. We hosted a barbecue for a few friends a few days after Richard's birthday, and at the end of the month I made this year's Christmas cake. 

In Appreciation of my Dishwasher

A popular personality theory tells us that when we make decisions we each have a distinct preference for either 'thinking' (based on principles, categories, factual reasons, logic, etc) or 'feeling' (personal values, cultural expectations, pleasing other people, going with our heart, etc). It's not that simple, of course, and we all use all of the above at times, but the theory can be a useful way of understanding why some people make the decisions they do.

Recently, however, I read something which implied that in most cases, deep down, everyone makes 'feeling' decisions. Those who prefer 'thinking' may then try to justify those decisions rationally, or explain themselves, because (ironically) they care about their image and want to be thought of as logical. And, indeed, we all tend to find 'evidence' to support our decisions, whatever they might be. But the true 'reason' for most choices is - according to this - that it's what we felt was the best thing to do at the time.

I suspect there's some truth in this. Arguments and criticisms often arise due to differing principles and beliefs, yet in many cases decisions have been made due to personal preference or gut feelings. They may have been researched beforehand; there may be many 'thinking' factors taken into account: but when the purchase is made, or the contract signed, or the X marked on the voting paper, it's because at some level our heart tells us that it's the right decision.

A friend recently linked on Facebook to an article explaining why a large family in the United States have decided to wash their dishes by hand rather than using a dishwasher. Several people commented saying that they agreed, and gave reasons why they prefer hand-washing to dishwashers.

That's fine, and it's none of my business how anyone else chooses to wash their dishes. But it occurred to me that while I've read other posts, in the past, about why people choose not to use dishwashers (or computers, or air conditioners, or televisions, or whatever it happens to be) I rarely read posts about why people DO use them. So I started mentally composing my own blog post trying to refute each point from my own perspective.

Then I remembered what I mentioned above. People make their choices, sometimes based on past experience, sometimes based on hunches, sometimes on what they have read, or on inherent biases, or sometimes, (as is the case with the post concerned) to help family harmony. My viewpoint is equally valid, but there's no point presenting it as an argument.

We didn't have a dishwasher when we lived in the UK, but then neither did most of our friends. With a nice kitchen, built to suit my height (or lack thereof) and 'instant heat' water, washing up wasn't too much of a chore. We didn't entertain very often, and when we did it was usually close friends or family who helped with the dishes. At the time, I was ambivalent about dishwashers, seeing pros and cons, admiring them in other people's homes, but with no wish to have one of our own.

We didn't have a dishwasher at the house we rented when we first moved to Cyprus, either. But the sink was a bit too high to be comfortable for me. In Summer there was plenty of solar-powered hot water, but the kitchen was also hot and very humid. Washing up even just for the four of us was a major effort, and when we had guests, or visitors, even if they were keen to help, they were soon dripping and exhausted, unused to the temperature.

In winter the kitchen was cold and washing up much pleasanter... but without much sunshine we either had to run the immersion heater to get a tank full of hot water, or boil the kettle several times and risk being scalded (quite a high risk in my case!)

Now we have our own house, and one of the things that sold it to me was the space and plumbing for a dishwasher. Eleven years later there are just two of us living here, most of the time.  Recently I was here on my own for nearly two weeks. But I still used the dishwasher. Why? Because I like it!

Naturally enough, I can easily come up with some 'thinking' reasons, such as:

- I don't have to heat water specially to wash up
- I don't get the backache that inevitably comes with washing dishes at the sink
- Since having a dishwasher we haven't broken any glasses or plates while they're washed
- Everything is sparkling clean when it comes out, no matter how dirty it looked going in
- I pile dirty dishes inside at once, so they don't sit around on the counter top
- I don't have several soggy tea-towels to hang up every day

Since our dishwasher is very effective, we don't have to rinse anything beforehand, so there's never any doubt whether the contents are clean or unwashed.

We don't entertain as much as we used to, but a few days ago we invited a friend to join us for an evening meal. The dishwasher was almost full after lunch, so after we had our coffee I put it on and then started doing meal preparations. I made a turkey pie as we still had leftover meat in the freezer from Christmas. That meant I used a bowl for the pastry, and a pan for cooking the onions, mushrooms etc.

I made a quick chocolate dessert too, so that involved another couple of bowls; and there was also an empty 'spread' container, and two dishes from the fridge whose contents I had used as part of the meal. Plus measuring spoons and spatulas...

It doesn't look like that much:

I could have stopped, and boiled a kettle, and washed everything by hand. But some of the containers were quite greasy, so it would have taken more than one kettleful. I couldn't have fitted everything on the draining board, so it would probably have taken me at least ten minutes with a pause for drying the first load. By the end I would have developed a bit of backache. Being me, I would probably have splashed the front of my clothes, too, and I would be stressing about running out of time.

So I prepared all the vegetables instead, put the carrots and tomatoes in the oven, and sat down to relax with a book for ten minutes.

I did still have to wash a few things, but they weren't greasy and only took a couple of minutes. They fit easily on the draining board:

Shortly before our friend arrived, the dishwasher pinged and I was able to remove and put away all the clean contents from the previous day-and-a-half:

Having done that (which takes a couple of minutes and is still one of the most satisfying things I know of in the kitchen) I loaded in the bowls and other containers that I had used, leaving the kitchen surfaces clean and tidy. Clean, tidy surfaces make me feel much happier than cluttered ones.

We had a relaxed meal with our friend, and hot drinks afterwards. It was all very pleasant, but I was aware of the dirty plates and serving dishes etc piled in the kitchen:

Because our dining area is next to the kitchen, I was able to potter while still being part of the conversation, putting leftovers in the fridge, and then loading the dishwasher. Everything went in other than the saucepan, which had only contained broccoli, so was easy to wash in the water which was still hot from the kettle.

I'm a strong Introvert. While I enjoy having friends over, and chatting, it tends to leave me tired and somewhat drained. If I'd had to tackle the washing up after our friend left, even if it had only taken ten or fifteen minutes, I would probably have become very irritable. Alternatively I might have decided to leave it until the following morning, and would then have felt annoyed when I got up and was greeted by a pile of dirty dishes, with food hardened onto them.

Instead, the dishwasher was gently churning and I was able to go and read for a while in peace.

Many years ago we hosted a US-style Thanksgiving meal for the house group that used to meet here weekly. There were eight people, so by the end there were eight large plates, eight side plates, eight dessert dishes, eight water glasses, four or five wine glasses, coffee mugs, large amounts of cutlery, and the empty dishes from the food I had prepared (even though everyone else brought something too and took their dishes home).

As we went around the table after the meal saying what we were thankful for at that moment, my overwhelming feeling was extreme thankfulness for our dishwasher.

Delicious Meze meal at an empty Taverna...

I've written before about our local taverna, Ta Kalyphouthkia. It's about 200 metres from where we live, tucked away in a residential area... so not the kind of place people would find easily, if out hunting for somewhere to eat.

While, as far as I recall, we have actually only once paid for a meal there ourselves, we have been treated there several times by guests wanting to take us out for a meal, and suggesting something traditionally Cypriot. A meze is the classic meal here, consisting of several dishes of food brought out a few at a time, including salads, pitta bread, olives, various dips, an avocado dish, mushrooms, scrambled egg with spinach, several varieties of meat, halloumi, pasta with cheese, tiny pastries with cheese, pourgouri (bulgar wheat)... and more. To finish with, there's even a small plate of chips (fries), and then something light and sweet.  The selections vary slightly each time, but are always delicious. 

One of the great things about meze is that you don't have to order one portion per person, if you're going with a group. There's a minimum order of two, but it's fine for four people to order just two portions; there's plenty of food, so long as appetites are not huge, and everyone gets a taste of everything. We have never yet managed to finish the entire spread; I rarely eat any of the meat as there are so many delicious veggie options. 

Other tavernas and restaurants offer different mezes; some have more meat and fewer veggie dishes, some have fish and seafood rather than meat. 

Two ladies who have been staying in our guest flat took us to the local taverna last night. As usual, we chose to go early - about 7.00pm - and, as we expected, it was entirely empty when we arrived:

The taverna is usually frequented by Cypriots, and they tend to eat rather later than Brits.

The dishes kept coming, but we didn't eat particularly fast; we were chatting and enjoying the food, explaining some of them to one of the guests who had not previously been to Cyprus.  It was nearly nine o'clock before we left... and it was then that it struck me: the taverna was still empty.  

That was not what we expected.

Every time we have been in the past, other diners have started arriving about eight o'clock. By nine, it's usually starting to get quite noisy and busy. But not last night.

Perhaps Monday night is always quiet; perhaps there were more customers later. I hope so. But my worry is that this may be a sign of things to come, with the austerity measures, and drastically reduced incomes for many around the island. It's not as if we eat out regularly, so perhaps it's selfish - in a sense - to want this taverna to remain open for the rare occasions when we might use it. But it's the principle of the thing that matters more: small shops are already being forced to close down, and it would be very sad for the future of Cyprus if small family tavernas are also forced to shut. 

Family frivolity... and farewell

A roundup of extra random photos from the past week, which don't fit with Christmas or Agia Napa, or Lefkara.

A week ago now, we played a game of Settlers of Catan (surprise, surprise...) with Tim, who had not played enough for the past few months, and Stephen and Dulcie who had only played a couple of times before. It was fairly lengthy, but we enjoyed it:

On Christmas Eve, when the cats were trying to get at the turkey, we played some Rummikub:

We had a very pleasant lunch and early afternoon out on Sunday, but for some reason I didn't take any photos at all.

On Monday afternoon, when we took Stephen and Dulcie to Agia Napa, Tim had some young friends over for a game of Risk, as has become traditional in his visits home to Cyprus:


Sheila came over on Tuesday morning, as she usually does, with Katie, Helen and Elisabeth. Elisabeth is now six months old, and very interested in Lego:

My 'baby' still likes playing with Lego too, if there are small people around to enjoy it with him:

Elisabeth was pretty keen on Tim:

Tuesday evening, their last night, Stephen and Dulcie took us out for a meal at our favourite meze taverna, not far from where we live:


Wednesday morning, they wanted to say goodbye to our friends, so we popped over. The sun was shining, and the family were outside, working (or, in some cases, not working) in their front yard. They didn't mind stopping to socialise for a while:


And since I hadn't taken many photos of Tim, I snapped another:


But, as always, the week had to come to an end - and all too soon, we were back at the airport again. The flights were supposed to be about an hour apart, but Tim checked in online so only had to be there an hour in advance, so we took them all together:


Perhaps life will get back to normal next week...

Lefkara on Tuesday

Stephen and Dulcie wanted to visit Lefkara again - they went there in 2004, last time they visited us, and Dulcie wanted to buy a couple of tablecloths. We decided to go on Tuesday afternoon, since we weren't sure how many of the shops would be open on Monday.

Lefkara is not far from Larnaka. It took about 25 minutes to get there, the last part being an uphill, slightly windy road. Since we first went there a lot of the shops have closed, but there are still plenty on the main roads in the town:


Some of them display their wares outside:


We looked fairly quickly around the first shop, not seeing anything that appealed. In the second one, Dulcie saw something that was a possibility, but wasn't certain, so she said she'd like to look elsewhere first. The shop owners try to persuade every visitor to buy something, offering discounts and special offers, throwing in extra items, and - if all else fails - explaining that they haven't had any customers that week... they're not pushy, exactly, but decidedly manipulative.

Still, they're pretty helpful and are always happy to get things out. This shop had several that Dulcie liked, although by then I'd had more than enough of looking in shops:


She looked at a large number before deciding on something she liked, as a gift for a friend. The shop owner kept getting out more and more...


Then, after more discussion, she found one she liked for herself. And then, going into yet another shop just to have a quick look, she found yet another that she thought was attractive, and a very good deal...

.. However, she decided it would be better not to go into any more shops. So we drove around to the church that has amazing views over the mountains, chatted for awhile, and then came home again.

Christmas Day 2010

My day started around 6.30am when I got up to have my coffee, and sit quietly for a while... before doing a few things around the house to prepare for later. Tim and Richard had cooked and carved the turkey on Christmas Eve, and Tim had peeled potatoes and carrots. Gradually the family emerged, and by 9.00 we were ready to open parcels:


Stephen and Dulcie will be opening most of theirs back in the UK, later on, and unfortunately ours to them had not yet arrived in the post... but they had one or two things to open, Tim had more, and the majority was for Richard and me. Mostly books, DVDs and chocolate from relatives - what more could anyone want? In addition, a hand blender - which I hope to use for soups. Plus a couple of generous cheques. My present to Richard was a hand coffee-grinder for the boat (and something else which also hasn't arrived yet..). Richard and Tim gave me something I've been wondering about for months... a Kindle!

At 9.25 Tim left for St Helena's Church where he was playing for the morning service; ten minutes later, Stephen and Dulcie and I set out. Richard would have come, but was getting over a flu-like cold, and coughing quite badly. So he stayed at home.

It was 11.15 by the time we were home, and Tim and I set to work in the kitchen whipping cream (for a trifle), preparing brussels sprouts, organising the potatoes for roasting, and so on.

Around 12.30 our friends arrived, and Dulcie was immediately captivated by six-month-old Elisabeth:


Stephen held her for a while too:


Richard and his youngest sailing buddy Jacob were looking at something on Richard's phone:


Elisabeth decided she was happier on Dulcie, and they discussed some Duplo:


I put the camera down during lunch, which was a mistake as I'd like to have caught twelve of us (plus Elisabeth) sitting down to eat. There was plenty of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and potatoes, and four types of veg; the only thing we ran out of was sausages, but Tim only had room to cook 24. I don't think anyone went hungry. We moved seamlessly on to Christmas pudding, mince pies, trifle, satsumas and dried fruit, and then to coffee.

The children asked if they could watch a movie, so Richard put the classic 'Miracle on 34th Street' on for them, and after much discussion the adults decided to play some board games.

Elisabeth is fascinated by toys of any kind, and tried to grab at Dulcie's Rummikub tiles (successfully in a couple of cases)


Jacob decided he would rather play a game than watch a film, so he, Tim and Jörn played Settlers of Catan at one end of the table, while Stephen, Dulcie, Sheila and I played a few rounds of Rummikub. Then the film ended; Lukas appeared and thought he might like to learn Rummikub, while Tim and Sheila played a two-person Settlers game:


Jörn kept an eye on Lukas's board, to advise if necessary, and Jacob joined in the Rummikub end of the table:


Marie, meanwhile, had found a book to read:


I wasn't needed for any of the games, so I took Helen to the study to play with some Lego:


Actually we blew some bubbles from my birthday bubble mixture, and then I read her a couple of books.

Since by this time it was about 6.30, we cleared away the games and I put various bits and pieces out on the table - pitta bread, and cheese, and tomatoes, and hummus, and a few leftovers from lunch.. and also the Christmas cake, which I remembered to photograph before cutting into it. I just rough-iced it this year:


Everyone (other than Jacob and Helen) had claimed that they weren't hungry, but most of us had something to eat. Richard - who had gone to lie down for a couple of hours during the afternoon - took Tim out to spend an evening with some of his old friends, and as the children were getting tired, we gradually wound down.

Katie managed to persuade Stephen to read a book to her and Lukas, which kept them occupied for a while:


Richard was looking at one of his new books, chatting to Jacob about it:


Helen posed for another photo with Dulcie and Marie:


Then, while everyone else finished getting ready to leave, Marie picked up the Discworld Companion book again:


By 9.00 the house was peaceful again after a very enjoyable afternoon. The cats emerged from seclusion, and we phoned - or attempted to phone - a few relatives in the UK.

Rather a busy few days in Cyprus

I mentioned last week that, unusually, I felt a little lonely.

Turns out it was probably a good thing that I had such a quiet few days. As an Introvert I need a fair amount of time to myself to recharge; evidently I was fully charged, so to speak, by the time I felt the beginnings of loneliness. Friday was a relaxing day, with our big monthly shop at Metro, and not much else happening. We played a couple of board games in the evening.

On Saturday evening, after I'd pottered around during the day making Christmas cake and mango chutney, we went to play Settlers with our local friends. We had a good evening; we finished the first game by 9.15 and the second by 10.30. Then we stayed and chatted, as you do.. and by the time we left it was 11.30. Way past my preferred bedtime.

On Sunday afternoon, we went to visit a friend with a six-week old baby. In the evening, we had our local friends plus children over for a light supper, and also two of Daniel's friends who are in Cyprus on holiday. They left about 9.30, then we had to go to the airport to collect some friends who are here for a couple of weeks in our guest flat. So it was another latish night for me.

On Monday morning, I went to the Larnaka Christian writers' group. In the evening, we had our guests from downstairs for a meal, along with some other friends who are leaving Cyprus at the end of the week.

This morning I helped at Tots, as usual on a Tuesday.

That might not sound like a particularly hectic schedule to those who like to be out and about continually, or who have social or other meetings almost every night of the week. But for me, that was a lot of socialising to fit in just three days, and I felt progressively more tired. It was all enjoyable - I like entertaining, and the cooking wasn't a problem even though I was almost falling asleep in my chair by about 9pm last night. I wouldn't have wanted to miss any of the above. But by lunchtime today I was, as Daniel sometimes puts it, pretty much 'peopled out'.

Still, an afternoon to myself with nothing much on (other than proof-reading one of Tim's essays) and I feel more balanced again. We're not going out this evening, as far as I know. But I'm very glad in retrospect that I had such a quiet week before this - to me - hectic long weekend.

More visitors, more games, more beach

You might be forgiven for thinking this blog has been neglected of late. Someone once said that time goes by faster as you get older, and that does seem to be the case. I really don't know where August has gone.. and with the heat and humidity of Cyprus during the summer, it's surprising that it hasn't dragged past.

It helped that some old friends have just been out to stay. Chris was Richard's closest friend at secondary school, so they go back a very long way. We missed his wedding to Judith, because it happened a couple of days after Daniel was born (three weeks earlier than he was expected) - I don't think we're entirely forgiven, even twenty-three years later! Their older daughter is now at Oxford university, their younger daughter about to start GCSE courses. Time flies over the years, as well as the months.

Below are a few photos from the last ten days or so. We were delighted that our friends had space in their luggage to bring out some board games which we've enjoyed playing in the last few months with other friends. Tim was away at the inter-church youth group camp when they arrived, but it didn't take us long to introduce our friends to Settlers of Catan:


They rented a car for a few days, and went out and about. So on Wednesday evening we went to our usual Summer beach get-together with some of the home educating families around Cyprus. My small friend Helen is becoming more and more adventurous. She decided that rather than hanging out with the adults, she would go and play with some of the children... and got extremely sandy:


On Friday evening, Tim got back from camp having had a wonderful time, and on Saturday evening our friends took us all out to a local restaurant that does an excellent mese (or meze, or possibly even mezze) - a Cypriot speciality where smallish portions of a large number of dishes are brought, a few at a time, to the table for all to share. One would have to have a very large appetite to eat a whole mese, so we ordered mese for five, and that was more than sufficient for eight of us.

Here are the younger members of the group:


.. and here are the Aged Parents:

Once the food started arriving, I forgot about taking any more photos.

On Sunday afternoon we played another game of Settlers of Catan:

Tim and I formed a team (since seven of us wanted to play, and six is the maximum number of players) and we won by quite a few points. We were orange.

Our friends also brought out a Carasonne game for us, and we introduced them to that later. Then on Monday evening, after they had left, Richard, Tim and I played a three-person version, using the expansion we had also bought:

Tim's time with us is going by rapidly. He's mostly trying to relax this week.


Does this mean that our lives are filled with friends, meals out, games and beach evenings? It probably looks that way from posts like this. But then, those are the most interesting things to photograph. Although August is a holiday month, with many businesses closed down for two weeks or more, Richard has continued working more hours than he should in the office, as well as giving sailing lessons to some young friends.

And me? I admit I've spent too much time on Facebook. I've also been working on our family website (http://rsdt.org) which was on Geocities until recently. Geocities is closing at the end of October, so Richard moved it to one of his servers, and I've been spending time changing the design using CSS to make it simpler. The process of converting is not so simple, however!

I've also taken the opportunity to publish, for the first time, some of the journals I kept about our home education journey - on the family website rather than my home education site (http://home-ed.info) since they're about us personally rather than general. There are still many more pages to convert, and some more to write.

I also usually spend two or three hours each morning doing housework, shopping, laundry, and so on. In the heat and humidity of Cyprus summers, it all takes a great deal longer than it does during the winter. We don't tend to use the air conditioning other than in a room with a computer, and for a few hours overnight in the bedroom, which is why it's a great temptation to spend far too long at the computer, in the relative cool of 28C.

In another week, we will all fly to the UK - Tim to return to his university, and us to do the usual rushing around seeing people that we do, roughly annually. We return to Cyprus at the end of September, when I hope the weather will be feeling a little more Autumnal.

Random photos from last Sunday

We very much enjoyed having our friends Brian and Ruth to stay for a week in our guest flat, with their youngest son. We hadn't seen them for about fourteen years, so it was great to catch up, and hang out together. They rented a car for three days and went out to see some of Cyprus a little further afield than Larnaka; they also managed to get to the beach every day while they were here.

The time rushed by, and all too quickly they had to pack up again and say goodbye:


Richard took them to the airport. Richard was sporting a new bi-coloured face style, apparently developed on Friday when teaching some friends' children to sail. He was wearing a hat, standing in the sea for some time. He did have sunscreen on his face, but apparently not quite enough to keep him from catching the sun. If the line on his forehead isn't clear from this small picture, you can click on it to see a larger version (as you can with all the photos on this blog).


Richard's colleague John is here, staying in the office guest flat. We learned a few days previously that he's a great fan of Settlers of Catan, so our friends Jörn and Sheila invited us all over for a meal and game in the evening:

We have played often enough that we have got used to the same colours for each game. Jörn is blue, and he won this game. Sheila is always brown. Richard is always red, which is his favourite colour, and I - for some reason - am always orange. John was green in this game, and at one point it looked as though he would win.


Playing with five people means we use the 5-6 player extension, which makes it more interesting. We play to 12 points. It was a close game, right to the end. Jörn had his 12 points on the board, which is impressive. John, obviously, had the longest street card, and also had victory point card, so he had 11 points and was very close to winning. I had played four knights, so I had the largest army, meaning 10 points in all. Sheila had 9 points on the board, Richard had 8... but at one point, we all had either 7 or 8 points, so it wasn't until near the end that we had any idea who would win.