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.

Sleepover, revisited

Just under a year ago, we had three young friends to stay for 27 hours. Their older siblings were away at camp, and their parents enjoyed some time to themselves, for once. It was tiring, but - overall - quite fun, and although we hadn't really talked about repeating the experience, we decided to do so again this year.

The youth group camp started Tuesday, so we agreed that the three younger children could come Wednesday morning, and stay until after lunch on Thursday. So, first thing Wednesday I did my usual Wednesday housework (changing our sheets, putting sheets/towels to wash, cleaning upstairs...) and also cleaned out the air conditioner in our second bedroom, which we hadn't, so far, done this year. It was very dirty indeed!

Then I put some yogurt on to make, and boiled some eggs, and thawed some cheese, and cut up some vegetables, and put bread ingredients in the breadmaker.

By ten o'clock I was showered and prepared for the onslaught arrival of our friends, only to receive a text saying they would be a bit late. So I decided to pre-empt the likely requests of the children, and found a few websites with printable paper dolls to colour and cut. They have made lots of them before, only to end up losing them. They're no longer allowed to make them at their house, so I decided to print three of each of several kinds, and allocate each girl an envelope so they could keep them here, in a cupboard, and play with them when they're at our house.

By 11.00 they had taken their pillows and luggage upstairs, and were thrilled by the paper dolls to colour.

They kept on thanking me, which was nice.  Elisabeth (5) needed a bit of help cutting the first ones out, as she told me she would probably cut the tabs off the clothes by mistake.  But Helen (nearly 7) was fine, although she said she didn't like cutting as much as she likes colouring:

I thought the activity might last half an hour or so before they got bored. However, I hoped they would keep coming back to them every so often. I underestimated them... Helen and Katie kept going almost all day.

Katie, who is ten, asked if she could update her blog in the afternoon. She is ten now, and started it recently under her mother's supervision.  I was impressed at how fast she types; she doesn't touch-type yet, but is far more competent than she was even a few months ago.

Even more impressively, she figured out how to use my webcam to take a photo to put in her blog post. I had no idea my webcam could be used for taking photos...

Elisabeth was the first to get bored of colouring; she also didn't take as much care as her sisters, so finished several of the dolls and their clothes much more quickly. Then she told me she could now read and was going to read the book 'Titch' to me.

We didn't get very far, because she was annoyed at the spelling of the name 'Pete', Titch's brother. She didn't think there should be an 'e' at the end. She explained patiently that the last sound is 'ttttttt' so the final letter ought to be a 't'. I pointed out that if it was just spelled 'p-e-t' then it would make the word 'pet'. She nodded, but felt that the second e should be before the t, not after it.  She has a point...

When she then found that the word 'bike' also ends with 'e' she gave up in disgust.

Helen, meanwhile, who had been colouring a doll version of Lucy (from the Narnia series) said she thought it very funny that Lucy's name was spelled 'Lucky'. I said that the word 'lucky' had a 'k' in it too, and then we had a discussion about when the letter 'c' makes the 's' sound.

So that was their phonics for the day...

Elisabeth got out a bag of paper coasters and cookies and other items of food that she has made over many weeks, when she's here with her mother on Tuesday mornings. None of us really wanted to play one of her long-winded cookie games, so she coerced the large white doll to play.

She had to put some thought into what to feed the doll; I think she allowed him (or perhaps her... the doll is of unspecified gender) some bread in the end. She told me, with a little shake of her head, that she couldn't allow him to have any chocolate because he always gets himself in such a mess when he eats chocolate.

Only those who have seen Elisabeth eating chocolate (or, worse, chocolate cake) can appreciate the wonderful irony of this statement.

Helen was still patiently colouring in her paper dolls' clothes...

Finally they all decided to put the colouring aside for a while and play a game. Ligretto is their current favourite, though I gather Elisabeth only learned how to play it a couple of days ago. It's a game I enjoy, although I'm not very good at it; when playing with experts I usually manage to get two or three cards down by the time someone else has finished. However, these three were at around my level and I even went out first a couple of times.

At lunch we had eaten bread with cheese, and eggs, and chopped up carrots/cucumbers/peppers, and coleslaw, and hummus, and one or two other random things from the fridge. That was straightforward.

However I wasn't entirely sure what to give the girls for their evening meal. I haven't done any cooking, other than on Sundays, for over a month now. We've been eating salads in the evenings, with some form of protein, and no extra starches. But I didn't think that would go down well. Richard spent the afternoon sailing with some friends and had taken some halloumi and pittas to cook on the boat so he wasn't in the equation.

I didn't want to turn the oven on, and haven't used the slow cooker since early July. But we had some sausages in the freezer, so I asked if the girls would like those. They said that would be a great idea. I thought we could have them in pittas, with salad, but then discovered Richard had taken all the pittas from our freezer. One of the girls said she liked sausages with 'noodles' so I cooked some spaghetti, and also refried some roast potatoes that were in the freezer. I knew they wouldn't want cooked vegetables, so out came the chopped ones from lunch, and the coleslaw.

I asked if any of them liked fried onions; they all said they didn't, but were very gracious and said they didn't mind at all if I cooked some for myself. I didn't take advantage of their offer; with potatoes, spaghetti, sausages and a little tomato sauce (also from the freezer) on the hob, I didn't have room for anything else anyway.

The girls were very pleased with the sausages, and even more so with the tomato ketchup I produced. With the heat, I haven't even made ketchup since June; we bought some Heinz ketchup on offer in the supermarket a few weeks ago. One of them asked me if it was very expensive, apparently considering ketchup to be a luxury. I assured her it was very reasonable, and cheaper than mayonnaise.

They were also quite excited by the fried potatoes, which they said they've only ever eaten at the house church. There weren't very many, but that was fine; they went on to eat a bit of spaghetti too, mixed with ketchup, but were more eager to eat the sausages.

I'd made some banana bread on Sunday, which I had kept in the freezer until the morning. So we each had a slice of that. I thought it was rather tasteless; I'd missed out both raisins and walnuts, knowing the girls aren't keen on either, but they declared it 'delicious'.

By the time we finished eating it was after seven o'clock, and the two younger girls said they needed to go to bed soon. Elisabeth asked if she could have a shower, so I found her a towel, and showed her how to work the shower, which is in our bath.

After about ten minutes the shower was still on so I popped my head around the bathroom door to see how she was doing, only to find her sitting down in the bath, with a scrubbing brush and the Cif cream cleanser. I thought perhaps she was cleaning the bath, and was about to thank her, when she showed me that she was scrubbing her feet! They looked extremely clean, but I was a bit worried that she might be scrubbing away a layer of skin; it's quite powerful stuff. I rinsed it very thoroughly and she seemed to be fine.

She said she had thought it was shampoo, which slightly puzzled me as shampoo is not normally used for cleaning feet although it's probably better for them than Cif. It was only when mentioning this to her parents a day later that I learned that she refers to shower gel as shampoo.

Then it was time to sort out the bedroom. We opened up the sofa bed, the one that used to be in my study until we moved furniture around last December. The girls had brought their own pillows, and also some teddies:

Elisabeth's mattress had come separately, and was set up next to the sofa bed.

Despite their eagerness to go to bed, neither Helen nor Elisabeth seemed particularly tired. I read to them until nearly eight o'clock, having turned on the newly cleaned air conditioner (it was VERY humid last night) and then they said they would go to sleep listening to a repeated 'rock a bye baby' tune - if that's the word - on a baby's cot toy which they had brought.

Katie was reading - as she had been, off and on, all day - until nine o'clock, at which point Richard said she should go to bed, and she complied cheerfully. Just as well, since I was absolutely shattered by that point and had already gone to lie down. It wasn't that any of the girls had been any trouble at all; they were mostly peaceable, right through the day, with only a handful of squabbles. I refused to get involved; the best parenting technique I ever learned, when my sons were small, is to listen giving good eye contact and an expression of sympathy to any amount of tattling or argument addressed to me, then to acknowledge that the situation was frustrating, or annoying, or upsetting, or whatever is most appropriate. And then let them work out what to do themselves.

We heard some talking but they stayed in their room and there was no major noise... so, presumably, they fell asleep eventually.

I must have been asleep before 10.00pm, and woke about 5.45am, feeling the humidity already. We only run air conditioners for an hour or so when going to sleep, and usually that's not a problem. I knew I wouldn't get back to sleep, so I got up, only to discover that Katie and Helen were already awake, and had been trying to get into my study to find some of their paper dolls. They had, very thoughtfully, kept quiet and hadn't tried to wake us up, so I let them in, and they took the colouring things back to their room.

I made my coffee, and turned on the ceiling fan, and opened the study door in the hope of at least a few minutes of cooler air, and settled in my beanbag to read.

I had perhaps five minutes of peace before Katie came down to read too. Shortly followed by her sisters. So much for time to myself.

When I went to get showered and dressed, they played some fairly peaceable Ligretto again:

I don't usually have breakfast until I've been up for a couple of hours, but the girls were starting to get a bit irritable and said they were hungry. I asked what they'd like for breakfast; they muttered that they like 'leftovers' like noodles and cheese, but I said we tended to eat leftovers at lunchtime, so in the end they said they'd like toast and butter. They didn't want any yogurt. Katie did say she would be happy to cook pancakes but I vetoed that one, not really wanting to heat the kitchen up at that hour.

I thawed some bread slices, and made orange juice, and produced a banana each and they had their toast. By which time it was about eight o'clock. And I was feeling tired already.

Someone proposed a game of Uno, so we had a couple of rounds:

But Elisabeth was clearly tired; she can't have had more than eight hours of sleep at most, which isn't many for a five-year-old. She always gets black bags under her eyes when she's tired; I've often seen them on her in the evenings, but they were there even at that time in the morning.

So the game deteriorated, and was then put away. It was getting too hot and sticky, anyway, so we decided to return to my study, and put the air conditioning on so that we could put the computer on and Katie could write another blog post.

Elisabeth then decided she would play with her various paper dolls - six of them in all:

Helen wanted to play Misfits but nobody else was keen, so she played with them on her own, for at least thirty seconds, before Elisabeth joined her:

But tempers were getting frayed. Elisabeth started being a bit silly; when she's over-tired she becomes hyper, and seems to lose her usually excellent grasp of reason. Helen seems unable to do anything without humming; she does so quietly and tunefully, and in itself it's not a problem, but Elisabeth kept joining in, and the volume increased as the tunefulness decreased... and since I was feeling tired and a little headachey, my tolerance was low.

At one point they were all looking bored, and pushing each other around, and I said they probably needed to run around outside - something that's not possible here - and maybe they should go home. I even had a text message conversation with their mother, who would have come to collect them, but Katie wanted to read a book, and then look through all our DVDs, and Helen wanted to do some colouring.. and Elisabeth even went to take a nap.

My study was starting to look more like a bombsite, although on the whole they had been good about clearing up one activity before embarking on another...

Elisabeth's nap lasted about ten minutes. Then Katie offered to make some more paper doll's clothes for her, and she watched, no longer being silly and hyper, but chewing her fingers and even yawning. Helen was tired too, but expressed that by sprawling on the sofa, and being more sensitive than usual, and refusing to pick anything up, and also yawning a lot.

But they kept insisting that they did not want to go home until after lunch. I didn't know what was best; I didn't want to turn it into a battle, or have them feel it was 'punishment' to send them home, but I wasn't sure how much longer I could cope - and the two younger ones were SO tired.

I also hadn't realised that they no longer play with Lego - so they informed me. Lego used to occupy them for hours when they came here. But not this time.

Helen decided to do some paper shredding for me, something they all seem to enjoy:

Then Elisabeth asked me to read to her, and Helen soon joined her. I think I read three books in all.

Katie read several books to herself, although I don't seem to have taken any photos of her doing so.

By this stage it was 12.20 and Elisabeth was looking so tired that she could barely stand up. She said she was hungry, so I suggested we have lunch a bit earlier than usual, and then they could go home at 1.00 rather than an hour or two later, as we'd originally planned. They all agreed to this and were pleased to find that Richard had brought back some leftover halloumi and chicken drumsticks from the meal on the boat last night.

So it was only 26 hours this time, an hour less than last year. I expect we'll repeat this next year, but that's a long way off... I have plenty of time to recover!

Ethnic meals and growing kittens

Our guest flat has been well-occupied this year, with a mixture of friends (old and new) and friends-of-friends. We were very pleased to welcome back some relatively recent friends a few weeks ago, bringing a sister for the first time. They spent most of their week exploring the island in a rental car, but took us out for a wonderful Lebanese meal, near the sea-front, before they left:

I did not recognise most of the dishes, a surprising number of which were vegan, but they were all good and it was a most enjoyable evening out.

I've continued walking with my friend Sheila, three times per week. We've seen a few more sunrises:

Alexander the Great continues to wreak havoc on the house in his special way:

While Joan of Arc is - mostly - more peaceful: 

On another walk, we saw unusual cloud formations that looked almost like flying saucers coming over the horizon:

We were pleased to note, after a fairly heavy rainstorm, that there was at least a little water in the Salt Lake after a few dry months. We could tell by the reflections of the other side:

The weather has cooled sufficiently that I now go out in long trousers rather than shorts. Our walks have also been starting rather later, as the days become shorter... this morning it was almost 7.00am before we set out. However, the clocks go back tonight so next week it will be light by 6.00 again. At least for a few weeks.

Richard's birthday came and went... he didn't want to do anything much, but we did go out to eat at an Indian place along the Dhekelia Road: 

It's somewhat 'British Indian' in style, but nicely done, with delicious food.

Alex and Joan have realised that it's getting cooler... so now, rather than spreadeagling over the floor, they're more inclined to curl up together in the cat bed I made nearly a year ago:

Anniversary trip to Platres

I'm a little shocked to see that it's almost a month since I wrote on this blog. And that it's nearly four weeks since the events of which I am about to write. But, I hope, better late than never...

Six years ago, we spent a couple of days in the mountains over our wedding anniversary. We went to the little village of Kakopetria, which was pleasantly cool and a great place to relax, away from the heat and humidity of Larnaka.

This year has been quite stressful in many ways, so Richard decided to find another village - since there wasn't exactly a whole lot to do in Kakopetria! - and take me into the mountains again, for this year's 33rd anniversary. He opted for Platres*, and checked reviews of several possible inns/hotels/b&bs in the neighbourhood. He rejected several which were apparently unfriendly or had smelly drains, and opted for the Semiramis Hotel, which most reviewers claimed was basic but friendly. The price was pretty good too...

It was a little complicated to find; we went to the wrong part of Platres at first, and then tried to set the address on Richard's phone app... it wasn't very accurate, but happily he spotted it just as we were about to drive past on the main road:

We were a bit tired and rather hungry by the time we got there, as it was around 1.00pm. We were checked in by a very friendly young woman, and informed that we had 'half board' - a slight surprise as we thought we only had bed and breakfast.  Our room was like one from a traditional Cyprus house of fifty or so years ago, dark wood and indeed fairly basic.  The only slight disappointment was that there were no coffee-making facilities - and that the drains were a little smelly! 

However we wanted to eat first of all, so walked a couple of kilometres into Platres village where we had some excellent rolls and then found a place for frappés. We then walked back to the hotel, and to my astonishment I lay down for a second to see how comfortable the bed was, and then fell asleep almost instantly.  I almost never take siestas... it must be something to do with the mountain air, and perhaps having just walked four kilometres.  Even having had caffeine did not keep me awake.

Our evening meal was not served at the hotel but at a taverna in the village, which was run by the husband of the lady who had greeted us when we arrived. Apparently his father is the owner of the hotel. It truly is an old-style family-run business, and very friendly indeed. Richard had a couple of long conversations with the owner, discussing the hotel's history and the economic crisis, and living in Cyprus in general. 

Although our room did not really have anywhere comfortable to sit, there were lounge areas downstairs, and after breakfast each morning - basic but good - we sat and read for a while:

I really like the lighting in this photo... not that I set anything up. It was one of those snaps that just happened to work:

Later on we walked back into the town - the hotel staff had told us of a rather shorter (albeit very steep) route, and looked at the shops. I'm not keen on shops in general, but it was quite interesting to see them and wander round a few. There were vast numbers of restaurants and tavernas; we chose one offering free wi-fi to have coffee, since the hotel did not offer wi-fi.

Here's a little area in the village where we sat briefly:

Having rather exhausted Platres we drove up to the summit of the mountains at Troodos - not far away - and had lunch there. Then we had some ice creams... this was mine:

No doubt highly calorific, but absolutely delicious. 

In the evening it was back to the family-run taverna: 

The options for 'half-board' customers of the hotel were a little limited, starting with an excellent Greek salad:

I passed the olives and beetroot to Richard but enjoyed the rest of it. 

Then we had the option of about eight different Cyprus specialities. Richard chose kleftiko the first night and afelia the second.  They were served as plates of meat - no veg at all; a dish of couscous accompanied the kleftiko, and some chips the afelia.  I had moussaka the first night which was okay, though not the best; the second night I made the mistake of having what I would call dolmades (stuffed vine leaves) although they were given a Cypriot name.  They were a bit bitter, and also just served with chips. I would have liked some vegeterian options.

However, since we had these evening meals included, we could hardly object - and they were certainly substantial and filling.  So much so that we didn't even think about dessert. 

We walked back to the hotel the long way round on our second evening, stopping to explore a few little detours, and were interested to see that although grape season was well underway on the island, the Platres grapes were evidently not yet ripe:

All in all, it was a very enjoyable couple of days away.

*Note that Platres is not pronounced 'Platters' or Platers' but something approximating to PLAT-rez

Lots of good food and board games: still out of Cyprus

Another week has flown by. Tomorrow we return to the UK - so this post is a summary of the past week, although it feels like at least three weeks since I last wrote. When I look at the photos I've taken of various family members, the overriding impression is that we have eaten a great deal of food and played a large number of games. All very pleasant. 

On Saturday last week, we went out to eat at a local carvery at the end of Kings Heath. It's very inexpensive, and the food is plentiful. Tim managed to get through quite a quantity of roast potatoes (plus meat and veggies):

After church on Sunday, my sister and most of her family (including two dogs) arrived and stayed for the afternoon. Tim cooked braised steak in the slow cooker for lunch (plus potatoes and veggies, with apple and blackberry crumble and fruit salad to follow).  Since the dogs had been in the car in the morning, we went for a walk to a local park. 

On Monday, Tim produced lamb shanks in mint sauce (plus potatoes and veggies, followed by chocolate cake, fruit salad and ice cream), for the delectation of one of my brothers and his wife, who came to lunch. Afterwards we played a six-person Settlers game. This shows Richard pondering one of his initial placements:

My brother won, just pipping me at the post. 

On Tuesday morning we - including Tim - set out for Carlisle, with a detour to some friends and then some cousins in Derbyshire. Great to catch up with people we hadn't seen for a long time. We arrived in Carlisle in the evening, and Tim generously treated us all to an Indian takeaway. Here's Daniel with his veggie dish: 

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It was so wonderful to have my family all together again, even though just for a short time. After eating, naturally, we got out Dan and Becky's Settlers game (the German version) and had a game:

Daniel won that one, though in the end almost anyone could have won. It was a good game. 

On Wednesday Dan and Becky were able to have the day off, so we hung out, and chatted, and played a few short games - Monopoly Deal and Apples to Apples, which were new to me - and had a cold lunch with leftover Indian takeaway food. Then we played Ticket to Ride. 

We had just finished when Dan and Becky's closest friends in Carlisle arrived for a meal. They had planned Mexican-style fajitas, and while I did start chopping some vegetables, Tim quickly took over: 

After that, and a delicious chocolate mousse which Becky had made, we sat down to learn a new game: Squatter, which is an Australian sheep-farming game: 

Tim had made a pecan pie, but most of us didn't have room for it after the meal and mousse earlier. A few of them did, however...

On Thursday, sadly, Tim had to return to Birmingham (via train) so we saw him off in the morning. Becky made some wonderful bread, which we took to their office for lunch, and stayed there to help out in the afternoon. I got involved in stocktaking at the bookshop... interesting at first, and nice to see some of what Becky does, but not exactly the most exciting of occupations. 

 In the evening, Dan and Becky cooked a stir-fry veggie meal, then we finished the pecan pie - and since they had decided to buy a bottle of wine too, glasses were raised to toast Tim, in his absence, for the wonderful pie: 

After that, Cities and Knights was the order of the day: 

Although we're very familiar with it, it's a bit more complicated when all the progress cards are in German, requiring extensive studying of a photocopied crib sheet to determine what we could do with them. And Richard, rather to his surprise, won.

On Friday, they took another day off (since they had to work today on an event). We decided to go out to eat... a second time in one week is very unusual for us, but then we only have a short time with our children.  We went to a Toby, and  in addition to the carvery (which was excellent - Daniel and I had a veggie version) we decided to splash out on desserts as they were offering a discount. Very yummy they were, too... and rather large!

This was my one, and I didn't quite manage it all: 

Then... back home for coffee, and Ticket to Ride: 

After that, Daniel and Richard wanted to talk about something technical, so Becky and I played a couple of rounds of Rummikub: 

She won them both. 

In the evening, they all went out to set up for an event that was happening today, arriving back about 9.30pm. We decided that there wasn't time for anything that would take a long time, or which would demand mental energy, as they were all tired and had to be up early this morning. So we played a quick round of Carcassonne: 

Becky must have been on a winning streak yesterday as she won that too.