After a warmish end of February, and a warmer-than-usual March, we've finally had the cold spell that usually precedes the start of summer weather.
On Tuesday, it rained. Quite heavily around lunch-time, then more lightly in the afternoon and evening. Fairly warm rain, and it wasn't all that cold at night.
Yesterday, it was grey and rainy most of the day, and chillier. Last week when I changed our duvet cover I wondered whether it was time to move from 13 togs to 9togs, but decided against it. I'm thankful I did, because last night was distinctly cold. Sophia got in bed with me and curled up for some time, purring as she got warmer.
This morning dawned with blue skies and sun, but it seems to have got colder, not warmer. At 9.30am when I walked to the church hall to continue sorting out the library, it felt fresh but not cold. I was wearing jeans with a polo-neck sweater and a fleece. The sun was half-out and felt pleasant.
On my way back, I felt extremely chilly, and wished I'd taken a warm jacket and gloves! There was a biting wind.... and within half an hour it had started raining again. The weather site tells me it's 10C outside [that's 50F] and feels like 7C... I can believe it! The house was so cold when Richard got home for lunch he even switched the central heating on for an extra hour.
Showing posts with label spring in Cyprus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spring in Cyprus. Show all posts
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Friday, March 09, 2007
First strawberries of the year
I did spot some a couple of weeks ago, but they looked rather small and were very expensive.
However I couldn't resist these in Metro this morning:
Very tasty they are, too...
However I couldn't resist these in Metro this morning:
Very tasty they are, too...
Friday, March 02, 2007
Two years
Today this blog is officially two years old. I knew it was some time at the start of March 2005 when I began, and just went to check. It it hardly feels like two years ago. So much has changed in that time: the boys are both adults and have finished their home education (as such). Tim is doing a degree course by correspondence, Daniel has been abroad on the MV Doulos for over a year now. And we moved from a rather tatty rental house with an enormous garden to our own relatively new house with no garden, after selling our UK house.
We still have our four cats; Cleo will be nine in the summer, Sophia and Jemima had their eighth birthday a few days ago, and Tessie will be seven at the end of the year. All middle-aged, yet they've adjusted easily and well to the changes.
We have much to be thankful for.
We still have our four cats; Cleo will be nine in the summer, Sophia and Jemima had their eighth birthday a few days ago, and Tessie will be seven at the end of the year. All middle-aged, yet they've adjusted easily and well to the changes.
We have much to be thankful for.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
March already
It rained last night. Quite a bit, although it wasn't heavy enough for our roof to leak. Nor were the local streets flooded, but there were puddles all over the place this morning. The sky was blue with just a hint of fluffy clouds, the sun shining, and the temperature a pleasant 18C - just right for a light sweater and a light fleece.
This is one of the streets I walked down; it struck me how different it looks in the early spring, with weeds thriving everywhere. Particularly in this plot which has a sign advertising luxury 1- and 2-bedroom flats. As it has been for the last eight months or more.
Here's what the weeds looked like a bit closer. March is sometimes known as 'yellow month' and this is a hint of why: lemons on the trees, fast-growing (and rather pretty) yellow flowers in any uncultivated piece of land.
I was going to the church hall to start sorting out the 'library' - a rather eclectic mixture of Christian books which live in a small room at the side of the hall. About a year ago (maybe more) someone sorted them into alphabetical order of title - I'm not sure why - but since then they've got progressively more muddled. Most people don't seem to know there is a library, and those that do borrow and return books at random, sometimes donating extras which nobody knows about.
So, armed with a printed list from six months ago, I made a start. Nobody else had offered and I quite like sorting books, but it was more complicated than I expected. In two hours (the duration of the mothers-and-toddlers group meeting in the hall at the time) I just about sorted authors A-H, ticking those on the list which I had found, and writing a new list of those which were on the shelves but not on the list (quite a number).
It's obviously not going to be a quick job, but I can do a bit each week.
To celebrate St David's Day and the spring-like weather, I've changed my blog banner to the one I used last March, showing almond blossom, at the house next-door to where we used to live.
This is one of the streets I walked down; it struck me how different it looks in the early spring, with weeds thriving everywhere. Particularly in this plot which has a sign advertising luxury 1- and 2-bedroom flats. As it has been for the last eight months or more.
Here's what the weeds looked like a bit closer. March is sometimes known as 'yellow month' and this is a hint of why: lemons on the trees, fast-growing (and rather pretty) yellow flowers in any uncultivated piece of land.
I was going to the church hall to start sorting out the 'library' - a rather eclectic mixture of Christian books which live in a small room at the side of the hall. About a year ago (maybe more) someone sorted them into alphabetical order of title - I'm not sure why - but since then they've got progressively more muddled. Most people don't seem to know there is a library, and those that do borrow and return books at random, sometimes donating extras which nobody knows about.
So, armed with a printed list from six months ago, I made a start. Nobody else had offered and I quite like sorting books, but it was more complicated than I expected. In two hours (the duration of the mothers-and-toddlers group meeting in the hall at the time) I just about sorted authors A-H, ticking those on the list which I had found, and writing a new list of those which were on the shelves but not on the list (quite a number).
It's obviously not going to be a quick job, but I can do a bit each week.
To celebrate St David's Day and the spring-like weather, I've changed my blog banner to the one I used last March, showing almond blossom, at the house next-door to where we used to live.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Getting warmer
Today, for the first time this year, the weather has felt hot. Sitting here in jeans and a tee-shirt, I feel sticky. I don't want to switch to shorts before I have to, but if this continues it could be before the end of May, which would be earlier than usual. According to the weather channel it's 30C at present, and 37% humidity. That's pretty warm for half past seven at night. When I was cooking our evening meal, the kitchen felt extremely hot, although (according to our digital kitchen scales) it was only 28C. That's the temperature we run our air conditioning during the hottest months - but of course a/c reduces humidity too. And I'm sure it was more than 37% humidity while I was cooking.
It hasn't rained much for ages - it's been an extremely dry spring. That doesn't help.
It's not going to be much fun packing and organising all our 'stuff' for moving if this heat continues or increases during June. We won't actually be moving now until the first week of July. Richard spoke to the estate agent, who spoke to the vendors. They had been prepared to move out earlier than our official completion date of 30th June, if we had been ready to complete a couple of months ago. But if their new house is going to be ready then, we can quite see that they wouldn't want to find temporary accommodation for just two or three weeks beforehand.
It hasn't rained much for ages - it's been an extremely dry spring. That doesn't help.
It's not going to be much fun packing and organising all our 'stuff' for moving if this heat continues or increases during June. We won't actually be moving now until the first week of July. Richard spoke to the estate agent, who spoke to the vendors. They had been prepared to move out earlier than our official completion date of 30th June, if we had been ready to complete a couple of months ago. But if their new house is going to be ready then, we can quite see that they wouldn't want to find temporary accommodation for just two or three weeks beforehand.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Dead Mouse
Yes, today's great excitement (?) was the discovery of a large and extremely dead mouse under Richard's desk in our dining room.
When I got up this morning, I thought there was a bit of an odd smell. I put it down to making chicken stock last night, and opened several windows. The smell seemed to dissipate, at least in the kitchen.
Then Tim told me he needed to take a couple of tests for his home education coursework. He does these sitting at our dining room table. The smell was really bad in there, and opening windows did not help. It was only then that we thought to check Sophia's usual spot for 'burying' her kill. Usually she eats birds, mice, lizards and so on. She catches them outside, but brings them into the room where we eat, and has a little snack while we're having our meal. Not every day, but often enough during the spring and summer that we've become accustomed to it. Mostly it's lizards, thankfully, and she eats them in their entirety. Generally she manages to eat most of a mouse too, but this time there was what looked like a complete body. Ugh.
Tim and I don't do mouse-moving. Opening windows did not help with the smell.
So we moved through to the kitchen table, closed all the doors, and left all the windows open. Richard wasn't home for lunch today, but got home at 5.30 this afternoon and quickly disposed of it. He said the mouse was so huge it might have been a rat! Shudder. Tim and I didn't get close enough to look, and I'm not sure I'd know the difference anyway. But if it was a rat, perhaps that's why Sophia didn't eat it.
Incidentally, noting a couple of the comments on this post, I should add that the rat wouldn't have been in the house to start with. There are mice in some houses here, but they're intelligent enough to keep out of houses where four cats are living. I haven't heard of rats living in homes at all, although there are some wild outdoors. Not that I've ever seen a live one. However although our other cats eat any 'snacks' they catch outside, Sophia brings hers inside. Either she didn't eat this one because rats are just too disgusting, or it was intended as a present for Richard...
Living in Cyprus is great, but it's not all bougainvillea and beaches...
When I got up this morning, I thought there was a bit of an odd smell. I put it down to making chicken stock last night, and opened several windows. The smell seemed to dissipate, at least in the kitchen.
Then Tim told me he needed to take a couple of tests for his home education coursework. He does these sitting at our dining room table. The smell was really bad in there, and opening windows did not help. It was only then that we thought to check Sophia's usual spot for 'burying' her kill. Usually she eats birds, mice, lizards and so on. She catches them outside, but brings them into the room where we eat, and has a little snack while we're having our meal. Not every day, but often enough during the spring and summer that we've become accustomed to it. Mostly it's lizards, thankfully, and she eats them in their entirety. Generally she manages to eat most of a mouse too, but this time there was what looked like a complete body. Ugh.
Tim and I don't do mouse-moving. Opening windows did not help with the smell.
So we moved through to the kitchen table, closed all the doors, and left all the windows open. Richard wasn't home for lunch today, but got home at 5.30 this afternoon and quickly disposed of it. He said the mouse was so huge it might have been a rat! Shudder. Tim and I didn't get close enough to look, and I'm not sure I'd know the difference anyway. But if it was a rat, perhaps that's why Sophia didn't eat it.
Incidentally, noting a couple of the comments on this post, I should add that the rat wouldn't have been in the house to start with. There are mice in some houses here, but they're intelligent enough to keep out of houses where four cats are living. I haven't heard of rats living in homes at all, although there are some wild outdoors. Not that I've ever seen a live one. However although our other cats eat any 'snacks' they catch outside, Sophia brings hers inside. Either she didn't eat this one because rats are just too disgusting, or it was intended as a present for Richard...
Living in Cyprus is great, but it's not all bougainvillea and beaches...
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Yellow month
March is sometimes known as 'yellow month' in Cyprus. Just walking or driving around, it's pretty clear why. Not just the lemons:
...but gardens and wasteland full of quite attractively coloured weeds:
... including these ones, which are so pretty that I cultivate them in places:
...and freesias, the only kind of bulb that seems to flourish here:
... and this rather stunning shrub, that's been in bloom for a week or two:
... and this one, which has just blossomed in the last few days:
I don't know what most of them are, and for most of the year will barely notice these plants. But at present, much of Cyprus looks very Spring-like.
...but gardens and wasteland full of quite attractively coloured weeds:
... including these ones, which are so pretty that I cultivate them in places:
...and freesias, the only kind of bulb that seems to flourish here:
... and this rather stunning shrub, that's been in bloom for a week or two:
... and this one, which has just blossomed in the last few days:
I don't know what most of them are, and for most of the year will barely notice these plants. But at present, much of Cyprus looks very Spring-like.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Pomegranate leaves in spring
The almond blossom has disappeared, and now it's time for the pomegranate trees to burst into leaf... with an oddly autumnal look, since they're red and orange when they first appear. They turn green in a month or so and will then look quite ordinary. But right now the view from our kitchen window is stunning with the reds of both our pomegranate tree, and that of our neighbour.
Alas, even with a reasonable camera I can't begin to capture the stunning colours properly!
It was lovely and sunny this morning, with a good breeze that didn't feel cold. Now, just after lunch, the sky is grey and it looks as though it's going to pour with rain any minute. We still need rain so I'm not going to worry about the laundry still on my line... it'll dry eventually!
Oh, and my sore throat of yesterday seems to have been vanquished with my various defences. No idea if it's the Vitamin C or Echinacea/Goldenseal that does the trick, but neither do any harm and the combination seems to be pretty effective. Today my cold seems to have gone, my throat feels just a little gunky, but not at all painful. I shall keep taking high doses of C for a day or two, just to ensure it doesn't creep back when I'm not looking.
Alas, even with a reasonable camera I can't begin to capture the stunning colours properly!
It was lovely and sunny this morning, with a good breeze that didn't feel cold. Now, just after lunch, the sky is grey and it looks as though it's going to pour with rain any minute. We still need rain so I'm not going to worry about the laundry still on my line... it'll dry eventually!
Oh, and my sore throat of yesterday seems to have been vanquished with my various defences. No idea if it's the Vitamin C or Echinacea/Goldenseal that does the trick, but neither do any harm and the combination seems to be pretty effective. Today my cold seems to have gone, my throat feels just a little gunky, but not at all painful. I shall keep taking high doses of C for a day or two, just to ensure it doesn't creep back when I'm not looking.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
A year of blogging!
Exactly a year ago today I wrote my first blog entry. It doesn't feel that long, somehow. Then again, it's hard to imagine life before blogging. It's been quite a year, one way and another.
To celebrate this, and Spring, I've uploaded a new banner photo which is some of next-door's almond blossom. I might even try to change the photo more often now I've finally figured out how to do it without Dan's help.
For those who have asked: there's no news on our UK house sale at present. We hope that if there were any last-minute problems, we would have heard by now...
As for the Cyprus house, the first stage is now done. We saw our solicitor this morning; he's paid the stamp duty for us, and the contract is now officially stamped. We can now use that to apply for permanent residency of Cyprus. We will also need it when we ask the utility companies to connect us to electricity, water and the phone, but of course that won't be until we're ready to move in.
We've also been given more forms to fill in: these are headed:
'Application by an alien for the consent of the council of ministers to acquire immoval property in Cyprus.'
Hmm. Sounds like ET wanting to buy a house!
It also looks like it's out-of-date too since it shouldn't apply to European citizens any longer, and some of the questions relate to property being used for commercial purposes rather than simply buying a home to live in. To go with this application, we need to supply copies of our passports, UK bank statements for the past three months, all the information about the house we're planning to buy, CVs (something else more relevant to buying a business, but never mind...) and other such documents.
Apparently this questionnaire is routine, a bit pointless, and never refused. However it can take up to three months to be granted. We can't complete the purchase until this permission has been given, and we're supposed to complete by the end of June at the latest.
To celebrate this, and Spring, I've uploaded a new banner photo which is some of next-door's almond blossom. I might even try to change the photo more often now I've finally figured out how to do it without Dan's help.
For those who have asked: there's no news on our UK house sale at present. We hope that if there were any last-minute problems, we would have heard by now...
As for the Cyprus house, the first stage is now done. We saw our solicitor this morning; he's paid the stamp duty for us, and the contract is now officially stamped. We can now use that to apply for permanent residency of Cyprus. We will also need it when we ask the utility companies to connect us to electricity, water and the phone, but of course that won't be until we're ready to move in.
We've also been given more forms to fill in: these are headed:
'Application by an alien for the consent of the council of ministers to acquire immoval property in Cyprus.'
Hmm. Sounds like ET wanting to buy a house!
It also looks like it's out-of-date too since it shouldn't apply to European citizens any longer, and some of the questions relate to property being used for commercial purposes rather than simply buying a home to live in. To go with this application, we need to supply copies of our passports, UK bank statements for the past three months, all the information about the house we're planning to buy, CVs (something else more relevant to buying a business, but never mind...) and other such documents.
Apparently this questionnaire is routine, a bit pointless, and never refused. However it can take up to three months to be granted. We can't complete the purchase until this permission has been given, and we're supposed to complete by the end of June at the latest.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Confused trees?
I always thought that trees 'knew' what season it was, and so went through their cycles appropriately. In the UK, we generally get fruit blossom around March and April, fruit on trees from about June to September, orange/brown leaves in late September and October, which fall to the ground, leaving bare branches for mid-November until about mid-February, when the new buds start again. Other than the evergreens, of course. At least, this is what we learn in biology at around the age of 11, and the trees in the UK mostly behave as they're supposed to.
But in Cyprus, it's a bit more complicated. I already mentioned the almond blossom in our neighbour's garden; today it was looking even more stunning:
OK, so it's Spring. It was lovely and warm again today, about 21C [um, that's around 70F, for anyone on Fahrenheit] so we had all the windows open most of the morning and some of the afternoon.
Then again, it's still only February, and we may have another cold spell before it begins to get really hot. And sure enough, our mulberry tree looks much like a tree in the UK in winter:
On the other hand, our mespila (loquat) tree is past the blossom stage - so small it's hardly noticeable anyway - and has already produced tiny fruits. Evidently, it thinks it's already late spring:
Then again, the citrus trees are coming towards the end of their fruiting season - we still have lots of lemons:
And just to complete the cycle, the 'shade' tree (that's what the Cypriots call it) looks like a tree in Autumn:
Maybe the trees here never went to school to study the seasons.
But in Cyprus, it's a bit more complicated. I already mentioned the almond blossom in our neighbour's garden; today it was looking even more stunning:
OK, so it's Spring. It was lovely and warm again today, about 21C [um, that's around 70F, for anyone on Fahrenheit] so we had all the windows open most of the morning and some of the afternoon.
Then again, it's still only February, and we may have another cold spell before it begins to get really hot. And sure enough, our mulberry tree looks much like a tree in the UK in winter:
On the other hand, our mespila (loquat) tree is past the blossom stage - so small it's hardly noticeable anyway - and has already produced tiny fruits. Evidently, it thinks it's already late spring:
Then again, the citrus trees are coming towards the end of their fruiting season - we still have lots of lemons:
And just to complete the cycle, the 'shade' tree (that's what the Cypriots call it) looks like a tree in Autumn:
Maybe the trees here never went to school to study the seasons.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Spring is coming
It wasn't so cold today. It probably got as high as about 18C outside, and this morning the sun shone for several hours. We enjoyed opening the windows and letting in some warmth and fresh air.
One of the first signs of spring is seeing almond blossom. It seems to arrive overnight, and although we don't have an almond tree, one of our neighbours does:
It's not so bitterly cold at night any more, either. 10C rather than 5C, but we still light the kerosene heater in the evenings and are still using a hot water bottle at night! The house temperature is about 12C when we get up, and that can feel distinctly chilly...
One of the first signs of spring is seeing almond blossom. It seems to arrive overnight, and although we don't have an almond tree, one of our neighbours does:
It's not so bitterly cold at night any more, either. 10C rather than 5C, but we still light the kerosene heater in the evenings and are still using a hot water bottle at night! The house temperature is about 12C when we get up, and that can feel distinctly chilly...
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Alongside the house saga....
... Life goes on. It's been chilly, grey and windy (though no rain) for a couple of days now. Rather miserable. I did a couple of loads of laundry this morning and hung them out, but will leave them overnight; that usually works best. I suppose a tumble drier would be a good idea for the rainier times of year (as suggested in a comment a while ago) but they're expensive to run, they use a lot of energy, and they're not particularly good for clothes. About half our clothes can't be tumble-dried anyway (they would either shrink or grow!) and of course if things get left in a drier for more than about ten minutes after it's finished, they crease and then need ironing.
So I much prefer hanging out in the fresh air where possible ... inside out, so they can just be folded and put straight away when they're dry. I iron about twice a year, and that's usually when Tim's playing in a concert needing a white cotton shirt, and it wasn't hung up properly so looks crumpled.
About ten o'clock this morning we went to the bank, to try to open a savings account. Since significant amounts of money will be transferred here while we're in process of buying a house, we thought we might as well get a bit of interest (current accounts don't give any here). There were lots of options but we chose one with instant access. Should have been easy, but there were computer problems at the bank, and it seemed to take ages before the printer produced the forms to sign (about six times each) to set up the account.
This afternoon Richard went with a friend who's in the building trade, and an architect, to look at the house we're still hoping to buy...details in the post below.
Shortly after they left a friend from Limassol arrived to collect some things his family left here when we last saw them, and we chatted a while. He mentioned that someone he knows, who's in Larnaka tonight, flying out tomorrow, will be visiting the Doulos at the weekend - and is going to make a point of saying hello to Daniel!
Tim took a look at our friend's laptop - he was asking some technical questions which I didn't understand - and then, after checking Dan's downloads and starting some more (thank goodness for Broadband!) he rushed off to his singing lesson. After that he had half an hour to eat before rushing out again to the 'Christianity Explored' course that his church is running. When he got back - with some doughnuts from the bakery - he started copying Dan's stuff onto CD.
While he was out, some more friends popped over for an hour to chat. Then Richard phoned the guy at the hotel who's going to see Daniel, and discovered that he has lots of luggage space! Wonderful... that means we can send the software CDs directly rather than having to put them in a package to Germany to be forwarded via air freight. We can also send out some more thin trousers and shorts, which he wanted (I've sent some but they probably won't arrive for several more weeks), and all the chocolate he had at Christmas but didn't have room for... and Richard's sending him a text message to ask if there's anything else he'd like while we have this opportunity. Apparently he'll actually join the Doulos on Sunday; we're not quite sure how the group will get there, but assume there won't be any more flights, so no more limits of luggage weight.
So I much prefer hanging out in the fresh air where possible ... inside out, so they can just be folded and put straight away when they're dry. I iron about twice a year, and that's usually when Tim's playing in a concert needing a white cotton shirt, and it wasn't hung up properly so looks crumpled.
About ten o'clock this morning we went to the bank, to try to open a savings account. Since significant amounts of money will be transferred here while we're in process of buying a house, we thought we might as well get a bit of interest (current accounts don't give any here). There were lots of options but we chose one with instant access. Should have been easy, but there were computer problems at the bank, and it seemed to take ages before the printer produced the forms to sign (about six times each) to set up the account.
This afternoon Richard went with a friend who's in the building trade, and an architect, to look at the house we're still hoping to buy...details in the post below.
Shortly after they left a friend from Limassol arrived to collect some things his family left here when we last saw them, and we chatted a while. He mentioned that someone he knows, who's in Larnaka tonight, flying out tomorrow, will be visiting the Doulos at the weekend - and is going to make a point of saying hello to Daniel!
Tim took a look at our friend's laptop - he was asking some technical questions which I didn't understand - and then, after checking Dan's downloads and starting some more (thank goodness for Broadband!) he rushed off to his singing lesson. After that he had half an hour to eat before rushing out again to the 'Christianity Explored' course that his church is running. When he got back - with some doughnuts from the bakery - he started copying Dan's stuff onto CD.
While he was out, some more friends popped over for an hour to chat. Then Richard phoned the guy at the hotel who's going to see Daniel, and discovered that he has lots of luggage space! Wonderful... that means we can send the software CDs directly rather than having to put them in a package to Germany to be forwarded via air freight. We can also send out some more thin trousers and shorts, which he wanted (I've sent some but they probably won't arrive for several more weeks), and all the chocolate he had at Christmas but didn't have room for... and Richard's sending him a text message to ask if there's anything else he'd like while we have this opportunity. Apparently he'll actually join the Doulos on Sunday; we're not quite sure how the group will get there, but assume there won't be any more flights, so no more limits of luggage weight.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Mosquitoes in Cyprus
We've never known anything like it.
Usually in April and October we do get some mosquitoes, particularly if we leave the windows open around dusk. They're annoying when they buzz around our heads at night, but we run electronic killer things, and there only ever seem to be two or three at a time.
But in the summer it's too hot for mozzies, and in the winter too cold. Or so we thought...
This winter, we've had a vast number. Particularly since the New Year. I thought it was because the grass/weeds were so long in the back garden, but I cut most of them a week or so back... and there are more than ever. Today I saw four on the bathroom cupboard mid-morning. I killed about six when I had my shower earlier, and Tim killed another three or four. I've probably caught at least ten in the kitchen today.
What's more, my face is covered in bites. They don't itch - we seem to have developed a local immunity to the effects, so they no longer swell or cause any other problems - but they look awful. Tim has quite a few too.
We don't know where they're coming from, or how they're getting in the house. A few come in the bathroom window, which we leave open for the cats, but not the number we've seen recently. Yet we're barely opening the other windows at all - just a few seconds twice a day to open or shut the shutters.
The electronic smelly plug-in gadget probably helps (I found ten dead mozzies on the sofa in our room this morning) but I don't think it can keep up.
The weather has been damp and cold, but is predicted to be sunnier and a little warmer in the next few days. We could be absolutely plagued by the time spring arrives...
Usually in April and October we do get some mosquitoes, particularly if we leave the windows open around dusk. They're annoying when they buzz around our heads at night, but we run electronic killer things, and there only ever seem to be two or three at a time.
But in the summer it's too hot for mozzies, and in the winter too cold. Or so we thought...
This winter, we've had a vast number. Particularly since the New Year. I thought it was because the grass/weeds were so long in the back garden, but I cut most of them a week or so back... and there are more than ever. Today I saw four on the bathroom cupboard mid-morning. I killed about six when I had my shower earlier, and Tim killed another three or four. I've probably caught at least ten in the kitchen today.
What's more, my face is covered in bites. They don't itch - we seem to have developed a local immunity to the effects, so they no longer swell or cause any other problems - but they look awful. Tim has quite a few too.
We don't know where they're coming from, or how they're getting in the house. A few come in the bathroom window, which we leave open for the cats, but not the number we've seen recently. Yet we're barely opening the other windows at all - just a few seconds twice a day to open or shut the shutters.
The electronic smelly plug-in gadget probably helps (I found ten dead mozzies on the sofa in our room this morning) but I don't think it can keep up.
The weather has been damp and cold, but is predicted to be sunnier and a little warmer in the next few days. We could be absolutely plagued by the time spring arrives...
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Dressing for the cold
Cyprus is known as a warm country, in general. It's certainly very warm in the Summer, and in Spring and Autumn (short though they both are) it's gorgeous - rather like the UK Summer.
Even in Winter it's not cold on a global scale, although our house feels very chilly. The weather site tells me the weather's up to about 18C [65F] during the daytime at present, down to about 8C [47F] overnight. That means we do have to light the fire in the evenings, and wear fleeces as well as sweaters, but it's not REALLY cold. Even if sometimes it feels that way.
However... on Monday Dan flies to Frankfurt (in Germany) and then has to take a train to a town not far away, for a conference prior to joining the Doulos. We looked up the Frankfurt temperatures, and they REALLY sound cold. Maximum of 1C for the next ten days, with snow showers, and down to -5C overnight. Brrrrrrrr. Chillier than Birmingham in the UK (where we come from) where the forecast is for rain and 'only' -1C overnight minimum.
Never mind! In October when we were in the UK we bought Dan a warm jacket from Primark, and also found a selection of warm gloves, some of which go back to our time in Colorado Springs in the USA (which was even colder than Frankfurt). And just before Christmas his friends at Antidote Theatre gave him some farewell presents, including a very warm hat thing. Actually it was meant to be a permanent reminder of the dog in Little Man's Best Friend but it's exactly the kind of thing Dan was hoping to buy anyway.
So, with a mug of warm herbal tea, he dressed up last night in the warm clothes he's going to wear to travel to Germany:
.. in the background, notice his room which he's decluttering and organising prior to going away. He's got rid of at least four large bin-liners of stuff so far...
Even in Winter it's not cold on a global scale, although our house feels very chilly. The weather site tells me the weather's up to about 18C [65F] during the daytime at present, down to about 8C [47F] overnight. That means we do have to light the fire in the evenings, and wear fleeces as well as sweaters, but it's not REALLY cold. Even if sometimes it feels that way.
However... on Monday Dan flies to Frankfurt (in Germany) and then has to take a train to a town not far away, for a conference prior to joining the Doulos. We looked up the Frankfurt temperatures, and they REALLY sound cold. Maximum of 1C for the next ten days, with snow showers, and down to -5C overnight. Brrrrrrrr. Chillier than Birmingham in the UK (where we come from) where the forecast is for rain and 'only' -1C overnight minimum.
Never mind! In October when we were in the UK we bought Dan a warm jacket from Primark, and also found a selection of warm gloves, some of which go back to our time in Colorado Springs in the USA (which was even colder than Frankfurt). And just before Christmas his friends at Antidote Theatre gave him some farewell presents, including a very warm hat thing. Actually it was meant to be a permanent reminder of the dog in Little Man's Best Friend but it's exactly the kind of thing Dan was hoping to buy anyway.
So, with a mug of warm herbal tea, he dressed up last night in the warm clothes he's going to wear to travel to Germany:
.. in the background, notice his room which he's decluttering and organising prior to going away. He's got rid of at least four large bin-liners of stuff so far...
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Christmas Day and Boxing Day
It was a pleasant Christmas. We thought it would be a hectic morning but in fact we were all up and dressed by 8am, so we opened all our presents then. It was good having my mother staying - it's the first time we've had a house-guest over Christmas, although we always get together with friends for lunch. Dan had to be at church by 8.30 for music practice, then our service was at 9am and the Anglican service (which Tim and my mother attended) at 9.30am. Very early: usually Christmas Day services are at 10am, but this year they decided to go for regular Sunday times since Christmas was a Sunday. Of course it did give us more time afterwards to get all the food organised, so it wasn't a bad thing.
There were 12 of us sitting down to lunch on Christmas Day. After much family discussion we decided to cook the turkey on Christmas Eve so we could make roast potatoes to go with it on Christmas Day; our oven isn't very big and the turkey we'd ordered was 9kg. Richard then carved it into a large roasting pan (white meat on one side, red on the other, stuffing in the middle) and laid some of the skin over it to keep it most. Then I put foil over the whole thing and it went in the fridge overnight. It took just under an hour to reheat fully on Christmas Day, and was beautifully moist. It saves so much hassle (no getting up early to put it on, no worries about whether it would be cooked through, no waiting around while it was carved) that we'll probably repeat this next year even if by then we have a double oven.
Our menu (if anyone's remotely interested in traditional British Christmas lunch) was the turkey with two types of home-made stuffing, sausages, roast potatoes, brussels sprouts, steamed cauliflower, stir-fried cabbage-with-cumin, and home-made cranberry sauce. Oh, and a nut roast for my vegetarian son. In addition one of the families eating with us brought a sweet potato casserole and a brussels sprout dish with lemon. Of course there was lots over at the end. For dessert we had Christmas pudding with brandy sauce, mince pies, and a loquat fool I made with some puree frozen in the spring. The other visiting family brought an apple crumble. And there were a few clementine oranges too. Unfortunately there don't seem to be any satsumas in the shops at present. We much prefer those as they're seedless.
In the afternoon various people did music jamming together, some of the younger boys (12-15) played with some new toys and our ancient Scalextric, some of us did a complicated two-sided puzzle, some just chatted. Later on we played a difficult word game that was too much for my rather tired brain, so I opted out.
In the evening, out came some leftovers, some veggie sausage rolls I made the day before, the Christmas cake I made in November, and various salads and nibbles that our guests had brought with us. Oh, and some fudge Tim made. Not that any of us were really very hungry... I even managed to take a picture of the table before we ate in the evening:
On Boxing Day the boys arranged for three of their friends to come over in the afternoon, one of them bringing his laptop. They borrowed one of Richard's office computers too, and managed to network together five computers in all, to play a game against each other. I gather it was something like the American game 'Capture the flag', which is a bit like a British 'wide game'. All in the comfort of the dining room.
Then in the evening, Tim asked me to put my computer to sleep so he could do some important surgery on it. A little worrying when he got out the vacuum cleaner prior to operating...
... and even worse when he said, with clear enjoyment, how much he LIKES gutting computers. Gutting? I thought it was just having a few improvements...
But by that stage he told me it was (effectively) open heart surgery.
For anyone who cares (and has read this far) what he actually did was to remove the second hard drive and the graphics card and the processor from their desktop computer, and swap them for the smaller processor and graphics card from my computer.
Why such altruism to give me a fast machine with a 40 gig hard drive when I was just fine with a slower one and a 9 gig drive? Well there were two reasons. One: both boys now have MAC laptops, which they bought in the Autumn, so they barely use their desktop computer. It has a Linux drive anyway which is still there. They both felt that my computer should be upgraded since it's the most-used desktop machine in the house. However they knew I think along the lines of, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'.
But, not knowing this, I said idly one day recently that I wondered if the game Sims2 would fit on my computer. Richard had no idea what to buy me for Christmas, and I always enjoyed the original Sims game though I haven't played it for at least two years. Richard discussed it with the boys, and they came up with this plan to upgrade my computer and downgrade theirs, for the sole purpose (from my point of view) of being able to instal and run Sims2. And I was given it for Christmas. Something totally 'silly', unpractical, unwearable, un-useful... but potentially very enjoyable for us all. And I'm determined not to get hooked on it!
There were 12 of us sitting down to lunch on Christmas Day. After much family discussion we decided to cook the turkey on Christmas Eve so we could make roast potatoes to go with it on Christmas Day; our oven isn't very big and the turkey we'd ordered was 9kg. Richard then carved it into a large roasting pan (white meat on one side, red on the other, stuffing in the middle) and laid some of the skin over it to keep it most. Then I put foil over the whole thing and it went in the fridge overnight. It took just under an hour to reheat fully on Christmas Day, and was beautifully moist. It saves so much hassle (no getting up early to put it on, no worries about whether it would be cooked through, no waiting around while it was carved) that we'll probably repeat this next year even if by then we have a double oven.
Our menu (if anyone's remotely interested in traditional British Christmas lunch) was the turkey with two types of home-made stuffing, sausages, roast potatoes, brussels sprouts, steamed cauliflower, stir-fried cabbage-with-cumin, and home-made cranberry sauce. Oh, and a nut roast for my vegetarian son. In addition one of the families eating with us brought a sweet potato casserole and a brussels sprout dish with lemon. Of course there was lots over at the end. For dessert we had Christmas pudding with brandy sauce, mince pies, and a loquat fool I made with some puree frozen in the spring. The other visiting family brought an apple crumble. And there were a few clementine oranges too. Unfortunately there don't seem to be any satsumas in the shops at present. We much prefer those as they're seedless.
In the afternoon various people did music jamming together, some of the younger boys (12-15) played with some new toys and our ancient Scalextric, some of us did a complicated two-sided puzzle, some just chatted. Later on we played a difficult word game that was too much for my rather tired brain, so I opted out.
In the evening, out came some leftovers, some veggie sausage rolls I made the day before, the Christmas cake I made in November, and various salads and nibbles that our guests had brought with us. Oh, and some fudge Tim made. Not that any of us were really very hungry... I even managed to take a picture of the table before we ate in the evening:
On Boxing Day the boys arranged for three of their friends to come over in the afternoon, one of them bringing his laptop. They borrowed one of Richard's office computers too, and managed to network together five computers in all, to play a game against each other. I gather it was something like the American game 'Capture the flag', which is a bit like a British 'wide game'. All in the comfort of the dining room.
Then in the evening, Tim asked me to put my computer to sleep so he could do some important surgery on it. A little worrying when he got out the vacuum cleaner prior to operating...
... and even worse when he said, with clear enjoyment, how much he LIKES gutting computers. Gutting? I thought it was just having a few improvements...
But by that stage he told me it was (effectively) open heart surgery.
For anyone who cares (and has read this far) what he actually did was to remove the second hard drive and the graphics card and the processor from their desktop computer, and swap them for the smaller processor and graphics card from my computer.
Why such altruism to give me a fast machine with a 40 gig hard drive when I was just fine with a slower one and a 9 gig drive? Well there were two reasons. One: both boys now have MAC laptops, which they bought in the Autumn, so they barely use their desktop computer. It has a Linux drive anyway which is still there. They both felt that my computer should be upgraded since it's the most-used desktop machine in the house. However they knew I think along the lines of, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'.
But, not knowing this, I said idly one day recently that I wondered if the game Sims2 would fit on my computer. Richard had no idea what to buy me for Christmas, and I always enjoyed the original Sims game though I haven't played it for at least two years. Richard discussed it with the boys, and they came up with this plan to upgrade my computer and downgrade theirs, for the sole purpose (from my point of view) of being able to instal and run Sims2. And I was given it for Christmas. Something totally 'silly', unpractical, unwearable, un-useful... but potentially very enjoyable for us all. And I'm determined not to get hooked on it!
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Christmas family newsletter 2005
December 2005
Dear Family and Friends,
2005 has been quite a year of milestones for the whole family....
... the rest of this newsletter can now be found on our family site, at the Christmas newsletter 2005 page.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Front garden
Despite eight years living in Cyprus, it still seems odd to me that late Autumn is the time to put bedding plants in the garden. In the UK, it's late Spring, since they flower through the Summer and die when the temperatures get cool, usually aruond October. But here, the Winter is milder and the Summer too hot, so now is the ideal time. We've experimented with several types over the years, and the most successful seem to be petunias, violas and busy lizzies. So I bought a few of them a couple of weeks ago when passing a plant shop, and on Thursday I weeded one of the front flower beds, then put in the plants. Not that anybody's noticed yet...
There's another bed in the front where I usually put a few bedding plants, but it's still covered in weeds (in between the geraniums, which are perennial here)
It's been a mild and very dry winter so far. November should be the wettest month of the year but I don't think we had any rain at all since the end of October. Rather worrying, although with de-salination plants in operation we shouldn't run out of water. Anyway, a plus point is that the bougainvillea is still blooming:
There's another bed in the front where I usually put a few bedding plants, but it's still covered in weeds (in between the geraniums, which are perennial here)
It's been a mild and very dry winter so far. November should be the wettest month of the year but I don't think we had any rain at all since the end of October. Rather worrying, although with de-salination plants in operation we shouldn't run out of water. Anyway, a plus point is that the bougainvillea is still blooming:
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Energy, Photos and Home Education
In the UK, Spring is my favourite season. I love the bulbs, the blossom, the new growth on trees, the warmer weather with gentle wind and (sometimes) sunny skies.
Here in Cyprus, however, I think I prefer Autumn. Despite the chilliness of the house at night, as mentioned previously, the weather is mostly very pleasant. Today, for instance, it was sunny with a deep blue sky, and a light breeze. Warm enough that I opened most of the windows at about 9am to let in some fresh air, and then left them open until it began getting cooler and dark, shortly after 4.30pm. I did three loads of laundry today, and the first one was dry by the time I hung out the third. I baked some bread this morning, and was able to leave it to rise on the kitchen window-sill, rather than having to put it over a pan of hot water.
I've realised that the only way to get much done, and keep on top of the household chores, is to leave the computer switched off until after lunch. Somehow if I turn it on 'just to check email' in the morning, I find other things to do online (broadband is a blessing, but also something of a curse as it means the Internet is constantly available) and time whizzes by. Then I rush to do what has to be done - cooking, cleaning the kitchen, laundry - and become stressed. By contrast now, I'm more relaxed and getting more done.
Of course I've tried this before: it's that extra energy that comes with cooler weather, motivating me. I'm back to cooking all our evening meals from ingredients rather than using jars and ready-made food. Baking bread and cakes has become enjoyable again. It will probably last until about Christmas, at which point I'll take a break, and relapse into bad habits again. But it's nice while it lasts.
While online the last couple of afternoons, I've been uploading photos to the DirectFoto site. We've used the DirectFoto ordinary envelope service for years, when we used 35mm film cameras. They would post processed photos to Cyprus with no extra postal service, and would include a free film as well as an index-print, and prices about half those we could get locally. Moreover the quality was always excellent, whereas in Cyprus some of the processors seem to change their chemicals only rarely (if ever!) and produce very washed-out prints.
Before we went to the UK I put several digital prints on a CD and sent them to DirectFoto for printing; as with prints from film, the quality was superb and the prices good. We even got a free CD returned with the pictures. I was going to do the same with the digital photos taken while in the UK, but discovered that DirectFoto now have an online service where prints can be stored, and then ordered as wanted. That seems like a much better idea - so much easier to get reprints, for instance. Moreover they have a special offer at present: 15 free prints with any order of £2 or more. Since each regular-sized print is 10p, and postage £1, that means I can get 35 prints for £3.
As with any of these sites, it takes a LONG time to upload high-quality pictures, even with broadband. I'm doing five at a time, and each batch takes about 20 minutes. But - so far - they've all uploaded successfully. Previously I tried using another similar service, but about half the time the uploads failed and I had to try again. So that's another point in favour of DirectFoto!
In case anyone reading this is interested in our home education - it's still continuing, in a low-key way. Dan has about eight workbooks to complete; he thought he'd lost his current science one, but found it again today. He only has two subjects to finish, then he'll have his level two certificate and can stop doing any coursework. Having got this far, we thought he might as well finish this level, even though he'll probably never need the qualifications. He's still hoping to return to the Doulos next year - if possible in January - but hasn't heard from them yet despite going for an interview in Shropshire three weeks ago.
Dan is also busy with his new clarinet - and hoping to find a more advanced teacher, but with no success as yet. He's continuing with drum lessons, teaching himself piano, taking aural music lessons, doing drama with the English-speaking teenagers at Antidote, helping out occasionally with Antidote's other productions (keeping the website up-to-date, designing posters etc), taking stage combat and karate, learning Greek, and playing in the church band. In addition he's starting to make short video productions, and hopes to be repairing/servicing more clarinets and other woodwind instruments in future.
Tim has rather more to complete for his level 2 qualifications, but is working steadily through. At last he's making sense of the maths (American-style geometry with rather convoluted proofs required - however he's grasped the techniques) and actually quite enjoys the history. Tim is busy with his other interests too: he takes piano lessons, plays keyboard in a youth band, and sometimes plays the organ at the church he attends. He also takes singing lessons and aural music lessons, plays guitar at a group for international students run by the church the rest of us attend, is on the committee for the inter-church youth group, and administers some online forums. For the future he wants to take some technical computer qualifications, and study theology.
So I certainly say that home education has not damaged their prospects in any way; on the contrary, it's given them widespread interests, social contact with people of all ages and backgrounds, and the ability to teach themselves whatever they want to learn.
Here in Cyprus, however, I think I prefer Autumn. Despite the chilliness of the house at night, as mentioned previously, the weather is mostly very pleasant. Today, for instance, it was sunny with a deep blue sky, and a light breeze. Warm enough that I opened most of the windows at about 9am to let in some fresh air, and then left them open until it began getting cooler and dark, shortly after 4.30pm. I did three loads of laundry today, and the first one was dry by the time I hung out the third. I baked some bread this morning, and was able to leave it to rise on the kitchen window-sill, rather than having to put it over a pan of hot water.
I've realised that the only way to get much done, and keep on top of the household chores, is to leave the computer switched off until after lunch. Somehow if I turn it on 'just to check email' in the morning, I find other things to do online (broadband is a blessing, but also something of a curse as it means the Internet is constantly available) and time whizzes by. Then I rush to do what has to be done - cooking, cleaning the kitchen, laundry - and become stressed. By contrast now, I'm more relaxed and getting more done.
Of course I've tried this before: it's that extra energy that comes with cooler weather, motivating me. I'm back to cooking all our evening meals from ingredients rather than using jars and ready-made food. Baking bread and cakes has become enjoyable again. It will probably last until about Christmas, at which point I'll take a break, and relapse into bad habits again. But it's nice while it lasts.
While online the last couple of afternoons, I've been uploading photos to the DirectFoto site. We've used the DirectFoto ordinary envelope service for years, when we used 35mm film cameras. They would post processed photos to Cyprus with no extra postal service, and would include a free film as well as an index-print, and prices about half those we could get locally. Moreover the quality was always excellent, whereas in Cyprus some of the processors seem to change their chemicals only rarely (if ever!) and produce very washed-out prints.
Before we went to the UK I put several digital prints on a CD and sent them to DirectFoto for printing; as with prints from film, the quality was superb and the prices good. We even got a free CD returned with the pictures. I was going to do the same with the digital photos taken while in the UK, but discovered that DirectFoto now have an online service where prints can be stored, and then ordered as wanted. That seems like a much better idea - so much easier to get reprints, for instance. Moreover they have a special offer at present: 15 free prints with any order of £2 or more. Since each regular-sized print is 10p, and postage £1, that means I can get 35 prints for £3.
As with any of these sites, it takes a LONG time to upload high-quality pictures, even with broadband. I'm doing five at a time, and each batch takes about 20 minutes. But - so far - they've all uploaded successfully. Previously I tried using another similar service, but about half the time the uploads failed and I had to try again. So that's another point in favour of DirectFoto!
In case anyone reading this is interested in our home education - it's still continuing, in a low-key way. Dan has about eight workbooks to complete; he thought he'd lost his current science one, but found it again today. He only has two subjects to finish, then he'll have his level two certificate and can stop doing any coursework. Having got this far, we thought he might as well finish this level, even though he'll probably never need the qualifications. He's still hoping to return to the Doulos next year - if possible in January - but hasn't heard from them yet despite going for an interview in Shropshire three weeks ago.
Dan is also busy with his new clarinet - and hoping to find a more advanced teacher, but with no success as yet. He's continuing with drum lessons, teaching himself piano, taking aural music lessons, doing drama with the English-speaking teenagers at Antidote, helping out occasionally with Antidote's other productions (keeping the website up-to-date, designing posters etc), taking stage combat and karate, learning Greek, and playing in the church band. In addition he's starting to make short video productions, and hopes to be repairing/servicing more clarinets and other woodwind instruments in future.
Tim has rather more to complete for his level 2 qualifications, but is working steadily through. At last he's making sense of the maths (American-style geometry with rather convoluted proofs required - however he's grasped the techniques) and actually quite enjoys the history. Tim is busy with his other interests too: he takes piano lessons, plays keyboard in a youth band, and sometimes plays the organ at the church he attends. He also takes singing lessons and aural music lessons, plays guitar at a group for international students run by the church the rest of us attend, is on the committee for the inter-church youth group, and administers some online forums. For the future he wants to take some technical computer qualifications, and study theology.
So I certainly say that home education has not damaged their prospects in any way; on the contrary, it's given them widespread interests, social contact with people of all ages and backgrounds, and the ability to teach themselves whatever they want to learn.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Monday activities
Some people are skilled in organisation and logistics. Unfortunately, in our family none of us is particularly gifted in these areas. As I'm at home, I mostly keep track of everyone's activities, but it's sometimes a struggle to remember what's going on. I'm glad the boys do so many things, but trying to fit meals and general life (not to mention the academic part of home education) around everything else can be difficult, even stressful at times.
After the summer, it always takes a while for my brain to get around so much action all at once. In previous years it seems to have happened more slowly, too. Schools started either in the middle of last week or yesterday morning, and it appears that most extra-curricular activities are starting this week too.
Monday is a 'music day' in our household. At 9am a friend arrives to give the boys aural music lessons - one at a time, and although in theory they have half an hour each they often chat, or talk about music in general, and she's often here till nearly 11am. This was the first aural lesson since June. Both boys play instruments but have hardly taken any exams; however they're both thinking about doing one or two of the higher grades, just so as to have extra paper qualifications. Besides, people in Cyprus seem to like certification. Aural music is part of the RSM and Guildhall exams, and although they've both picked up a fair amout through general musical experience, there are some gaps.
At 11am Daniel then has his drum lesson for an hour. That also happens in our house, and is fairly noisy! The cats are distinctly unimpressed. Dan uses drum pads for some of his practising, which makes the sound much quieter, but for the lesson they have to be removed. He seems to be progressing fast: his teacher says he could take grade 5 in the early spring, which is pretty good going as he only really started last October. But as he may be returning to the Doulos in February, there probably won't be time.
At lunchtime we had a guest - a colleague of Richard's who lives in Malta but is here for a conference. He stayed overnight at the office, and came here with Richard for lunch. Not a problem: we nearly always have bread-based lunches with cheese, salad, fruit etc, so as long as I know someone's coming it's easy enough to cater for them.
After lunch Tim usually does his piano practice, now it's September and there's no siesta-time (in July and August we're supposed to keep quiet between 1pm and 4pm) and later on Dan does his clarinet practice. However they spent most of the afternoon at Theatre Antidote, helping to set up lights for the premiere of their new performance, which is on Saturday.
At 6pm Tim had a singing lesson at one of the local music schools. This is something he's been hoping to do for some time, but only just got around to arranging. He said it went extremely well. Apparently he has an advantage over many of the students in that he can read music, and did sing in a choir when he was younger.
Then Dan should probably have gone to the Municipal Band practice at 8pm. However he couldn't remember if it started yesterday or on Thursday. Besides that, our car was in for a major service and some repairs, so he would have had to walk, and he was pretty tired. So he decided not to go. Just as well since we ended up eating quite late, nearly 7.30pm by the time everyone was home.
After supper, Richard went to his office to do some recording for Theatre Antidote - sound effects and so on for their new play. Tim went to help. They weren't back by the time I went to sleep around 10.30; Tim, who slept till late morning today, told me they didn't get back till 1.30am!! He hadn't noticed the time...
After the summer, it always takes a while for my brain to get around so much action all at once. In previous years it seems to have happened more slowly, too. Schools started either in the middle of last week or yesterday morning, and it appears that most extra-curricular activities are starting this week too.
Monday is a 'music day' in our household. At 9am a friend arrives to give the boys aural music lessons - one at a time, and although in theory they have half an hour each they often chat, or talk about music in general, and she's often here till nearly 11am. This was the first aural lesson since June. Both boys play instruments but have hardly taken any exams; however they're both thinking about doing one or two of the higher grades, just so as to have extra paper qualifications. Besides, people in Cyprus seem to like certification. Aural music is part of the RSM and Guildhall exams, and although they've both picked up a fair amout through general musical experience, there are some gaps.
At 11am Daniel then has his drum lesson for an hour. That also happens in our house, and is fairly noisy! The cats are distinctly unimpressed. Dan uses drum pads for some of his practising, which makes the sound much quieter, but for the lesson they have to be removed. He seems to be progressing fast: his teacher says he could take grade 5 in the early spring, which is pretty good going as he only really started last October. But as he may be returning to the Doulos in February, there probably won't be time.
At lunchtime we had a guest - a colleague of Richard's who lives in Malta but is here for a conference. He stayed overnight at the office, and came here with Richard for lunch. Not a problem: we nearly always have bread-based lunches with cheese, salad, fruit etc, so as long as I know someone's coming it's easy enough to cater for them.
After lunch Tim usually does his piano practice, now it's September and there's no siesta-time (in July and August we're supposed to keep quiet between 1pm and 4pm) and later on Dan does his clarinet practice. However they spent most of the afternoon at Theatre Antidote, helping to set up lights for the premiere of their new performance, which is on Saturday.
At 6pm Tim had a singing lesson at one of the local music schools. This is something he's been hoping to do for some time, but only just got around to arranging. He said it went extremely well. Apparently he has an advantage over many of the students in that he can read music, and did sing in a choir when he was younger.
Then Dan should probably have gone to the Municipal Band practice at 8pm. However he couldn't remember if it started yesterday or on Thursday. Besides that, our car was in for a major service and some repairs, so he would have had to walk, and he was pretty tired. So he decided not to go. Just as well since we ended up eating quite late, nearly 7.30pm by the time everyone was home.
After supper, Richard went to his office to do some recording for Theatre Antidote - sound effects and so on for their new play. Tim went to help. They weren't back by the time I went to sleep around 10.30; Tim, who slept till late morning today, told me they didn't get back till 1.30am!! He hadn't noticed the time...
Monday, August 15, 2005
Half-way through August
Today was a public holiday in Cyprus, I believe it's because of the Feast of the Assumption in the Greek Orthodox Church.
It was also declared, by the government, the first of three days of national mourning for the victims of the terrible air tragedy yesterday. Most of them were Cypriots. It's now thought they probably died before the plane crashed, either through lack of Oxygen, or extreme cold. A lot of people are saying Helios Air is dangerous; I had thought it was good to have a budget airline operating from Cyprus, but perhaps not if they're not careful enough about safety.
On Saturday when I gave the garden its weekly watering, I realised just how bad the weeds are getting. And the 'lawn' (ha!) needs cutting very badly. Richard did about 2/3 of it shortly before our anniversary party - so I suppose it was nearly four weeks ago now. Hardly surprising it needs cutting again, despite lack of rain. Around the trees there's even some grass although the majority is just weeds.
Unfortunately when Richard was cutting the grass - and intended to do the whole lot - the motor failed. This has happened two or three times before, and has been fixed by taking the lawnmower apart, cleaning out the dust and dirt (of which there is a lot during Summer in Cyprus) and spraying in a bit of WD-40. However Richard did not feel inclined to do that at the time, so it was left.
Today I asked Tim to take a look at it, since he was the one who mended it last time. He removed a HUGE amount of dirt - I could hardly believe how much was trapped under the top cover and around the motor. Unfortunately that didn't make it work again. So he removed the bottom of the machine too, where the cutting blade is. There he discovered that some fittings had come loose, so he snapped them into place again, cleaned out yet more dirt... and it worked!
Now all I have to do is to find a time when it's cool enough to do some lawnmowing. The best time from my point of view would be about 6am but I don't think our neighbours would appreciate that. I suppose it will have to be an evening, but it's getting dark about 7.30pm now and is still very warm at that time.
Still, I did about 45 minutes' weeding this morning, around the trees and amongst the flowers (those that remain) at the far end of the garden. Sophia didn't wake me until after 7am, for which I was very grateful. But by 8.30 or so it was too hot and sticky for me to do anything more outside.
The only other constructive things I did today were to get our finances up-to-date in our Quicken software package, and to make some more lemonade as we'd run out. I am so grateful to the boys' friend who suggested we freeze lemon juice when we had a glut! Usually I have to stop making lemonade around mid-June, and can't resume again until at least the start of October, sometimes later, as lemons are small and green in the shops during the summer, and even more so on our trees.
But I still have four more litres of frozen lemon juice and rind, and making it is so much easier when all the preparation of washing, peeling and squeezing has been done in advance. I don't have enough to last till the end of September, but at least for another month. Next spring I'll make sure I freeze even more.
It was also declared, by the government, the first of three days of national mourning for the victims of the terrible air tragedy yesterday. Most of them were Cypriots. It's now thought they probably died before the plane crashed, either through lack of Oxygen, or extreme cold. A lot of people are saying Helios Air is dangerous; I had thought it was good to have a budget airline operating from Cyprus, but perhaps not if they're not careful enough about safety.
On Saturday when I gave the garden its weekly watering, I realised just how bad the weeds are getting. And the 'lawn' (ha!) needs cutting very badly. Richard did about 2/3 of it shortly before our anniversary party - so I suppose it was nearly four weeks ago now. Hardly surprising it needs cutting again, despite lack of rain. Around the trees there's even some grass although the majority is just weeds.
Unfortunately when Richard was cutting the grass - and intended to do the whole lot - the motor failed. This has happened two or three times before, and has been fixed by taking the lawnmower apart, cleaning out the dust and dirt (of which there is a lot during Summer in Cyprus) and spraying in a bit of WD-40. However Richard did not feel inclined to do that at the time, so it was left.
Today I asked Tim to take a look at it, since he was the one who mended it last time. He removed a HUGE amount of dirt - I could hardly believe how much was trapped under the top cover and around the motor. Unfortunately that didn't make it work again. So he removed the bottom of the machine too, where the cutting blade is. There he discovered that some fittings had come loose, so he snapped them into place again, cleaned out yet more dirt... and it worked!
Now all I have to do is to find a time when it's cool enough to do some lawnmowing. The best time from my point of view would be about 6am but I don't think our neighbours would appreciate that. I suppose it will have to be an evening, but it's getting dark about 7.30pm now and is still very warm at that time.
Still, I did about 45 minutes' weeding this morning, around the trees and amongst the flowers (those that remain) at the far end of the garden. Sophia didn't wake me until after 7am, for which I was very grateful. But by 8.30 or so it was too hot and sticky for me to do anything more outside.
The only other constructive things I did today were to get our finances up-to-date in our Quicken software package, and to make some more lemonade as we'd run out. I am so grateful to the boys' friend who suggested we freeze lemon juice when we had a glut! Usually I have to stop making lemonade around mid-June, and can't resume again until at least the start of October, sometimes later, as lemons are small and green in the shops during the summer, and even more so on our trees.
But I still have four more litres of frozen lemon juice and rind, and making it is so much easier when all the preparation of washing, peeling and squeezing has been done in advance. I don't have enough to last till the end of September, but at least for another month. Next spring I'll make sure I freeze even more.
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