Hay Bale Happiness

Ffffffrrreeeeezing

2012-01-12T17:20:00.004+02:00

Winter has definately arrived in the villlage and despite the central heating we have still had to give in and use the gas fires to warm individual rooms as we were getting through the diesel in the heating tank way too quickly. We were told that a tank would last us the whol season, ha ha ha...... half a tank lasted us one month, December, and winter hadn't really set in yet.......................................................

These old houses are great but, they do have their faults, they have thick walls, but nothing is insulated, not the walls or the roof and the windows don't shut tightly so the drafts are terrible. I was in the bathroom the other day and the shower curtain started moving, and I realised it was because of the draft coming in off the balcony despite the shutters and windows being closed. We only have light weight net curtains, so the warm air escapes quickly and the cool air gets in just as fast...............

Good job I wrapped up the BBQ for winter else it would have been dented.

Thankfully today we got Hail instead of heavy rain, as he rain has been coming in through the roof and we have been woken at crazy hours of the night with the sound of Drip drip drip and the feeling of water splashing past ones face,to find it dripping through the ceiling and into the room. Must admit I hadn't planned on life being quite this simple................................The land lord keeps threatening to come and fix it, it might get done by next winter!

If you have any ideas on how too keep warm in old village house in a montain village in Cyprus, like how to make heavy curtains, bearing in mind I don't sew, or what to uses as draft excluders, I would love to hear your ideas.

2011-12-23T10:55:00.002+02:00

Happy Christmas

What a lovely surprise, my gorgeous neighbour came round last night to deliver this beautiful homemade Christmas cake and cookies. How utterly wonderful to live in a place where people still value these sorts of gifts. I was really touched.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and happy time.

Christmas Menu

2011-12-20T16:30:00.009+02:00

We had some friends over the other day for dinner, and I really wanted to give the eveing a festive feel, but didnt not want to duplicate the meal of Christmas day,I wanted to produce something a bit different,something that you would not really see in a restaurant here in Cyprus, then.... I found these gorgeous venison steaks.

We played around with ideas and this was the menu that between us we came up with.

Merry Christmas!

Welcome to our winter wonderland
Starter
Wild Mushroom Pate
A blend of wild mushrooms, garlic and thyme.
Main Course
Venison Melange
Slow stewed New Zealand Venison in a plum balsamic jus served on a bed of parsnip puree, accompanied by sautéed red cabbage and peas.
Dessert
Very Berry Pantone and Cream
Warm crème de cassis berries ladled over a light Italian Christmas sponge and drizzled with cream.
Cheese board
A selection of cheese and biscuits
Coffee and Liqueur

We definately had a wonderful eveing and by the sounds of the lovely words of encouragement that we got from our guets the next day, so did they.....................................................................

What a beautiful home you have and how wonderfully you maintain it.You put our place to shame.The dinner was wonderful and it was so nice to see another couple working as a team like we do.You two are so in tune you are a pleasure to watch.Your table was beautifully laid and the food did you credit.The wine was very complimentary and over all the evening was an absolute delight.Thank you for making us so welcome.

Love the 2 Jays.

Here's hoping that you have a Very Merry Christmas!

Painting

2011-12-20T14:51:00.003+02:00

Hey Dad,

This one is for you, for all the joy and beauty and colour that you brought into our lives.

2011-12-16T11:18:00.007+02:00

My Grandfather was a wonderful artist, he used to do sculptures and calligraphy, but he also used to paint the most beautiful pictures in watercolour and oil, so when he died I felt compelled to have some of the tools with which he used to create those beautiful paintings and I had them framed and they hang proudly on our lounge wall along with some of his paintings.

I thought a lot of my Grandfather and having his brushes and paints around me gave me comfort and I realised that I had wished I had asked him to teach me to paint, I wish I had found the time back in the late 80's/90's to sit with him in his room lost in his own world of imagination and colour. I didn't.... but inspired by his things one day not long after he had passed away in 98 I sat down, got out his travel kit of watercolours and asked him to show me.................................................... This is what came out.

By no means spectacular, but I was really surprised to find that somewhere deep inside me there was a vision for shape and colour and listening to Pink Floyd's Division Bell brought this on to paper.

I can't draw to save my life and what you see here is just childs play, experimenting, as I did here when I remembered the shapes on my sarongs when I was traveling through Asia, and the lovely Aboriginal art in Australia.

I would love to be able to really paint, you know do landscapes and scenery, capturing the sunlight on a cobbled Cypriot street, or grasping the movement of poppies blowing in a field at spring time, but unfortunately that just isn't there, but, I do quite like this one that I did of sunset from Jumeirah Beach in Dubai. Seems like the paintbrush had a mind of it's own that day and just kept on swirling.

Later,with a bit of extra time on my hands, just before leaving Dubai in 2009, inspired by our trips to Cyprus and having been given two lovely Cypriot ornaments a Cat and a Mouflon, from friends who have property in Polis, I sat down one day and created this...............................

Cypriot Cat

Some what psychedelic, but full of cheer and happiness of an October day on the island.

Mouflon in Paphos Forest

Then after a trip through the Paphos forest, into the Cedar Valley and on to the Kykkos Monastery, on a day wheN we saw lots of wild Moflon, I produced this and gave it to my parents for a present. I thought it would go into the back of a wardrobe never to be seen again, but my Mum has it proudly hanging on her wall. I guess she is being kind to me.

Since then the paints and brushes have been packed up in boxes and like the rest of our stuff, has been moved from pillar to post. I haven't found the time nor had the inclination to get them out again, which is a real shame because one of our reasons for choosing Cyprus to live in was that when we used to come here on holiday the colours and brightness and change of seasons inspired both od us so much in life. So over the past 2 and a half years, the paints and the canvas have been tucked away in boxes in a corner somewhere. But every time I look out from our terrace across the incredible view that we have, there has been a niggle inside me to get out those brushes. I have ingnored that niggle as I so wish that I could paint the view, but sadly that will never be the case.

However, the other day it was as if Grandpa and Dad had suddenly walked in the room and kicked me into action. Something told me to forget wether I am good at it or not, what is important is ' ENJOYING' what you do in life. Having the time and making the time to do the things that come from within, to allow ones mind,imagination to sence and feel the shapes and colours of life, to be able to express oneself in whatever way one feels comfortable and to release and understand ones emotion. So on Wednesday I spent the entire day engrosed in this.

Masai in Amboseli

Kwaheri Bwana Tembo

Kwaheri Bwana Tembo is now in the making, I hope to get it finished over the next week or so. It is a shame, don't you think that so often in life it takes the death of a loved one to give us inspiration,to make us do, maybe their passing allows us to open our minds and realise that one should live life for who and what we are.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend just being who and what you are. Enjoy!

Vines, Leaves and Mesphila

2011-12-12T12:28:00.007+02:00

The last of the grapes and leaves were furociously blown off next doors vine in the big winds that we had last week

The roof of our new shed was covered as was the whole of the coutyard and I spent a fair few hours sweeping it into piles only to have to stop for a down pour of what I can only describe as slush puppy rain. The temperatures have dropped quite dramatically here in the mountians and recently at night it has been as low as 3 degrees Brr.........

Then Nico's got to work picked the last of the grapes, it was supprising how many there were and stripped the whole vine bare.

Thank fully back in late October the Mesphila ( Loquot ) tree came into bud

And now it's fragrant blossom fills the air of the courtyard.

And falls like snowflakes onto the stone adding to the feeling of cozyness in the countdown to Christmas.

The bees hum around the flowers duitifully pollinating so hopefully we will have a good harvest of fruit in the spring.

Capsicum Cat

2011-12-12T11:59:00.003+02:00

We missed out 'AGAIN' ! there have been plenty of Capsicum on our bush this year, and we managed to have ONE in our salad in the early part of the summer........................

And when we first started to find half eaten capsicum on the balcony I thought that the tree rats had climbed the wall to steal them, either that or the rats had jumped from the neighbours tree but that is a fair distance away, we were very perplexed as to what was happening.....................................

But then we found our little theif, caught him red handed.

It is our tom cat Impi who has had the lot!!!!! Munched his way through the entire harvest and took the last of the season from bush right in front of our eyes. Along with nicking pieces of Cucumber, and running off with bits of pumpkin I think we can safely say that this one has no problem with his 5 a day.......................

A glass of bubbles for my friend Carlo please.

2011-12-09T15:35:00.008+02:00

Our trip back to Cyprus after Dad's funeral was interesting to say the least. TBH was booked on Wed 09th November, departing Manchester 09.15 arrival Larnaca 16.00. So knowing that I was going to be in a rather emotional state I went on line and booked myself on the same flight, Wed 09 Nov, dep Man 09.15 arr Lca 16.00, sorted..... not. But naturally my CC had already been debited and my E ticket issued, when I realised that the flight number showing on my ticket was different than that showing on TBH'S.

MMMMMMMM so I called the airline in question who's agent informed me that ' yes, there were two flights of their airline departing at the same time on the same date from Manchester to Larnaca ZB 640 and ZB 552! But she said ZB 640 is full.' TBH was booked on ZB 640..............................

Problem........ it didn't tell me that on the internet, oh no it just gave me the one option, ZB 552 so basically TBH and I were booked and had tickets to fly Wed 09th November from Manchester to Larnaca departing 09.15 arriving 16.00, BUT would have been on different aircraft!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I had to cancel TBH's booking and re-book him onto my flight because that had room and that cost us 60 Pounds. Then as TBH is 6 foot 5 inches in height, we paid for the extra leg room. Great, we were now both booked on ZB 552. Hurray.

However,we also wanted to take with us a violin of my Grandfather's ( he died 13 years ago) that is sentimentally very very precious to me. We figured that we would take it as hand baggage, but then suddenly thought that it was not ' THE RIGHT DIMENSIONS' so I called the airline and sure enough they informed me that no I could not take it as hand luggage, but I could put it in the hold for 25 ponds. No! screamed TBH it is too precious to go in the hold and it will get badly dammaged, so I asked the agent what other option I had....... ' You will have to pay for a seat'.... what I said a seat a whole seat.... for the violin???? are you serious? ' YES' replies the agent, right I said so how much will that cost me, ' 124 pounds, oh and the extra for the leg room cause you are in extra leg room seats'................................................................................

And so Carlo Storioni was booked on ZB 552 Wed 09th November Departing Manchester 09.15 Arriving Larnaca 16.00 with extra leg room seat, BUT he wasn't allowed to take handbaggage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, we paid a whole seat for the violin and were not allocated a handbaggage allowance, but it doesn't end there, oh no.....

Of to Manchester we go and check in on Wed 09th Nov on ZB 552 and the check in guy says, ' oh you are lucky your flight is pretty empty , only 32 pasengers on board'

Really I reply behind a gritted smile, well there would have been plenty of room for my friend Carlo here then wouldn't there, as I hand him the violins ticket and he drops his head in shame as he issues a boarding card for the violin.

I was also carrying some of my fathers ashes, thankfully we didn't need a seat for them , however it had to be declared at the security gate so as not to have been arrested for drug smuggling. So...... with Dad boxed up in the wheely bin, and grandpa ( AKA CARLO STORIONI) wrapped neatly in bubble wrap and cradled under TBH's arm we made our way through to the final depature gate.

As we waited we could hear the ground staff preping the flight and saying ' yeah don't know why they have put two flights on, I mean ZB 552 has only got 31 Passengers on board.'

Yes I want to scream, 31 passengers and the 32nd seat is for the violin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can rest assured that Carlo Storioni remaind seated in his extra leg room seat through out the duration of the flight with his seatbelt tightly fastened................................................

Oh the joys of travel in the 21st century!

ZB 640 flew parallel to us, but I think we touched down before her.

2011-11-09T23:16:00.002+02:00

Hey Dad,
I saw you..... The shooting star that raced across the valley and shone Sooo bright across the dark night skies when WE! finally arrived back in Cyprus this evening.
We have all had a tough 3 weeks and are exhausted from our physical, mental and emotional journey.
Letting you go is the hardest thing I have ever had to do.
I miss you so very much....................................................

'When all has come to pass,

The storm has breathed it's last,

and the rain...., has washed their fears away

Love will fall on us all

and we can smile again.'

Whispers in a dream. Hayley Westernra.

Kwaheri Bwana Tembo

2011-10-27T14:53:00.007+03:00

Hi Dad,
I am sitting here in your room with all your things around me and I am comforted by that. I have had to borrow your dressing gown as I didn't have room for mine in my hand luggaged that I haistily packed to get here on Saturday after you had suffered a massive heart attack. I love wearing it, it makes me feel like you are wrapping your arms around me, and making me feel safe and warm like you always did when I was a child. I raced to be with you Daddy and you must have heard me when I was talking to you on the flight, casue you pulled through for me and gave me the chance to be with you and hold you and love you and the smile that you gave us when you finally woke was priceless. Thank you so much for being so brave and so strong and sacrificing everything right up until your last breath so that I could have my chance to say goodbye.You have been the best father anyone could ever ask for and I am so grateful to you for everything that you have ever done and given to me over our lifes journey together. No matter the vast oceans between us, you have always been there for me encouraging and supporting me to be the woman you always knew I could become. Mum is being really brave and strong, you would be so proud of her......... she is getting everything done and is being really efficient even though her heart is broken.
You will be amazed by the support and wishes that are coming in for you from all over the world, from Dubai, Cyprus,Turkey, Bermuda, Australia, Holland, South Africa, the love is being sent and people are thinking of you. You were a very special man Bwana Tembo and you touched many peoples lives.
It is 24 hours since you passed away and I can tell you that we have all missed you every second of that time, as we will miss you every second of every day for the rest of our lives. You will always be in our thoughts and our hearts.
Kwaheri Bwana Tembo, Assanti Sana.....................................

Special Delivery

2011-09-30T10:55:00.008+03:00

My Neighbour called out from over the wall ' ARE YOU THERE?' ' yes ' I replied ' Open the front door, Maria is here'

Ooooooh I was so excited!!! On request my gorgeous neighbour had called Maria who's husband owns a goat farm just outside the village...... and there all bunddled up in it's little package was my very own special delivery. My hands wrokd imapitiently to undo the knot on the bag........

...... and then it was free ' Hello Home made Halloumi ' I shouted with glee, mmmm the smell of the fresh mint in the bag was devine too, how awsome is this, yummy fresh halloumi chese from goats who meander through the nearby fields, made by the fair hands of a fellow villager.

As instructed I carefully removed each piece and placed it lovingly and gently into the ' Halloumi pot' my neighbour kindly given me.

And poured the remaining liquid from the bag over it, to keep it moist but it also makes it more salty too.

We haven't yet grilled any on the BBQ however, it did arrive just in time for our recent guests to enjoy it thinly sliced on a bed of fresh Cypriot tomatoes covered in fresh home grown basil and local organic olive oil......mmmmm what an absoloute treat!

Africa Ambiance Night

2011-08-18T16:39:00.007+03:00

Electronic Invitation

We had a few people to thank for their kindness, generosity and hospitality over the recent months and weeks, so we decided to throw a dinner party last Saturday. TBH and I agreed on an African theme and I set about creating an invitaion. I really wanted to use some of the wonderful photographs that TBH had taken during our visit's to Africa, however I did not have time to make, print and send them, so I taught myself how to make and electronic invitation using microsoft publisher. Simple for some, but it took me a whole day, however I was really pleased with the results.

Then I put my head down to create a menu, I wanted a meal that was going to incorporate a mix of different African flavours. So I searched the internt and re read my African cook books and finally came up with this.....

Click on the photo and you will be able to see the menu.

So last Saturday I emmersed myself for the day in the kitchen grinding spices and chopping onions and tantalising my tastebuds with inviting aromas wafting through the kitchen. I was rather nervous as I had not made some of the dishes before and I am a bit of a stickler for cooking what I know I can do, but it was good to push the boundaries a little and step outside of the comfort zone.

I used Bouganvillia to decorate the table.

We prepared the house with the usual candles and solar lights and Tbh made sure there was lots of wonderful African tunes on our Ipod, Habib Kote, Johnny Clegg, Vieux Farka Toure to name a few.

The Africa Day Bed

All good lodges in Africa greet yu after your long hot journey with a cold towel and a welcome drink, and Tbh came up with teh idea to do the same. So we soaked some face clothes in water and kept them cool in the fridge in a tupple ware box soaking in eau de colone giving a wondrful refreshing start to our guest's evening. the welcome drink was a Tigoni Teaser, made of Passion fruit and Papaya juice with a dash of rum and we served freshly roasted cashew nuts sitting on the terrace enjoying the view.

Stavaravouni in the distance.

The evening flowed well as did the conversation by eased the flow of South African Chennin blanc and Pinotage which we were able to get from a local supermarket.

The dinner table.

The ingredients were not extraveganet, nor were the decorations, but with a little imagination and a lot of love in the gift of giving food, I hope that our guests had an enjoyable evening. We had a great time doing it.

Day Bed Bench

2011-08-15T11:04:00.007+03:00

We are increadibly lucky to have a large terrace with a beautiful view. Mid afternoon the wind picks up and by early evening as the sun sets behind us, the verandah is one of the best places to be during the sizzling summer heat. ( we don't have AC) So after having searched our minds for ideas, we decided we needed a day bed out there. Somewhere to lounge so to speak and to bring a certain Arabic/Swahili element to the balcony.Initially we pumped up a single blow up bed that we had, but the cats had a wee argument on there and managed to puncture it.

Then I went on line looking for second hand wooden day beds, and found nothing in Cyprus appart from the very expensive ' modern PLASTIC wicker' which would not really match with the house. Added to this we really wanted to reuse and recycle. We went to the local skip to see if we could find anything there that we could make it with, but had no luck............

So I was delighted when TBH said ' I have some pallets at work we could cut them to size and use them' and so that is exactly what he did........

Thankfully Tbh's colleague helped him with the design and the idea began to take shape.

Then we used wood glue to stick the pieces for the legs together.

And weighed them down with stones to stick whilst we put everything in place ready to be put together.

If you click on the photograph you will see that we managed to get 3 EUR stamps for all 3 legs. I thought it was quite appropriate being as we were practiacally making it for free aside from a lot of determination hard graft and sweat. ( building furniture in 33 degrees heat is hot work)

Tbh, was fortunate enough to have been able to borrow some tools from work and hence managed to screw all the pieces together and hey presto the Day bed bench was made.

We threw on a sleeping bag to give it some softness along with a throw and some cushions that we had tucked away in storage.As you see one member of the family immediately made himself very much at home. It was a great feeling to have imagined something and to have thought ' out side the box' so to speak to find a way to make it happen using recycled materials. We will try to treat the wood before the rains come and intend to use it as a plant stand during the winter months.

What do you think? Have you ever made furniture from pallets? I would love to know your ideas of what can be done using recycled materials to make furniture. Leave your comments in the comment box below.

Frightening Flames

2011-08-07T12:05:00.012+03:00

This was the bush fire that we wittnessed from our balcony last night. It is amaizing what an optical illusion it was as it appeared, as you can see in the pictures to be very close, and to have started in an orchard below and was moving swiftly down the valley.

With in 10 minutes it had spread vastly and I was very worried that if the wind changed it would be heading towards the village, So I had PP and important doc's on hand and was ready for getting the cats into the car for evacuation if needs be.

As the flames rose mightily into the night sky and the air was filled with the smell of smoke, I was frustrated as it seemed that the fire trucks were not getting near it........and I could not understand why, however as it began to die down it took on a triangular shape and then I realised that the fire was actually climbing a montain the other side of the valley. These places have difficult access in day light let alone night time. The fire had begun just after sunset, hence we knew it had not been started by a a glass bottle thrown in the bush. I stayed up until 02.30 am untill it finally died down.............

Click on the photo to enlarge.

This morning at 06.00 literally as the sun came up we heard the 2 fire fighter planes from Larnaca were out and we could see them circling around and around the valley, then one went far out turned left and came back towards us and down the side of the mountain and dropped foam across the hillside. The second one was still going around and then......... swooped down between the peaks and WOOOSH up the side of the mountain dropping his foam in the best piece of flying manoeuvre I have EVER seen. I honestly thought he was going to crash into the side he was so close.

It looks like snow but this is the foam

Sadly we didn’t get pictures of this, but rushed to get dressed and jumped in the car heading down into the valley to the scene in case the planes came in for another round. We came across some tired fire fighters who were still keeping a watchful eye on the smouldering bushes and it was quite clear by their reactions that yes.......the fire had started right next to the road so it is HIGHLY likely that some idiot threw his cigarette butt out of his car window. Thankfully there are very few, but very remote houses that are up there, and somehow they were spared..................
In the light of day it showed clearly what a fantastic job these firemen do,throwing themselves into danger at the expence of someone elses stupidity.

Hats off to them and the incredible fire fighting pilots.

Sam's Special Spaghetti Sauce

2011-07-20T13:19:00.007+03:00

Sam's home grown beef tomatoes.

Sam is the son of my dear friend Deb, and when we left Mazatos Sam was starting to show an interest in growing his own veg. So we donated our veggie box to him as it was too big to fit on our terrace. He has subsiquently planted loads of other things in his garden and has become really good at producing different varieties of Tomatoes, he also has cucumbers, maize,strawberries,spring onions, lettuce, corriander and basil.

Sam's home grown spring onions

Most lad's of his age,15 would not even be aware that veg comes from anything other than a can or a freezer bag so I find it really encouraging that he has shown such an interest and is being so successful with it. So I was delighted the other day when his Mum passed by for a cuppa and gave me a basket full of goodies from Sam's garden. What a beautiful gift.......

Our herb garden.

So I got to work, picked some basil from our herb garden, the basil Sam gave me I am going to see if I can root it and add it to our collection. Then I blanched the tomatoes until the skins split, then peeled them and chopped them. I chopped the spring onions and diced a normal white onion and some garlic, sauted this in some olive oil.

All the lovely ingredients.

I added the tomatoes, brown sugar, worctershire sauce, and salt, let it simmer to reduce down.

Home made tomato sauce.

In the evening TBH boiled up some brown pasta and grated some parmasan, re heated the sauce and hey presto.... dinner was served.

Sam's special spaghetti sauce.

What better way to end a day than sitting on the terrace watching the clouds cast long shadows across the distant mountains enjoying a meal of home grown, home cooked food.

THANKS SAM!

Saving Cyprus Energy

2011-07-15T11:59:00.005+03:00

We should all be concerving energy in order to help save this planet for future generations, and yes every little bit does help, and yes you can make a difference.

Solar lights up the staircase.

The disater on July 11th in which the Vassiliko power station was destroyed, is a prime example of just how easy it is for us to be thrown back to basics with out electricity and without water. However, it should not take something like this for people to realise that we MUST conserve energy. The world is rapidly running out of these resources and we simple cannot sustain this way of life.

Unfortunately Cyprus is very much behind the times in this instance, with energy saving only just on the frindges of conversation, talked about more recently beacause of this disaster. But in a country where there is very little water, but where solar power is in abundance to heat water, one would have thought that, it would be more aware of energy conservation.

Instead I freaquently see patios being hosed down with good drinking water, cars being washed and hosepipes gushing water down the streets, airconditioning units running day and night. TV'S balring out whilst people are asleep in front of them.

The fact is Electricity in Cyprus is the most expensive in Europe and with us now having to buy at an even higher price from outside sources, we will definately feel the difference in those energy bills. Perhaps those who manage to lower their energy bills should be rewarded, to encourage people to start taking notice, and stop waisting electricity and water.

When we lived in Mazatos our first electricity bill was 125 EURO per month. By the time we left I had got it down to 60 EURO per month. So being mindful about what you are using, saves energy for the planet and puts money into your savings account.

So here are few tips on concerving electricity and water if you have any other suggestions perhaps you would share them with us in the comments box.

1.Turn off the TV. Don't have it. Talk with your loved ones, play board games, paint, be creative. We have not had TV for nearly 2 years.

2.Use solar powered lighting wherever possible, all our outside lighting is solar powered.

3.Put in energy saving light bulbs, all our inside bulbs are energy saving light bulbs.

4.Turn lights off when you are not in the room.

5.Turn electrical equipment like TV's, DVD players, off at the wall, you would be supprised at the amount of electricity that still flows when they are on sleep mode.

6.Use fans instead of A/C units.

7. If you must use A/C keep it at 26 degrees this is the most econmical.

8.Sleep outside under a mosquito net the you don't need AC.

9.Use your gas BBQ to bake cakes, bread, cook roast's, quiches ect.

10.Put your washing on at night just before you go to bed, electricity consumption is much less then and the cost is less.

11. Stop using the dishwasher and wash up by hand.

12.Sweep and mop instead of using a hoover. Use the dirty water to water your plants.

13. Invest in a Slow cooker, they are far more economical than an oven.

14.Collect the water that runs before it gets hot and use it to water your plants, or collect it over a few days in several buckets to clean your car or fluch your toilet.

15.Fill kettles and pots and pans for cooking with the cold water that runs before it gets hot.

16. Collect the water form your A/C units to water your garden or wash your patio.

17.Think twice about having a pool. It is very expensive to run a pump on a pool and keeping the water topped up in the summer months uses a lot of much needed drinking water.

Solar Powered Lights.

What ever you do, just do your bit.

A Nation In Grief

2011-07-14T09:33:00.008+03:00

It is a very sad and difficult time for people here on this beautiful island of Cyprus.

Yesterday 8 funerals took place there will be more...........

Today, now as I write a mother is preparing to bury her son's 19 year old twin brothers born together, they died side by side,tragically, on Monday.

We woke in Lefkara 17 Kilometeres away, to the massive BOOM of the horrific blast that ripped through the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base, destroying the islands main power plant, knocking out windows in neigbouring villages, and dropping debry all over the motorway.

The whole thing could have been avoided and these souls still with us, but the warnings that the 98 containers full of confiscated explosives, sitting for 2 years in the stifling heat, were on the brink of explosion, fell on deaf ears???????????????????????

No one listened to the warnings, no one cared what might happen, as they had their own agenda for the ammunition.

Now not 12 but 13 people have died as another 19 year old who clung to the edges of life has been annonced brain dead after his fatal injuries.

Why why why..............................

To all who are injured I wish you a speedy and full recovery.

To all of those who have lost their loved ones, I do not know you, but believe me my heart goes out to you, I cannot take away your pain but please know that I am thinking of you in these dark and difficult days and I along with most of Cyprus feel your grief.

May your loved ones rest in peace.

A New Dawn at Maridadi Kabisa

2011-07-13T17:10:00.017+03:00

Sun rise from the Terrace at Maridadi Kabisa

Three house moves in less than 18 months is definatey not recomended, and that is the reason why I havent posted here for quite some time ....... we moved AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

The archway is the entrance to Maridadi Kabisa

As the saying goes be careful what you wish for you never know where the roads of life will take you.

The lane leading upto Maridadi Kabisa from the church

We were lucky enough to be renting for a very reasonable price a very large modern 3 bedroomed villa with a private pool, and yes to many it would have been a dream home but it really wasn't us. Nothing about it felt cosy, and though the pool was lovely in the summer, the sight of all the dead insects and animals (field mice and lizzards get stuck coming to drink water), and the cost of running it with the electricity for the pump and the chemicals, along with the consumption of water needed to top it up during the summer months just didn't bode well with us on our quest to live a more simple life. So we had started to think about looking for an alternative, however we had already signed the contract on the previous place for another year and were not about to break that contract as we are true to our word. Added to this my parents had also rented a property in the village for 3 months so we settled down for another year.

The Church of the Holly Cross lit up at night.

However, the bells started ringing when I signed the contract with the then landlord,as he was not worried about making sure he had a witness.......this seemed rather strange to me, I had briefly worked with him in his real estate company in Dubai and he was usually a stickler for crossing eyes and dotting t's when it came to contratcs.

A beautiful hand made plate that we Dad gave us from Bellapaix.

A few weeks later he and his fiancee ( now wife) flew in from Cairo to make arrangements for their wedding blessing. I had offered to take Natasha to the florists and the bakers and during the day I noticed that she was asking funny questions like ' how easy had I found it to fit in to Cypriot society'. I had asked them both as I did again on this ocassion would it not be worth them coming to Cyprus to live and work, ' no!' was the response, there isn't the money to be made here' He is a financial advisor of the opinion that the money here was not big enough for him. So I thought we were safe and sound.......

We had lived with mould and damp in the hallway of the Mazatos villa for over a year, and the outside storm drain ran straight onto the patio and into the pool, bringing with it pigeon poo from the roof (another reason not to use the pool) so when suddenly Al emailed to say that he would like someone to come in and fix it I knew for sure that some thing was brewing. As we all know there's never smoke without fire.....

Maridadi Kabisa's 2 Kleftiko ovens in our courtyard.

I felt VERY uneasy and instinctive fear of being unsettled raged within me, so I suggested to TBH that we start looking for an alternative just in case and so the search began...........we retraced our steps through surrounding villages,looked at the usual villas and appartments on new developements, we searched websites for something inspiring, but nothing was hitting any buttons for us. We both knew that since leaving Dubai we had wanted something alternative, something different, something not so main stream. Something that would lead us closer to living the simple life that we have craved for so long.

Maridadi Kabisa ..the stairs leading from our courtyard to the terrace.

Then things blew up in Cairo where Al and Natasha lived and though, as I had instinctivly known they were planning to move to Cyprus for some time........this was now their excuse to regain their property and we were given 3 months notice 2 months into our years contract. ( Apparently the land lord has to honour his contract to it's end but I did not find this out until after the event) So it was now imperative that we found somewhere.I put an add on Anglo Info Cyprus asking if anyone had a Traditional Village House in certain villages. A TVH wasn't something we had ever thought about before, but it is amazing what you find behind those walls and padlocked doors. Luckily it did not take long for us to get a reply. Would you like to come and see a place that I have in Lefkara.

Maridadi Kabisa upstairs terrace and bedrooms.

With much excitment we went to view the property and fell in love as soon as the doors were opened. A courtyard downstairs is home to 2 mespilla ( Loquot ) trees which give much welcomed shade in the stifling summer heat. Archways and beemed ceilings give typical Cypriot character, and the four poster beds with traditional mosquito nets are incredibly romantic. The view is to die for and as we stood out on the terrace overlooking the mountains a rainbow crossed the skies. I knew I had found my croc of gold.

The view from Maridadi Kabisa looking out over the village and mountains.

So.... once again we packed up boxes, scrubbed up floors, bleached out cupboards and polished up windows. In the process I insisted that we get rid of even more' STUFF' letting go of more of our previous life, donating clothes to charity shops, giving multiple unread books to second hand book stores and passing on that huge frying pan that I only used once on a camping trip.

For some reason this was an incredibly stressful move, perhaps due to the previous landlord turning rather nasty over the return of our deposit. It put a hudge strain on TBH and I tested our patients, pushing our limits. Thankfully with my parents unconditional love and support we raised above it and we are now settling into our beautiful new home.

View of the village from the church.

Lefkara is wonderful, central to all major cities, it boasts it's own police fire and ambulace department, a small hospital, a post office, a supermarket, 3 banks and it's infamous lace and silver shops. It is everything one would wish for in a medetarranian mountain village with red roofed houses, cobbled alleyways, trailing grape vines and traditional taverna's. Adamos is our favorite, not just for his delicious Cypriot food with a twist, like his Drunken Chicken( grilled chicken with a creamy ouzo flavoured sauce) and home grown olives, but he has such a fantastic character. Some of our best afternoons are sitting with him hearing stories of the olden days.

We walk down to the nearby fruitaria for locally grown fruit and veg and there we can also buy fresh village eggs, which have glourious golden yolks.

Fresh village eggs.

We continue to try to grow some of our own veg on our balcony, cucumbers,tomaotes, peppers, melons and pumkin are in troughs as we speak.

Cucumber trailing the balcony.

There is an array of herbs potted in the courtyard, thyme, sage, mint, and basil and the local lavender gives off a beautiful aroma.

It is fabulous to be submerged in Cypriot culture and we have the most wonderful neighbours, friendly and so incredibly helpful. The other day we were gifted a jar of home made apricot jam, with apricots grown in her daughters garden,not only did it taste fabulous,but the gesture itself meant the world to me. What better way of being welcomed than with a gift of food made from the heart.

Apricot jam from our adorable neighbour.

There is still much work to be done to achieve a more simple sustainable lifestyle, but finally after 2 long years we feel as though we are now really living our Cypriot dream. We have finally found home and we call it Maridadi Kabisa, it means absolutely beautiful in swahili, and that is what we think our home is.

Lefkara Lunar Eclipse

2011-06-16T09:33:00.009+03:00

I have been fortunate enough to have seen 2 total solar eclipces but last night from our balcony in our new home ( yes we moved again will blog about it soon) we were on ' The Dark Side Of The Moon' so to speak. When the sun set there was a very eery light across the mountains and we watched as the moon came out across the sea.

Then it began.............................

You can see the shadow of black slowly crossing over the moon

And as the shadow, which I believe is the shadow of planet Earth being in front of the sun,

Crept across the face of the moon you can see the fading crest of the sun's light.

The moon began to take on an orange glow.

And it was almost as if it had become a night sun glowing brightly in the dark night sky.

It was a beautiful experience to see this, very humbling, nature's clear reminder that we are so small in the whole magnitude of the universe.

Cyprus Snow

2011-02-16T08:44:00.002+02:00

We listen to BFBS which is the British Forces Broadcasting Service, mainly because it has some really good music on it, and during their weather forcast at this time of year they always comment on how cold it is at Troodos Camp and let one know how much snow is on the ski slopes. This all sounds really bizare when one is looking out to sea under clear blue skies, basking in the sunshine. Admitedly it has dropped down in temperature by the coast, but the idea that we could go into the mountains and find a winter wonderland was just unimaginable. So a couple of weekends back curiosity got the better of us and we set off for Mount Olympus.

We kept climbing and climbing and no sign of any snow, even when we got to Platres, nothing, and I said to TBH, 'this is a myth, they are having a laugh, there is no snow..................... '

When suddenly a car went past with what looked like the remains of a snow man on the left hand side of it's bonnet. 'snow!' I screamed, ' where' said TBH and by that time of course the car had gone past, added to which he was looking for it on the land not the front of cars,further we climed and then there it was scattered sporadically under the trees little piles of snow! Then there were the cars with skis on top and folk with wooly hats and scarves, with wet hair and chattering teeth, and eventually, we too were throwing snow balls and walking in a winter wonderland. It was so amaizing, it was deap enough for people to ski, snowboard,tobogan and it seemed as though the whole of Cyprus was up there and it was a real carnival type atmosphere.

Crepes were being freshly cooked by the side of the road and sold to passers by along with roasted chestnuts and toffee apples. Kids were squeeling with laughter and adults were behaving like kids. A truly magical day a truly magical place, Cyprus in the Snow.

Spaying, Praying and Soup

2011-01-14T16:43:00.007+02:00

I have spent the week nursing Chi Chi back to health after her having been spayed. Just a routine operation one might guess, and yes it was, however, she was given back to us still heavily sedated, and when she began to come round she was totally distraught and not having been given any long term pain killers, the poor wee thing was in agony and spent the first few days screaching in pain, trying to attack the wound as she knew that was what was hurting her. She wouldn't eat or drink that latter being the most important and was becoming increasingly dehydrated. At one point I truly thought we had lost her. I spent many a moment on the floor lifting her listless little head and force feeding water into her through a syringe and finally managed to get Tuna water down her and that seemed to be enough to kick the appetite into gear and she is now thankfully well on the way to recovery.

I have also cherished every moment I can with TBH all the cats and freinds. It is so easy to take everything that we have around us for graunted, until suddenly, it's gone. We have friends in Aussie,living in both Towoomba and Brisbane,and we also have friends from Sri Lanka and I have seen and been in the shanties of Rio, where life is on the edge at the best of times. So many have lost their homes, crops, livestock gone,pets drowned and worst of all friends and families washed away in a split second in a torrent of water. None of us know what any moment can bring and my heart goes out to everyone who has lost, and is now battling to survive a dunting an uncertain future.I only hope that through disaster people will come together and help each other, building stronger relationships, to help get through the worst.

I hope that our litttle village never has to endure such natural disater.This is where many in our community meet and exchange stories, the local fruit and veg market that is here rain or shine, swealtering or freezing. Every Thursday it is a buzz in the village and as you can see there is an abundance of fruit and veg on offer. Unlike my veggie box which has not really been a success.I stocked up with goddies and made my way back up the hill, pleased as punch with my purchase and pinched a couple of Lemons off a friends tree on the way past.

I snipped a couple of sprigs of basil off a plant that was growing in the street too and I hope to get it to root. Then I will plant it out the front with the lavender and rosemary that we ( thanks Mum) planted at the end of last year. But for the moment it's fragrance is filling the air in the kitchen it is just devine.

The weather has really turned today and it has become very very cold. All of us here in the house are heading to the warmest corner we can find, which isn't always easy in a building with no central heating, insulation, curtains or draft excluder. Extra layers are a must and I am now even more thankful to those who sent me winter wollies, socks and scarves for Christmas. They will be very useful now as we brace ourselves for an 8 degrees inside temperature. I gave in however this afternoon and let Kissora gain some heat energy from the halogen lamp. Shame the poosr cats don't have extra layers to put on.

I also used some of what I got at the market yesterday, this afternoon. There is nothing for it in this sort of weather but to snuggle up with a good movie and a nice hot bowl of home made cauliflower and bacon soup.

If only all the worlds problems could be solved with a bowl of soup hey. Take care and have a warm and safe weekend folks.

Shhsh... it's midnight.

2011-01-07T11:09:00.007+02:00

There was a time when New Years Eve was one of the biggest nights in the year for me. In the weeks running up to the big event there would be numerous visits to Ishwar the tailors for fittings to try on the latest gown that was being made, and tooing and frowing from shops for the accesories to match. Then in more recent years there were parties at home, with wild mushroom pate and pink champagne, watching the fireworks from our balcony across the ever changing Dubai Sky line. They were fantastic times and I have very found memories of them and the people that I shared them with, however every year hidden behind the party facade was a deap yearing to find a simpler quiter pace of life, a need to be away from the madding crowd,where being me without the party frock and full face of makeup was acceptable.

This year my wish came true, both TBH and I had been a bit off colour so to speak, and though the pub in the village was doing their usual NYE bash, neither of us really felt it was our scene, so we chose to stay home alone. We sipped the most exquisite Roast Chestnut and Parsnip soup made by TBH'S own fair hands and I thrashed him at scrabble. By 11.15pm we were tucked up in bed, drinking Bellini's overlooking the twinkling lights of the village in the valley bellow, antisipating a few fireworks at midnight.......................... we heard 2 gun shots and that was it. Happy New Year.

At the time I was somewhat dissapointed and I suppose felt cheated in a way of my big night bash, but in hindsight I realise I have been on a long journey to reach this stage in my life and when I awoke on New Years Day, to bright sunshine across the emerald green fields,with a clear head and no clearing up to do, there was nothing else to do but get out there and enjoy every breath of fresh air and see some more of this beautiful island we live on.

We headed towards the village of Pyla, the only village on the Greek Cypriot side of the border where the villagers Turkish and Greek refused to be divided during the 1974 war. We crossed the border at Pygros and drove North across the empty plains of the pan handle towards the dominant mountain range, through small villages dotted along the slopes, where churches are now homes to the local pigeons. We climed through the pineforest, the views are glourious looking back across Famagusta bay to the South and then once you go over the crest the sheer drop of the montains and view down to the sea simply takes ones breath away. We found our way to Kantara Castle perched on the cliff edge overlooking the Karpaz Peninsula, it is where Isaac Komnenos is supposed to have surrendered to Richard the Lionheart in 1119.

We didn't go in as we figured this would be a good thing to share with the next visitors that we have, but check out the vista from the car park!

We continued our journey meandering down the hillside towards the rugged coastline through the village of Kaplica where we found a nice spot in a restraunt on the beach to have lunch overlooking the sea.

We pootled along the old coast road and found a wonderful place where they have wooden chalets on the beach that one can stay in.We intend to return in the not too distant future before the tourists arrive and engulf ourselves in the peace and tranquility of this beautiful costal cove.

We were back over the border by sundown and later that evening I spoke with a very very dear old friend who's NYE like many others around the world had been laced with alchohol mixed, with a dash of desire,spice of life and waking to a headfull of oh 'goodness what did I do last night', which in turn has made for a turbulant and emotional start to 2011.

Whilst chatting about his eventful evening, I realised that though mine was uneventful, I am absoloutely where I want to be to begin another year. Clear headed, quiet, and calm, looking forward to more of the simple pleasures that life has to offer.

Battles

2010-12-07T07:58:00.007+02:00

The Harbour in Kyrenia.

I have once again been wearing my tour opperater hat taking our visitors island wide. We have been valley low and mountain high, enjoying every corner of this beautiful place and soaking up all that it has to offer and the cherished memories that we gain from experiencing it together. Sharing these moments with a sufferer of Altzheimers, and watching him fight this degenarative disease like a true hero in his own battlefield, makes it even more important to cherish every moment for the moment and live the here and now.

Inside The Castle Walls Kyrenia.

Today the castle in Kyrenia is beautiful quiet and peaceful place where one can sit in tranquility and soak up the stunning scenery that evelopes it's exterior. However, it wasn't always this way. In a time gone by this would have been filled with men preparing and returning from war. Walking across the bridge and up the cobbled street of it's entrance one can imagine the horses gallpoing in with their riders, the likes of Richard Lionheart exhausted from battle, their armour weighing them down, drained from the blistering heat, returning to the saftey of the castle walls.

The High Walls of The Castle.

As I sat here imagining this bygone era, I wondered how much have we learned? Battles are fought, wars are won, but do we actually learn from it or does history just repeat itself?

Chip Off The Old Block

2010-12-06T14:17:00.006+02:00

Saturday morning we set out with our visitors to have a stroll along the beach at Alaminos, on the way we stumbled across this Sculpture Museum which is a private house open to the public for viewing on most days. TBH and I had passed it beofore but didn't bother going in, but this time, curiosity killed the cat so to speak. We ventured through the entrance and were astounded by what we found. We didn't get the sculptures name, but we did meet him and he showed us around and explained some of his works to us. This is his hobby and he has been doing it full time since he was 50.

Forest Man on All Fours

Europe, each strand of hair around the statue represenst an EU country.

The artist described this as his depiction of a mass grave of Greek and Turkish Cypriots during the 1974 war. He explained how there was little if any time to bury the dead for fear of being killed ones self, so shallow graves were dug and covered with earth, but when the first rains came, the earth was washed away leaving a mound of body parts and corpses. A strong reminder of the sadness and loss that this Island has had to endure over the years.

Lemons.

His wife is also very talented and has done the icons for the little church that they have on the property and she also paints and this was one of her pieces in the gallery there that I fell in love with. The pensive look on the womans face is really moving and the stunning contrast in colour of the blue of the butterfly and the blue in her eyes and in the bead dangling from the and the stone in the ring on her finger is just exqusite, and how she managed to make the fabric of the dress come to life like that I will never know. Totally beautiful.

Pensive Woman.

I so admire people who have the ability to tell a story with art. It was a wonderful visit and I recommend it to anyone coming to Cyprus.

The Latest Addition

2010-12-06T13:35:00.005+02:00

10 days after Mischief passed away, this little tinker arrived in the garden howling for food and begging to be loved........................ I tried hard to resist and on the first eveing gace her a little food and water and left a box outside for her and I decided that I would see if she was still there the next day and decide what to do..............

I took CHI CHI LE ( she arrived the day the miners we rescued, CHI CHI CHI, LE LE LE, LOSS MINEROS DE CHILE)the vets, got her jabed and chipped, de fleed and wormed...... she has been with us nearly 3 months now and though nothing will replace Missey, we love our new addition and she brings much joy to our life.

Reuse,Recycle, Restain.

2010-12-04T16:51:00.004+02:00

We have visitors again at the moment, and before they arrived I did the usual spring clean. We have had a lot of visitors this year so inside was looking pretty good already, but due to the heat of the summer I had neglected a few things outside and the sun had bleached a lot of the wood furniture that we have.

In the past I would have taken the furniture to the dump and gleefully wizzed of to a garden centre and replaced it with new.............................Not any more!

Instead I did what my Grandfather would have done,I went to the hardware store purchased a brush and some wood stain, rolled up my sleaves and got stuck into restaining the furniture. It was a good few days work but very satisfying, and every evening when we sit out and watch the sun go down across the valley and dissapear behind the mountais in the distance, I am really proud to be sitting on furniture that I have reused and made new, another step further towards simple living and changing ones mindset.

The Pil's

2010-10-22T09:34:00.008+03:00

The View Point Near Macharias Monestery looking towards Nicosia.

No this isn't a post about what medication I may or may not be taking.... it is an update on what we have been doing recently.

We had TBH's Ma and Pa with us for a couple of weeks, and to me they are foundly know as The Pil.... (Parents In Law). It had been a year since their last visit so there was lots to catch up on and of course during that time we had moved to a totally different side of the Island so there were many more things to see. So, after having prepared for their arrival and tried to make sure that the place was spick and span, and planning a few menus, naturally I dropped my CHO ( Chief Household Officer) hat and reached once more for my CTO ( Chief Tour Officer) hat. I am not sure which one I like wearing best. It is always good to get out and about when people come, and it is a great oportunity to see places that you haven't seen before or haven't been to in a while, but it also takes one out of the daily routine and gives the wrong impression to those who visit that all you do all day is swan around the countryside of Cyprus enjoying the delights of what it has to offer. Obviously that is not the case in my regular life.

The doors and streets of the pretty village of Lefkara

We took them to Lefkara which is a village where both Lace and Silver are made in the traditional way. It is a very pretty village and one that is quite popular with day trips by Cypriots from Nicosia. On one of our visits to the restraunt that I take visitors we were somewhat perplexed at the security at the entrance, there were police everywhere, and plain clothed men with walky talkies milling around. We were seated and found ourselves fortunate enough to be sat on a table next to a rather large deligation of ministers and the President of Malta, with whom I had very brief but pleasant conversation.

The Streets of Northern Nicosia.

We went across to Northern Cyprus, the borders have been open for a while now and so we made our way to Lidras street and went through the immigration formalities and crossed into the other side. It is a pretty simple procedure but a very stark reminder of what happened here in 1974 and I cannot begin to imagine how awful it must have been and still is for people on both sides of the green line.To see a city divided like that in modern day Europe is very disturbing, peoples houses used as the buffer zone and family and friends divided by a crazy war. United Nations flags and signs everywhere, but one has to wonder what they have achieved.

It was pleasant on the other side, and I guess in a way somewhat comforting, with familiar sounds, smells and sights all around us. The call to prayer from the mosque,the street stalls cooking food, Sharwarmas!!!!! We have not had any of this since we left Dubai and it was strange how 'Normal' it all seemed to us. We had a very pleasant lunch in a square near the check point and then ventured back to the South.

On another ocassion we went North again,this time with the car. We drove to the crossing near the Nicosia horse racing track, obtained our insurance, showed our passports and drove through, once again a very simple procedure and there were obviously people doing it on a weekly or daily basis. The drive once out of the City was glorious and once we had climed the mountians the views from the crest out across the sea and Kyrenia were breathtaking. Once again it reminded us of Fujairah in the UAE, with the moutians so close to the sea. We found a parking place in Kyrenia and walked along the promanade to the little harbour where we stopped for Pa to have is midmorning coffee. It was very quaint and picturesque and I almost felt like I could have been in Muscat, Oman. Coffee over, we walked around the castle and meandered back to the car.

Kyrenia.

Then, we made our way to Bellapaix, which is a village tucked into the mountain side where Lawrence Durrell wrote Bitter Lemons. We found a beautiful little boutique hotel that I had already seen on the internet and marked as a possible weekend retreat for the future, The Bellapaix Gardens. It is next to the dramatic Bellapaix abbey.We decided to stop and have lunch here and we were very glad that we did. The views were stunning and the food drinks and service very good too. We are hoping to return very soon.

View from The Bellapaix Gardens.

Naturally we visited Larnaca and the littel villages in the surrounding area. The Pil's took themselves off to Cape Greco and on a boat trip to celebrate their 43rd wedding anniversary!!!! Congratulations to them. We took them to Lord Kitchener's restaurant in Psematismenos village to celebrate. It is actually the building in which Lord Kitchener stayed when he was here mapping the island. We love it there, the food is wonderful, the owners Pina and Chef Dean are great, very friendly full of humour and chat, we always enjoy our visit. If you are on the Island try it. http://www.lordkitchener.eu/

A Sad Fairwell

2010-10-02T17:32:00.004+03:00

Mischief

It is never easy to let go, and sadly on many ocassions in life the choice of letting go is taken out of our hands.

When we came to live in this village we searched for the area with the least traffic away from it all in the countryside,there is a road but very few cars come down it as it only leads to the goat farm on a dirt trac. We wanted a place where we knew that our cats who had lived in doors in Dubai would be able to finally run free and live the life that cats are meant to lead.

We didn't plan on this happening.

Yesterday morning we were awakend by the sound of the farmers tractor idoling outside our bedroom window. As it had gone on for some time TBH got up just as the farmer pulled away..............

He had been trying to get our attention, 'what is wrong' I said from my slumber, and as TBH was racing to get dressed he replied ' It's missey, I think she has been run over'

TBH raced downstairs and I shot up out of bed and ran to the window, and sure enough, there lying in the middle of the road was Mischeif's lifeless body, ' Missey Missey get up come Missey please get up please ' I screamed from the window, TBH had a vague glimmer of hope that she was still alive as the early moring sun had kept her body warm, but as he lifted her limp and lifeless off the tarmac I knew that she had gone. I raced down stairs screaming for her to come back and faced TBH who had gently put her down in the garage. He threw his arms around me and begged me not to look. Sweet adorable little Missey had slipped out of our grasp all because of some mindless humanbeing behind a car wheel.

Emotions soared and tears fell like the first rains of an African storm, as we faced the daunting reality that we were going to have to find a suitable place for her to be laid to rest.

We decided to burry her on the edge of a field across from the villa where she used to like to roam and where she and the others come and sit with us to watch sunset over the valley, TBH and his father dug a grave beneath the olive tree, overlooking the sea with the valley below her. We wrapped her in her winter blanket and said our last and very sad fairwell to a little being who has brought us so much love and joy and who made our family complete.

I hope that she will be at peace there.

Good bye my dear sweet sweet little friend, though your body is no longer here, you will always be with me and I shall miss you dearly.

Best Friends, Bicycles and Bee Eaters

2010-09-24T11:11:00.013+03:00

It has been a while since I have had the time and peace of mind to sit and write a blog. For the first week of the month I had my dear friend T here, she had flown all the way from Bermuda to spend 5 days with us. I felt very honoured. We have known each other since we were 12 years old. We were frineds at school and her Mum used to own a hairdressing salon in Bristol. I used to have sleep overs at her house and on a Saturday we would go with her mother to the salon and help sweep floors and serve coffee. We were probably more of a hindrance than a help but it was there in my young teenege years that I discovered my passion for hairdressing. T and I went to different salons to do our apprenticship and since then even though our lives have taken us in very different directions, we have always kept in touch and our lives remained somewhat paralell in many ways and she too is now about to make a big change in her life and is looking to leave the place she has been in for 16 years and move to Europe. We whized her around the island, and this begun in Nicosia for lunch, when we met with her family who came over from Kyrenia.

What a hoot that was. They were staying in a hotel over there, they got a taxi to the border, and texted to say they were there. In the meantime we are still at least 45 mins drive away from them in Larnaca. We rushed up the motorway, got stuck in traffic, got lost trying to find the Ledra Palace border crossing, which I thought was the only border crossing in Nicosia. When we finally reached the border, we parked the car as you are not allowed to take hire cars across as they are not insured in the North, and then we made our way to the police post and got our piece of paper stamped to allow us into Northern Cyprus. Ok ... where are the family then???? We are desperatley texting but getting no response, then finally we get a phone call, their credit had run out, hence no reply to the text, so they had borrowed someones phone to call us to say that they have already crossed over to the South, 'where we say as we cannot see you????' 'at the Lidras street crossing' they respond................................ it transpires that there are two crossings in Nicosia, one at Ledra Palace and one at Lidras Street, ( both pronounced very similar)we were at the wrong one AHHHHHHHHHH. So we hop into a taxi and drive to the other one, que up at the police post and get stamped out of the North and enter back into Southern Cyprus, mindlessly passing her uncle on the way.......... phew there, on the other side at the end of the entry que is a lady looking rather hot and stressed whith her friend under an umbrella in the midday heat of summer in Nicosia. It was her Aunt! Finally reunited after 6 years, we enjoyed a wonderful lunch over looking the city and the mountains of the North. That was my introduction to border crossing in Cyprus.

We showed T lots of other places too and in all, I think she had an enjoyable time before flying to Malta to check that out possibilities there for her future. Good luck T.

Since here visit there has been much to do around the house, the usual cleaning and tidying of the garden. TBH spent one Saturday cutting back palm leafs and neatening up teh bouganvillia along the back wall. The veggie box is not doing much at the moment. The meelies are coming through but no cucumbers and no tomatos yet, I am begining to loos faith, but keep watering anyway in the hope that at some point we will get fruit for our labour.

my green wheels

On Saturday we drove to Paphos to collect a second hand bike that I managed to find on anglo info Cyprus. So ha ha.. I finally have wheels again, and they are green, not in colour but echo friendly,all be it that I have to use my own energy to rotate them and when I tried that on Saturday evening when we returned home after a very lovely relaxed lunch at Pissouri Bay, well I didn't get very far.................................. it has been a long time since I rode a bike and I think it will take some practice.

Swallows on the wire outside the house.

The swallows appear to have moved and the Bee Eaters are back hovering over the ridge at sunset catching insects on the wing. I thought that this change in birdlife would have coensided with a change of weather and that the cooler nights were going to start setting in, but no such luck, it is still very hot and very humid. Tired of it now.

Bee Eater on the wire.

The next few weeks will be busy too, we have guests coming for lunch tomorrow, and TBH'S ( the better half) parents will soon be with us for a few weeks. So I am once again frantically cleaning, the fridge was done this morning, with teh mopping of the patio this afternoons task.

During this time we also have some friends from Aussie arriving on the island whom we hope to catch up with on a couple of ocassions and we have a 50th birthday party to attend in the village.

Who said life in Cyprus would be quiet?

Phyllis Greene 90 yr old Blogger

2010-09-17T12:55:00.008+03:00

Wow.....What an inspiration this woman is. We can all aspire to be like her and to share our wisdom in the Autumn yeasr of life.http://newsbbc.co.uk/2/hi/8999217.stm
It just goes to prove that it is never too late to learn and it is never too late to make new friends.
By reaching out in a very ordinary everyday way Phyliss has managed to touch a lot of peoples hearts and now has a big following of supporters who will be in touch with her through her blog.
http://wedeb90.blogspot.com/

Thank you Phyllis for inspiring my world.

There's No Place Like Home

2010-09-02T17:25:00.010+03:00

You put the key into your front door, turn the lock and walk in, kick of your shoes and sit down on your compfy sofa. Ahh..... it is good to be home, do you know, so many of us take that moment for granted.

Many people are displaced in this world, often due to conflicts that have risen around them and engulfed their every day lives, conflicts generaly caused by a bigger power pulling the strings much further away than the fields they plough and land they nuture.

Though thankfully as yet, I have never had to endure the attrocities of war, I do know what it feels like to yearn every single day for that place that you know deap in your heart is home and for this reason I have always had an empathy with displaced people.
At age 11 having lived blissfully in the same house all my life,surrounded by the same friends, going to the same school and knowing the land and nature around me, I was put on a plane to England for what I thought was another annual holiday to see the grandparents. I was wrong.

My family abruptly left Kenya.

I was lucky, there was no barbed wire fencing, no guns and no tanks preventing me from the land of my birth, just years of inner turmoil and constant travel trying to find a place I could call home.

25 years later I made it back and there is no place like home.

In my travels around the world, I have met displaced people, heard their stories of how their mothers still hold the keys to a house they were dragged from kicking and screaming as a child, the only possesion they had was the teddy bear they had slept with, before the soliders, tanks and guns took away their lives and destroyed their dreams.

Last Sunday whilst on a day trip on the island, we accidently found ourselves on the UN buffer zone between Southern and Nothern Cyprus, and we looked across the fields to Famagusta, a city which due to the conflict of 1974 has been left ghost town for 36 years, with 45 thousand Greek and Turkish Cypriots displaced. It really hit me and sunk in how absoloutely awful it must be to loose everything you own, everything you have ever known and to see it all there but not be allowed through the barbed wire fence that some other force has put in place to keep you out. It must be totally and utterly soul destroying.

I whept....................... I whept for every innocent broken heart, shattered in a conflict they don't belong.

Standing there and seeing the empty desolate buildings of what was once a vibrant, buzzing tourist resort, slowly rotting in the sizzling shimmering heat, with the grass and foliage it's only life source, the cranes still in the same place that they where left, building new hotels, back in August 1974 ....... quite frankly it was a SHOCKING realisation that this seemingly tranquill idylic island has seen some horrific, horrendous times.

May all the worlds displaced people one day feel the soil between their toes and smell the earth from which they came. May the red tape of bureaucracy and the barbed wire fences of armies one day be removed so that everyone has the freedom to go home.

The Travellers Virtual Birthday Party

2010-08-27T09:46:00.009+03:00

I am now officially 40 and it feels great! I had a fantastic time with my family here, showing them around Cyprus and spending valuable time together. We had a small get togther with some friends on the Saturday before my birthday and based the theme on I've Been There intertwined with the 70's. So we did food from the different areas of the world that I have visited. I of course was the Africa piece of the puzzle.

Spring Rolls and Sweet Chillie Sauce,Asia and Mozzarella With Pesto and Tomatoes, Italy, Europe.

And we had to have Prawn Cocktail as my chosen 70's starter.

Fuzzy Wuzzy Salad with Peach, Europe. Mixed Pumpkin Salad, Australia, Fig Mozzarella and Mint Salad, Mediterranean.

90% of what we did was home cooked, and we all had our place in the kitchen. I call it Fuzzy Wuzzy salad cause we used three different lettuces and to me they are Fuzzy Wuzzy. The mixed Pumpkin salad is something that a very dear friend in Brisbane Australia taught us you roast your pumkin and mix it with mung beans,nuts, seeds, and she originally did it with her own home preserved lemons.. mmm it was devine. The Fig and Mozzarella speaks for it's self. We also had Reggae Reggae chicken with rice and peas as a Caribbean dish, and chicken and pork Satay's with fried rice as Asian. It was quite a feast that went on most of the day and even though it wasn't my ACTUAL birthday it was a great excuse to celebrate with family and enjoy the company of new found friends.( And one very long term friend who was in Cyprus on an unexpected visit. It was great to see him)

Over the past 40 years I have been fortunate enough to have traveled to many places around the world,

England, Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Tenneriffe, Lanzarote, La Gomera, Las Palmas, Majorca, Gibralta, Portugal, Italy, Yougoslavia ( Now Croatia), Greece, Crete, Bulgaria, Austria, Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Morrocco, Egypt, Oman, U.A.E , Qatar, Kenya, Tanzania, Mafia Island, Zanzibar, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Bali, Lombok, Gilli Islands Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, New Caledonia, Madeira, Azores, Bermuda, Martinique, Grenada, St Thomas, St Lucia, Venezuela, Brazil.........................

Some of them I have been in for years, some months, some days and some hours, I have stayed in the best hotels, I have also backpacked staying in tents and hostels, eaten in the best retstaraunts and had some of the best food off market stalls or cooking over a camp fire, beneath the milky way, but one constant has always been there, in all of these places I have met the most wonderful interesting people from all sorts of walks of life. Rich, poor, educated, uneducated,travelers, homebirds, teachers, farmers, lawyers, hairdressers, sommeliers,homemakers, web designers, gardners, taxi drivers, to name but a few, and I have been touched by so many of these people. Some came into my life for an instant, others I will never forget and many I am still in contact with today.

As it was going to prove too difficult to get me to all the friends I have met world wide TBH came up with a brilliant idea, to get them all to me. Virtually........................ he wrote to them and asked if they could send messages on video, email, with photo's etc and combined them all in a power point presentation. So on the morning of the big day I was treated to a beautiful breakfast of Eggs Benedict and Bubbles,

whilst begining the journey through the powere point presentation with the music from the Lonley Planet programs playing in the background ( those books got me to some amaizing places) to all the wonderful friends that had taken the time to send messages from across the world. It was utterly wonderful and it took me nearly all day to go through it, stopping for phone calls and Skype mesages during the day.

Tiger Lillies Sent from a very dear friend in Bermuda.

It could not have been a better way to head into this new decade and into the new way of life that we now lead. Simple but so so effective, connecting people together virtually is one of the great things of the modern world, but there are still many lessons from the past many skills that can take us into a better future.

Wool and Knitting Needles sent from 'the one who understands' in Aussie.

It is with a new found confidence and wisdom that I look forward to the next 40 years and only hope that I can meet as many lovely people in them as I have so far.

Thank you TBH.... you are a total star and the best companion I could have wished for along this journey called life.

Family, Friends and Ffffffffff........orty!

2010-08-11T07:15:00.005+03:00

Home baked goodies

Family,
Well, it has been a busy time here at HBH, with lots of scurrying around, dusters dusting, the sound of hoovers buzzing through the house, even the silver could be heard squeaking as it was polished to shine and sparkle. Cushions and cushion covers have whizzed around the washing machine,furniture moved and beds made up with nice crisp sheets. Homebaked bread,cookies and cakes are in the freezer along with coconut ice cream and the home made ginger beer is brewing in the fridge..............

Bubbling in eager aticipation for a big family feast.

Today,my family are coming to stay with me for the first time ever and I cannot tell you how excited I am!
It has really given me the opportunity to fluff up my feathers and tend to my nest and I have tried to make it all as comfy and cosy as possible, though doing that in 33 degrees heat has been a challenge.
The visit is their present to me as I head down the path over this next week to the transition into my FORTIES!!!!!! and it is a fantastic present. Though they won't be with me for the actual day, I am so delighted that they are going to be with me on the run up and that we can spend some quality time together, sharing and caring for each other. I have had such a great time preparing for this, that alone has given me so much pleasure, now I cannot wait to share it with the ones I love. What a simple joy in life!

Friends,
On Saturday we shall have a BBQ bash here at HBH with some new found friends, that we have met here in Cyprus and I am really looking forward to a day filled with chitter chatter, laughter and happiness.
When you make a big move like we have done, it is such a good feeling to finally say that you have made friends, last weeek I went out for a ladies lunch with them, they showed me new places,you know the little funny places in life that aren't in a guide book, like where to get keys cut and where the material shops are and where to get woodwork done and furnature mended,where to get arts and crafts,which supermarket is cheaper, how to get across town, all these things that one needs to be shown one needs to learn form others, picks up in a community,we had lunch in a really cute taverna and chattered away, I had such a wonderful time,listening to their stories, discovering more about who they are and their views on life and it really warms my heart as it is even more reasurance that we are another step closer towards settling in our new enviroment.

Freshly picked Figs from a tree in the village.

40...............................
It is interesting that for me turning 40 is far less daunting than it was to turn thirty, in the run up to thirty I was so disturbed, my life was not where I wanted it to be and nothing seemed to have fallen into place as I had hoped or planned and I really struggled with it.
But now...... in the run up to 40, I am definately where I want to be, well, yes I could do with loosing weight so I am not phycically where I want to be, but emotionally, wow...... yes where I am right now is a very good place. I have a wonderful supportive husband, live on a beautiful Island and have the opportunity to really explore who I am and what I am about. Living more simply away from consummerisum, trends,superficial niceties and high speed life, here in this place in this space,I feel wiser, more self confident and I think that is what pushes me forward to 40 with a big smile on my face. I am not loosing my youth,or becoming middle aged, I am gaining my wisdom, becoming more self assured, finally knowing and understanding what I do want in life..... Simplicity, enjoying the little things in life with the ones that you most care for,and working towards that every day, letting go of what I do not want, and the best of that, is that at 30 I would have felt guilty about letting go, but at 40 it is toatally liberating.

Sowing The Seeds.

2010-07-27T13:36:00.030+03:00

We were at a BBQ over the weekend, and someone asked me ' so how are you? what have you been up to'

In my previous life I have no doubt that I would have very quickly responded with something like, ' Oh you know, getting the boss in and out of Kuwait for his latest meetings has been a nightmare, or finalising a holiday booking for a honeymoon couple going to the Maldives, it so sweet she doesn't even know what he has planned, or did a complete restyle on this client, she had hair down to her waiste and we cut it really short and put three diferent colours through it, she looked fantastic and loved it, but the hubby wasn't so sure.'

But in this instance, in my new life, which is much quiter, much calmer, much more focused on TBH and I

When asked ' what have you been up to ?' mmmm I was somewhat flummoxed as I didn't really know what to say, what had I been up, home making, blogging, researching the internet, learning and oh yeah.....planning, making and sowing, but it just didn't seem interesting enough to talk about in that situation at that particular time, then when I came away and thought about it, I wanted to shout hey!!!! Actually I have been really busy achieving what I have spent over 10 years working towards I have been living my dream regardless!!!!! Thanks pj great advice.

When I was a kid in Kenya, we had quite a large vegetable patch, and when I was peckish I often indulged myself in a little digging of carrots from the earth,vaguely rinsing it in under the garden hose, and crunch, biting into all it's crunchiness and goodness, or I could be caught scoffing a whole load of peas fresh out of their pods.... mmmm there really is nothing quite like fresh home grown veggies straight out of the ground.

Many years later I remember working in a salon that was next to a veggie shop that sold peas in their pods, so I went an grabbed some for an afternoon break, one of my colleagues said ' Oooh what are they' I explained and they replied ' wow I didn't realise that is what they looked like, I have only ever seen them in a tin or a freezer bag'.................... that was one of my first realisations that sadly so many people in this day and age have no idea where their food comes from or what might be in it, or how it goes from being a seed in the ground to a beautiful pretty plant giving us the fruit of it's labours.

TBH and I both love cooking, we do it quite differently however, but we both used to watch with envey these chef's who were able to go and pick their produce straight out of the garden, knowing where they come from knowing the good nutritional value that they are going to add to a meal.

We have wanted a veggie patch for years now, we did try a few herbs and tomatoes on our balcony in Dubai, but nothing really materialised, might have had something to do with fall out from the nearby alluminium smelter, but hey, in our plans to leave Dubai one of our criteria was to FINALLY be able to grow some of our own crops. We had planned on buying a small property here in Cyprus with some garden, but as that has not yet materialised, and we are currently in a rental property, so our plans for veggies subsided for a little while..... I got all despondent, thinking that because we were in a rental and it already has every little cacti and ornamental plant in place, then we wouldn't be able to grow our own stuff, that was 4 months ago, before I started to learn, and that is where the internet is so so useful. By researching and learning what others do, on float cabins, on boats, on balconies, and on large farms I got inspired and came up with a brain wave, lets make a veggie box out of old pallets,( which has been done else where).TBH gets loads of pallets at work, they are free and it is a good way to recycle them. Using these means that if we find our dream property or if should we have to move, we can take the veggies with us. So TBH got to work on a box and I will post about the making of it seperately.

That is also the reason that this is quite a long blog, I wanted to share with others the small ideas that I came up with to reuse,and recycle in order to achieve what you have been dreaming of for so long. I pondered over what or how I could make seedling box's............ then I started saving egg boxes. ( Am sure this too has been done before)

I punctured holes into the bottom of them with a knife for drainage,

Then cut them in half and placed the bottoms into the lids

I filled these with soil ( Thanks Mum for the donation) making sure the soil was really moist,

Then I proceeded to dig a small whole in the egg cup full of soil and begun to sow my seeds, Carrots, Cucumbers, Corriander, Corn,Tomatoes, Green Pepper and Rocca, so we are looking forward to a nice healthy home grown, home made salad, how fantastic would that be.

I covered the seeds with soil and gave them another sprinkling of water from my home made recycled watering can, which is basically a 4 litre fabric softener bottle, ( I no longer use fabric softner) I skeward holes into the lid and there you have it a watering can.

I knew I would get totally confused as to what seeds I had put into which box so I cut up a yoghurt carton and made the signs out of that.

It has all taken time, a long time, as with many things in life it has not been an overnight process, and we still have a long road ahead,learing what will grow,learning how to help it grow, it has taken time to think through ideas and put into practise those ideas, it has taken thinking outside our usual box,TBH and I are both creative, but not always practical at putting things together. It has been a learning curve for the two of us, helping each other to re asses, is that really the best way to do it? Perhaps if we did this or perhaps if we did that, and teaching ourselves to stop, complete a process and then move on, and in much of our veggie box/begining to grow, one idea has arisen out of another idea, as the mind works gently to find soloutions.
We have put the veggie box at the front of the property, not overly pretty, and whilst I was stood there knowing that it is the most practical place to have it as the sun will be on it all day long in both summer and winter, but wondering what ' others' would think of our veggie box amongst the ornamental perfectly placed cacti, an elderly gentleman pushing his grandaughter in a wheel chair , walked down the street, he stopped to chat and we discussed my dilema, to which he replied ' it is not whether it looks pretty or whether other people like it or not, you come first and if it serves your purpose, my dear THAT is what really matters.' What wise words! This very kind man not only taught me a lesson that day, he also gave us a very good soloution to how to cover our seedlings to prevent the cats, or Harry the hedgehog from messing up our good work.

TBH managed to make a recycled seeding cover which again I will blog about at a later stage. But the seedlings have been out enjoying the sun's good energy which is helping to make them strong and healthy,

So that hopefully in the not too distant future we will reaping the rewards and bennifits from much hard work,and many years of dreaming. So next time at the BBQ when asked what I have been doing I will feel more confident to say, I have been planning making and sowing the fruits and vegetables of our simple but beautiful life in Cyprus.

By the way, have you tried the salad, it tastes really good.

Don't Take It For Granted

2010-07-16T17:07:00.017+03:00

I too had a home in Africa!

I have seen it so many times that it is a part of my life and all too often, especially in times of uncertainty I find myslef quoting from the wonderful Sydney Pollack movie,Out Of Africa.The story of the writer Karen Blixen's (AKA Isak Dinesen) life in Kenya.

I guess it is a family thing, we used to watch it a lot after we left Kenya and when I see it, or hear the music it gives me comfort,clarity, understanding and this week one of the lines from the movie has been very prominent in my mind.

'I had a compass from Denys, ' to steer by' he said, but later it came to me.....that we navigated differently, perhaps he knew as I did not, that the earth was round, so that we did not see too far down the road.'

With the recent knowledge that Alzheimers has decided to join my family I have begun to wonder if it always a good thing to know what the future holds for us or are we sometimes better to go through life taking each day as it comes, cherishing the memories and making the most of the here and now. We seem to spend so much time planning for a future that we cannot plan and in the mean time we forget to live for today, to enjoy the moments that we have with family and friends, to laugh at the good old days and remember special occassions. But most importantly to let loved ones know how much we love them.

Congratulations M & D for 54 years of marriage this week. I am so proud of you!

If you knew what was ahead of you would it change the course of your life? Would you make different decisions? Would you maybe say the things you haven't said, do the things you haven't done, or would you live exactly as you are today? It amazes me that all too often it takes an illness to knock us into gear and appreciate what and who we have around us, why is it that we take so much for granted.

My first day at school.

I know how lucky I have been, to have grown up in a beautiful place, surrounded by nature and wild animals, within a loving caring understanding family who have encouraged and supported me every step of the way. Sure we have had the usual arguments, but generally despite the distances we have been there for each other and I have never taken that for granted. Perhaps that distance has made me more aware of just how important family and friends are.

Now, we, our family have a new and challenging road ahead, one none of us could ever have planned for, but I have no doubt that individually and collectively we will rise to that challenge, taking it a step at a time and climbing the mountain that towers above us.

We will manage what life throws at us as well as finding much to laugh about along the way, knowing that we have each other to lean on. What was that song... the road is long with many a winding turn..... he ain't heavy, he's my brother. We must carry each other when the tough days call.

Don't take life for ganted,live every moment, be consious, life can change in an instant, make the most of every day and be sure to stop and smell the roses, see the beauty in the little things and hug those you love, no matter what, you never know what is around the corner.

Happy weekend to you all from Hay Bale Happiness.

Charalambous The Hedgehog

2010-07-13T17:16:00.008+03:00

Or Harry for short.... not sure why we think it is male, maybe it should be called Henrietta or someting but anyway, it came into our garden on Sunday evening, gaily strolled up the garden path right under our legs and followed the path around the house and proceeded to have a good sniff under the Bougainvillea bush in the back. Isn't it the cutest thing you ever saw.

It bought a smile to my face on what was a rather emotional day as we had had some concerning news that we needed to get our heads around and

then despite my efforts of waving an orange sarong outside the window all week Holland go and loose the world cup. I felt exactly like this by the time I went to bed, I wanted to shut down and make the whole world go away.

Do you ever feel like curling up in a ball, looking after the innner you and leaving the spikes out to fight the rest of the world? What a great natural mechanism this little creature has to protect itself.

Pesticide Poisioning and Football Fever

2010-07-07T12:39:00.009+03:00

It was an unexpected, but eventful day yesterday, that welled up all sorts of emotions, disbelief, shock, panic,worry, anger,understanding,elation, that is a lot of emotion for one day. It begun when I was happliy going through my usual morning routine of sipping a nice cup of redbush tea whilst checking emails and reading bloggs on the internet. Then I heard quite a comotion going on outside, I went to our bedroom balcony window to investigate and found one of the local farmers, with his tractor outside our front gate, with an assistant carrying a hose connected to a spray gun. As I tried to establish in broken English what they were doing, the assistant pointed at me to close my window. In a state of confusion not really knowing what was going on I did as I was told and they then proceeded to spray the palm tree that is outside our bedroom window with some horrific pesticide............................................ as the wind was blowing quite strongly and the windows in the rest of the house hadn't been closed for this unknown event, the pesticide drifted on the wind across the front of the property and down the alley at the side and in through the side bedroom window and the window for the snug.

While I stood there in utter disbelief that this had just happened with NO prior warning what so ever, the farmer and assistant proceeded to spill even more pesticide across the road, whislt they re-loaded their hose and went on their merry way down the street to the next palm tree.

Panic!!!!!! We have 4 cats, one of which already has no tail and no back right leg due to previous accidents, lives in doors and was thankfully in the spareroom on the uneffected side of the house,so I kept here where she was, but where were the others. 2 were oblivious to the whole situation asleep in the kitchen but the 3rd Mischief was no where to be seen. The mist from the pesticide filled the outside air as I went on my mission to find her, and there she was, hiding by the pump house wretching from the acrid stench that was pollouting her little lungs. I grab her and got her inside, thankfully once behind closed doors, she calmed down and began to eat, drank some water, and snuggled up on her usual mat, leaving me sick with worry as to what effect it will have on her long term.

We don't have children and our cats get all the love and devotion that we would give children if we had them, this made me wonder what on earth would I have done if this had happened and my young baby had been sleeping quietly in the fresh mornig breeze on the patio when this cloud of chemicals came flowing into it's lungs????????

After some research, it transpires that there is a plague of Palm Weevils that have recently arrived on the island and are killing palme trees everywhere.

http://wwwcyprus-mail.com/cyprus/palm-weevil-re-emerges-cyprus

Surely there must be an EU regulatioin somewhere that if an area is going to be sprayed residents should get prior warning in order to get our children, pets, laundry etc out of harms way????

I spent the rest of the morning trying to dilute whatever lay on the garden paths, windowsills and in the middle of the road in the hope that neighbourhood children, cats, wildlife, will not get contaminated when they go outside again, though I fear that my efforts will be in vain and in the mean time I managed to get an awful head ache and felt quite nauseaus from what I was breathing in myself.

Palm trees cost ALOT of money so I fully understand that people want the 'weevils ' exterminated, but is this really the only way? Ok the pesticide will kill the weevils but it will kill so many other things too including the local wildlife. I spins off through the entire food chain, and last night when we were sitting having our evening drink out the front watching the shooting stars, and a tiny little hedgehog came rustling through the garden I worried that it would be picking up the dead beatles that had been exterminated that morning and now it too would carry this chemical around in it's small little body, then the beautiful big resident owl appeared on the telegraph pole, watching with beady eyes this morsel that scurried beneath him, and I realised that would also end up being poisioned if it caught the hedgehog, that had eaten the beatles that had died of pesticide poisioning.

It ends up in our food chain too, so much for our ORGANIC DATE CHUTNEY that we were hoping to produce, thankfully we have not yet started our veggie patch else that would also be contaminated, but what gets me most about all of this is that we had no choice, it was just done on private land without any interaction with the residents at all. I thought I had left that sort of society in Dubai, it is not quite what I expected from an EU country. .............. But EU fever finally lifted my dispondent spirits towards the end of the evening when across the valley we hear ' goooaaal Holland'..... so we rushed inside to read the comentry of the last 20 minutes of The Nederlands Vs Urugay semi final, YES!!!! I finally got TBH interested in footy! Despite being Dutch he is not usually into the football at all, but he actually had a smile on his face at the idea that his country will play in the final of the World Cup. We don't have a Dutch flag but I have hung an orange sarong from the balcony, just incase anyone in the village wonders who we are backing, and am hoping I can persued TBH to go and watch the game on Sunday.

Family and friends I urge you to be wearing anything that you have that is Orange on Sunday.

Come on Holland!!!!

Make Your Own Footsteps

2010-07-02T13:36:00.015+03:00

Wednesday evening found me tossing and turning in my sleep, listening to the dogs barking across the valley and watching the moon move gently across the sky, my tummy full of butterflies and my head full of senarious at the idea of going to THE BIG CITY. You see yesterday I joined TBH in Penny Peugeot on his trip to work to sign some documents in Nicosia. It was not the signing of the documents that worried me, but the meeting of his work colleagues and boss, as we did the signing in the office, and the thought of killing time in a shopping mall until lunch when TBH could take me home............

I should not have feard meeting 'the team' they were all very friendly, including 'THE BOSS'. It is a family run business, built up over 40 years and I was greeted with true Cypriot hospitality ,a real warm and friendly atmosphere,the boss's lovely mother offering me tea, it was good to put faces to names that TBH has mentioned over dinner some eveings and to see where he works, get a bit more of a feel for the job that he does and the place in which he works, I always think it is nicer to have an image in ones mind of where someone speaks, emails or skypes you from. It is some how comforting and gives a reality to the empty void of cyber space.

So, after the signing I was droppped at THE MALL. I have never been a very good window shopper.

The idea of peering through shop windows longing for something inside never seemed very satisfying to me, I am the sort of person who likes to go get what I need and get out as soon as possible. Since I left the big buzz malls of DXB and began the jorney of a simpler life here in CY,I found myself walking around yesterday questioning how many different styles of dresses are there these days, tunic dress, maxi dress, summer dress, 2 way dress, special ocassion dress, gosh there was a time when you only ever bought a dress for a ' special ocassion' and the rest of the time you made your own. As I walked past the beauty counters in a famous department store I pondered, how many toxin filled foundations can one put on one's face at any given time, only for it to run and smudge during the heat of these hot summers days, leaving your skin unable to breath, forcing you to cleanse it once you get home with yet another designer cleansing product. And what do we really need with all this STUFF???????? Believe me, there was a time when in one particular store I would have 'popped in' and walked out with a trolly load of STUFF that on impulse I thought would make my home better, more cosy, more trendy,more luxurious, but recently I have come to realise that this follow the sheep menatailty.............

only heards us all into one direction taking us deaper and deaper into the media driven tunnel of buy buy buy,leading us to believe that buying is the source of enrichment and enlightement, buy this and it will lead you to happiness and contentment. How long does that retail therapy feeling really last, before what you bought ends up in a land fill ouzing toxins for future generations to discover whilst playing on a piece of waste ground.

Happiness and contentment come from with in, from being around and with those you love and from understanding what and who you really are, being on your own journey, carrying as little luggage as possible. I was delighted to find that over the past few months my mindset has changed enough that as I walked around the store, with every item I picked up I asked myself is it a want or a need. I left the store with nothing but a few photos, as the saying goes, 'take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footsteps' I was glad I had made my own footsteps through the day yesterday. Facing my fears of meeting new people, being in the city and out of my comfort zone, going in a different direction to the sheep.

Versatile Blogger Award

2010-06-25T14:48:00.012+03:00

Wow, what a wonderful surprise!

Yesterday one of my readers who has the most amaizing float cabin in British Colombia, where she resides and writes her own blog http://powellriverbooks.blogspot.com/ voted my blog in the Versatile Blogger Award.

So as per the rules I have to thank the person who voted me

Thank You Very Much Margy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tell you 7 things about myself........mmmm lets see........

1 In 2003 I woke up and said no more. I gave up 60 cigarettes a day,OVERNIGHT!

2 I love laughing so much it makes you cry

3 For me The Cry Of The Fish Eagle is one of the most haunting sounds of Africa.

4 I am a nomad at heart and should probably have been born a Masai.

5 Following in the footsteps of Wilfred Thesiger and camping in the Empty Quarte near Liwa oasis was a humbling and awsome experience.

6 I would like to write a book.

7 Marrying TBH at Hatta Forte Hotel in the Hajar mountains is the best thing I ever did.

And now I am supposed to pass the award on to 15 other bloggs that I think are fantastic...........

The problem is that I am very new to blogging,so I don't yet have that many to vote for, but here are the ones that I would definately vote for.

http://rasmbisilodge.blogspot.com this is one of the most wonderful places to spend a romatic vacation.
http://onelifetherapy.blogspot.com/
http://waitingforskopelos.blogspot.com/
http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/
http://wildernessdiary.com/

Hope you enjoy reading their blogs as much as I do.

Salute To The Sun

2010-06-22T13:14:00.008+03:00

Wherever we are in the world we absoloutely adore watching sunset. I suppose at this time of day I take time to marvell at Mother Nature and The Universe, and as many creatures and critters are scurrying away to bed, others, like my cats are just waking up and scouring the street at dusk. There is something magical about the light at this time of day and a stillness that lets you breath deap and slow which is what TBH ( The Better Half) did when he just made it home on time yesterday to grab the photo bag, and a beer of course to drink a Salute To the Sun on it's longest day of the year!

Because we are lucky enough to have pretty much uninteruppted views here it has been really facinating to see just how much the sun has moved over the last 6 months.

These pictures are taken from our back garden, and yet in January when we arrived, there was no sun to be seen at all over the back of the house, and we watched the sunset from the front garden almost opposite from where it went down yesterday.

Sunflower Sunday

2010-06-22T12:01:00.011+03:00

Sunday was another wondreful day, we arose early, enjoyed breakfast on the patio and then took a leisurely drive along the coast road towards Zygi, and found ourselves a place to have a splash in The Med. We have been on this side of the island for 6 months now and this was the first time that actually went to the sea. The water was chilly compared to the pool but it was just glourious. Swimming around like little fishes,our skin soaking up all the goodness of the salty water and re energising with the glow of the early moring sun.

I stopped for a moment and looked back towards the shore..... I really wanted to appreciate how lucky we are to be living here? Some people never get this opportunity, and others get it only for 2 weeks out of a year, but this..... this is where we live, this is our home, and the aqua blue mediterranean sea is at our doorstep. We have alot to be thankful for.

We decided to take a different route home, up the gorge, beside the dry riverbed, past the orange groves, through the village of Agios Theodoros.

Here we stopped at a picnic spot over looking the quaint little village and had a break with a slice of homebaked chocolate cake and a rasin,cinnamon scone, both of which were cooked on the BBQ the day before,washed down with you guessed it, a nice refreshing cup of Rooibos tea.

We sat for a while,memorised by all the comings and goings as people in the village below went about their weekend chores,cleaning their patios, servicing their tractors,hanging out their washing and tending to their gardens.Then we spotted the most beautiful sunflowers, they are one of my favorite flowers so full of happiness and sunshine, so went down into the village and had a closer look. They were giants and towered above us,like something out of Jack and the Bean Stalk.

They were utterly wonderful and obviously grown with tender loving care, as were these flowers that surrounded this stunning colonial style house.

Back at our house and we enjoyed a simple Roast Turkey Salad Sandwhich for lunch and soaked up the sunshine on a stunning Sunflower Sunday.

Super Saturday

2010-06-21T16:01:00.011+03:00

It is amaizing what happens when your mind settles and you accept who you are and where you are at both physically and emotionally. I guess we haven't given ourselves credit for what an upheaval we have gone thorough over the past year. Packing up 18 years of life in 3 weeks, shipping cats and furniture to Cyprus, trying to find jobs, and moving again 6 months later, constantly having something to do at weekends, pack boxes, unpack boxes,put up pictures, take down pictures, re arrange furniture, find new supermarkets, work out where the vets is, all these things take up a huge amount of time and energy when you come to a new place. For so long we have been so tied up with this, that as with the last post we even questioned whether we had come to the right place after all because within all the mayhem we had actually forgotten to stop and enjoy Cyprus for the stunning Island that it is. It really is beautiful with citrus and olive groves, grapevines and corn fileds dotting the ancient landscape, beautiful beaches and high mountains give it such diversity. Earlier in the week TBH ( the better half) had actually discoverd a resivor not far from where we are and so he decided that we were not shopping on Saturday, he very kindly did that for me on Thursday eveing saving us time and money, as there is a big supermarket on his work run so we did not have to use more fuel for shopping. Instead we used that to fuel a few trips this weekend. TBH had me up at the crack of dawn so excited to show me this new place he had found and determined to get to it early enough for there to be good light for the photos. He packed a picnic breakfast and we were off up the highway for 10 minutes before we meandered off road ( yes our little 2 wheel drive car does off roading very well) down alongside the old riverbed , then up the windy dust track to a ridge that bought us out to these beautiful views. Wow!

This is where we sat breathing in the fresh morning air and soaking up the scenery sipping Redbush tea. What a way to start one's day. After breakfast we drove back down and along the shores of the dam spotting Heron and Rollersbirds on the morning breeze. The peace and tranquility cleared the soul, allowing us to really enjoy that moment.

Eventually the summer sun's rays got too hot so we left the lake and headed to Skarioun a village closer to home, where on a previous occassion I had spotted an Olive Oil Museum. I was interested to see the history of Olive Oil, and this place tells the story to lots of international tourist and local school children, who come from across the Island to learn and understand about the art of making Olive Oil.

I have been on the look out for a locally produced extra virgin olive oil, to use for cooking, and am so excited that we have found this place. I shall use the EVOO with Lemon extract pictured above,as salad dressings and to coat chicken and pork, it has a beautiful taste and the citrus from the Lemon is really tangy. They also sell one with basil which I shall pick up next time I am there.
However, this little beauty leads me another step closer to simple living. I have decided to refrain from using commercial skin care products in my daily routine, replacing it simply with EVOO. It can be used to remove make up and as a moisturiser for your face and body, Yeah saves you buying all the different lotions for different parts of your anatomy. Your skin is the biggest organ you have and something like 60 percent of what you put on it seeps in, I figured it is worth looking after and avoiding the chemicals that are added to commercial skin care products. So before I slipped under the sheets after a Super Saturday I treated my skin to the delights of the golden liquid and smiled contentedly knowing I was treating myself better and at the same time supporting local olive production.

If you want more information about the Skarinou Olive Oil Museum visit,

http://www.cyprusolive.com/

Reflections.

2010-06-17T14:43:00.011+03:00

It has been a strange one this week, a time for looking inside and mirroring myself and TBH, with both of us asking some interesting questions. Who are we? What are we really about? What do we really believe in and where do we really belong? I suppose it came about after an unexpected but delightful meeting of a friend's new wife,she is from Zimbabwe and oozes Africa and all the good it can be. We shared our plans for the future, and returning to Zimbabwe is one of hers as she is very optimistic that Zimbabwe can and will get back on it's feet in due course. This discussion sent a ripple of uneasiness through what had been a a fairly still mill pond.

Having only made the change from Dubai to Cyprus a year ago,TBH and I suddenly found ourselves yearning for Africa once again. I mean really yearning for it, as if it were calling us from the very heart of the Rift Valley echoing it's cry across the plains of the Masai Mara. For some reason Africa does that to you, once it is in your blood and pumps through your veins, it seems to draw you in like some mystical drug, and there's a constant nagging in the back of our heads that says,

' come home come home, this is where you belong, come back, come back you've been gone too long'

Perhaps it is also part of being an Expat. As it opens up ones minds to different countries cultures and experiences, it drives one to constantly wonder what is around the next corner.

There was a brief interlude from the questioning when we were given a free concert beneath the stars, as we sipped our wine on the rock at Impi ridge over looking the valley and a villa below, where a wedding party was being held and a live Cypriot band sung love songs into the balmy summer night breeze.

A few days at a crossroads of deep reflection by me,

and my cloggy husband

concluded that whatever has been was and what ever will be, will be, but what is most important is here and now.

So we have peace again at last, happy with our decisions and content that for now this is where we belong.
And as another summers day draws to a close and I wonder who on the other side of the world is watching the sun arise as I watch it fall, I wonder how many of you are happy with the here and now, and how often do you reflect on the could Be's or could have been. How many of us really live the moment?

Taking Back The Tap

2010-06-11T16:34:00.010+03:00

Ok, so it has taken a while for the penny to drop with this one. I am not a big water drinker at the best of times, just don't like the taste of the stuff, where ever it comes from, but I hadn't really really thought about it until today.

For me to drink water it either needs to have had Lemons soaking in it for a while or I get it down me with a nice refreshing Rooibos or mint tea. Even then though in certain parts of the world you can still taste the chlorine or whatever chemicals it is that they put in it, especially when it is desalinated water out of a tap.

However, for many years I have pondered..... over my tea or water.....

as to how it was that I lived in the dessert and yet ' Natural Spring Water' from the near by Majestic Hajar Mountains, was bottled in plastic bottles and placed on the shelves of supermarkets. I gaily bought it but 20 years later, during which time we had less and less rainfall to refill the spring water in the Hajar Mountains in the desert???????????? Are you with me on this.......

So with an empty spring due to no water how come so many other companies were coing up with ' Natural Spring Water'.
It is the same here in Cyprus, there is a whole isle of bottled water yet, Cyprus hardley has any water so where are the narural springs that it is all produced in?
Then yesterday whilst doing some research on the internet I found a fantastic clip on youtube

The Story Of Bottled Water.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=S49d-U5rHw
It is part of The Story Of Stuff project that just has to be seen! It is the scariest story of all!

So I have taken the plunge and I am Taking Back The Tap,

Cheers.

Quirky Quiche

2010-06-10T15:57:00.021+03:00

At Hay Bale Happiness we are trying to get back to basic's leaving life in the fast lane behind us and living a more healthy, happy, sustainable lifestyle. I have gone from Artistic Director in International World Wide Hairsalons,to PA to the Sales Director of an International Insurance company, to Senoir Leisure Consultant for a travel agency in the Middle East. Presently I am my own boss as a Domestic Engineer as one friend put it,trying to learn to be frugal, live on one income, produce good wholsome food, look after the home and create a warm and loving enviroment for 4 cats and TBH ( The Better Half)
Thanks to him, I now have the time and energy to explore new ideas for cooking and as we recently bought Billy the Barbie quiche is back on the menu. TBH missed out on high tea yesterday so I figured I had better come up with something just as yummy for his tummy and decided to bake a quirkey quiche. I made a basic short crust pastry mix with butter and the local village flour, I really like it's texture, it is a bit more coarse than other flours and gives a light fluffy taste.

Fetta and Red onion became the bassis of this little number,

Fried the onion in some olive oil in a pan on the gas burner of the BBQ

And then hand whisked 2 eggs and some local Cypriot yoghurt with some oregano and Fetta,

cooked the pastry case blind on the barbie with the lid down for about 7 mins

then mixed the cooled onions with the rest of the filling and placed it in the pastry case on the barbie with the lid down for about 20-25 mins.

I sliced up some tomatoes, for the top, sprinkled some cress from our home grown sprouter over it and shredded some Heromi which is a locally smoked ham. Mixed up a rocca, melon and roasted sesame seed salad and sat down to dinner as the sun set behind an eveing cloud.

Baking On The Barbie

2010-06-10T14:35:00.017+03:00

This is not a weekend indulgance, for us, it has become a way of life. Electricity is very expensive in Cyprus, added to that we both prefer gas to cook on, however the place that we are in has an electric cooker, pushing up the electric bills and producing for us, not such good food. So I came up with a brian wave, we love eating outdoors, under the sun or beneath the stars, so why don't we get a gas BBQ. We toyed with the idea but at the time didn't feel that we could justify spending the sort of money that they cost. I mentioned the idea to TBH's parents and they very kindly donated birthday money in advance and hey presto we are in business with the Barbie. Thank you!

So, as the saying goes if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen, and as the summer is fast approaching it is far nicer and much cooler to be cooking outside where at present we still seem to be getting a breeze that keeps the temperature down. We started by doing the usual home made burgers, chicken legs, and jacket potatos and then the chhallenge began, with both of us being keen cooks, it was clear that between us we had to come up with something other than the usual to Bake on the Barbie.
So I did everything else as normal for a sponge cake, whisked my butter, sugar, and eggs together,

Grated and hand juiced my orange,adding the juice to the mixture, before the flour,

added my village flour, baking powder, and orange rind for a final whisk before putting my mixture into a grease proofed loaf tray and onto the Barbie with the lid down for between 20-30 minutes.

Topped with some chocolate butter icing ,

I initially did this for TBH'S birthday after I did some research and figured that the bbq could be used in a similar way to a gas oven, guess what it worked! So as I had some tiny tums to feed yesterday with the Barefoot Mama Clan coming round for an afternoon cuppa I thought I know just the thing that they can get their sticky little mits into, and it went down a treat.

High Tea at Hay Bale Happiness!

Out Of The Fast Lane

2010-06-09T09:25:00.013+03:00

In our previouos life, both TBH ( the better half) and I used to spend quite a lot of time driving up and down the main highway of the city getting to and from work. At one time it was classified as the most dangerous highway in the world and some of the many fatal accidents that we saw occur on it would verify that. At the time there was no other alternative, pleased to say that now one could take the train instead.

We are both thankful that now when TBH goes to and from the office he no longer has to take the risk of being run off the road by a 4 wheel drive doing 200 kmp in the fast lane trying to overtake you on the hard shoulderof a 6 lane highway. Instead TBH can meander through the country lanes, passing the succulant vineyards where the grapevines spread their green leaves and the grapes begin their juicey journey into winehood.

We have taken the exit of the fast lane and slowed the pace down giving us time and energy to enjoy what is arround us.

As you can probably tell, TBH is a very good photographer, ( the not so good ones are mine!) and his photo bag goes with him most days so he doesn't miss the opportunity to capture the little things in life like this pretty caper flower dancing in the evening breeze.

We feel increadibly fortunate to live where we do, and there isn't a day that goes by that we aren't grateful for the challenge of change, and glad that we took that exit, as this has given us the opportunity to explore the more creative sides of our charecters, which in turn has given us the inspiration for Hay Bale Happiness.

Domestic Charms.

2010-06-08T16:25:00.017+03:00

Most of my life I have been lucky enough to have had some very special people help look after my home and me. Now I value their work and input even more than ever. When we were in Kenya, Ngugi our lovely houseboy, would not only polish floors and make delisoius dinners, but he was my friend, my very good friend. He always took time between his chores to entertain big questions from a young inquisative mind. He would show me how to polish my school shoes and make my bed.

I would spend hours down in his house with the wood fire smouldering as he bolied the billy. There I would listen to him tell stories of his own family who lived in some miles away. We would drink strong sweet african chai ( tea) I would dunk my white crusty bread into it and suck the tea in only a way the Africans know. I always felt safe with him and he looked after our family and protected us. I am eternaly grateful to him, he was a wonderful caring man.

In England my dear mother ran around hoovering hallways picking up laundry and every so often shouting at me to tidy my room. It usually fell on deaf ears, until I ran out of clothes to go out in so then I HAD to do something about it. Sorry Mum!

On the cruise liners, we would leave a pile of laundry on the beds, which of course would be made by the chamber maids and by evening the clothing would be washed,ironed and folded neatly back on our bunks.

In Dubai..... well what can I say, Sriya looked after me for 10 long years, so increadibly faithful, caring and loving, supporting me not just in my home with dishes, dusters and dovets, but in everyday life. Helping me overcome hurdles and understanding frustrations and sorrows. Such a gracious, proud person, with a wealth of wisdom. Buddhist and a total animal lover she looked after our kitties when we were away fattening them up and loving the to pieces.

I trusted her with my life and every day I am thankful that our paths crossed for such a long time.Most of what I have learnt to help create some domestic bliss in this simple life of ours has come from her.

Now it is my turn to plump up the cusions and fluff up the nest and at the end of a day of domestic bliss there is nothing nicer than climbing into a fesh made bed, with crispy ironed sheets.

I only hope that I can make our home as warm cosy and welcoming for TBH ( the better half) as those before me have done for us. I spend many moments searching the internet for more frugal cleaning aids, hints and tips of how to do things, lets hope in time I too can be a Domestic Charm.

Not So Manic Monday

2010-06-07T16:07:00.015+03:00

Took a deap breath outside the front door this morning and tried hard to take in every bit of the beauty of another glourious day with clear blue skies, white horses on the waves of the ocean in the distance and the birds chirping on the telegraph wires. With no car I am learning to use my legs again, something, of a rairtey for me , it has been good for me to be forced to move my muscles and remember what these things on the end of my legs called feet are for.

Stolling down through the village. It made such a refreshing change to actually have the time to stop and really look at what is around me.Feel the sun on my skin and let the wind blow through my hair. All too often when we get behind the wheels of our cars we are in such a hurry to get to where ever it is that we have to be that we miss so many of the simple things in life that we pass furiously by.I wondered as I pitta pattered through the tiny streets when did life get so hectic? Why is it that in so much of the world certainly in the cities life has to be go go go all the time? We are humanbeings not humandoings so I am glad that we have made the choice to slow things down a bit and take some time to just be.

As I passed the sheep farm at the end of our road where the milk churns were drying in the mid morning sun, I found another reason why I like it here so much, it is almost as if time hasn't caught up with Cyprus and thankfully some of the old ways still remain and have not yet been taken over by the craziness if modern life. As I took this photo, I smiled a contented smile and reflected back to my childhood in Kenya. We used to get milk from a nearby dairy farm delivered to us in churns like these. It was wonderful so fresh, and we knew the people who owned the farm and so knew that what we were getting was good wholsome milk from good wholesome cows. When did buying milk in a plastic carton at a supermarket take over? Infact I thought as I passed the archway that leads into a citurs and olive grove,

on my way to the bank when did plastic take over full stop. When did we, the public stop using crops as cash or cash as cash for that matter and start using some bit of plastic to poke into a machine in a wall to get our monies and being charged for the privilege of doing so. When did we the public allow ourselves to fall into this never ending pit of plastic payment for everything not really being mindfulof what we are or are not buying.

I left the bank fullfilled, my transactions completed by a bank clerk with a happy face and a nice welcoming smile, and no debt to pay. Sure it is sometimes hard to sit back and see how much more others seem to have, it is hard to go from buying because you can to thinking about where you spend your monies, but by doing this TBH and I have managed to saty out of debt, which for us gives us a far better freedom than keeping up with the Jones's.

Scenic Sunday

2010-06-07T13:42:00.023+03:00

TBH ( The better half) and I took a trip out and around our area yesterday, in search of the best picnic spots and views where we can take visitors when they come. One thing that we love about Cyprus is that many of the roads are still dirt tracks that meander through the fields connecting one little farm shack to another. It is such good fun to just follow the sun and see where these tracks take you. A bit like life really, somtimes it is better not to know what is around the next corner. I think it is good to plan but all too often the best laid plans of mice and men don't turn out how we had expected and it can sometimes be a bitter dissapointment, so at times I like to throw caution to the wind and take the leap so to speak and see where one lands, and most of the time you end up lucky enough to fall into something really beautiful, as we found when we took the leap to come to Cyprus to live, and these are some of our surroundings.

Isn't it stunning and all the while as you meander through the views and vistas you see different crops growing everywhere. The Figs are just coming into season now and I can't wait to experiment with them. Last year TBH made the most wonderful upside down Fig Cake, lets hope he hasn't forgotton the recipie.

It never fails to amaize me just how much is being grown here, have you ever wondered where the red syrup grenadine comes from for those Tequilla Sunrise cockatails, from this the Pommegranate plant. First it graces us with the most vibrant pillar box red flower and then the flower is pushed out as the fruit forms and finally the fruit sits on the tree ripening daily under the glorious Cyprus sun ahh the beauty of nature.

The olive tree's too showere us with beautiful little white flowers in the spring and at present the fruits are growing and bobbing about on their branches in the afternoon breeze waiting for the autmn when families from the villages will gather in the olive groves to harvest their crop.

Back at home and we made the most of the late afternoon sun with a small stroll across the field opposite the house where Wild Thyme clings to the edge of the rocky cliff.

We parked ourselves at Impi ridge ( named this as it is where our male tom cat Impi likes to cast an eye over the plains below just as he would do if he were a lion look down on the herds of Zebra in the Mara) to watch the sun gow down, leaving long shadows across the valley below and eventually going to bed behind the mountains in the distantce.

The end of another Hay Bale Happiness Day.

Saturday Shopping

2010-06-06T09:50:00.015+03:00

Saturday is shopping day since I gave up the car to reduce expenses and my carbon footprint. So once a week ( we hope to reduce this later to bi weekly or monthly) we head off to the supermarket and this time we actually remembered our sack bags! Living on one income means, learning to be more frugal and we have great fun in the shopping isles trying to get the best value for money for our items, beating the system by NOT buying the water that is on special offer cause there is other water in the water isle that is much cheaper! I walk through the shop adding my items on my mobile phone calculator as this ensures that I stay within budget and ask myself is this a want or a need.Back at home with bags unpacked and produce put in place,

we sat down to a simple but succulant salad lunch lovingly prepared by The Better Half( husband), thankfully he enjoys cooking and when we first came to Cyprus he did 4 months as a chef in a hotel near Polis learning all the specailaities of Cypriot cuisine, village salad being one of my favorite

Sadly none of this is home grown, we are hoping to ask our friendly sheep farmer if we can buy Fetta, Halloumi and maybe milk directly from him, we can see the sheep and goats from the window in the snug, and it would be wonderful to support him knowing exactly where the produce has come from. We are planning some raised veggie beds for the garden I will write about that soon but in the mean time we have started this week with our sprouter.

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

As One Door Closes Another Opens

2010-06-04T16:17:00.024+03:00

This time last year, the boxes were packed, furniture in the shipment, cats in crates waiting to be loaded onto the aircraft and we sat there looking out onto an early morning smog that covered the city. For 18 years it had been my home, I pondered on a thought as I waited anxiously to wave it goodbye. I had grown to know Dubai so well, but in it's rapid growth for economic success, did Dubai know me? Had it forgotton through it's furious fight to be the biggest, the best, the most exclusive, the most expensive, had it forgotton it's roots, the roots that lay at the base of the Dessert Rose that used to frindge the shorline dunes of Jebel Ali beach before the bulldozers ripped them up. Had it forgotton those who came to experience it as explores looking for an adventure, mindful, respectful of it's customs and replaced them with gold diggers, looking for nothing more than a quick buck, and a Bur Dubai Whore. Had Dubai really sold it's soul? Sadly as I boarded the Emirates flight and watched the final closing of the cabin door I decided the aswner was Yes.

We had been planning a lifestyle change for a while, and then due to the recession which hit Dubai like a tidal wave, the bettter half (Husband) lost his job and we like many others had the harsh realisation that loosing your job in Dubai not only means loosing your income, but it, means loosing your home (most accommodation comes with the job) loosing your medical cover, loosing your visa, your very right to be in the country. Thankfully we were prepared for this moment and within 3 weeks, we cut of the cable, sold the cars, paid off the car loan (which was un heard of and even the bank didn't know where to send us for payment) shut off electricity, finalised water bills, and kissed a fond fairwell to some very very special friends.

Touch down, taxi, and finally the cabin doors opened on to a clear bright day. At the cargo hall we cleared the cats through customs and headed west across the Island Of Love. This gorgeous, quaint, beautiful Island is now our home. The cockralls crow at dawn, the sunrises casting shadows on the hay bales across the golden fields, the shepard herds his sheep amongst the olive groves and life is much much slower than it has been for a long time. Though the last year has been tough and it has tested our desire, our quest for a simple life, I have no doubt that at this point on our journey we are exactly where we want to be.