Furthermusingsfromacyprusgarden

  For some months now I have been making a real effort to re-use plastic. This photo shows two weeks worth of plastic from our house.  Shame to say that it doesn’t contain every scrap. The first step in the right direction was when supermarkets were told to start charging for plastic carrier bags.  This only affected bags at the checkout.  But people still take handfuls of plastic bags for their shopping.   And all the while, the shelf fillers wheel away trolleys loaded with cardboard boxes, presumably to dump in the crusher in the corner of the car park. people could use these for packing their shopping into. Before this the cashiers would put EVERYTHING in a bag. Even if it was already wrapped.  I used to say no thank you, but they would still try. We take our own hessian bags, some we brought with us, and some we bought from the supermarket. We also got some mesh vegetable bags from England, which were eyed suspiciously by the lovely ladies who weight an...

 Z This is our dog who has brightened our lives for five and a half years, together with our cats, (all rescues) who have let us live with them for nearly ten years. There is still a bit of friction between Honey, top pet, and dog, who is and can be the green eyed monster. Living in Cyprus we have to (by law!) have a ‘beware of the dog’ notice on the gate in both languages.  Shop bought ones have pictures of big dogs looking mean and hungry for a fight.  Not for us.  We asked a friendly bar man at a local bar if he could make us a sign.  He is into all things arty.  Anyway, he produced a brilliant sign with the prescribed words, and decorated it with daisies. All fine so far. Then the Cyprus government (haven’t they got any thing better to do) dictated dogs must have a licence, which will be issued by local Mukhtar (Mayor).  Ok, but the Mukhtar for our village won’t do it and tells people to go to the Municipal (Council) office in Polis, our nearest to...

  It is time for us to say goodbye to our wonderful gardener and his wife as they make their way back to their home country. We have had the pleasure of knowing them over the last five months or so, and we wish them all the very best in their life together. And I hope they never again have to endure such racism as they have received in Cyprus.  It makes me ashamed that people can be so harsh. But I was told a very long time ago, no one can feel or understand the hurt racism causes unless they have a different colour skin. They go with our very best wishes. xx

  This morning’s photo shows a very bijou bird residence.  Just waiting for the little birds to grace us with their presence. Should be fun.

 Tuesday saw me back at the dentist to continue my ongoing treatment.  Not as tough as the last time but still pretty nervous and a bit shaky all the same.  Next round next Thursday.  Is all I can say is thank goodness for face masks to hide behind while this is going on. Maybe I will post a picture when it’s finished. We had two whole days without anything in the diary.  Bliss.  Cooking and colouring was the order of Wednesday. Thursday.  We have been having fun and games with coffee.  We have enjoyed Nescafé Gold Blend for ages, with no need to deviate from that.  Then suddenly, shock, horror and without warning, it changed. Yuk.   After a bit of searching on the internet and wasting about €20 on various other coffees, we were none the wiser and in dire need of caffeine. Clever Mr D had an epiphany moment.   We had a coffee machine on our wish list for age’s which kept being moved down to allow more pressing things in. (Like ...

 Yep, that’s right.  A big(ish) pile of silver (foil) parcels in the bottom of the fridge. It all started when our shop bought vegetables kept dying after a couple of days.  Not good, as we don’t have a local veg shop and don’t want to go into Polis on a special journey, we like to combine other bits and pieces at the same time. Mr D’s iPad popped up with an idea which seemed a bit odd, but decided to give it a go anyway. Wrap your veg in silver foil and keep in the fridge until needed.  It keeps veg crisp and fresh. I started with carrots, cucumber and celery.  Not wrapped together.  Checked a few days later and it was working,  so put them back for a bit longer. The result is amazing.  It gives us fresh veg and stops waste. Works well with cauliflower as well. I am in the process of trying it with tomato’s.  Good fun. I also re-cycle the foil so it all fits very nicely.  Do you think I should suggest it to Sunak as a money saving exerc...