HOW DOES OUR GARDEN GROW

I thought it might be interesting to show you how some of the plants in our garden were shaping up before some of the heavy storms hit us.








This plant is simply amazing. It one of the Datura family and sometimes has 3 trumpets, one inside each other as in the picture on the right and on other blooms I have seen the centre trumpet look like a corkscrew inside the flower. I think you'll agree with me its a fascinating plant and we are lucky enough to have 2 of them.






This Pointsetta is about 3 foot high and given time (like a few years) it should grow into small tree!


Of course it was important that I have a Papyrus plant too.


The tomato plant was grown accidentally, the pips from a tomato must have been in some waste water I put onto my plant container when I was watering one time and low and behold we have enjoyed a really good crop of tomatoes from it.

This was our first Mandarin orange - hope we get lots more as it was lovely.




There are some really unusual looking plants that I just wonder what they will turn out like!










We are now looking forward to the spring to see it all coming alive again. I have already noticed the fruit trees begining to bud and some of the neighbouring almond trees are already in blossom.

THE END OF 2006

Between Christmas and New Year we had endured some very cold, wet and windy weather. It was all we could do to keep the lounge warm when the winds were strong. We began to think that perhaps we should install a central heating system, but then I began to think I was going soft - we had hardly experienced winter at all! We continued to huddle around the gas heater and borrowed a second one from our absent next-door neighbours.

Another new experience we had was the hunting prowess of Kedi. We had been the recipients of several little geckos (lizards) which she would bring in, chop off their tails and then chase them under the carpets, tormenting them until they died of exhaustion! But now she had moved on to bigger stakes. Just before New Year's Eve she dragged in a shrew she'd caught. This was a bit too big for my liking and I made Jeff take it out while I kept Kedi occupied. His instructions were to throw it as far as he could across the field!

Another event that amuses us is our local shepherd's daily trips up and down our lane as he moved his flock to fresh fields of grass.It is such a shame that our little boys wont be able to see this when they come in the summer, but the grass will have all shrivelled up by then.



Our friends Frank and Joan were now back from their UK trip and had invited a few of us to spend New Year's Eve at their house, with the stipulation that we should bring food, drink and a game that did not involve cards!

So New Year's eve saw 8 of us join Frank and Joan at their villa. The games were great fun.

We started with a whole pyramid of champagne glasses




and the object was to remove the glasses one by one without toppling the pyramid. Jeff was the ultimate loser at this one, lucky that the glasses were all plastic.



Sandy had also brought along her game of Tumble which involves adding and removing blocks of wood without collapsing the tower of wood blocks.
As you can see in the pic it needs a steady hand towards the end.





Pat & Bryan had brought along a great game of racing turtles.

We had three heats, followed by the finale. Joan won overall and was rewarded with a bottle of wine, not really such a surprise knowing the Layabouts.

At midnight we went outside to watch for the fireworks and raise our glasses and sing Auld Lang Syne of course, we had a few more drinks and then got out came the loo rolls to play the Mummy game. Sandy and Barbara complained that the loo paper quality was too good as it kept separating, but some of us can wrap a better parcel than others. Jeff and I were declared to be the winners, could it be that I've had previous experience?

A good evening was enjoyed by us all and nice to bring in 2007 with friends.

The following day Sandy and John had invited us to their New Year lunch time drinks. The sun shone as we mingled with a lot of new people as well as old friends.



Not a bad conclusion to our first 6 months in our new life - I think we are going to be alright.................

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES

We all moved into the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel (to give it its full title) on Christmas Eve afternoon, that is Barbara and Michael, Pat and Brian and Jeff and me. We had left extra food to keep Kedi going until morning so with a clear conscience we checked in. We were given a lovely large bedroom, warm and comfortable, sea views


and a real novelty for us - a telly, as we don't have one. The deal we had signed up to was for Full Board from Christmas Eve afternoon until after lunch on Boxing Day to include Christmas Day traditional lunch, a Christmas Day Dinner Dance and all local drinks throughout, costing - wait for it - £80 per person. We couldn't lose.

Once we'd unpacked and joined our friends in the lounge area we did a recce of the public areas and very nice they were too. That evening we enjoyed a very nice Buffet dinner - all the food you could wish for, both hot and cold presented so well. There was a duo to entertain us and a free bar that went on long after we had given up.

We awoke to a cloudy Christmas morning but nevertheless we were looking out over the Mediterranean sea. We had a scrumtious breakfast from so many choices of food you couldn't be disappointed. We did a quick dash home to give Kedi her breakfast and open some of the Christmas presents we had been sent from UK, lovely surprises. We had a great thermometer from Debi that as well as giving the temperature it had suitable comments alongside like "Nice Day", "Time for a beer", "Too hot to work" etc. Sharon must have sensed that it might get a bit chilly as I had a wonderful cosey wrap from them and our friends the Smiths sent a great outdoor garden clock.

Jeff and I then went on to church

and as we came out the sun shone and stayed with us throughout the day.

View from church over Kyrenia Harbour

on Christmas morning.

Back to the Merit for our Christmas lunch. They provided a traditional Christmas lunch plus all the trimmings (the only thing it lacked was crackers) and there were a multitude of Mezes and salads to choose from. Well, the only thing to do in the spirit of entente cordial was to have some of each.




After such a feast it was time for a walk to shake it down and while we were out we discovered the hotel had their generators running. We later learnt there had been a power cut from 12 noon Christmas Day until 7pm, difficult for anyone trying to cook dinner at home but that is par for the course in NC.
Our walk was followed by 40 winks and a bit of TV. I even managed to catch the Queen's Speech.



Then it was time for some titivation as we preened ready for the evening's Christmas Ball.
We met up in the lounge and checked out the rest of the frocks and outfits.
Everyone had certainly made an effort,





some in their own special way.













We enjoyed a lovely champagne reception followed by a silver service 5-course dinner with musical entertainment, cabaret and dancing. A great evening by any standard.






Boxing Day morning dawned with storms on the horizon. We went home and topped up Kedi's food and made sure all was well, then back to the Merit for a leisurely buffet breakfast. Before the weather broke we went for a short walk but it was not long before the wind whipped up and the rain lashed down. We enjoyed another superb lunch and dawdled over coffee and brandy before packing and making our way back to Karsiyaka and our gas heaters.

The general consensus was that it had been an excellent Christmas and one to be repeated in the future.