when the sun shines...

When the sun shines there is no better place to be than here in our little corner of Droushia with a view of the coast and a view of the mountains.  When it rains it is grim, grim and cold and people just don't appreciate how cold it feels here in the Winter - it may be relative but single figures is cold no matter where you are in the world!

Today we had a lovely start to the day - a start that fills you with energy and enthusiasm.  Washing done and on the line and no worries about whether or not it will dry.  It is January and January can be wet and uninviting but so far so good.  It feels good to have been able to get out in the garden and tidy up, it feels good that it looks like we have survived the worst that the winter can thrown at us so far and survived relatively unscathed in fact it just feels good full stop.  I have decided that I am the mistress of my own destination and so if I approach the forthcoming year with a positive mental attitude then hopefully my experiences will be positive ones.

The current weather conditions lead to some amazing skies, today was no exception - look as the big clouds disappearing over the mountains towards Lyssos.  The full moon last night was exceptional - I would say it was the largest and brightest I have ever seen and it followed one of the most impressive sunsets I have seen on the island.

There is snow on them there hills.  I am hoping to persuade John to go up and see it although he will say to me that if I climb up onto the roof terrace I can see it any time I like!!!

Although there is snow on the Troodos the lower mountain ranges have had no snow this year unlike in previous years so although it has been a wet and miserable winter there has been less snow and less snow means that the reservoirs may not get filled as the snow melts.

We should not be complacent as historically January and February are the worst months of the year and so we may well have more wintery weather to come.

Some of our friends are away on a Caribbean cruise at the moment, hoping to find some winter sunshine whilst escaping the rain here, no such luck it would seem as they sent us a photograph of a very very wet Aruba and they have experienced some exceptionally choppy seas - thank goodness that Colombia was nice - John really like Columbia when he was there about 7 year ago.

I ordered a new hoover/dust buster this week - treating myself as I find it nigh on impossible to keep on top of the rubbish which appears on the conservatory floor - I ordered it from Amazon on Wednesday and it was delivered to Droushia on Friday - can't say fairer than that!!! It would have been delivered to our door except for the fact that we were in Paphos when the driver rang so we arranged for it to be dropped off at the Droushia Heights Hotel.

We charged it overnight so that I could give it its inaugural outing this morning - woo hoo as someone who doesn't rate hoovering this makes it so easy - in fact so easy that I am thinking about selling my full sized hoover and making space.  This little beaut has a whole host of features but best of all it seems to deal with cat fur in a way that my other one did not and that is the most important thing in the world when you live with Chivers, Minnie, Charlie and Boris!!!

Along with my positive mental attitude resolution I am also trying to have a little declutter resolution and get rid of things which we really dont want, use or need.  This isn't easy as I am by nature a bit of a hoarder and even less easy when John and I cannot agree on what we should or should not keep.

I have one of the Jumbo mega bags to hand at all times and when I come across something I am putting it in and will give it to Mum to get rid of at the charity shop she works in which is located in Kissonerga and called What's New Pussycat as it supports the massive cat rescue centre at Tala Monastery.

I have made a start - I am going through drawers one at a time and being ruthless -ish!!!  unfortunately we may well just replace with new stuff!!!

This evening we came to the end of a series we have been watching - possibly the most realistically violent series we have watched called Love/Hate - we had saved the very last episode for this evening and weren't disappointed - filmed in southern Ireland I now feel fully fluent in Irish Gypsy-speak - I spent the last few weeks asking John if he understood what was being said!!!!  Not one to watch if you are in the slightest squeamish!!