Staycationing

We have just had a fantastic mini mini-break at the Four Seasons in Limassol, just one nights stay, but such a change!  The hotel is about half an hour from us and you can almost see my office from the beach in front of it, but it felt a world away from our army quarter.

The peace and quiet of an adult-only swimming pool, seemingly illusive foods like back bacon and mini herb sausages, a proper shower, an air-conditioned bedroom, fresh orange juice, and ITV1 on tap in the room!

And of course there were the bikinis... this was my first chance to swim since my op, and after selling my old swimming costumes on eBay (can you believe people buy second hand bikinis?) a world of halter-necks and string bikinis opened up to me this weekend... and what fun it was!

Really our excuse for our hotel stay, was a lack of celebrations for both of our birthdays last month and our anniversary in June, but we've also come to the decision that we shouldn't need excuses! This is the side of Cyprus our friends and family come to enjoy and we haven't really sampled, so as the clock ticks on our second (and final) year on the island we may be trying this more often!

My only complaint about our mini staycation, is that on a "proper" holiday you get a little time on a flight home to adjust to going back to reality. This afternoon it took us 3 minutes to go from poolside, to back in our car on a dual-carriageway in our local town... down to earth with a bump!

The Post Bag

It's been a productive week so far, but don't worry I'm sure it won't last...

I made this bag last night for one of my colleagues birthdays. It's a design I call the Post Bag and I've been making them for friends for a couple of years. The applique on the front spells out the location of the current posting, in this case RAF Akrotiri.

The bags have been modified and refined over the last couple of years and although I still like the concept and the applique, but I think I need to jazz up the actual bag design at some stage... I'll add that to The List... about which I'll mention more in another post soon!

Hope your week is going well!

Apollo Hylates

Good news for a Monday! The forecast for today is 29c, which is the first time in many months that our highs have been below 30c. So I thought I'd celebrate with some photos of an historic site close to our home .

Apollo Hylates is about five minutes up the road from us, I actually drive past the entrance twice a day and like every histroic site in Cyprus, admittance only costs €1.70.  So lots of very good reasons why we should have visited a lot earlier than 13 months into our tour, but it was this month's Episkopi Photography Club trip that finally motivated me. The project theme is "Cyprus Landmarks", which funnily enough is about the only theme I couldn't get started on whilst I was in the UK earlier this month.

The week in photos

 Gatwick North Terminal / First day back / Woodstock pub quiz / Macy Dog / Breadmaking / Reclaiming the beaches / drying chilies

Maybe Baby quilt

So this is the second class sample quilt which I finished earlier this week. It is designed to be a more traditional example of patchwork quilting. The patterned fabric is another Japanese import made by Kokka and mixed in with some Kona cotton and Moda Bella squares. This is quilt number nine for me this year, I can hardly believe it myself!

I completed it just in time to find out the class is no longer going to run! I had four keen students and others who various reasons didn't make the sign-up, couldn't make the class timings or only spoke up when it was cancelled! There seems to have been a general learning apathy this term, GCSE courses and home furnishing also got the chop.

However not easily defeated, I am instead going underground and rounding up the aspiring quilters for some unofficial sessions, which means less pressure on me as a teacher too... As long as I get some crafting time I'm happy!

Last week in the UK...

The last four weeks in the UK have flown by, and tomorrow it is time to return to Cyprus. Apparently the weather has cooled down slightly, I'm rather counting on it!

When I return to the Med I will miss amongst other things, birdsong, grass, trees, rolling hills, rain, changeable weather, the smell of autumn in the air, seaweed, greenery, long off-lead dog walks, mud, jeans and English pubs.

England is not perfect, but there are many subtle wonderful things about it that you take for granted until you leave it, and I am learning to appreciate them more every time I come home.