We’ve just been enjoying the bright sunshine and cloudless skies and doing our upgrading jobs around the villa for the past couple of days. Bob has finished installing the terrace wall lights and is now on with the electrics for the jewelled gourd lights we had made last year. They have to have “quick release” fitments because they will have to come down over January and February when the winter rains come.

We’ve been enjoying eating at home, using the bbq. We haven’t used the traditional wood oven yet but we will no doubt before we head home. We have been down to Mardos the incredible ice cream parlour at the bottom of the hill and got one of their multiscoop freezer boxes. It’s lovely ice cream which they have in about 20 flavours and of course you can have a cone or a cup but we like to buy one of their 8, 16 or 24 scoop boxes to bring home. It’s very cheap and you choose the flavours you want. We are very fond of strawberry cheesecake and snickers…. of course chocolate….. they also have the nicest cherry ice cream I’ve ever tasted. Normally I think cherry ice cream tastes like calpol…. but their’s is actually fruity and a little bit tart. Delicious. If you come and stay here, I highly recommend a visit to Mardos to stock up.

I have been gardening and have purchased some ground cover plants to scramble down the bank that links the pool terrace to the orchard. Bob has put a watering line in there as a spur off the existing ones. Habibi will plant them when he comes on Sunday and they should get a good start before the hot weather really comes in.

In the afternoon Bob went off to the canasta club for his weekly game. He really enjoys it. It is at the Blue Song restaurant in Lapta.

Yesterday morning the men came and delivered and installed the new dishwasher. It looks really nice and fits behind the door panel perfectly. And it’s soooo quiet. Wow. Much quieter than our one and home and quieter than the old one here. They took the poor old soldier away….. there is never a charge for installation and removal of the old device here. Not like the UK.

I sat out in the garden while Bob was canasta-ing. It was really stonking hot IF you could get out of the cold breeze coming down from the Turkish mountains to the north. Luckily I could move my chair around to the front of the house which was completely sheltered and baking, south facing.

Burgers tonight with cheese, pickle and egg. Beyond yum. The Ileli butcher is brilliant for beef and lamb products. Ozankoy butcher is best for pork, chicken and offal. By pork, I mean, pork, sausages, ham, belly pork, bacon….

Still catching up on Yellowstone and other UK/US tv courtesy of Netflix and the Cineworld dvd bar just down the hill.