We’ve spent the last couple of days pretty quietly around Villa Rockheart getting a few small jobs done or on the way before Stuart and Fi arrive on Thursday night. No doubt we’ll be doing some good sightseeing days with them once they get rested after the flights etc.
The weather remains hot so every afternoon has been spent in the pool. It really is gorgeous out here. Our water temperature is 28C so very pleasant. Bob has finished fitting wall sockets with both electric points and USB/USB-C sockets either side of all the beds. Very useful for charging devices.
Today we went out to one of the local metalworkers to get him to come and measure up, then make us 3 gates that will enclose the pool and house terrace. If we lived here full time we would have electric gates put on both drives but with so many guests staying, that would be difficult and possibly ineffective. Plus complicated if the remote controls got lost….. So we can’t isolate the lower garden area, the orchard or the upper drive. Being able to isolate the pool and house terrace will be a benefit though.
Having said that, we have had no trouble at all with dogs since we’ve been here. 2 did appear at the back door on our first night and I chased them off and again the next morning. I do suspect that some of our kindhearted guests may have been feeding them…… I get it…. I do….. I like dogs….. but….. the fact is that this house will be mostly empty from end of November to April. If you condition a dog to hang around here, they will starve over winter. Better to get them to move on to greener pastures during the summer when there’s more people about. We beg guests not to encourage them but I’m pretty sure they do.
Anyway, will wait and see what the quote is for the gates.
We’ve bbq’d most nights and eaten outside. We always have lunch outside. Bob loves that. He has become a whizz at egg mayo salad and we often have cold meat, beetroot, white cheese, olives, bread, aubergine salad….. some sort of mix of those. I am building up a jar store again ready to make marmalade and jam in November. The lemons are ripening fast – we’ve had one a night – and Bob has his first grapefruit in the fruit bowl.
Went down to Kyrenia yesterday and booked Stuart and Fi’s health checkups for Monday morning. It’s very straightforward and quick to get done here if not as cheap as it used to be.