Mountains and Mushrooms

Well I can tick the Troodos mountains off my list of things to do in Cyprus. Instead of spending saturday shopping or at the beach, we decided to head up to the mountains with Harry's cousin and his girlfriend, in search of mushrooms. I still find it amazing that you can be in the city centre and an hour and a half later be up a mountain. And you really realise how small Cyprus is when you stand on the Troodos mountains and can see across the island and beyond to the ocean. 

While we may still be experiencing summer worthy temperatures and numerous hours of sunshine, up in the mountains it's a whole different story. To put it simply, it was COLD. And the air is so fresh it, reminded me of those winter days in England when its freezing cold but the sun shines and the sky is blue and your face feels numb. 

To say that me and Harry are not expert mushroom pickers would be an understatement. On the other hand his cousin and girlfriend are professionals, but before you judge us on this, they have been doing it for many years. They know exactly what they are looking for and hence, they quickly filled up the bag with mushroom after mushroom after mushroom. 

Despite almost getting lost in the forest at sundown and my nose plummeting to remarkably cold temperatures, I had the best afternoon. 

Now bring on the snow and next time we venture up the mountains it will be to the ski resort. 

We made it.

Today is the 1 year mark. And we have made it in one piece. A pretty epic achievement in itself. A year ago today we were on a plane with only 3 suitcases and a whole lot of savings. This is probably the quickest year of my life and I regularly forget that it wasn't just yesterday we arrived.

In a year we have; found a flat, both established good jobs, set up our own business, acquired a dog, been given a car, experienced explosions and power cuts, explored most of the island, eaten more kebabs than I ever thought possible, survived a summer of 40 degrees, accumulated more adidas shoes than I care to count and most importantly, haven't killed each other. YET.

Its not all been a barrel of laughs, homesickness is my enemy and I miss friends, family and BOOTS. But its the price you pay for living on a mediterranean island I guess.

SO, I think we are here to stay. On the checklist for this year.....buy a house, add another dog to the collection, learn to drive, master the Greek language and eat less kebabs.

So just in case you have forgotten us.....here we are in all our glory.

The kindness of strangers

After a long day at work the sound of the doorbell was not really what I wanted to hear. But i'm glad I opened it, as the lovely Cypriot lady from the apartment next door was standing there with a huge bag of grapes fresh from the village and homemade orange marmalade! She is the sort of Cypriot lady who is up at 6am preparing food for that nights dinner and judging by the awesome smell that is usually wafting from her front door, she is a pretty good cook!

I think she has made my day. I know it's only grapes and marmalade, but when was the last time your neighbor brought you gifts.

So toast and marmalade for breakfast tomorrow!

A lesson in how to swim

Today we took millie for her first proper beach trip. Now that the summer season is pretty much drawing to a close, with fewer tourists and no Cypriots frequenting the beaches, we decided to take millie to the beach in Larnaca. We have taken her once before, but we had only had her for a month or so and she was so scared it wasnt an enjoyable experience.

Today was a whole different story. She loved the beach running like a bunny at the speed of lightening up and down. And considering this is probably the first time she had been swimming, well she took to it like a duck to water. She was a bit scared; remember the first time you went swimming and you were probably the same...thinking what the hell is this. But her little doggy legs worked overtime and I think (I hope) she had fun. Her bottom was wagging the whole time so thats a good sign.

Oh the joys of a Sunday afternoon in october on the beach. You have to love this island when it gives you sunshine 365 days a year.