[John J]

Hi David, it seems I owe the village workers an apology as they were not responsible for butchering the olive trees. According to the priest it was the old guy who does odd jobs around the church. He lopped off the branches so that it would be easier for him to pick the olives, with obviously no consideration for future crops over the next few years! 

[Umbrian]

Lovely mosaic work as always and I agree in a very good cause.
Shame about the olives but given time they should recover.

[John J]

Our latest acquisition, fitted this morning, to close in our side patio. My wife commissioned it from a local metalworker who just happens to be married to one of her relatives. The bougainvillea had to be sacrificed but it was getting too big anyway  and now can be controlled more effectively as it regrows.

[Charithea]

Hello to all you Forum readers.  Thank you for your wonderful postings.  I used to read them quickly before dashing out to clean the Church Garden mosaic.  Unfortunately because we were working during the rainy days some of the pieces were getting waterlogged and coming unstuck.  This necessitated cementing them down again during the grouting and it got messy.  We tried using different cleaning materials but the going was hard.  I discussed the problem with a gardening friend who is a geologist and he advised me to use lemon juice. We had lots of Bitter oranges and I took his advice. Hence the bin with the bitter oranges in the photo.  We have finally  finished the cleaning today.  Now we are waiting for the 'builder' to build the breeze stones then the wall will be plastered and painted and we will plant the narrow trough with succulents.  Bit by bit 'our garden' is coming along.

[Umbrian]

Your enthusiastic posts are something to look forward to on the Forum Charithea, I can see the frustrations of working on your latest mosaic project have turned your world upside down!
Well done for persevering and sharing your skills so generously. Look forward to seeing the finished results.

[Charithea]

I decided to post some of the photos that show how the Church 'garden' looked and how it looks now,

[Umbrian]

Wonderful transformation - when do you find the time to do all that work?

[John J]

Seen this morning in the garden of the Forestry Department Visitor Centre, Troodos.

[David Dickinson]

I was never truly convinced with the little water feature that I posted about (page 11 this thread). Just before lock down I found 2 fish more suited to the purpose. As there are 2, I have one spare should this one ever have a mishap.  Now that I have a little more spare time as most of the exam and report writing work is out of the way I decided to revamp the feature today. Still the same old colourful pebbles and still the same "lotus-flower" container but I am more satisfied with the outcome this time.

[Umbrian]

Lovely David - even a small water feature adds so much to a garden I think.....as long as it doesn't attract too many zanzare.

[Charithea]

Well done David. I can send you some zanzare eating fish if you get any problems.

[David Dickinson]

Thanks for your concern re mosquitos. I put a couple of drops of swimming pool anti-algae liquid in the water. I also bought an anti-mosquito larvae prduct that comes in large tablets designed to treat hundreds of litres of water. I crushed them up into a powder and add a bit every now and again so that mosquitos don't breed.

Unfortunately (this word is not strong enough to convey my feelings but expletives are not allowed on this forum!), we have the dreaded Tiger Mosquito here in Rome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_albopictus. These get you in the daytime and the local ones take over at night time. I only hope that Tiger Mosquitos haven't arrived in your neck of the woods yet. When they do, you'll know about it. You can follow their invasion of Europe under the chapter heading "Invasive Species" in the article link above.  The chapter headed "Control and Suppression" offers little comfort.

Luckily they only make me itch. Other visitors get more extreme reactions. Applying a Deet based repellent is the only way to keep them at bay.

[Charithea]

David, that made horrible reading. I don't know if I have been bitten by one of these mosquitoes through my travels but I hope it does not come to Cyprus.  We have enough of biting insects.  I am lucky as I don't seem to have any adverse reactions but other members of the family do.

[Umbrian]

Keep them in Rome please - perhaps I better withdraw my offer of a stay unless some hide away in your backpack!!!! (Only joking of course 😊)

[David Dickinson]

I have just received my April edition of the MGS Journal - it has been sitting at the office for a couple of months. By coincidence pages 41-43 contain an article by Angel Pérez Sànchez (apologies for the "approximation" of the accents, I am using an Italian keyboard) who writes "Hospitals and medical centres were close to collapsing when so many patients who had been bitten by the tiger mosquito appeared for treatment".

What is also interesting is that the increase in numbers in dragonflies noted in the article may be associated with the arrival of the tiger mosquito. I have had one dragonfly and one damsel fly in my garden this year. Never seen before. Is it just that I am more present in this lockdown period or are they really coming for the tiger mosquitos? I truly hope the latter.