Pissouri, Cyprus - cat painting.

Another rainy day so I went through my photos and

picked this one to try and paint.

What was I thinking??? I have never even tried to draw an animal let alone paint it. Youtube wasn't much help either, so I just dove in.

It's not good but I don't think it is too bad for my first attempt at an animal. I can tell its a cat. Pretty low bar for myself. I can see all sorts of things I could do better and that's the whole point, its a learning process

The rain stopped by the afternoon and I was able to get outside, do some gardening, have a visit with Kay and go grocery shopping.

Coronavirus has had an impact here, as in the rest of the world:
- as of today, Cyprus has 10 cases
- has closed the border with Turkish occupied Northern Cyprus
- is requiring people arriving from the UK, and other Category 2 countries, to self isolate for 14 days upon arrival
-is forecasting that this will be a very difficult time for the tourist industry
- Pissouri has closed the school and daycare centre.
- Cyprus has cancelled events of more than 75 people.
This last one means that the Paphos Marathon has been cancelled. I was walking in the charity 5km event that was part of this. I am planning on still walking for the charity with a small group, on Sunday.

On Monday it was extremely windy here and there seemed to be a lot of dust around. I have been told that in the summer it is very dusty, dirt tracks, farm machinery, it all kicks up the dust as it is so dry. But I hadn't experienced that as it has been a wet winter. On Monday I actually had to clear some dust out of my eyes. Turns out this was a minor version of the sand storms that can impact Cyprus when strong winds bring the desert sands from Egypt and Northern Africa. The red sand storms stain all the white houses pink and they have to be washed down.

 African sand on my table! The last couple of days of rain left little sand drifts on the balcony table. Living were I do I am used to sand everywhere but this stuff has traveled a long way.

My current book is one lent to me by Nikki. She had interviewed the author for an article. A book on Afghanistan is not something that I would normally be interested in, but she recommended it, so I am giving it a go. It is told from the perspective of a young boy and I am thoroughly enjoying it so far. A low key view into a culture and part of the world that I know very little about.