In the hope of getting to know you better, every second Monday I pull a name from a hat and ask that person to tell me three things about themselves and then ask me three question.

Today Sheila Sharman is in the spotlight. So Sheila what will you share and what will you ask?

I have had 3 children. The 1st was stillborn, the 2nd Elizabeth died at 15 months after a measles jab. The 3rd, my lovely Nichola, put up with me being overprotective and even when a small child was very understanding! She is now an orthopaedic surgeon with two beautiful children of her own. My first husband wouldn't talk about our losses and this contributed in a big way to the breakdown of our marriage.

I am now married to Roger. He is a lovely man, very kind and empathetic. He has seen me through some bad times (heart surgery and 2 cancer ops - now clear) and some brilliant times. The good far outweighs the bad. We have 15 grandchildren between us, and we are now retired and living in Sussex near Brighton and five minutes walk from the sea. Our bungalow has a big garden that keeps me busy and a lovely view towards Worthing and the South Downs.

Both of us have many hobbies, vital to a good retirement. My major one is photography which I "caught" from my Dad! I had my first camera when I was 9 - a Brownie Box and now use a Nikon 7000. I have had quite a few published. I obviously enjoy reading and proof reading, and knitting, family history and Roger and I run a singing group for older people in Worthing which is great fun. They're a lovely bunch! Looking back at what I've written it looks like a sad life but most of it has been really good.

Now what can I ask you?

Do you have any children or pets? We've got 2 cats Bella and Honey neither of them lap cats!

I have a wonderful daughter who turned 18 this year! She has a tremendous work ethic, and she held down four jobs over the summer. What a girl.

The pets in my life, on the other hand, are lazy. I have one house cat called “Chew" and an ever changing number of outdoor cats in Greece.

Chew cat is nearly blind and she has been since I rescued her from the side of the road when she was a tiny kitten, all legs and no body. She used to only make a noise that sound like ‘chew, chew, chew’, hence her name. Now she is grown she makes a strange noise instead of meowing - something like a frog mixed with Chewbacca from Star Wars.

In the UK fat cat Teddy rules the house. She is convinced she is a human and sits next to me at the table when I eat. When I go away she curls up in my suitcase hoping I will take her with me. But as I rescued her from Greece I think another journey like that would be too much for her now she is 14 years old.

What is your favourite Greek recipe?

I just love horta, the wild greens they pick from the hillsides. Some of it is, maybe, too bitter but some is so flavoursome and tender I could eat it all day long. But I guess this is not really a recipe as you just boil them and add salt, lemon and olive oil. Mostly I love simple food, the really traditional stuff that most people consider as side dishes these days. But in the village a plate of horta is a meal, as is a plate of fava, which is another of my favourites.



Fava is really just boiled spilt peas but it is best if you sauce two of three chopped red onions at the start, add a couple of chopped cloves of garlic, and as soon as this caramelises add 500 grams of dried spilt peas and about a litre of hot water with a third of a cup of olive oil. (That’s a guess - I generally give it two really good glugs form the bottle.) I leave this to simmer for 45-50 minutes. When cooked I add the juice of two lemons, salt to taste and put the whole lot in the blender as I like it really smooth. Some people prefer it chunky. Serve with raw diced onion, another glug of olive oil on top and it makes all the difference to have another quartered lemon to squeeze over just before you eat

What would you miss most about your village if you had to move on?

What a terrible thought! I think the first thing that would cross my mind was what an opportunity I had missed by not speaking better Greek and not spending more time with the older women of the village. I wish this was enough to make me study more!

I would most certainly miss my house very much indeed and with that comes the garden. It is such a heaven from the modern world, tucked away as it is up the end of a lane surrounded by orange trees. I have planted many trees, including a number of fruit trees, and I have watched them grow and love them all dearly.

Along the back terrace my neighbour took it upon herself one year to plant a row of rose bushes. I had no intention of putting roses there but I did not have the heart to upset her so now they are established and produce a mass of flowers. Each year I plant more flowers. Some survive the summer’s heat, some don’t, but it is lovely to know every stone and people and leaf in this garden.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Sheila and myself a little more. And as ever if you want to join in then come and find us all on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/authorsaraal...