Saturday 8 April 2017

Spring/easter Clean up

The weeks before Easter are a time to clean up the inside of the house and spruce up yards and whitewash walls.  Housewives beat the carpets, wash heavy winter blankets, clean windows and get rid of scary cobwebs.  I am not a good greek housewife. 

No time for housework during Holy Week.  Tuesday is baking Easter koulourakia day, Thursday is dyeing-red-egg day.  On Good Friday it is not 'done' to do housework. It is a day of mourning.  Monday and Wednesday are days for visiting god children and giving easter presents and making tsoureki, the sweet easter bread.



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Elli doing a spot of whitewashing last year.  She will be whitewashing the walls around their home down on Poros tomorrow.


Messy whitewashing.  The walls gleam as they dry and what is spilled on the flag stones comes off after a quick wash and rub with a broom



Meanwhile, someone else was varnishing the wood round and under the roof






We employed a young Albanian lad to come and pull out all the weeds in the back garden and dig the big vegetable plot.  It was hard work digging.  The ground was dry despite our almost daily April showers.


What a difference a day makes.  The back yard is finally free of weeds and most of the rubbish




This is some of the metal, wood and treasures removed from the back yard.  There is more but now 'just around the edges'.


A final sweep of our back yard sitting-area.  There is still a pile of old metal pipes on the left side but the worst has been removed...forever










15 comments:

  1. Looks nice and a view of the hills. It's a good feeling to get spruced up and sorted. The weather looks great.

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    1. We're all getting ready for summer now, before it gets to hot. It is great to have a tidier home but I wish we could get rid of all the rubbish. My husband is a hoarder!

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  2. I wondered about the white wash getting all over the "floor". So it can be washed off at first, but when it's dry on the walls it doesn't wash off?
    Gardens aren't ready to be dug / tilled yet, here, but in a few weeks, maybe. -Jenn

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    1. I always think the same thing!! Why doesn't it disappear from the walls. Even if it rains tonight the walls will still look clean and white. It does eventually wash away, needs redoing after a year or so.

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  3. Here is also the big cleaning for Passover holiday,and usualy after the big clean a sand storm with a lot of dust comes to tell us that dust is a part of our life here.

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    1. Yes, it always happens. Here it is rain and mud. Sometimes I wonder why I bother cleaning.

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  4. The weather has finally turned stormy so no outdoor cleaning for now
    I'll pick a nice day and get it done ready for winter. It's a twice year ritual spring and autumn
    Looks very nice indeed

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    1. I wish we could get rid of some more rubbish but it does look so much tidier now

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  5. I washed all our pillows yesterday. Spring MUST be in the air.

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    2. There is definitely a whiff of BBQ and chilled wine in the air

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  6. We tidied and weeded (is that a word?) the veg plot yesterday. It looks really good. We also planted onion setts and sowed carrots. Do you make the white wash yourselves or do you buy it?

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    1. We buy a bag of some white substance which we mix with water. Asbestos is what it is called in English. Lime??

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  7. that is a lot of stuff. it feels so good to get rid of it all doesnt it. We purged the garage. 5 black bin bags later, it looks a bit tidier. Lots of building bits and paint cans that needed to go to the dump.

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    1. It feels absolutely bl**Dy wonderful. I feel freer!!! Wish he would agree to get rid of all the rest!!!

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