Giants Be Here

Mother Nature has her seasons, has her reasons

This is the spring of giant grape leaves

The small leaf at the top is a normal size one that I have picked to make stuffed vine leaves (dolmathes)

There are masses of these giant leaves, along side the regular leaves.  Now is the time I pick for cooking but also we remove a lot of the leaves so the grapes get sunlight and also they say with the removal of leaves the vine gives more strength to the fruit

Where have all the poppies gone

There are years when the fields around us are a mass of bright red poppies.  This year we have only a few peeping out from amongst the wild grasses on the side of the road

At easter we  normally have tablecloths and tuille at hand to cover the lamb as we take it down from the spit to protect it from the flocks/hordes of flies.  This easter (in lockdown) we (just the two of us) roasted our lamb in the oven.   There was no need to cover the oven tray for there were no flies.  No flies?  An easter miracle!  And still there are no flies, and not many wasps around either.

Last year we had very few ants where normally we have to keep everything in the fridge or airtight containers.  Ants appeared instantly, in other years,  as soon as a loaf of bread hit the bench or a crumb hit the floor.

The last few years we have had masses of grasshoppers, and green stick insects and jumpy things.  They have all gone.  Two years ago we had wasp swarms making making any outdoor drinking or eating an exercise of arm waving and cursing.  Our sugar water traps were always full.  Last year the same sort of trap caught only a handful.

It is early yet but we wait to see what pestilence will annoy us this summer, or will it just be this cursed virus