Summer

We are in the middle of our first heat wave.  Temperatures up to 40o in some parts of the country, till Thursday.  At this time of the year these high temps are bearable, just.  The nights are still quite cool and there is a slight breeze.

We have taken up our big carpets, cleaned them outside in the yard, dried them, rolled them and stored them.  Summer clothes are half out, winter clothes almost stored away.  Blankets and duvets exchanged for very light cotton coverings.

Some of our curtains are of the very heavy draft stopping kind.  I'll take those down sometime soon, there are only three of them, and put up some lighter ones which will not stop any essential breezes.

We are not on a diet of greek salad yet but our eating patterns have changed.  Our evening meal, or snack with a glass of red wine, in a glass full of ice, is eaten later and we sit on the side terrace looking towards the pine forest, listening to the neighbourhood dogs and watching for the lights of an airplane.  There are no airplanes of course, none circling to land at Athens International, none gaining height as they take off for Africa, Europe, the Middle East and down to New Zealand.

Even the stars seem dimmed.  There is mostly silence.

Last week I picked vine leaves and rolled up some stuffed dolmathes and this weekend it is time for our first stuffed tomatoes and peppers (capsicum).

Tomatoes and green peppers filled with rice and herbs, parsely, mint and basil

A similar sort of filling goes into these wines leaves but with lots of dill too

Here they are rolled and slowly filling the bottom of the pot