August Days on a Greek Island

 Cicadas

Their chorus is not nearly as loud, deafening even, as it has been in other years.  They started later in the season.  Instead of quietening at sundown they chirp on till almost an hour after dusk.  Then the crickets chime in and the odd ferret or 2 screaming into the night.

Hot coffee

Most summers I drink hot filter coffee till the end of June and then change to iced nescafe.  This summer has been much cooler and I'm still drinking hot coffee in the morning.  What's left in the pot is put into the fridge and I enjoy an iced filter coffee late in the afternoon

 Heatwave-s

A summer in Greece is never without it's heatwaves but they have been fewer and are not prolonged.  We're just going into the next one now and the heat will continue into the first days of September.  We have not suffered like the rest of Europe

Ants, flies and frogs 

The ants have been noticeable in their abscence.  Tiny ones have just started appearing in the kitchen but they're not aggressively hoarding every crumb for their winter supplies  

No flies at all and fewer wasps.  The garden is full of frogs which hop out when I water.  The small lizards, salamders, are not so prolific.  We used to hear them in our bedroom at night, making soft sounds in the silence.

22 August - the 1st memorial,  8 days after the Dormition ('sleeping') of the Virgin Mary

The Fiesta of the little blue and white church on the heart shaped island at the approach to the harbour

2  water taxis took the congregation out to the island for the evening and morning services

The yearly piano concert amongst the ruins of the Temple to Sea God Poseidon.  It was free but we didn't attend.  We went the first year, many years ago, and found the endless tinkling of piano music to be rather boring.  These are students from some European academy, polished and professional but the performance seems endless when you're sitting on white plastic chairs in a warm olive grove

Someone really doesn't like us

First someone stole Ks helmet from his motorbike 

and now

Our car was parked outside the house, as usual, way up here in the wop-wops, not in anybody's way,  but someone put a long deep scratch along the passenger side.  I know we didn't do it (no, not me!) because it was pristine the day before when I put the sunscreen on the front and checked the doors were locked.

Was it keyed or was it hit?

It looks as though a white vehicle was using that empty patch of land to turn and scraped along our car.  There's also scratching low along the front, where their bumper hit ours.  Normally we would be immediately aware of the noise and come running out but it must have happened during the hottest hours when we had doors and windows closed and the aircon running.

Needless to say we are damned annoyed and can do nothing about it.  I have a special paint repair kit which I used for another scrape.  It doesn't magically make the scratches disappear but at least they are not so noticeable.  A pox on the perpetrators.

I have my suspicions. If you don't see it happen you can't place the blame.  

Still........ 

The last pic of the day

Our grapes have turned into dried bunches of raisins on the vine

We have 2 vines, one gets a lot of water as it has flowers around the trunk.  The other gets no water because it's too far from the hose.  Both have the same bunches of raisins so it's not because of my watering system

Its almost September!  Just lovely .

Still hot, the island is still heaving with visitors but the end is nigh.  Schools open on the 11th and they'll all have to go home.

Smile girl smile!!