Tuesday

 Menu

During this Holy week my Greek husband, my two girls and some of the grandchildren continue the fasting tradition.  Many of the younger generation do the same.  They eat vegetables and legumes at home, cooked by Mama, although temptation is all around them. Souvlaki shops don't close although they usually offer a vegetarian alternative.  Pita wrapped around fried potatoes, tomato slices, onion and either kalamari (doubt you'd find that here ) or vegetable fritters.

MacDonald's has a fasting menu too. Though there's no MacDonalds here and nothing like it either.  I haven't stepped inside one for years but I remember before Easter they used to offer fried onion rings and vegetable burgers.

K ate spinach and rice yesterday.  I had grilled fish.  He didn't even blink an eye at my plate or try to steal a forkful.His Mama (and the church) trained him well.  Today he's having greens and fried potatoes.  I'm finishing off the chicken wings.

He loves a small sweet after his meals.  Other times it will be a square of chocolate.  Now it's a small square of turkish delight, called loukoumi here, which is 90% sugar, unhealthy but allowed.

Wednesdays and Fridays he won't eat any olive oil either.  His meals will be boiled potatoes, tomato, olives and lots of bread.

We are still cleaning up and planting basil and flowers.  They do better than vegetables. 

 K has arranged for the lamb to be delivered on Friday or Saturday and tomorrow he will start cleaning out the insides of metres of tube like intestines, ready to wrap up the kokoretsi.  That's s offal on the spit which is one of the meats on the menu on Sunday.

A little bit of painting

My front garden completely free of oxalis and any other weeds

A few rugs taken up and cleaned ready for summer storage

A little bit of whitewashing

A clean, of weeds, backyard

Rubbish thrown out. A fraction of what should be chucked from the backyard

Easter's Almost Here

 Today in Greece it's Holy Monday

The beginning of Holy Week leading up to Easter Sunday. It's a week of strict fasting for most. Like many K will eat no meat, fish, eggs, dairy. 40 days fasting is a bit difficult but they're keep the tradition for these last few days. 

Saturday past was Saturday of Lazaros and of course yesterday it was Palm Sunday. 

The countdown to roast lamb has begun. 

Meantime........ I enjoy coffee and cream 

And a daily walk along our rural roads. Poros is filling up with people and cars.  I can see the difference up here. Visitor's car crawl past looking at the scenery where before I could walk and see no-one 

Walking through spring roads 

A wild fig tree has sprung up on the side of the road

A sign showing Poros walking trails around here. Rocks are painted with red and white marking the way

The trails up here are quite rough. Not for me even with trekking sticks. 

The hillside is painted yellow

From afar it looks like gorse 

Even the rubbish looks pretty

As I approach the rubbish bins  a dozen cats catapult out of them

Poros Cats

 Someone's hungry!

The strays are fed daily by a plethora of animal lovers

There are clowders of cats all over the island.  Some live near the big rubbish bins or around the local tavernas. They are often fed scraps from the taverna with extra food, especially in the winter when these are closed .

  Many times in the year voluntary vets from Denmark and England sterilise them for free.  They're assisted by animal lovers on the island, preparing the temporary clinic, nursing the recovering cats, and cleaning up afterwards. 

Cats are caught, neutered and released.

They all know where they will find food and as in this photo they'll appear as soon as they hear the car or bike approaching, impatiently waiting for their meal.

Thanks to neighbour Yiolanda for the video and the photo

Wild Herbs

 At this time of the year these bushy green herbs grow well.

A huge sage plant

I'd never noticed this before and was right chuffed when I recognised the leaves, crushed one and smelled that sagey smell. 

I've taken some cuttings and have them in a mug of water hoping they'll grow roots. 

A hedge of rosemary and a prickly pear 

This is a wall of lavender

Unfortunately it has just been cut back and there were none of those beautiful purple flowers 

Another rosemary hedge entangled with a colourful vine

In the fields you can find, if you know where to look, wild asparagus and loads of wild greens.

I often see older women walking along the verges with a plastic bag and a knife to dig out their favourite greens. There are many types of greens and you need to be taught by one of these women. Like mushrooms, some are edible, some are not.

They boil the greens and eat them with oil and lemon juice. A Greek favourite.

They also gather chamomile to dry and keep for winter ills.  

The road I walked today was bordered by small chamomile flowers and the air was full of their aroma.

Later I will find several caper plants growing over rocky outcrops and walls.  The capers can be picked in July but the plants are so thorny I just haven't bothered.

Clumps of wild thyme and oregano appear in the dry midsummer heat too.

Running on Rhodes

Granddaughter Nels ran a half marathon last weekend on the Greek island of Rhodes. 

She has been training for weeks, running up Poros hills and through Athens streets. 

A half marathon is a long trek of 21.097 kilometres and runners have 3 hours to finish. 

Rhodes

Coming into land

The course starts and ends in the centre of Rhodes Town and begins at 7.30 am. You have to be a serious athlete to start competing at this early hour. 

The weather was perfect for running. No April showers.  Blue skies all the way, along the coast and through the historic town

Running past ancient city walls

🎶,🎵 The leader of the pack 🎶🎵🎶

🧿🧿🧿

It did start raining unfortunately after the race and spoiled their celebrations.  

They didn't dance in the streets but eating lamb chops and sticky sweets at a taverna doesn't sound too bad. 

The day before they're told to eat lots of carbs, pizza and pasta to build up their stamina. 

A wonderful diet but the only problem is you have to run 20 kilometres to burn it all off. 

Nels was very happy with her first half marathon and finished in under 2 hours

Here she is on the left with the rest of her team after receiving her medal

She said it was terrific, an unbelievable experience. 

Her next goal of course is a complete marathon, 42.19 kilometres. 

Meantime at the beginning of May she'll be running a 10k race around Poros. She's run that before and I'm sure this time she will be leaving the rest behind to eat her dust. 

She and her sister Poppi participate in the yearly athletic happening Poros Sea.  Their mother and father and brother run the 5k race. 

I'll be there to cheer them on.  I was hoping one day to run 5ks with them. I can walk 5 Ks easy enough but run that far?  It might take a bit more energy than I can conjure up. 

But never say never! 

We could have a multinational family team. I have nephews and nieces in NZ and Australia who run for fun. And niece Niki who's goal is also to run a marathon. 

The island of Rhodes was the site of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. 

Nowadays it's a popular tourist destination. It has beautiful beaches, many ancient ruins and the old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

Ruins in Spring

 The Temple to Poseidon in Spring. 

Or what little remains of a  village and temple complex after 4,000 years. I don't know how much remained after 4,000 years but the worst destruction didn't come from earthquakes or wars but the last 200 years of 'civilisation'. Any decent building material, granite and marble, was dragged away to be used to build ship owners mansions on Poros and other islands. 

Flowers amongst the ruins

Not as many flowers as I expected. We've had plenty of rain and there's lots of growth but not the variety. 

No red anemones, poppies, chamomile or yellow daisies. Lots of little white flowers which look like chamomile but without the smell. Clumps of dark purple grape hyacinth and a cover of a more delicate little white flower. The yellow flowers are sorrel. 

My 'throne'. 

A place to rest after a walk around the ruins

I sit here and ponder

And wonder about ancient times 

Some sort of pit

Possibly the foundations of a store room

The entrance to a grove of pines which mark the site of the Temple. Nothing left in there to show it's former glory 

The only standing wall

What's left of the market place

Some digging is done by  Swedish Archeologists every summer.

There is a map now at the entrance giving an idea of what was once here and where

Entrance is free and the gate is never closed 

My Garden

 Green, green

The grass is green.

But we have no grass ....

Just oxalis and nasturtiums 

Last year was the year of the nasturtium. They took over all my winter garden. This year the oxalis has taken over, turning the brown earth to green.

And there are bees.  I heard bees buzzing among the yellow oxalis flowers.  It's a long time since I've heard bees.  They used to love the mint flowers in summer.  Maybe they'll be back enjoying the mint in a few months.

Our new door decoration.  We have this boat lit up at night.  The lights are very bright.  It's a pity we don't have passersby who can admire it too.

The lights come on automatically at 8 and turn off at 2am.  K loves fixing the electrical stuff

The grape vine is greening and so are the roses.

Poppi yet again did some perfect pruning

I love the way the nasturtiums come in a colour range

We have a pelican in the old wheelbarrow.  The rocket is still growing but it is almost time to plant a few tomatoes

A beautiful display of whatever these are

The mint under the garden tap grew all winter

Another colourful display.  However I've since had to pull this out.  It suddenly gasped it's last breath

Clean up is proceeding. I've already filled 3 huge bags of sorrel and nasturtiums

I've left a cover of nasturtiums in one corner.  They're still flowering

I shall turn this old outdoor grill into a planter too.  It's already got a good layer of old ash at the bottom