Run Run Run

Porosea is a sports event which takes place yearly on the island and is very popular with locals and athletes from all over the country.  It's called a 'multi-sport' competition and includes running, swimming, triathlon and aquathlon.  Some of our family always take part.

The first race is 1,500 metres for those under 18. Dozens of school kids took part and they all received a 'medal' at the finish, along with a bottle of water and a banana. There was great excitement, and a lot of noise, when they took off.  

The 5ks was also run by a lovely black dog and his owner and a babe in a pushchair.  An 80 year old ran the 10ks. He came in a long time after the others had finished but was cheered on all along the route. 

It takes place over a weekend and for 2 days our few roads are closed down for several hours. 

The island was teeming with cars and people again, athletes and summer visitors. I noticed how popular these darn electric scooters are

This sort of thing, 

which can be ridden by any age group, without a licence, without a helmet and without insurance.  I'll rant about these another time

On Saturday we made sure we were down on the harbour well before they blocked access so we could be at the start line of the 5 and 10 kilometre races.  Grandaughter ran 10ks and her mother ran the 5ks.

Others in the family were volunteers.  And others spectators, like me, with my trusty camera ready to record the day, for the blog and instagram

 

Just finished racing 5ks Daughter on the right with friend Maria

Grand-daughter and rowing medal winner ran 10ks in her new NZ rowing outfit

Next race she'll be wearing the Australian rowing suit

Poppi on the left, with friend Evita, looks as though she's hardly sweating after the 10ks.

Actually she was dripping and that hat was sopping wet

They were lucky, they didn't run till after 6pm and the sun went behind the clouds as they started running

A very short spot

Greeks don't need an excuse to dance.  These kids suddenly started dancing in the road while they were waiting for the first athletes to finish

Poppi won the gold medal for her age group but had disappeared by the time they gave out the medals.  Mum stepped up to the stage instead and very happily received the gold medal on her behalf, with a great wave to all her fans 

I waited so long at the finish line to get everyone's photo that I ended up being interviewed myself.  Actually she was asking me why I wasn't dancing in the road with the young kids next to me.  No way that was going to happen

Monastery Views

There is one Monastery on the island, Zoodochos Pigis.  The name means 'Life giving spring'.  Google says that its a medieval monastery (1773) and has a few rare icons.  There's only one monk there usually with some of his family and a few hangers-on.

I know that from the entrance, up quite a few steps, there is a great view of the bay below and the mountains on the mainland opposite.  Women cannot enter wearing men's clothing, wrap around skirts provided in the entranceway.  If you enter wearing trews, or shorts for  men, and the monk is around then you'll get told off. 

There's a spring down below whose waters are supposed to have cured Archbishop Jacovos 11 of lithiasis, gall stones or kidney stones.  He decided to build the Monastery where this miracle took place.  And Hey Presto, here it still is today.  One of Poros's few sites/sights to see

The steps to the church and cloister

One of the many cypress trees,  

Cypress trees always grow (are planted) around churches and graveyards

View from the top

Monastery Beach (what else would it be called)

There's an organised beach down there and a fish taverna.  All rents go to the Monastery.  It has acres of land around it, mostly forest but also olive trees.  

Woman in men's attire wearing wrap around skirt

And down below on the roadside is a cafe with chairs under the spreading chestnut tree and a cool breeze coming down the ravine even in mid-summer

The 'life-giving' spring

Just a trickle now but you can fill a bottle and give it a try.  It's good to drink.  All the water served by the cafe comes from there

Our good friend Meleti and his coffee-carrier

Meleti makes the cheesecake, pies and a variety of snacks by himself.  Well worth trying

He's a good friend and a jolly wee man who will make your day a happy one.  He's often helped by his wife and children, all equally cheerful

Loos are up the road in the forest.  Pleasantly clean

Meleti and his wife Nektaria always have a show of flowers and plants in pots.  Soon there will be big bushes of basil

Now, doesn't that look pleasant.

The chairs aren't terribly comfortable but are ok for an hour of book reading, talking and ouzo drinking

And Here We Go Again

Celebrations and jubilations

 Two name days and General Elections. Three more grand-children voted for the first time. 

Voters gave a victory to governing right wing New Democracy party but not enough to form a government. We will be back at the polls on June 25th.

We celebrated two Saints Days. Half the family is named after these two saints and I squeeze myself in there too. There's no Saint Linda. Not around here anyway. I pretend I'm a Lydia and the observe a name day along with my grand-daughter

20th May ...

Saint Lydia 

21st May ...

Saints Konstantine and Helena (Eleni) 

My present from my girls and family. A friendly Troll. Love him

K got a few bottles of ouzo and a new table for his laptop. We are both happy.

Daughter and grand-daughter were both baptised Eleni but we always call them by short forms of the name. As a name day present  I wanted to make hotcross buns for my daughter but they were a flop. The dough didn't rise so I chucked it. What a waste. Half a kilo of expensive bread flour, eggs and real butter.  I chucked my yeast as well. Can't think what else was the problem though it wasn't stale yeast.

I'll make more tomorrow. Thankfully I've still got half the flour and butter .

The family all came to say 'Kronia Polla'

Many happy returns

To their father.

He was happy as he'd been cooking all morning. 

Not too many leftovers. We will only be eating them for a couple of days instead of a week.

Its always a delight to see the family together. The girls are excellent at clearing up too. 

They're all revving up for end of year exams. 

Summer holidays begin towards the end of June. 

Monday 5 June is another long weekend. Pentecostal Monday or Monday of the Holy Spirit. 

11 June Invitation to the baptism of a neighbour's baby boy and reception at our local rural taverna.

My English friend came to celebrate with us so I had a good day chatting in my mother tongue. She's a member of the family now.

One of K's friend had a few too many ouzos and went to sleep at the table.  We've got used to him and just let him sleep on and clean up around him. He came with his daughter and grand-daughter who tried to take him home. He mumbled a refusal. 

An hour later he lifted his head and I suggested he at least go inside and sleep in an armchair. He decided he'd wobble off home. And wobble he did, onto his motorbike. Fortunately he only lives up the road. 

Life here is never without it's drama.

Celebrating Again?

 Yup, here we go again.  One of the grand-daughters became a godmother last weekend.  She and another girl baptised, or the Priest did, a bouncing baby girl.  As Godmother she could invite her family to the ceremony and so it was another family get-together.

Here are the 2 godmothers reading the ....Apostles Creed, I believe it is called in English.  That prayer that begins

I believe  in God, the Father Almighty......

Then they promise to do all they can to make sure the babe will be a devoted member of the Orthodox church.

The child is dunked 3 times into the font, covered with olive oil, the best from this year's family olive harvest, and has 3 pieces of hair cut off. 

This little babe is one of the few that didn't wail when she was dunked.  Most babies cry throughout the ceremony.

She was baptised Evangelia-Pavlina,  Evelina for short

Once all that oil is wiped off with a special cloth she is 

 dressed again in the new baptismal clothes bought specially by the Godmothers. The Priest puts on her gold cross, also bought by the Godmothers. 

They then proceed around the font 3 times 'in an act of rejoicing with the angels of heaven' says Mr Google 

Before Evelina was handed back to her mother my grand-daughter, holding Evelina, was lifted into the air by her siblings and told they'd keep her up there if she didn't promise them a gift.  

After 'a bottle of beer', 'a vow to wash all their dishes for a month', 'free tickets on the car ferry to Galatas' didn't make the grade they finally let her down after she agreed to buy them tickets to New Zealand.  That's going to be an expensive baptism for her!

Both Godmothers will take Evelina to church for the next 3 Sundays to take communion and then their duties are buying gifts for her on Name Days, Birthday, Xmas and Easter.

The party afterwards took place on the beach.

We changed into more casual clothes, drank beer and ate souvlaki till a chill evening wind made me move K and head home.

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The beach wasn't deserted but it was mostly ours.  The sun came and went.  Small children and dogs went swimming.

When my girls were baptized, on Poros, my mother-in-law took the cloth that held the oily baby down to the sea and washed it there. That tradition has died out.  We went back to Piraeus the next week so my girls weren't taken for communion. Their heathen mother wasn't prepared to go that far.

They've grown up into awesome adults anyway.

Another Celebration

We have just celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary.  And what a celebration it was.  We went to a local taverna for a quiet family night.  It turned into a night of music and dancing 

What we didn't know was that the taverna was having a live greek music night.  And what nobody knew was that at the long table where visitors were celebrating a coming wedding there was a saxaphone player, with his sax, and a professional singer.  

It started off with the usual greek songs which the wedding party all got up to dance to and then the dynamic french singer stood up and picked up the pace.  The greek singer who was running the music night knew a whole range of songs and together they gave us a concert of italian, beatles, toe tappers and back to greek  .  The saxaphone player began his  mellow accompaniment and the taverna erupted in cheers and clapping.  In days of yore there would have been some plate smashing too.

There was cake of course

Enough for all of us, friends at the table next to us and quite a bit leftover for the taverna staff to have a taste

My three girls dancing a hasapiko (butcher's dance)

K joins in. 

The paper napkins on the floor are thrown at the dancers.  In an Athens nightclub it would have been baskets of carnations

I was forced to dance as well.   But you aren't going to see that video!

May Day

 

May Day Eve. I went down the road and cut some daisies and a few wild flowers.

Last year I tied them in a bunch and hung them on our front gate.

This year I managed to form a wreath.

Nasturtiums, our one rose and one lily, lavender, jasmine, a few daisies and wild grasses  .

It's a tradition here to make a wreath from wild flowers and in years gone by we made some magnificent ones with the kids. I'm chuffed with this creation. 

It's a 3 day holiday and the island is heaving again with cars and yachts and people.

It drizzled a bit this morning but the sun came out and it's 20o today. Very pleasant.

Tomorrow, 1May, it used to be a tradition to have a picnic.  Now we are older we have a bbq instead. 

Workers will be marching and protesting in central Athens and other big cities.

Here the workers will be very busy serving coffees and Greek salads .

Spring Colour

 

A fig tree with a trim of spring flowers.  Mainly daisies

I have just found out why every year figs appear and then drop early.  In March, April the trees are full of small figs, smaller than a walnut and suddenly they all drop and it looks as though you've lost your crop for the year.  These are the male fruit and once they're gone the females appear to swell and ripen .  They will be ready for picking  in July and August

The wild poppies are in full bloom right now.  But this is not the year of the poppy.  Usually the fields are full of them and they blanket the olive groves.  This year there are just small clumps here and there.  

Loquat. Or mousmoula in Greek

Every year  I see this tree full of fruit which nobody picks.

It's down a steep bank in the garden of a house whose owners only come for a few weeks in the summer.  Such a pity.  The terrain is too rough for me to try and get down there

This is the inside of the loquat.  There are 4 or 5 stones in there and they are easy to plant.  The trees grow quickly . 

The grapevines haven't been strimmed yet

These balls of seeds are huge.  Much bigger than a tennis ball.  I've never seen such large ones