Daily life on a greek island through the eyes of a local-alien, still 'foreign' even after more than 40 years residence. This 'foreigner' is a local-KIWI-alien so there is a New Zealand flavour to my writing. Photo above is the tranquil view from Pukehina Beach, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.
Mould after the recent flooding. The water came pouring through the walls in the lounge and came in through the ceiling here. The lounge wall is sodden, has some sort of white stuff growing out of it.
Red wine, fish soup and spinach pie
2015 HERE WE COME
We have
snow all along the tops of the hills above Galatas. (the village just across the waters on the mainland) And it is COLD.
The day started off with heavy rain and my son-in-law Kyriakos decided
not to go to work.(Kyriakos runs a taxi boat from the island to the mainland)High winds as
well.No flying dolphin or boat today from Athens
but the car ferry is still working.We
are going down to Elli for New Years eve.Kyriakos (Elli's husband) is doing miracles with duck and salmon.He's cooking tomorrow as well.His mother lives next door to the cheap
german supermarket (LIDLS for those who might have seen it in Europe) so we get
cheap duck and salmon.One up for the
germans - but they still owe 'us' millions from wwll.
Anyway, no babysitting because Kyriakos has the kids so
I don't have to go down the mountain and we have settled in for the day with K's wine from his barrel(red from a cardboard box for me).
The wood burning fire which has an oven on top has already cooked a spinach pie
and I'm thinking of hot cheese bread as well.Our neighbour brought in a plate of xmas cookies - she and her sisters
are excellent cooks and these honey cakes and almond shortbread (Traditional greek ) are
just waiting for me to taste them.She
has decorated the plate with a handful of choccies so all is well.Can't 'do' cold without chocolate.
Kostas has made a big pot of fish soup......and we still
have Kyriako's cooking tonight. I'm stuffed just thinking about it all.
'Someone' won't be drinking too much tonight.The road down is officially closed but
someone (not us) keeps on pushing the signs out of the way and cutting the tape and we
all use the road, because otherwise it's an extra 3 ks.But after the floods the sides of
the road are falling away in places and there are piles of rocks and dirt. This
is why Greece will always be the 'problem child' lol. ps The 'someone' of course will be me. But Elli and I only have one bottle of sav blanc from Marlborough.One bottle between two, hardly enough to wet the larynx.
Up in the Balkans temps are down to -20 ... -10 in northern
Greece and snowing in northern suburbs of Athens.Weather getting better on Saturday and new
cold front coming in on Tuesday.Paul
and Karen, you might just see a totally different Greece - though you suffered
the 'cold of the bears' that time you came in November. Don't think we'll be
visiting the mountain villages or wine tasting.The motorway in the Nemea (which is where I thought we might go to taste
some good greek wine ....oxymoron???) is covered in snow at the moment and the
road waiting to be snow plowed.
If there are no boats when you arrive we'll have to come
round by car.But anything can happen in
the meantime.The sun may even
shine.We need that sunshine now to dry
out the rising damp in our walls.
There is a HUGE FEAR CAMPAIGN been launched by
Wolfgang Schroider (or whatever his horrible name is), all of Europe and the
rest of the world to make us vote 'correctly' in the elections at the end of
January.You can smell the fear (theirs, not ours).Will Greeks vote in a rebel who will bring
Europe to its knees?And these elections
are being held just because this parliament couldn't vote for the new President
who is just a figurehead and no-one gives a damn who he is.We're being taunted again with bankruptcy ,
an economy worse than some povery stricken African nation, being thrown out of
the European union, more pay cuts, no pension payments etc etcBut we've heard it all before, for years now,
before every major decision which affects the economy.Been there, done that.Who do we vote for??Haven't got a clue.
Hope you're all a little warmer than us and a little
drier.HAPPY NEW YEAR.HAVE A GREAT
2015....WITH LOTS OF LOVE, HAPPY FAMILIES AND GOOD HEALTH.
PICKLED OLIVES, RED PEPPERS FROM THE GARDEN
MINI XMAS STOCKINGS - 50 MADE, 20 TO GO
NELS AND ME AT A BAPTISM....HELL, I'M GETTING OLDER
KIDS IN THE STOREROM ABOVE THE BATHROOM
FRIEND YIANNIS, LYDIA, JAMIE, NATALI
The Coast
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This mural is just around the corner and about 2 minutes up the road from
home. Titled "12 Mile Beach by Ivory Racho it shows the coastline around
the w...
Purple Potatoes
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Do you remember when I planted a pot of purple potatoes last year? I
talked about them in my blog dated 16 September 2022 (called ‘Rugby and
Potatoes...
Talking In Their Sleep
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"You think I am dead,"
The apple tree said,
"Because I have never a leaf to show -
Because I stoop,
And my branches droop,
And the dull gray mosses ov...
Saturday
-
I am not going to talk about my ill health in this post apart from thanking
all who have left me comments which are much appreciated. I haven't seen
any...
THANK YOU SO MUCH CHRISTINE H
-
*Yesterday a dear friend of mine from Cambridge recommended we try a local
Indian Restaurant, which is literally a 5 minute drive away from our home.*
*...
Transference
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In view of Albert’s psycho melt down last night I took Roger to today’s *Trelawnyd
Community Association *meeting in the Hall.
He was good as gold and wat...
The end
-
My new dehydrator arrived yesterday. So I was able to cut up the remaining
tomatoes from the box plus a few from my garden
It looks smaller, but it’s the ...
Rather them than me.
-
Sophie dozes behind the curtains while Angus chats to men in dark suits.
Chinese balloons, Hunter Bidens laptop and the lowest temperatures ( -78C)
ever ...
What were they thinking!
-
When I was still up at my senior school, I worked (when I had the time)
with Sir Harry Legge-Bourke who was our local MP.
Sir Harry was a good tried-n-t...
So Weary
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Lately I have been feeling quite tired most days and lacking in much
motivation to get started on all the little projects I had planned.
Today I finished...
... and 1 Sparrowhawk
-
Sunday morning (before the tour of rural Hampshire) was Bird Count day in
our house. To be honest I suspect some of it was guesswork. Sparrows for
inst...
We got off lightly
-
Luckily for us the weather was not as bad as predicted here. There was a
lot of rain and strong wind but the worst of the storm once again hit
Coromand...
I'm OK!
-
Thanks to all those that expressed concern about the
flooding. That area is around Auckland, far north of me, over 2 hours drive.
We have had rain but nothin...
Mundane Monday - Red, White, or Neither ?
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Recently, our government came out with its latest guidelines for alcohol
consumption: Canadians should consume no more than two drinks *per week* of
alc...
The Kaihu Valley Railway
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Photo showing a train slowly moving over a submerged section of the line at
Babylon, near Kaihu.
The New Zealand Graphic and Ladies Journal, 8 September 19...
Sunday
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Sarah and Paul are spending another day at the cottage scraping old paint
off the walls and sanding down. I can't really be of much help at this
stage ...
Battle Bots and other wacky stuff.......
-
How does he do it? Romeo started watching Battle Bots a couple of years
ago. Basically teams built these robots and battle it out for 3 minutes
(some...
things i learn
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Every now and then we go on a short shopping trip. She is already older and
very focused on what she wants. Many times it is still the same store where
she...
August Update!
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Nearly five months since I last posted a blog, and thank you to fellow
bloggers who have asked if I am still alright..... and I am, despite my
thoughts ear...
I Am Back !
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As the title says I am back blogging and hopefully more regularly than
once a year.
As many of you are aware I have had a bit of problem with the bladd...
Mincemeat and Quince
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The days are getting shorter and the trees are beginning to shed their
leaves. The quince tree has done magnificently this year. The fruit
enormous a...
I write. I create. I observe and record my life, after 40 years, in Greece. I love to create either with my handy craft, cooking or writing. Freeform always. Keep it simple, keep the interest, make it useful. I write about my garden sometimes, my grandchildren and the different culture and traditions. My New Zealand up bringing was so different from this way of life that I do truly feel like an alien at times. Greece is home but so is my kiwi 'homeland'. I am a citizen of both and an alien in both.