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
Chill
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The sun and heat and occasional dousing by warm Mediterranean salt water
has done great guns with my psoriasis knees , so much so that *Dorothy *actually...
Au Revoir
-
The Scottish removal men are very efficient. The Chippendale sofas have
been taken out through an upstairs window and the bulk of the pictures put
int...
Skiing
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Finally it happened. It has been threatening to happen for at least two
years; that is probably how long ago it was she bought those two pairs of
shoes....
NEW SET
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*Late yesterday I started a new set of Runners.*
*Guess what they will be:*
*ABOVE: I have three on the go ... and should get at least one finished
to...
Home again!.......
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This pic is not from the trip back, but the trip out to Pa. As soon as we
hit Louisiana (although this is from Mississippi) it was
green~green~green. ...
Divine
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I have just booked a flight and a hotel in Albania staying in Tirana. I
will be in Tirana for a couple of days on my own and then join a tour of
the co...
Productive day
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This morning I got to the pool at seven. Later than normal, but I’m still
not back to full strength after covid
I was doing two hours one day and not able ...
An Evening Stroll
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I was feeling quite full after supper so, as it was such a perfect
summer's evening, we decided to go for a stroll.
Three minutes down to the Prom at th...
The Hungerford Mausoleum
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This was the first time I'd ever seen a mausoleum this size. It looks
almost dark and forboding don't you think? I visited Hokitika Cemetery a
few weeks...
Parua Bay Sunfish
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Taken from the supplement to the Auckland Weekly News 14 March 1902,
photographer G.E. Sutcliffe, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections
If you've never s...
Meant To Be.
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I am starting one of my roughing it holidays this weekend. This consists
of hiking over here and going to two music festivals and visiting some
liter...
the impossible dreams
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Below is a portion of an article in today's paper.
Road Safety advocates said the 'Road to Zero' programme isn't moving fast
enough."We are seeing some ...
Heart Tonic
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After all these weeks (it feels like months) I am beginning to feel more
“normal” again. It appears I may have been fighting some kind of virus
(not ...
Bee-ing Busy
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The garden is all abuzz, with bees, and butterflies, lightning bugs and
ladybugs.
All so very busy dutifully distributing the pollen amongst the flowers.
...
Books 18-26
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The Frederickson Wine Novels by Barbara Ellen Brink
-Entangled
One lost summer is time best left forgotten...When Minneapolis attorney...
RURAL DELIVERY
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I have mentioned previously that Doug's youngest daughter is a Rural
Delivery Driver, this means that she is self employed and actually has two
small ru...
July 3, 2022 With Silver Bells and Cockleshells...
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I now have time to dote on my outdoor spaces. I've also purchased a new
sprinkler because my old one was barely spraying and impossible to adjust.
Today...
Pink Tutus
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*these peonies remind me of ballerinas in pink tutus*
*Dancers in Pink by Edgar Degas*
I love this time of year in the garden when everything is starting t...
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...
Would we do it again?
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This is a photo of our farm in France, curtesy of the farm's new owners who
bought it in January 2020. Many were the hours we spent working on the
land, ...
Ukraine
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My grandfather was born in Odessa. I do not know when he came to Germany, I
found his father's death certificate in Berlin so I guess the whole family
move...
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.