Saturday 23 March 2019

Spring

Winter is a memory.  Rain and more rain.  Icy winds straight from the Siberian steppes, the daily emptying of ashes from the wood burner.  No more.  Our wood pile isn't quite finished.  We have enough for a few BBQs, roasting the easter lamb but hopefully not for a sudden drop in temperatures.

Spring has arrived though there's not much to show in our neighbourhood.  I have spotted  more red anenomes and I've seen two wild red poppies.  The hydrangea has turned into a leafy green bush and the recently pruned grape vine has new shoots.

Over the other side of the strait, up the hill and round the corner there is a completely different climate.  We went down to the farmer's market at Ermioni, a small coastful village about an hour away.  Once we were up the hill and round the corner the sun shone brightly and warmly.  The hillsides were ablaze in reds, yellows and purples from all the wild flowers.  The olive trees had white carpets of chamomile underneath.  Stunning.

A little further on the market garden fields were green with cabbages and lettuces and workers were planting tomatoes and zucchini.





This little church overlooks the sea.  I managed to get K to stop for a minute to take photos. It was clear enough to see over to the island of Hydra


The view from the church


Summer plantings
Tomatoes, aubergines, green peppers and zuchinni.  It's still a little early for the basil  I wanted 


A calm spring day on Ermioni harbour.
These are two of the big fishing fleet which harbours here


And loads more of these smaller fishing kaïkis

We sat outside in the sun along with tables of german and english residents enjoying a beer or a glass of wine.  This market is multi-cultured.  The germans and english own homes around here and live permanently.   Coming down from Poros there are plenty of big gated villas with groomed lawns and gardens, trees and flowers and no rubbish aroud the perimeters, a sure sign of foreign ownership.

In the market itself greek is only one of the many languages heard.  There are Indians and Pakistanis with their families, workers in those market gardens, Bulgarians, Ukranians and Romanians, and a New Zealander!

I have just seen a sure sign of spring.  I heard  rustling noises in the long grass under the carob tree and it wasn't Vaso inspecting her carob crop but a slow plodding tortoise, woken up from his winter hibernation 



14 comments:

  1. Here also we can feel spring every where.I think i saw the purple Lapins in one of the pictures, we have a lot of them here.

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    1. They are the first to appear and are everywhere. Soon there will be fields of red poppies. So beautiful

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  2. It is cold here but lots of green shoots on the trees.

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    1. Still a chill in the sunshine here but definitely we've seen the last of winter

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  3. Hoooooray for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    No NOthin' here! But less snow and cold wind.

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    1. Oh boy. When does spring appear in your neck of the woods?

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  4. What an amazing spot that church is in. Looking out on God's beauty. You talked about aubergines, here in NZ they are pretty expensive most of the time and considered a bit of a luxury, just like avocados, it's not often I treat myself on those.

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    1. Avocados are expensive here but in summer everyone grows aubergines and they are on our menu a few times a week.
      Youre going to take hundreds of photos on your holiday here! So many picturesque places

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  5. Lovely here too at the moment. Even my shorts are getting some use!

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    1. Yeh for shorts. I'm in short sleeves but have not exposed my legs yet!! Thank goodness

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  6. Glad spring has arrived there. Maybe the leaves on the trees will start to turn now here.
    Summer is not leaving in a hurry!

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    1. Yes, your temperatures are still high I see. Hope you have a long cool autumn

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  7. Sounds idyllic. We had a glimpse of spring here today - beautiful blue sky and sunshine but a cruel wind that scoured the skin off my face. Only 3 more weeks until our trip to Nafplio. Looking forward to some proper spring weather! By the way, I am told that we need to take a dog repeller with us if we plan to go walking there - surely not?

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    1. Naflpion will be wonderful in three weeks. Very very busy though. Popular with greeks and tourists. My daughter says Nafplio is the only place she has never seen stray dogs. I would agree. They are very well organised there.

      However the ancient theatre of Epidavros had a few big dogs last time we visited - very tame though, used to visitors

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