Join the Navy

The Poros Navy Beach Canteen, run by the Navy Training School,  opened for the summer season at the end of June, once all the conscripts had left.  The next batch won't be back till September when it might possibly be a little cooler.

We have been down there a few times with family and friends.  It's our summer hang-out and we eat and drink at the Canteen a couple of times a week.  It's subsidised of course and a fraction of the price of the island's tavernas.  

K always finds an old Navy cohort with whom to reminisce, though 'some recollections may vary'. 

Anyone visiting in July or August, is taken there in the evening. This canteen beside the sea provides a simple and tasty meal.  Greek salad, various meats on a skewer, tzatziki, pita bread,  pizza and cheese pies along with beer, wine or soft drinks.

It's open all day, serves coffee and sandwiches,  and has an organised beach with umbrellas and loungers and a lifeguard.  

Identities are checked.  I'm usually OK. The officers there know me either because they're locals or because K quickly becomes well known and 'I'm with him'.  However I'm very obviously a foreigner and I have been asked on a couple of occasions, in English, 'what am I doing there'.  Politely.  'I'm with him!!' 

Looking out at the empty beach in the evening

The presentation has gone up a notch this year.

We have little wire baskets for the fried potatoes and wooden trays for the souvlaki.  

We are though, still given paper plates and unless we ask for proper glasses we will be given paper ones.  And we still clean up our table at the end, bundle up the leftover salad and tzatziki, paper dishes and empty cans in the paper table cloth and throw it all in a big bin.

We won't be complaining.  The two of us can eat and drink for 10 euros.

Each table also has a 'night light' for romantic dining.

More of Summer Life

 10th day of the heatwave and more to come. It's now uncomfortably hot at night and midday it's scorching. We spent the last 4 days beside the sea. It's cooler but tiring being there all day, in and out of the sea. Today we are staying home and will spend the midday hours in an air conditioned room. I need to do some home work. Washing, cooking and a very little cleaning.

Every day the main mountain road is blocked by the Municipality.  Only residents  can move through the area.  Beside us there is land full of long dry grass, we are right next to olive groves and only a stone's throw from acres of pine forest. There has been a steady breeze most days but today it's blowing a gale. The fire warnings are on red alert. 

  We took down our big sun umbrella. The wind was threatening to tear it to pieces. The washing I hung out dried  in half an hour.  

Fire fighting planes drone overhead several times a day either looking for fire or on their way to put one out.

WELCOME

POROS

ISLAND

Fried peppers from our garden

Plain or stuffed with feta cheese.

Cro, on his  blog (Magnon's Meanderings) the other day, pictured his lunch plate with  fried  green peppers. His were padron peppers from Spain. 

I picked some green papers from our garden and began frying some for us.  It took 30 secs to remember why I don't fry peppers.  They spit hot oil all over me and the kitchen.  A minute later they were out of the frying pan, into a baking dish and in the oven.  15 minutes later and they were ready to eat. They had a thin coating of oil and all they needed was salt.

Both K and I preferred the ones without the feta.  They were nice hot and later cold.

We ate them as-is although  I thought of drizzling over  some balsamic vinegar with honey. 

A piece of watermelon skin

and a scarab beetle

 K saw on Facebook a photo of a piece of watermelon skin  with a bunch of scarab beetles feeding on it.  

I thought maybe we could feed a few of them too.   We always have a scarab beetle or two whirling round our heads in the evening. However, ours don't like watermelon.  This one on the watermelon is actually dead and the brown spots are seeds from the peppers.  

Scarab beetles land and overturn themselves.  They are very fragile.  I turned this one over so it could fly away but must have been a bit heavy handed.  It never moved again.

Alas Poor Scarab

Today we have been advised there is a water shortage.

No washing of cars or watering gardens.

I shall give my pumpkins a little each day, using a watering can, not the hose. 

For the rest it will be survival of the fittest

 

The Heat's Still On

Train tracks outside the city of Patras (a bit further north from us) melted and twisted in this heatwave.   Trains have stopped running of course.  Repairs will begin immediately..... when weather permits.  It happens now and again.  Passengers will be bussed onwards. 

We spent hours at the beach yesterday.  From morning till almost night.  There was no power cut in the end but we enjoyed a nice cool day by the sea anyway. In and out of the sea.

The road above us was blocked off because of the high risk of fire, as it is today.  So the beach was quiet.  There were 3 big catamarans out in the bay but for once there were no jet skis making waves to swamp our sunchairs.  The only cars that came down were  locals like us looking for some respite from the heat in the cool waters of Vayonia Bay.

Kosta learnt all the news from some very talkative neighbours and I finished my book.

The sea unfortunately was dirty, full of plastic, watermelon skins and disagreeable pieces of seaweed. Not enticing but we had to swim. The north wind was blowing them onto the main beach so our little side cove was cleaner.

On the night of the UEFA  football final our rooftop cinema showed the match on the big cinema screen.  All for free.

It was Spain v England.  Spain  won 2-1, kicking the last vital goal just a few minutes before full time.

Hundreds turned up and  the spirit of the Poros fans equaled that of the crowd at the actual stadium in Berlin.  So I read. Singing, chanting, cheers of joy and moans of disbelief.  

Spain might have won the Cup but both English and Spanish fans at Cine Diana had a great time.   So did the cinema's neighbours.  At least there was no extra time.  Sounds from a rooftop carry a long way and it went on till midnight.

We watched the game at home on our balcony with the fan on full and K giving a very critical commentary on the refs decisions and the players performances.

It's over!

The Olympics are getting closer 

 

Life in the Heat

 It's hot today.  Very hot.  It was hot yesterday and it will be extremely hot till July 21st and possibly even later in the month.  We learn to live with it, live without aircondition as much as possible and survive.  This too shall pass.

Nights so far have been bearable with open windows, mosquito screens, and a fan.  We sit out on the balcony at night watching TV, greek 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' till 10pm and possibly a film or European athletic matches.  We have a fan out on the balcony as well but it blows warm air till around 10.30 when finally it seems to get a tad cooler.

I drink litres of homemade sugarfree icetea and K drinks water by the gallon, along with his wine and raki.

Aircondition has to be turned on for the afternoon siesta.   By midday the house, inside and out, is a furnace.  We keep cool from around 2 till 5, inside our one cooled down room and then go down to the beach till 8 or 9.  The only way to cool down a body is to dip it in the sea.  Even if the sea is warm, as it is now, it brings relief.  The core temperature of the body is lowered considerably and we once again feel like human beings.  We are lucky living on an island near the sea.

Tomorrow there will be a power cut from 9am till 2pm so we will have to change our routine.  I'll have to get up a little earlier, water the garden, tidy the house, which is of course full of dust.  We don't close windows even if we are going out shopping or down to the beach.  I doubt if anyone has the energy to burgle us at the moment.  We lock the doors and leave the windows and shutters open with flimsy fly screens.  It's a joke really.

Tomorrow I'll make a couple of flasks of coffee and put them in the chilly bin (cooler) along with a bottle of water, a couple of beers for K and some ice packs, and we'll head to the beach.  I suppose he'll want a sandwich too.  I can manage that but not much else

Our spot under the trees.  

I sit and read.  

K finds a local to talk with.  He learns all the gossip and tells quite a bit of his own.  I wonder if the others embellish as much as he does.  He loves story telling.

I keep my nose in my book and mutter 'yes, of course dear, that's the way it was', trying not to roll my eyes, when I'm asked for confirmation.

Sometimes a group of be-hatted friends stand out in the sea for hours, feet just touching bottom,  discussing fishing and the navy and heaven knows what. 

 I can hear the murmur of voices, the bleating of goats amongst the pine trees on the rocky slopes opposite and laughter echoing from the yachts anchored in the Bay. 

Blessed peace.

So far no noisy quad bikes. 

Touch wood. 

And only happily splashing young children. 

I swim when I arrive, do a slow breaststroke across the bay and back. Then I spend the rest of the time drying out. I hate sitting in wet togs but there's no where to change.

I hang my towel on a branch of the tree hanging out over the water. It's amazing how fast it dries. Togs (bathers, swimsuit) take longer. 

We come home a little tired. I'm sleeping much better lately despite the heat. 

Plumeria

  The Plumeria is flowering now on the island.  It's gorgeous and the sweet scent is intoxicating.

My granddaughters picked some one evening and put it behind their ears.  They all walked into the taverna looking most alluring.   The lovely 'children' brought one for me too.  I appreciated the gesture even though mine kept falling out everytime I moved my glasses from top of my head to face. 

I googled and found plumeria is greek for the white frangipani.

I always thought of the franipani as an exotic plant which grew in Hawaii, a Caribbean island or Central America,  It does grow there and it grows well here too.  

At the moment my daughter's frangipani is a big bush but it could grow into a big tree.

If you wear it behind the right ear it means you are single.  Behind the left that you are taken.

I'm taken already.  

We have had more visitors this week.  Two lots .  All greek, and not staying with us.

Hence our taverna visit.

Nice to see them, nice to wave goodbye.

The heat is rising and I'm in zombi mode

 

Bouboulas and Other Wildlife

These little grey bugs come out in the summer.  Wood lice I think.  They do no harm.  My girls, and their children later, loved giving them a gentle poke and watching them roll into a ball.

Here we call them bouboulas.

Two ants carrying a cat biscuit.  I watched fascinated as these two jiggled the cat biscuit along at a speedy pace.  I only just managed to get my phone out and take a pic before they disappeared into a crack in the corner of the terrace.

An excellent bit of team work

The fig tree at the top of the road. 

 It shed the first crop of small black figs, called brebas, and is now growing the next crop which will be ripe next month.

The figs used to disappear very quickly as soon as they looked soft, picked by passers-by.  However this tree was one of those pruned when the road was tarsealed and these branches hanging over the road have been cut right back.  The figs are all on the other side of the fence this year.   'Scrumping' them will be difficult.

Finally!

Broken water pipes and a road of potholes and trenches.

Thats been the story of our little cul de sac for the past 3 years

Fountains provided daily water to the wild goats

 

After endless pipe patching all the piping from one end to the other was eventually replaced. 

The goats moved on to other water sources.  I had got used to them making strange noises in the night while clambouring up the wall and pruning our lemon trees. I miss them. 

When pipes were laid and trenches closed we were promised the road would be tar sealed and we waited. 

Local elections gave us a change of Mayor. 

Same story. Next Monday, next week. 

Maybe they'd concrete the house entrances instead.

 Well, last week the bulldozer arrived and edges were smoothed out.  All the trees hanging over walls were severely pruned. I was so happy about that. Dodging overhanging branches while riding a motorbike can be a bit dicy, especially when road edges are an obstacle course. 

We parked the car at the top of the road. K made many phone calls to neighbours and kept everyone up to date with developments. 

It didn't happen quite on the day it was supposed to. But the road was finally covered in tar and sealed. 

Just look at this!! 

It took the 2 councils over 3 years to solve our wee problem but it's done. 

All thanks to K I might add. If he hadn't phoned them weekly over those years, accosted Mayor's and Councillors, accused them of treating us like 2nd class citizens, then the goats would still be enjoying their watering hole and we would be worrying about water metres and grumbling about water waste. 

It was all done in one day by a cheerful crew in blistering midday sun. K hovered to make sure it was all done correctly. By late afternoon we were driving over it. No melting tar, no dirty sandals. 

The road, without the hanging branches and with a smooth seal out to the edges is half as wide again. 

5 households have every reason to say 

'Bravo' 

First Swim

June 2024

Our first swim in the sea. 

A dismal sight on an island that lives from tourism.

A dusty beach.  No shade and not a drop to drink

Our local beach, Vayonia, which I write about every year.

We miss the old days when we swam and then sat at the beach bar enjoying an iced coffee.  K talked with the lads there and I read my book.

People still come, cars line the beach but it's not an enjoyable experience.  Many come, take a look, turn around and leave.  Groups of young tourists on quad bikes drive in yelling, noisy and belligerent and do wheelies along that stretch of dusty foreshore kicking up clouds of dirt, reving their engines and being damn annoying.

In the days of the beach bar the boys cleaned flotsam and jetsam from the sea and kept the beach clean, watered down the dust and dirt.

Where the locals gather

Under the only shade. Trees hanging down over a small piece of beach.

2016

Days gone by

The beach as it once was

A much younger Poppi

Fun in the sun

Jumping off the rocks

Under parental supervision

Beach bar

About 10 years ago

Papou with the grandchildren

I remember this. The kids had a sleepover and we went down at 8 am, waking up the sleepers on the yachts in the bay. Then we had a picnic breakfast. When the bar opened we all went for coffee and drinks. Great memories.

The canteen was closed down by the archeological department and by complaints from the one house on the beach. They turned it into a Airbnb and didn't want a noisy bar in front of them.  The visitors who stay there might have thought differently. It was rarely open at night and would have given the people who stayed there a place to drink and buy easy Greek  meals. Greek salad and souvlaki

 

Last Supper

 Time to say 'adieu' but not goodbye to the last of our visitors. 

Till next time.

We gathered for their final meal at a harbourside Souvlatzidiko. 

 What would you choose?

Greek salad?   Kalamari?   Mousaka?

They chose souvlaki!

Gyro, shaved off the big roll of pork or chicken bits.

Loaded with potatoes, onions, tomatoes and tzatziki and wrapped up in grilled pita bread.

Souvlaki and beer. Classic Greece

Can't have a blog post without Poppi and without K. Niece Julie, and a line up of empty Greek Alpha beer bottles. 

Next morning after early morning coffee and beer we loaded them and 40 kilos of NZ Herbivore butter onto the Hydrofoil for Athens and then onto London.

There'll be another Post very soon about this marvellous butter.  Craig and Julie were attending exhibitions in Thailand and London, with this cooler full of butter, showing and selling their product.  What's inbetween Bangkok and London?  Why Poros of course.  Another couple of frequent visitors.

Bye Jules, you might need to find your jacket before you land in  London. 

Oiiii Danae, where do you think you're going?

Give back that suitcase and get away from the gangplank.

Move it, move it!

See you All again soon

Thanks for coming

Tony and Rainy

Julie and Greg

Princess Anne and Nils Holgerson

Gary Cooper and our Enchantress Seirena

K, and most greeks, have trouble getting their tongues around English names so he renamed some of them 

🤔😅😁

Our next visitors are from Australia. We are already on their case. 

Blocko

 Our mountain road is sealed off for the long weekend to stop any accidental, or not, lighting of fires. Good work municipality and volunteers.

Visitors are allowed as far as our rustic Paradise Taverna. They can't visit the beach below us or the ancient ruins. They're not missing much.

Residents are allowed through naturally. The people on the *blocko are known to us and we are known to them. We stop for a chat before proceeding 

 - *A road block, blocko or mploko in Greek.

- no 'b' in Greek so 'mp' makes the same sound. Apparently.

- Don't be bamboozled by the greek letter Beta written as 'B'  but sounded 'V' in Greek.  The Greek alphabet starts Alpha, Veta....not alpha, beta

Greek lesson coming up sometime soon I think. 

A strong hot, dry wind has been blowing for days. There are wild fires endangering villages all over Greece. We don't want wild fires around here. 

I'm on smoke alert. At any whiff of fire I'm out in the road surveying my realm. 

The land next door is full of dry grass and brush. It's a class one fire hazard, abandoned by the owner, who lived in Athens and died recently. His heirs aren't overly interesting. It's for sale and the agent brought up an Albanian to clear it. The Albanian told him to get a bulldozer. 

All around us are pine forest and acres of olive trees. They make excellent firewood.

Long Weekend

There's a long weekend loomimg.  Poros, according to reports is 90% full.  That's rooms and hotels.  Many others will be staying with friends and relatives.  It's a good opportunity to get away from city grime and dust in this ongoing heatwave.  The wind is blowing hard and hot and sucking all the moisture out of us, and the garden.  

Maybe it's good weather for swimming.  It depends on which beach you go to and where the wind is blowing from.  Down below us the wind will be bringing the rubbish dumped in the Saronic Gulf into the bay, making the water murky and the beach full of plastic treasures.  I don't like foreign objects in my bathing water.  

A neighbour who was brought up by the beach came in for coffee not long ago and regaled us with tales of finding dead cows floating in the sea and now and again a body washed overboard from a cargo ship.

Monday is the Feast of the Holy Spirit.  7 weeks after Easter. Greek Orthodox Easter that it.  And it's a public holiday.

Maybe that's Whit Monday in other parts of the world.

This fiesta coincides with a few others this year.  Thursday, yesterday was the Summer Solstice.  Longest day and shortest night.  I'm enjoying these long days.  I get up earlier, get work done quickly before the heat of the day zonks me out.

Washing dries in half an hour, is hung out in the shade and brought in immediatey it dries before it turns to  bone, as they say here.  I guess that's where we get 'bone dry' from.

Tonight on the island of Hydra, just down the coast, they will be burning boats in a reenactment of the burning of the Ottoman (Turkish ) fleet during the Greek War of Independence in 1821.

I've never been but I know that many small boats from Poros fill up with friends and beer, and go down there to anchor in the bay and watch the spectacle.

On Sunday May wreaths are burnt on a bonfire in town and children, or older, jump the fire to bring them good luck.  In days of yore we used to have a neighbourhood BBQ and burn our wreaths.  Sadly it had to be abandoned as fire risks grew.  Now the 'Poriotisses', the Ladies of Poros have taken it over and there is greek dancing in one of the Squares at the end of town.  A glass of wine and a small sweet will be offered.  We went a few times when our granddaughters were dancing. I've jumped the fire a few times too and been saved from falling in a few times.  Been there, seen that.

That's all to do with the Fiesta of St John the Baptist or St John of the fleas.  K used to say that when he was  a child the kids were encouraged to jump over the fire to keep them flea-free for the rest of the summer.  Old superstitions which are no longer believed. 

On Monday we have been invited to attend a service at a tiny church down the coast.  It's a small private church dedicated to the Triada, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  After the service there will be roast pig, the owners wine, music and dancing.  K has been before.  I have not been and do not want to go .  However if my dear husband insists then I shall have to attend to to keep him out of mischef and drive him home.  

All his friends will be there and there will be much jollity, telling of tall tales, drinking and good old boys getting worse for wear.  

I'm keeping my mouth shut and hoping he forgets. 

Our greek telephone provider has offered us unlimited free GBs over the holiday weekend.  They often do that on big holidays and I make good use of it.   Our internet comes and goes so Im happy to have free data.

I have been watching the UEFA Football cup in the evenings. There's nothing else on tv. K  loves the matches. He yells at the players and reprimands the ref when he misses a foul or won't give a yellow card. I've learnt the players names and try not to ask stupid questions. I still haven't worked out when someone is offside but he let's me know.

Greece isn't playing   I presume they were knocked out ages ago.  That's one of those stupid questions. 

We have a television set out on the terrace and the wild life makes their presence known. At 8pm a June bug  comes whirling around my head and then the mosquitoes start, whining in my ear. There's usually a wasp or 2 annoying me by darting around and refusing to leave even after my aggressive swatting. 

June bug. Called a golden fly here. Chrisomyga.

The full moon is brilliant, rising above  the olive groves just after dark. We have a grandstand view. 

And so summer rolls on

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday Kostas

He can finally be considered officially an OAP.  65.  6 years younger than me in case you're doing the maths.

The family travellers brought this huge banner with them.

In their suitcases.  K was suitably impressed and we have only just taken it down although his birthday was a few weeks ago.  It has been stored away till his next birthday.

And, yes, that's me on it too. A photo of us together at Xmas time.

Balls with lights for the garden.

Those clever kiwis had really thought about  the birthday celebrations 

And a string of light for around the terrace.

The line up for 'Strictly Maori Dancing'

Kiwi niece Julie on the left with kiwi s-in-law and 3 of my girls

 

They brought a dozen poi as well and had practiced a traditional Maori dance.  Poi is a form of rhythmical dance and song performed by maori women from Aotearoa (New Zealand) using balls on the end of a rope.

Greek kiwi girls got it immediately.  Our wahine does the poi.

These are the poi they brought with them. 12 of them!

Lots of fun.  As it should be on a birthday.

Thanks for carrying all these and more through Singapore, Italy and finally onto Greece.

We were blown away by this final surprise

For once it wasn't all about food

But

In case you wondered we had my delicious mousaka and Ks roast lamb, pork, chicken and potatoes. 

Still Missing

Missing -

There are now a string of tourists either dead or missing after starting out on hiking trips.

Police sources say 'the problem of missing hikers is not new.....but this year it seems more people got disorientated during the heatwave.'

We had a bit of a dip in temperatures and it was delightfully cooler yesterday but temps are rising and will continue for another week.

Greeks have been warned to stay indoors and drink lots of fluids.  However foreigners don't seem to get the message or understand these warnings and there are no laws to stop them hiking.  They seem unaware of the risks.

Michael Mosley.  Found after after 4 days.  Dead

An American in Amorgos.  Missing for a week. 

Dutchman on Samos.  Found.  Dead

American missing from the island of Mathraki, near Corfu.  Found yesterday.  Dead

Belgian man. Crete.  Dead.

2 French women. Missing on the island of Sikinos in  the Cyclades.

 All were near to or over 60 years of age. All of them were walking on days with blistering heat. Hiking can go wrong at any time. The 2 french women on Sikinos got in touch with their hotel  by phone but didn't know where they were. They sent a photo of one of them on the ground and that was the last communication 3 days ago. 

Don't veer off the track for any reason. Greek islands are full of ancient sites. You don't have to examine every stone. Barren rocky tracks make it easy to get lost, easy to slip, sprain an ankle, fall into a ravine. 

Sikinos

Greek Island in the Cyclades

Population 230

Ideal for a quiet holiday of a few days, swimming in clear waters away from the crowds.  Not much else to do. Except walking. Not in July or August. 

These little islands are not touristy, ideal for sampling local cuisine and local wine. Barren as they are there are still flourishing vineyards. Try the wine, probably from the barrel, served in a jug by the half kilo. 

Amorgos

Population 1,961

Another unspoilt island in the Cyclades. 

Rich in ancient history. There's a lot to do and see. You may need to hire a car. Described as 'hiking friendly' with lots of trails. Take care and enjoy them. Not in Midsummer. 

Monastery of Hozoviotissa, Amorgos

Built in 1017

Hanging 300m metres above the sea

Dedicated to the Virgin Mary

Cyclades

A group of 220 islands southwest of mainland Greece.

The islands are known for their blue and white architecture.

Tour de Poros

- School's  out .  Till 12 September. 

 Greek schools have the longest school holidays in Europe.  3 months, mid June till mid September.  It's just too hot and children can't concentrate.  A lot of schools don't have aircon but even if they did kids would still be out in the heat in the school yard and to and fro from school.

 Older children finished end of year and  University Exams a week ago.

Poppi is in Athens this week running, swimming and throwing the shot-put. It's the last part of her entrance exam to the prestigious Athens Gymnastics Academy. 

 Primary Schools have just closed.  In their last weeks there were fewer lessons and more outings,  cultural and sporting events . 

- 3rd June was World Bicycle Day

Primary school children and their teachers went on a ride along the harbour and back.

Bikes, and Helmets, were lent by the Bike Hire shops on the island.

Police stopped traffic .

We all (sitting at harbourfront Cafes drinking coffee) clapped as they rode passed.

An ambulance followed them to pick up any casualties.

- Athletics Festival

School children from Poros and towns across on the mainland competed in track events.

The Navy School has a football field and running track which are used for island sports events. It even  has a small grandstand . 

All the grandkids have taken part at some stage and we've sat on the hard stone bleachers cheering them on.

Happy Hols kids

Some of my grandchildren are working this summer.  Poppi will be visiting her sister on the island of Lipsi. 

It's Hot in Greece

-  I'm so glad our visitors had their holiday before the highs of the heatwave hit.  It's way hotter than usual for early June.  Yesterday the whole country was a furnace.  Around 39oC on Poros and the low, at 3am was 29o. 44o elsewhere. We spent a lot of the day inside with the aircon turned on but went out onto the balcony in the evening as the sun went down.  We have a TV set up out there and got ready to watch the final of Greek Masterchef.  Around 10pm there was a hot breeze which seemed to suck out my energy.  I felt sick and went inside to the bedroom, turned on the aircon again and lay listening to my favourite Youtube channels till I felt better.  Which I did.  I didn't miss much on Masterchef.  The standards are so high now, all professional cooks, and either could have won.  One did.  Naturally.  I googled in the morning.  That's Masterchef over for another year.  

Olympics here we come.

Today, Thursday  is slightly cooler.  Less hot perhaps would be a better description.  The sky is covered, once again, with a dust cloud from the Sahara and is blocking the sun.

- Midsummer 

Midsummer in Greece is Monday 24th June.  It coincides, naturallly, with a church festival, the Fiesta of  Orthodox Saint, Saint John the Baptist.

It's the longest day of the year, Summer Solstice.  That mystifies me.  How can it be midsummer when summer is yet to come.  We might think it's hot now but July and August are 2 months of hot, hot and even hotter. 

- Pumpkins 

Pumpkins are growing and spreading their greenery out over the dry baked soil.  Most of them have come up by themselves, sprouting in potplants and the wheelbarrow.  I should have thinned them out but I didn't.  It's survival of the fittest around here.

St Luke -

11 June was the Fiesta of St Luke the doctor.  He was Russian, born in the Crimea.  There is a Russian church with onion dome near us dedicated to him.  I have been with K a couple of times to light a candle.  My daughter's m-in-law is a great believer in him and often recounts his miracles.  He's a recent saint, died in 1961.  And that's all I know about him.  The m-in-law often reminds me of saints days and holds this one in high regard.

Summer is full of Saints days and fiestas.  It was the time of the year when crops had been gathered and threshed and there wasn't much work in the fields.  Time to celebrate.

- More of the missing.  

An American, 59,  has been missing on the island of Amorgos, in the Cyclades, since Tuesday.  He went on a walk like Dr Mosley and hasn't been since.  News says he had 2 telephones with him but he's not answering.

Meanwhile on the island of Samos a Dutch tourist, aged 74, has been missing since Sunday.  He went off on a walk too.

There are huge search operations for them, naturally, on both islands.

Going off for a hike on a Greek island is not a sensible thing to do in the summer unless you're prepared for high temperatures and difficult terrain.  Walk to the supermarket for a 6 pack, walk to the beach, with friends.  Even then, take water, a hat, let people know where you're going and when you'll be back. 

- Next years visit

I had a long conversation this morning with my brother and wife about next year's travels. 

We have aussie visitors at the beginning of September, a short 2 day visit, and then nothing till 2025.  So far. 

Older brother (one of them ) doesn't want a pig on the spit.  Well, he may well do, but he has other plans.  We will be travelling up north together to Meteora and the monasteries perched impossibly on the top of high peaks overlooking the town of Kalabaka.  And then we will move on to visit Delphi, the navel of the world according to ancient Greeks.  

Delphi

Meteora

I've never been to Meteora so will be looking forward to that.  We'll be coming back to Poros for a few days.  Plenty of time for K to feed them mousaka, stuffed tomatoes, octopus and ouzo.  And lots of kalamari from Sophia's taverna.  

To finish off

a delightful photo

I think

of my younger brother and myself

More to come soon on visitors antics....