Mid Winter

Midwinter. One of my favourite times of the year. Any time but midsummer is my favourite time. 

Some days are cold, some days are warm and sunny. Today it's 19o, 9o at the weekend and then we will have a week or two of Halcyon days with warm breezes and sunshiney days. Halcyon days are usual in January, normally a week or so of calm seas and blue skies towards the end of the month.

My viking-blooded daughter and grand-daughter went swimming yesterday.  I think it would be heart attack time if I even poked my big toe in the sea just now.

Green, green, my world is green 

The nasturtiums and clover are almost knee high.

On a sunny morning I throw the shutters open and breathe in the crisp fresh air. Green is good. 

Our second tonne of wood (the back of a pick up truck piled high) was delivered yesterday.

Olive and Carob wood.

Hopefully we will have enough wood till the beginning of March.

Thanks to another blog...

https://flissandmax.blogspot.com

I was reminded that it's marmalade time. In our backyard jungle we have an orange tree, a mandarine tree, a grapefruit and a bitter orange.

After reading her blog post I ventured out in my slippers to pick some fruit. The bitter oranges (Seville?) are still small and green but I managed to find a few oranges and mandarines . The darn mandarines have more pips than juice. A variety from days gone by. 

It's dangerous out there in the jungle. The weeds are so lush I can't see where I'm stepping.  I managed the harvest thank goodness without falling face first into the primeval tangle.

Marmalade is done and dusted

I went and got, what I hope is my last vaccination.   In Greek it's called 'erpes ostiras' and thanks to Google translation I discovered it's for shingles.

There has been a campaign for over 60s to get vaccinated against it and one of Ks friends had a nasty, painful dose which lasted for months.

The campaign has been very successful because there's a shortage of the vaccine. We waited for 2 months till our friendly chemist found a supply.

I hope it's the last 'shot' I have for quite a while. 

My daughter drove me down and escorted me to have the vaccination. While I was being injected she perused the shelves. Did you know caster oil is very good for encouraging growth of eyelashes and eyebrows? And for dry skin. And you don't have to drink the stuff. You just spray it on. My granddaughter will tell us if it works.

Our big computer is playing up. I bought a brush to clean the keyboard and now the keyboard doesn't work. It's got some damn virus anyway. Every time I wrote an email it added extra letters. Every B was followed by an N, every P by an / . My nerves were so much on edge I had  to have a stiff whisky. Johnny Walker, with 45% alcohol. 

The car has been across to the mainland for a new water tank and spark plugs. Next thing on the list will be a new computer. 

One of my pastimes is writing and that computer is a necessity .

Cheers Big Ears