Rain

Rain rain don't go away

Please come again another day

Maybe tomorrow they say. 

The rain came, stalking us, waiting till we were sitting beside the sea with all our grandchildren. Then the heavens opened! 

But the grandchildren outwitted the rain, moved us lock, stock and barrel, tables laden with souvlaki and pizza, glasses full of wine and beer.  We carried on, entertained by the thunder and lightening and rivers running off the tiles.  

Nels ran to grab the bike helmets. I rushed to close car windows. Thank goodness I had the foresight to close the shutters up at the house. 

 Grand children don't mind drops dripping down their backs. A bit of rain didn't stop them from fetching beers, keeping Papou's jug of wine topped up or choosing ice cream for everyone to finish the night. 

Others were enjoying the rain on their balcony. A glass of wine and a summer downpour.  A pleasurable end to a hot sweaty day

It poured down for about an hour. A good steady drenching for the olive trees

Nels and me.....looking a bit washed out 😁

They just can't resist poking out tongues 

Poppi and Jamie

Good looking kids... 

After being told off

We've picked up a few more grandkids

George on the right with

Adoptees Vassili and Dimitri. 

They've been instructed to call me Nana...... and not GrandMum. 

Three girls

Nels and Poppi and new adoption Evita.  Evita is another rower, winning medals and cups all over Greece

Go Poros 

Go Poppi and Evita

Hot Peppers

 Little what-nots....................

My salt container.  Pink salt.  Himalyan probably.  It's unrefined and sold very cheaply in the supermarket.  I love the taste.  When we go to the Navy taverna they only provide salt if you ask and they put a little in a plastic glass.

You can't eat fried potatoes or souvlaki without salt so I carry this now in my handbag. Always handy to have salt in your bag. 

Three red hot peppers given to me by a neighbour.

I already have these in the garden.  They come up by themselves every summer.  I told him I didn't want any more but he appeared with these 3.  So we have red hot chilli peppers growing all over the garden, in pots, and planted amongst the tomatoes and pumpkins

A scarab beetle came along and landed on K during a church service.

A sign?

But of what.  

They are symbols of rebirth, transformation and growth,

prosperity and good fortune.

They give protection to the living, guide the dead to afterlife.

He's pretty well covered then, in this life or the next

View of the bay below us. You can see the hills around Athens on the far horizon.

Thanks to neighbour Giolanta

Festivals

 Summer church fiestas come one after another in July and August. 

We're counting down to 15th August, the biggest holiday of all. The country closes down. 

Many attend church services, especially at a Monastery or church with an icon of the Madonna which performs miracles.

  Islands in the Cyclades are known for their celebrations. Every village sets up chairs and tables in the main Square. There will be live music, local specialities on the menu, wine and song. Greeks and foreigners dance through the night. 

15th August is the celebration of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.  It is an important festival in the Orthodox church but also all across Catholic Europe.

On July 26  the church across the valley from us, dedicated to Saint Paraskevi, a female saint who is a protector of the eyes has a service of celebration.   K always attends one or both of the services. This year we went together to the early morning one.  It was cooler than the evening liturgy. 

Poppi with Evita and Luli 

Kneading the dough

Last year 2 of the granddaughters and a friend of theirs had a sleepover.  The girls made a loaf of Holy bread and took it down the next morning.

  This year I didn't make any bread at all.  There is a tradition at these services to bring a loaf with a special Holy stamp and 5 sweet loaves representing the 5 loaves that fed the 5,000.  Was it 5,000.  I have baked these in years gone by and we have taken them to the church along with 3 candles and an offering of olive oil.  In days of yore.  

It's easier to order them from a local bakery or grocer.  

Because of the fire hazard there was a road block about a kilometre from the church.  Cars were stopped but they were allowed to park and everyone had to walk down.  Honestly, if someone wanted to throw a match into the forest it would have been easier if they were on foot.

There was a huge uproar that evening because the taverna next to the road block had live music and roast pig and everyone and their dog were allowed through.

Everyone sits or stands outside.  First of all because it's cooler and secondly because there is only room inside for Priests, chanters and a handful of worshippers.

The service is broadcast by loudspeaker for those outside, which is why we can hear it across the valley at our place

Three mighty cypress trees.  There are half a dozen planted around the church.  

The icon of the Saint decorated with flowers.

As you come come down you pay a few cents and buy a simple beeswax candle, light it and place it in a container of sand before kissing the icon and crossing yourself 3 times.  Or at least that's what K does.

After that he's free to greet friends and neighbours 

One of our bossy neighbours came along muttering about fire hazards and blew all the candles out.  Self-important git.  

There was a murmur of disapproval as he put out the candles but everyone knows him and it was not the time or place to start an argument.  He got blasted later on Facebook.    

Yes. there was/is a fire risk but the candles were not unattended and are only allowed to burn till the end of the service.

Elderly neighbour Vaso came down the steps escorted by her daughter. All the neighbourhood turns up at these yearly services.  She found a chair beside me and we had a quick natter and watched with amusement the flock of young children leaping gleefully up and down the steps.  There were 3 families with about 5 children each.

K nudged me, as he always does, when it was time to stand up, or the priest was to appear swinging the incense burner.   It lets off clouds of aromatic smoke.  

There were baskets and baskets of sweet bread and Holy bread.      This time I  remembered to bring a roomy handbag and a large plastic bag.  I filled up the plastic bag with big chunks of various breads.  As did everyone else I might add.

Some of it was really nice, soft and sweet.  Some loaves had a lot of aniseed and mastiha (a greek spice) in them.  I got a good selection.  Kept in the fridge away from ants they provided K with breakfast for many days.

Further down the hill are the remains of a nunnery.  I don't know much about it's history but it has been gone for many years.  All that's left is the well and a few foundation stones.

Saints' Fiesta Days

JULY

17th Saint Marina

20th Profit Elijah

25th Saint Anna

27th  Agios Panteleimon (male saint)

AUGUST

6th Agios Sotiras (male saint)

15th Virgin Mary

26th Natalia and Adrianos (that's my Luli's name day)

27th Agios Fanourios (male saint) the finder of lost items

30th Saint Alexander

Those are the days of celebration for the more important Saints.  There are quite a few others

  

Look at This

A few bits and piecesMy daughter Elli introduced me to something newCigarette etiquette When you open a new packet...... Which most of you will never doYou turn one cigarette upside down and make a wish.  Then you leave this for last. I followed her instructions.... and took it out absentmindedly and lit the damn thing at the wrong end. Typical. I've stopped smoking cigarettes and vape instead.  Sparingly. Neither habits are cheap, or healthy, but I can buy vapes without nicotine and with interesting flavours. Salted caramel, g & t. 

From niece Niki in NZHere we had tzatziki crisps but I've never seen souvlaki flavoured, and extra crunchy

From Grandaughter NelsLast night's sunset, a brilliant orange .  The sky all afternoon was covered in smoke from wildfires around Athens and produced these intense colours as the sun went down. The shop where Nels is working this summer makes their own ice cream. They're working on gin and tonic and Pina colada ice cream. Her boss is a master baker and avant garde ice cream maker, the best on the island.Yesterday was one of the hottest yet.  At 11pm we were down at the harbour drinking 'coffee'. It was still very hot and sweaty with hardly a breeze. It was a lovely evening anyway with Poppi and her Mum and Dad. Today isn't much better but tomorrow the heat will let up a little. We hope. 8pm now and there's a hot wind and little relief. 

From the Facebook group Hellenic World

A Bit Hot Today

 Everyday's a scorcher.  I don't know why they bother with the weather forecast.  It's hot hot and more hot.  We really don't want to hear about record highs.

Builders, couriers and other outdoor workers have been told to stop work by 11. 

The Acropolis is closed from 12 till 5.

Back at the Navy beach again. Coffee, cold water and a dip in the sea. There is a cool breeze again today.

 This evening's temperature is lower, just a wee bit, and at 8pm it is comfortable to sit and watch our outdoor tv. 

The cicadas are still going strong 

Ants have been out in force.  They are more aggressive when rain is on the horizon but I think these high temperatures affect them the same way. Now that we are in the middle of the heatwave they've retreated. Not completely, but they're not on constant crumb patrol .

Greek Heatwave

 The heat is tiring, even now at 8pm it's sweltering. The fan inside blows air so hot it feels as though we are living in a sauna. 

We siested in an air conditioned bedroom and then emerged hoping to find a breath of cooler air on the terrace.  It's only slightly cooler. 

I have no idea what the temperature is here. I'm watching the news. The heatwave is the main item. 45o in some parts of the country. Worse tomorrow. 

It's fine if you're on holiday though I'm not so sure about the Brits. They're so white and then turn redder than lobsters. Painful. Not to mention dangerous. They don't seem to understand the strength of the sun. 

At home clothes have to be washed, hung out and brought in, but not ironed. They dry in half an hour. Food has to be prepared, gardens watered. Most housework is put on hold. I mopped our tiled floors yesterday. Dust builds up when all the windows and doors are open. Not something that's on my 'to do' list. 

Early this morning I made stuffed tomatoes and a zucchini. Quick and easy. Enough for 2 days and delicious eaten cold from the fridge.

Later we went down to the Navy beach.

Sun umbrellas and sun chairs free.

There was a breeze which I could almost call cool.

We stayed there till 2 and went home for a siesta.

Tomorrow we will probably do the same

I sit and read. 

Love the way they put 'new' on the front cover. It was, back in 2009.

It's a good light read that I can put down and pick up between swims, people watching and sips of iced coffee.

Around a Summer Garden

 The midsummer garden

 The ground is brown and dry. Still, some plants are loving the sun....... and surviving with constant watering 

This was a good start. 

I'm picking a handful every day

All the tomatoes this year seem to be cherry varieties. Most of the plants came up by themselves from leftover salad I buried in pots. 

All the skins are very tough. They're not great eating. I remove the skins and make relish. 

While my brother and sis-in-law were here they bought a 750gram tomato from the supermarket.  One tomato 3 greek salads.  Nothing unusual for green fingered Rainy.  She's grown a 650 gram tomato in her garden in New Zealand

My pot of basil is lovely green and bushy

These tiny lemons are falling off the trees already rotten.  Not a good year for lemons.   

Only good for the compost

My bonsai bougainvillia.  I clip the new shoots every day.  It grows like mad and if I leave it a few days the branches have thorns long enough to rip my arms to pieces.  I already get attacked by the roses and the lemon trees. My right arm is a mess of gashes and bruises.

This bougainvillia is white and doesn't bloom till about mid September.  Even though I keep on clipping away at it the plant will be covered in thick white blossoms till the end October

Scarab beetles love watermelon rind.  

Here they're known as GoldenFlies.  They're great big clumsy things.  They fly around us at dusk and often end up on their backs when they fly into something.  They are easily traumatised and have to be turned up the right way very carefully.

Pumpkins are slowly growing all over the garden

Cicadas start their shrill noise at 5.30am.  Their noise increases till by midday its deafening.  They finally go quiet just after dusk.  Then we can hear the soft burr of the crickets.

Temperatures are rising again. It's going to be a week of blistering heat.