Ripening Nicely

Yippee and yabadabadoo!! September is with us and the temperatures are dropping to somewhere near "simmer" rather than "bring to the boil". Just had a shufty at the olive tree and it looks like this year it's going to do us proud. The olives are a good size and ripening nicely. A drop of rain toward the end of this month and a few more times before November and they'll turn a gorgeous black and we may well have some of our own oil yet.

We haven't been up to much of late, so not much to scribble about really, except to mention that last weekend was the annual Wine Festival in the village of Embona. Every year they have a bit of a shindig as the grape harvest begins and there's all kinds of stuff going on all over the village. Of course there's the usual dancing in the square and lots of tables and chairs everywhere as the revellers get down to the serious business of having a good time and why not? It's a joyous occasion and the resultant wine produced will bring in much-needed income in the coming months and years.

It's worth noting too that the quality of Rhodean wines is getting more and more notice these days. It's no longer correct to joke about them, as there are some really good wines which have won some awards produced right here on Rhodes.

If you'd like a brief taste of the wine festival, check this link out. The text is in Greek, but there are loads of photos and a cool video showing the dance where the women tip the grapes into the barrels where the men tread them as they dance, wicked! You may just want to ask the violinist to check his tuning toward the end of the clip though...

No good going along if you want to get to bed much before the following dawn I'm afraid.