8th March, 23ºC today, a harbinger of what's to come. Yes March can still throw the occasional spanner into the weather-works, but by and large it's downhill into summer from here. I was a bit sad yesterday, it would have been my father's 86th birthday had he survived. We lost him in January 2009, but whenever we're in the garden, he's on our minds, since he loved gardening almost more than anything else, apart from my mum of course. But it was close.
Both yesterday and today we've spent lots of time in the garden. There's always plenty to do at this time of the year. But before we began yesterday we went to visit a few folk along near the seafront in the Gennadi area, which was where I snapped these...
There was a strong, warm wind coming in off of the sea, which here in Kiotari means Southerly, thus the temperature was a very pleasant 21 or so (70F in the old money, or if you're American), but the sea was "up" in a spectacular way. Unfortunately these photos don't do it full justice. How often do we folk who have modest cameras (or, as in this case, modest mobile phones!) snap something with a wild enthusiasm to share it with others, only to be a bit let down when we see the end result. Never mind, if you click a few times to get the largest view it may help. The sound was deafening and all I could do was sing along to old Beach Boys songs all morning!!
Today, though is a red-letter day and no mistake. Today was the ceremonial hanging of the hosepipe gun on the nail under the car-port. As I've probably said before, most Greek houses don't have swimming pools, but what they always do have is an outdoor shower. Well, ours is a hosepipe hanging from the car-port at just the right angle...
After a couple of hours toil, I was ready for shower and so today, folks, the first outdoor shower of the season took place amid precious little fanfare - well, apart from me going "ooh, ahh" rather a lot. Got to admit, the water was a little on the parky side, but I went through with it and then the better half did likewise.
See, it's that time of year now when, although we've enjoyed the winter, we're ready to see a few more people about and ready for the warmer weather to set in at last. It has been by and large a mild winter here, although somewhat more changeable than normal. The last cold snap was probably to coldest we've known in almost 10 years of living here, but that only lasted 3 days and prompted a few to proclaim on Facebook that it was the coldest winter they'd known. Have to disagree there I'm afraid. Lots of people who, like us, have log-burning stoves, are remarking that they've used them much less frequently than normal, which is certainly the case with us.
Returning to today though, once more (after the winter months) the parasol went up over the garden table and we took lunch out there. The better half rustled up some rather tasty aubergine salad, olive oil, tomato and lettuce open sandwiches and we washed them down with a glass of delicious rosé.
Oh, and the sea calmed down markedly today too. Thus I am no longer prompted to sing "Everybody's gone surfin', surfin' USA."
Both yesterday and today we've spent lots of time in the garden. There's always plenty to do at this time of the year. But before we began yesterday we went to visit a few folk along near the seafront in the Gennadi area, which was where I snapped these...
There was a strong, warm wind coming in off of the sea, which here in Kiotari means Southerly, thus the temperature was a very pleasant 21 or so (70F in the old money, or if you're American), but the sea was "up" in a spectacular way. Unfortunately these photos don't do it full justice. How often do we folk who have modest cameras (or, as in this case, modest mobile phones!) snap something with a wild enthusiasm to share it with others, only to be a bit let down when we see the end result. Never mind, if you click a few times to get the largest view it may help. The sound was deafening and all I could do was sing along to old Beach Boys songs all morning!!
Today, though is a red-letter day and no mistake. Today was the ceremonial hanging of the hosepipe gun on the nail under the car-port. As I've probably said before, most Greek houses don't have swimming pools, but what they always do have is an outdoor shower. Well, ours is a hosepipe hanging from the car-port at just the right angle...
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| Not exactly a pinnacle of technology, yet amazingly effective. |
After a couple of hours toil, I was ready for shower and so today, folks, the first outdoor shower of the season took place amid precious little fanfare - well, apart from me going "ooh, ahh" rather a lot. Got to admit, the water was a little on the parky side, but I went through with it and then the better half did likewise.
See, it's that time of year now when, although we've enjoyed the winter, we're ready to see a few more people about and ready for the warmer weather to set in at last. It has been by and large a mild winter here, although somewhat more changeable than normal. The last cold snap was probably to coldest we've known in almost 10 years of living here, but that only lasted 3 days and prompted a few to proclaim on Facebook that it was the coldest winter they'd known. Have to disagree there I'm afraid. Lots of people who, like us, have log-burning stoves, are remarking that they've used them much less frequently than normal, which is certainly the case with us.
Returning to today though, once more (after the winter months) the parasol went up over the garden table and we took lunch out there. The better half rustled up some rather tasty aubergine salad, olive oil, tomato and lettuce open sandwiches and we washed them down with a glass of delicious rosé.
Oh, and the sea calmed down markedly today too. Thus I am no longer prompted to sing "Everybody's gone surfin', surfin' USA."
John. We have used up our entire wood supply this winter.Papa Georgio from Lahania had brought us a truck load.Some evenings we lit our gas fire instead of the wood burner.
ReplyDeleteOur house gets damp being close to the beach & that makes us feel cold
Really enjoyed this blog - felt uplifted that spring is here, summer is coming and so is our trip to our 'other home' in Greece
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the posting I wondered if a question would be answered. Someone once told me that there was surfing down south, maybe there is, but lay people tend to confuse surfing with sailboarding and kiteboarding, probably because it used to be called windsurfing. So is there surfin’ way down south?
ReplyDeleteSimon
PS Had another go at a message!
Nah, Simon, there's no real surfing as far as I know. It would be too dangerous since there are rocks on the bottom and the floor shelves too steeply on most beaches down south.
DeleteI'm very glad your opinion is that you are coasting all the way to summer, it bodes well for our visit in 36 days time!
ReplyDeleteOn a more sombre note, I hope anyone testing the somewhat wild-looking waters round Rhodes at the moment is taking care. We had a tragedy this weekend on our coast with a kitesurfer losing his life. Ollie was taking his 1st lessons of the season at the time.
Vicki