Well for a couple of weeks the weather was not too bad  and we even had a couple of fantastic days with temperatures reaching 18c - I was out in the garden weeding like mad, pruning trees, we ate outside a couple of times, I repotted all the cacti (cactuses!!!) separated loads of plants - repotted them - dug over some of the flower beds - I was so excited!  I almost went to the garden centre to buy some pot plants to put in all my good pots (the ceramic ones) - I had to stop myself - every year it is the same - these few nice days are followed by the coldest weather ever and all the plants get ruined. 

Sure enough, as usual, two fantastic t-shirt days were followed by pouring rain on national Kite Flying Day - Clean Monday - the day when everyone has a holiday and stops eating meat and animal produce until Easter.  A period of fasting or cleansing the body - a great excuse to de-tox!!!  We went to a BBQ which was moved under shelter.  Our hosts were Nikos and Janet - to tell you the truth I did not eat any of Nikos' freshly caught fish and baby octopus but I ate tons of Janets' amazing salads to die for - all washed down with a bottle of red and a piece of homemade apple pie with cream - absolutely wonderful.

Even though the weather was terrible you still have to try to fly the kite - it is tradition after all!!  Nikos managed to get it as high as possible with the line it had - then being a mad fisherman - he attached it to his fishing rod line and it went higher and higher and higher.....The kids thought it was great - sitting there holding fishing rod - flying a kite - wonderful - fishing in the sky for solutions to the Greek crisis and a few bottles of retsina to boot!!!  The most amazing thing was that he managed to reel it all the way back in without smashing it - well caught Nick!!!!

Then following the rain came the cold freezing temperatures - they said it was going to get down to -8 last night - I think it was actually -2.  See, just as well I reminded myself not to buy any plants because they would not have survived that.  Although the skies are blue (which is great) there is a sharp bite to the air "cold with a tooth as the Greeks say"!  We actually had a flurry of snow in Lagoudi, Zia and Messaria although it did not stick - we will see by tomorrow.  The cats thought it was very interesting when they went to drink water this morning - tapping it with their paws (as it had turned to ice) thinking "hello - what has happened to that"....

I ventured out to look at the damage to the plants this morning - some of the succulents do not look too good - nevermind they will come back again stronger than ever - just as Greece will do......

It was a beautiful sunny day today after lots and lots of rain - I should have done some gardening and cleaned the house but I decided to go on an organised walk with the Dutch people - who go on wonderful walks every month.  Today we went from Evangelistria up to Zia, from Zia up to Kefalovrisi and from there across the mountain and down to Assomatos.  It was an excellent walk.   We stopped at the new (or rather very old - newly restored) cafenion "Kazino" .  It has been beautifully restored and was originally opened in 1906.  It has the original"bar" inside, original beams and stone floor, restored furniture and pictures - the place is amazing.  The Greek Coffee is served in the "Briki" (the little pot they make it in) and there is a piece of "loukoumi" (Greek sweet) on the saucer.  They also had homemade Baklava and spoons sweets.  They are open Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the winter and will probably open more in the summer as they have a wonderful terrace at the front.  They are open in the evenings for ouzo/wine, mezedes (little snacks) and live music - definately a place to visit - you will find it up the steps next to the Church of Assomatos.  After discussing the situation in Greece and deciding that it was time for an uprising we them ambled back to Evangelistria.  The whole walk took about 2 hours (we spent an hour in the cafenion - so it was really good - hopefully Betty and I are going to test out another walk for next month Lagoudi - Konario - Pyli Castle - Mystery Taverna in the Woods and then back to Lagoudi....