Well Easter has come and gone with amazing storms.  From Good Friday the weather was straight out of the bible - I could not even see the olive trees out of my window due to the torrential rain and incessant galeforce winds - thunder and lightening.  Everyone was getting slightly worried that the traditional goat/lamb on a spit BBQ would have to be called off and there were people trying to light their village ovens in the dark wearing wellingtons and holding umbrellas!.  Luckily on the Sunday morning there were blue skies and everything went ahead as usual.

The bad weather came back with avengence - seems endless when you have so much to do in the garden and can not get out there....  So many cupboards to empty - blankets to wash - clothes to air etc etc - all the normal things we tend to do at this time of the year.  Did I do this in the UK - definately NOT - I took the stuff to the dry cleaners or laundry there????  Also certainly could not put winter clothes and duvet covers away for the summer in the UK!  We are all starting to get ready for the summer - it is coming it really is - just seems to be taking its'  time this year - or is it me getting older and not having as much patience (more than likely)?

The three little kittens have disappeared - I presume the mother has hidden them somewhere else - we have searched everywhere but can not find them - no doubt they will come creeping out of the hedgerows one day.  Maybe they are waiting for better weather too.

The thing that is most heartbreaking is the damage to the plants and trees this year - ripped to pieces by the wind - some of the flowering bushes even torn in two - all the plums blown off the trees together with the apricots - these are the times when you think you feel like swearing - why bother - but this is what gardening in Greece is like - it is hard - the flowers nearly always come back and sometimes better than before.  That reminds me of some advice that one of my brother's in Australia gave me - "if a tree is not giving fruit - hit it very hard with a sledge hammer - the shock does it good - it almost always works".  Bit like the story of life - the more hardships that you go through the stronger you become.  So that could mean that all the hardship that Greece is going through at the moment is going to be worth it in the long run - I only hope so!!!

The icing on the cake (as they say) was the rain - the ground became water-logged and the goats managed to pull up their tetherings and get into the garden and eat the vines (which had been full of grapes), the night scented stock and the rosemary - if anyone fancies rosemary stuffed goats lightly flavoured with night scented stock and grapes - I know where they are!!!!