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......
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......
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