A turbulent four months. New Zealand, UK,
sickness and no green footprint. Mother's funeral, and an elderly
father's difficulties to deal with and nothing really resolved. But
peace and solitude in the village again. Time out with many friends
and also time to catch up with one another. Seems interminable – a
terrifying start to 2013 – does the 13 have a point here? We shall
start over and hope to celebrate the new year that we missed by
crossing the date line on the 30th December 2012. Complications and
distance make life more difficult than can be imagined. These things
are sent to try us ! The peace and respect of the villagers here in
Skepasti is refreshing (so was the storm last week – not peaceful
but good for the veg). A weekend down south in Matala was up-lifting.
Good air and company, although an interesting drive! Help! Sun shone
brightly and shorts & T-shirt weather made the going good.
MA CROZIER .. is still searching for
things ….
We hung around in the UK for another
4-5 weeks after Mum's Funeral to help Father, now wearing our thick
winter clothes just as the weather started to get really warm and did
our best to help out – there was so much that we couldn't easily
solve but it wasn't for the want of trying. A magic wand would have
been good! Parting from the people you care about is not easy and we
are dealing with such a muddle of feelings at the moment. K and I
often wish we could emulate Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise
and beam ourselves to different places without so much heartache.
It was lovely to get home to Crete mid
week, and were promptly greeted by a resounding thunder storm and
lots of heavy rain – which has been great for our window boxes and
garden but left a lot of mopping and sweeping to do. The house is
full of cases and boxes to unpack. Everything is upside down because
we decided months ago that this year was the year that wood
preserving of all the beams and woodwork would HAVE TO BE DONE! The
furniture had been shifted and covered, mats taken up and things
shrouded in sheets, but 'operation beetle bug' did not get any
further. Consequently, we are both so disorientated that we can't
find anything, or really think straight at all. We hope that we can
snap out of it soon.
In the Olive Garden, the brushwood and
clippings have all been taken away (Hooray!) but the woodpile has
also disappeared (Boo!) and I was simmering a bit about that, but it
was largely outside our control and we are now wondering how to
assert ourselves and claim back our garden after it has been invaded
by a flock of goats and half the village in our absence! Also, there
had been some very extreme heat, winds and torrential rain which did
for the veggie plants we had put in, so we have our work cut out
trying to start all over. Fortunately, our good friend Ian has been
helping and planting a plot of veggies too.
I had been looking forward to our
archaeological trip to Phaestos since last Autumn, and we stayed
overnight at Matala – a pretty resort on the South Coast bathed in
warm sunshine – well known by many hippies in the 1960s – and set
off, after a talk with slides about the different eras of palace
buildings on the large site at Phaestos excavated by Italian
archaeologists. After this learned stuff, we ended up at a fish
restaurant and made a merry throng looking out over the caves (former
habitations of aforesaid hippies) and sunset over the sea.
Today we toiled around the steps,
stones and ramps at Phaestos – trying to imagine how all the
buildings would have looked in ancient times and thinking what a
wonderful vista the ancients had from their hill top site whilst I
mused why it was impossible to get a decent teapot in Crete these
days when the Ancient Minoans/Myceneans had no trouble making very
beautiful ones. Clarisse Cliffe had nothing on their designs.
Our journey there and back took longer
than usual because of horrendous roadworks between our village and
Rethymnon (which have been on-going for at least four years and seem not
to have progressed very far – perhaps funds have run out) but which
have this week caused maximum chaos for people travelling West.
Consequently, we drove back via Heraklion in the East which added
miles to our journey but we did at least keep moving. We stopped at
a garage for a much needed break and .. what a view!
Hoping to spend a few days unwinding,
unravelling, and giving our brains a rest ...
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