ROLL ON SUMMER!

Spring has blossomed and unfurled just in time to show the best possible face for our visitors around the local villages for the last couple of weeks or so. Two weeks ago, the mountain peaks still had snow cover but steady warm sunshine has shown more and more areas of bare rock on the peaks of Mount Psiloritis and the wild flowers at the road edges have nodded their heads in glorious clouds of yellows, white and green while red poppies and wild irises are dotted here and there to delight the eye. There is a custom on May Day for families to take a picnic in the countryside, to gather armfuls of beautiful marguerite, daisies, chamomile and other colourful blooms and to make a posy or wreath to hang on the outside of the house by way of celebration. Sometimes, the posies dry as they hang there making a lovely dried flower display which can last for many months longer!

Meanwhile, K and I have been out and about and taking on the heavy house cleaning to sweep away the soots and sands of winter, roll up the dusty rugs after a good beating, and take off the heavy covers needed for the winter to make room for summer sheets and warmer nights. All the winter knits and warm clothes have been put away with moth papers in suitcases under the beds and summer shirts and shorts retrieved for the ironing pile. In an island of extremes, these annual changeovers become the weft and weave of our seasonal life.

A poor wee cat, no more than a kitten turned out NOT to be a male as thought and deposited two tiny and rather sickly kittens under the wood pile. Sadly, we do not think they could have survived, despite trying to look after the little mother who began to look very downtrodden and frail. She and the kittens moved up the road but we did not hold out much hope for this little family. However, the villages are not short of alley cats and there will be many other litters of kittens who will survive better.

K and I had a lovely interlude in Panormo the other morning when a new fishing boat arrived by lorry and we spent a good hour gongoozling as the crew unhitched a crane and manoeuvred the boat off the lorry and alongside the jetty into the harbour. Then K listened with appreciation as they started up its diesel engine, flipped out the plastic fend-offs and puffed off out to sea on its maiden voyage with its proud little Greek flag streaming in the wind. I checked later in the week along the harbour wall and read that its name was Agiou Nicoloau … Saint Nicholas. It looks bright with new paint and well set up for some serious fishing excursions.

Outings with brother Chris and his better half Linda took us to the usual suspects of local haunts, Vinzi's delightful cafe overlooking Panormo harbour (our local), the Cafe Posto in Bali, Margarites for ceramics and for a real treat we drove up to the Wood Museum in Axos to see the sacred and dedicated work of the self-taught sculptor, George Koutantos who had the most magnificent wooden sculptures to admire. https://woodenmuseum.gr/en/the-sculptor/   After absorbing all the work involved from all angles and taking lots of photographs, we carried on further up the mountain road to eat a Sunday lunch in Anogia where the tavernas selling lamb cooked over the charcoal in their special way made an extra treat. We narrowly escaped forced purchase of Cretan andartes hairnets despite the strongest entreaties of the determined little old lady selling these and other home made lace items … but it was touch and go!  Chris and Linda visited Rethymnon and did a little shopping and eating and, I think enjoyed their week in Crete. It was the ideal time to visit. We tried to hold firm against large helpings, too much wine and sugary treats but again, it was touch and go!

On Saturday of the same week, John and Val, wonderful friends from Gravesend in Kent arrived at Heraklion airport and, as they have visited Crete a few times already, we could let them loose in Panormo after settling them into the lovely Philoxenia Apartments. Although not strictly open for a few days, the owners made an exception for them and gave them a beautiful premium apartment which was lovely and cool and overlooked the sea and the pool at the back. They were delighted and found the beds really comfortable after their long journey which started at silly o'clock from England. A first swim at the harbour beach lived up to its promise, and a lovely meal at the fish restaurant was a real treat. We would have hatched many more plans if K had not injured his foot somehow and might need a trip to the First Aid Health Centre in Perama first thing on Monday morning.

Tourists and hire cars are out in their hundreds and the season is well under way! As there are wedding anniversaries this year for our daughters … TEN YEARS … we can only say this month ... May the Fourth be with you. Kalomina!