Snork Maiden redux

As you probably know, we are alowed to walk locally, for excercise.  So every day we try to explore a different path through the olive groves. This morning we followed a track we hadn't tried before . There's a basic rule, that it's almost impossible to get really lost - there are enough landmarks to aim for. Today we ended up scrabbling up a bank, having taken a wrong turn in the maze.  Walking between an avenue of olives, Al saw a big, fat spider in a web, slung between 2 trees.  Looking closer we saw an insect caught and wrapped.  Then in front of us, a bee flew into the web.  I had the camera in my bag, and we watched as the unfortunate insect quickly attracted the spider's attention.  It embraced the bee for a few moments - probably injecting an immobilizing agent.  It then efficiently wrapped the bee in a silk cocoon, food for later.  Take a look at the unfolding story. The spider The bee is caught in the web The spider tackles the bee Wrapp...

I really should have taken a photo, but let's just pretend we are in the time of Jane Austin, and I will just tell you that I set up in our living room / kitchen, with 2 mats and all my various yoga bits (blankets, bolsters, yada yada...)  laptop on the table linked to JBL portable stereo speaker, shutters closed on 2 windows, and settled in to a 2 hour session given by B.K.S. Iyengar to support the immune system, originally prompted by SARS outbreak. Many inversions - including 15 minutes of headstand.  Just so good to be with a group, and Gerry (Chambers) has a great delivery for this kind of session.  Calm, clear, supportive - thanks, Gerry, if you're reading this.  ZOOM is winning me over - at the start and end of the session so good to hear and see many of my yoga friends from Bristol and elsewhere, as Gerry taught from EASTWEST yoga's home studio in Exmouth.  If any of you are interested,have a look at the website. I can't wait to do the next class with Ly...

Well, it's been an eventful day. This mornng I went to look at the reflections of the overnight rain on the side of the (empty) swimming pool - the pic is from 2018 and my dog pose is probably no better now.  As I looked down into the empty pool, I saw something curled up in the corner.  Yes, it was a cute little RAT! What to do?  Well, we did what any sane person would do, fetched a sunbed, lowered it down so it made a ramp to the edge of the pool. Instantly, without any hesitation, the rat was out of there!  Reminded me of UB40. https://open.spotify.com/track/5rCpAwrWFRGpsqc8wVVhql?si=M2536TV5TiSoaL023SldXw Later that day: another walk in the olive groves with the self-written permit, a Greek lesson over Skype, a chat with Rebecca who lives in Italy, so further into the lockdown than we are.   Second exciting event was a performance on YouTube of the 300 Strangers performance on YouTube - celebration of World Piano Day and a bonding excercise for self-is...

With thanks to Monty Python for the reference (You Tube). So although we knew about 'the Virus' when we left, we still hadn't grasped what it would mean for our stay in Crete.  I had expected this to be a blog about our search for a building plot and subsequent negotiations (with each other, the vendor, the builder etc.). Now I find it is about somethong else entirely.  We had also hoped to expand our social life here - maybe that is happening, but not quite in the way we envisaged.   I also thought I would start more or less on day one, but it is now approximately day 19.  I think that demonstrates how fast things have changed from day to day, as much inside our heads as outside.  It is a brush with a dark cloak at the supermarket, a vision of a chance meeting with death, for us, our friends and relatives. Back to the reality I had expected, a sort of show and tell of the story so far: DAY ONE: recovery from a ghastly day when we missed our flight, and a ...