Snork Maiden redux

 Today's soundtrack I have tried several times to start a blog about 'going inside', talking about my feelings and how we are responding to the challenge of restricted movement, and being faced with planning the next 6 months - and perhaps the rest of our lives.  Past blogging experience has indicated that this sort of thing is not universally popular, so I am reverting to the more easily illustrated matters of everyday life.  But just wait - I will get around to the abstractions soon.  Please read, respond, and prove me wrong.  In the meantime... Like everyone else (or actually 2/3 of the population) I had an adventure in dough - pizza, not bread, Saturda y afternoon. All went pretty well following Jamie Oliver's recipe. His quantities gave me a bit of a sticky mess to begin with.  I had to shout for Al to come downstairs and rescue me - hands so sticky and coated with dough goo that i couldn't (a) pause my podcast or (b) open the drawer to get ou...

  And a lizard. Readers of the blog will know that we find a variety of livestock in the empty swimming pool behind our rented house.  What you may not know is that Al (of Assisi) is a keen rescuer.  Yesterday morning amongst the usual haul of centipedes and beetles, there was a lizard.  We gave it a chance to use the sunbed escape route, but this was declined.  So Al chased it down after only 2 circuits of the pool. Sorry, lizard hard to spot, but believe me, it is poking its head out of Al's hand.  So bright I couldn't see the iPhone screen, so had to point and shoot.  Successfully liberated, intact with tail. Now, here's my dilemma.  I don't want this to turn into a brag-a-blog about how lucky we are to be here etc etc but all the same I know there are some huge fans of Crete out there, and you like to see the photos and hear more about our environment.  So I am going to continue to post photos and descriptions on the understanding t...

 We have decided that it would be good for us to vary our diet of wine and Netflix, so that we (Al and I) will, on alternate days, choose 'an activity' that we will do sometime during the day. I am kicking off with the premiere of an English National Ballet production about Frieda Kahlo.  Link below.  There's a trailer and an interview with the choreogrpher. Looks amazing.  The premiere is at 1900BST, and we will be watching after supper.  It will be up for a few days. https://www.ballet.org.uk/onscreen/watch-party-broken-wings/ Usually I shop on Tuesday, but since we have just experienced Greek Easter, with many gifts of food from our neighbours, including baby carrots, cooked beetroot, red eggs and spring onions , I went today.  It's still a bit of an anxious morning, not least because I have to mumble my primitive Greek through my mask to the chaps at the deli counter who can actually speak English.  But I try.  Three kinds of cheese and two k...

SInce none of us can go Swimming, let's listen to the Swimming Song instead . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4ZrBxJHxo0   A mini blog tonight.  Some video socialising this afternoon with my sister Amanda, then a chat with Lynda after a ZOOM class with Gerry Chambers this morning, including the world's longest shoulder stand when my laptop battery ran out and I didn't get the instruction to come down,  A fat 15 minutes and I felt the Universe coming to a halt. On this morning's walk, we saw these flowers - they looked as though they were made of crepe paper or crushed silk.  We saw at least 3 different insect species jostling for space on these pollen rich centres.  On another bit of the walk we saw this very weird sign.  The challenge is to translate it.  Yes, you can use Google Translate,  Answers on a postcard. Photo credits to Al. Sorry about the layout.  Totally out of control.  

As you might - or might not - know, the Greek Orthodox Church has its Easter celebrations a week later than most of the rest of Europe.  The Church had intended to carry on regardless with Easter services, included sharing communion spoons, but was overruled by the Government. The priests may be celebrating but the churches are firmly closed. Thanks to Despoina Papapaschali who lives up the road, and whose family rents this house to us, we got 2 consignments of Easter bread.  She claims that the first round was a practice run since she hadn't made it since last year.  Having worked my way through the first one with Shehina's marmalade (another neighbour) I am now onto the fig jam (also Despoina's).  I think I may be gaining weight! We realise how fortunate we are to be in Greece, not just because we have a comfortable house and plenty of local walks.  Here's a link to the Guardian's article on the success of the Greek Government in dealing with C-19. https://www...

Well, it's a week since the last blog and today I feel a bit blogstipated, if you get my meaning.  So here's AL working away upstairs on earthMusic while I am making lunch downstairs!   I really enjoy cooking with the ingredients I can buy here, especially the fresh veg, (τα λαχανικά). So here's my gift to you today, courtesy of Diane Kochilas and her book, The Greek Vegetarian . Lentil Soup with Chard or Spinach Measures are in cups, but I am sure you can all work this out for yourselves.  Quantities 6-8, so we usually eat it for 2 meals, or cut quantities.  Up to you.  It’s a really simple soup, but my advice is try it as it is, then add ingredients if you think it lacking.  I think it’s perfect. 1/2 cup olive oil 1 medium onion chopped 2 large cloves of garlic 2 cups large or small green lentils (I usually scale down here) 1 can chopped tomatoes (use fresh if cheap) 1 pound (!) spinach, prepared as you do, and finely chopped. (I don’t mean cooked or...

Let's start with a music link then you can listen while you read :) https://open.spotify.com/album/7isYifHXAT7wbuxbJziBG3 Taking the day from back to front, we are sitting in the evening light, fire still unlit, with a bowl of crisps and a glass of retsina. (Yes, I know, not pure yogini, but this is Greece.)  A little earlier we went on the orchid walk, an evening favourite.  And it was a sunny day, although still cold. These pink orchids are NAKED MAN ORCHIDS. I have been trying to get a decent pic that will illustrate this indecent name!  Not the only frustration at this time, but the positives still outweigh the negatives. Of course, introverts like me do OK, by and large. In a sense, I am enjoying the relative solitude. Add caption Evening walk-a bit cold and Nikon camera (Digital, old) misbehaving. I ought I had a great pic of Naked Man orchid - but I dont! Here's a fully clothed husband standing in a lush area of vegetation, one of our favourite places, around 10 m...

Η τριτη - Tuesday Well, there's interesting!  I forgot to change my keyboard from Greek to UK and it typed the above phrase, for which Google offered no translation, but DuckDuckGo came up with a juicy selection of porn sites, covering a wide range of tastes, from athletic trannies to anal virgins, with lots of other stuff in between.  Is this what happens whenever a search engine encounters garbage?  Or did I inadvertantly enter something so disgusting that Google just blushed and looked the other way.  I have a curious bent, so I thought I would try the same thing with Safari!  It took me to the New Scientist.  So maybe DuckDuck just has a smutty avian mind.                                                   ...

Is there any enthusiasm out there for a ZOOM supper?  My idea is that we all cook the same recipe at the same time.  Actually I don't think we should eat on ZOOM, it might be just not too good, never mind dropping bits of food into the keyboard or onto the screen. But we could all cook the same recipe.  Any takers? Whilst thinking about food, is there anything to the linguistic idea that WE (well not me or probably you) eat game, THEY eat bushmeat?    I finally found the insect / leg shot: any idea what this is?  Unfortunately my lovely lower leg is rather more in focus than the insect.  Could it be a lonely locust? You don't really get the full effect because I was screaming 'get it off me!' Incidentally, I am enjoying my all-terrain Crocs - they are all I have worn apart from smartening myself up to go shopping last week.   Sign of the day.  Anybody?

4 April 2020 I was going to make this a blog without photos, taking the advice of DAVID HOCKNEY that we should all put down our cameras and start drawing-Well, I have made a beginning but I haven't yet decided whether or not you will see 'olives in the wind'? OK. That's an early attempt at painting with my iPad.  Not quite David H. But it was a good break after Greek over Skype.  Apparently memory is improved if you can empty your mind followung trying to learn somethng.  In this case, the nominative and accusative cases. Today was my second Greek lesson of the week. A three round wrestling match with the nominative and the accusative. Nothing conceptually dicticult just endings to remember. The view today is no view. Today there are strong winds from the South and our view has completely disappeared in a cloud of Saharan dust. Normally we would see the sea and the harbour from here. You can see a cute olive tree. On the plus side, it's a warm wind so maybe no need...

Nothing personal. in case you're concerned.  It's the title of yesterday's BBC Podcast - The Coronovirus, in which Adam Fleming talks about death.  Here's the link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05299nl Death and dying are much avoided topics, but this frank discussion with palliative care doctor Kathryn Mannix is really helpful.  She has gently pushed the boat out onto the Styx for thousands of people, or maybe better to say she has watched the current take them.  Either way, she seems to know what she's talking about and is clearly not scared of death herself, since she is about to leave an early retirement and go back to the NHS during the Covid-19 emergency.  You might be wondering why this photo of a white blurry dot in a blue sea.  Well, this is the only view of the Kissamos ferry that we are going to get for  quite a while!  This is what we can see from our window / balcony, every Thursday and Sunday.  Although passanger services h...