Jose's 5th Birthday Portrait.

Here's the boy, he's sailed the seas, roamed far from his native home.
He's full of spirit and loves to walk and walk.
He's our favourite mutt even though he barks( and barks!!)
He's very good company and very sensitive to my moods.
He's 5 this week and we've loved every moment he's been with us.

A Little Taster

For those who are still following the village wine post.
Here are our friends' attempts of wine making,
Starting from the left, the first is Jan and Bill's, second is Joan and Russell's then lastly, ours.
We had a taste test at the week end, it was very close but, lo and behold!! we won!! The middle one has a wonderful colour but the taste was rather bitter.

The End is Just Around the Corner!! Yippee!!

Poor Geoff's knees are sore, but,look!

Around the corner, there's the finish line! He's just got to get passed the bathroom, (already done!) down a step, and into the snug. There's the door, he'll be finished by the week end??

Well, maybe, but we're off to Athens on Thurs., for the day.

Here's a link to an important site I would like you all to look at. It's rather appropriate after Billy Biarum's post.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com//Save-Cretan-landscape

Ok, when you get to the petition.com site, type in 'Save the Cretan Landscape' in the box marked 'Find a petition'.

Annual Search for Billy Biarum

Sadly, due to work commitments, (tiling the house takes precedence to everything at the moment,) these photograghs were taken of last years expedition. But believe it or not, weather conditions are very similar.

A group of us gather at Aghios Ioannis point above the island of Spinalonga. It's a barren and windy area on the best days!

We are in search of a tiny endemic plant.

It's very rare and difficult to find. But we know it's here somewhere!!

It's called Biarum Davisii, it's approx. 2inches tall and lives a very lonely life.

They are endangered and this is one of the only areas it grows in the world we are there to make sure it's not been destroyed by development or fly tipping.

You can see how small it is in comparison to my boot.

They are propagated by ants and only flower for a few days.

In times past, they were used to induce abortions.

I love this little flower, it's full of character, they are like hooded monks.

Crete has about 200 species of endemic plants, many of the orchid family.

7 Random or Weird Facts about Me

Bindu, of 'Transient Lives' tagged me a while ago, so here goes

1. Tina Turner kissed my hand in 1984 in Birmingham, England at one of her first solo concerts.

2. I would love a donkey.

3. I don't drink the last bit of tea because I still remember tea leaves at the bottom of a cup.

4. I was crowned Investiture Princess in 1969, I lived in North Wales, it was in celebration of Prince Charles being invested at Caernarvon Castle. I had a crown and sash and my duties entailed going to parties and presenting the children with their special 'Investiture Mugs'.

5. I once went skinny dipping with some friends after a night out. Whilst we were frolicking happily in the waves someone stole all our clothes. We had to all cram in a telephone box and phone the police, they refused to believe us, eventually they sent a car with blankets, but not before laughing at us shivering. Then I had to throw stones at my daughter's bedroom window to wake her because I didn't have my house keys either!!

6. I lived aboard 'Cariad', our boat for 4 years, but hate walking along a gangplank, always think I'm going to fall off!

7. I can't watch scary movies.

I tag ; Daisie,

Maria

Andrea

Judith

Amanda Jolley

Pipany

Soulbrush

Here are the rules;

1 Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog

2 Share 7 random and weird facts about yourself on your blog

3 Tag 7 people at the end of the post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog

4 Let them know they've been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blog

Busman's Holiday

Hoorah! Geoff finished work on Thursday. He's driven 1224 guests on a Jeep Safari since May, with hardly a day off.

So what do we do over the weekend? Of course, we set off on practically the same route in search of some Autumn colours for my blog....

Above is Kritsa, the largest village in Crete, if you squint, you may see why it's called 'To Scorpios'

At 800 metres above sea level we leave the olive groves and wind our way up into the mountains with the Mirabella Bay in a heat haze.

We try to find the ubiquitous goat up a tree but only spy some on a rock.

They don't have too much to eat up here so spend most of their time making interesting shapes of the Holly Oaks.

There are some stunning colours as we climb further up into the country.

including remnants of fires that ravaged many parts of the island and Greece most summers.

The sight of colourful bee hives is common in the mountains when the flowers and plant life are plentiful.

They are small and portable and are moved down to lower ground when there are sufficient flowers growing.

The honey here is prized and is scented with the wild herbs, thyme, sage, dittany and pine.

The pine forests are wonderful and we can now see the mistletoe growing high in the branches, which Geoff will climb closer to Christmas, so I can use it for decoration.

As we wind our way higher and higher the silence is stunning and there's a surprise waiting around every corner......

Below us are small holdings, people growing grapes and a few vegetables.





And we still get a glimpse of the sea from time to time

A tiny church, as close to God as they can get..

Then we start seeing what we have come up here for, deciduous trees in all their glory!

Apple, pear, chestnut, walnuts

We have climbed up to Katharo, which is a plateau 1150 metres (3700ft) above sea level.

Life here is very basic and the shepherds live here with their flocks........

which are lambing now.

Also much of the fruit is grown up here.

Ripe for renovation!!!!!

Because of the barren land and lack of humans this is a marvelous place to come and look for wild flowers, there were hundreds of these crocii. Soon there will be orchids and many others popping up.

In the deep winter months there will be 2 - 3 metres on the plateau and 4 - 5 on the higher peaks

This is looking at Katharo plateau with Lazarus (2085 metres) behind.

Crete has a troubled history and has had many invaders who have left their mark on the island.

The church above has a small reminder of the German occupation during the last war, if you look carefully, you will notice the right hand bell is the nose cone of an unexploded bomb! There are 4 other churches which have bombs for bells...


p.s Katharo means 'clean' or 'pure'

Village Wine.

Well; this is the result of all our mad winemaking!
It's crystal clear and a lovely rose colour. Sadly.....!! Due to still being on antibiotics, I can't taste it... but I'll let you know. We made 18 litres.