Nature's glories

19 - 27 March 2017

When we're not in the boatyard, we are mulching tree offcuts to protect our soil.  Interesting things happen when you're out and about:

A wierd, alien-like preying mantis - one of my favourite things!

 Our mulching station, in action: the big generator is needed to power the mulcher, but it will take branches up to 40cms

 A first for both Dave and I: early morning fog between us and Skorpios island

 Hurrah - we haven't killed the wavy-leaved monkey orchid over the winter - here it is again

 A beautiful day at Passa Beach, our favourite swimming hole - if a little too chilly just yet!

Lefkogaia Recycling Initiative

18 March 2017

We have become involved with Lefkogaia, a local recycling initiative that hopes to become financially viable by collecting and selling recycling materials, as the current council-operated scheme is failing to work.  The driving force is Elena, who is passionate about protecting the environment.

Elena addresses a collection of interested people at the warehouse in Lefkas town. 

Dave's Birthday

17 March 2017

Money being on the tight side, we invested in some tomato plants as Dave's birthday present, and then went for a walk along the north coast of Lefkas, on Milos Beach. 

 It was all very beautiful, and bracing, and surprisingly full of rock pools, with some tiny crabs and limpets.  We think the council tip a load of shingle over the water's edge to give people easier access to the sea in the summer, but this hadn't been done yet, which made for a much more interesting stretch of coastline.

The evening was St Patrick's night at the Yacht Club, where Dave did a guest spot with Mark and we all had a fun evening

Radical Prune

15 March 2017

The olive grove we drive through and park in to get to the house was having a major haircut by a couple of men who clearly knew their way round a chainsaw and how to prune olive trees, so we asked them to come and do ours next.  We struck a deal and our trees got their radical prune too.

The trees are now surrounded by offcuts, which are excellent for the mulcher, as the wood is much softer than the seasoned branches we've been giving it.  But there is a lot of it, much of it dropped willy-nilly on my plantings and the wild asparagus I've been nurturing.  I also asked the neighbour if he wanted his offcuts and he said he didn't, so we said we'd collect them - his field is two acres, and must have 30 trees - there's a big job to do there.  Also, the neighbour down the slope to the east of us turned up a few days ago, with a digger to clear his patch for planting more olive trees, and he uprooted an enormous cypress, which he also said we could have, so that's another big cutting and moving job.  Lots of tree work in the near future.

The show

11 March 2017

Lots of our friends have been involved in putting together a musical show to raise money for local charities.  We have been just too busy to take part, but we went along to support them.

From left: Jessica, Gill, Sue, Lilias and Sarah, with Julie in the wings.  A fabulous tableau at the start of 'He had it coming' from 'Chicago'.  Years ago, when I played Snow White, Sarah was my smallest, cutest dwarf.  She's all grown up now.

Boat Progress

13 March 2017

We're gradually chipping away at the jobs needing doing on the boat.  We had hoped that we'd only have to spend February in the boatyard, but that hasn't been the case, and all March is looking likely now too.

A few milestones:

 Painting depth markers on the anchor chain - always looks very pretty!

 All the bilges were exposed, while Dave sanded and re-varnished the floor boards, so I scrubbed them.  The boat has never been so clean!

 And the refurbished floor boards, reinstalled and gleaming.

The deck, scrubbed and also gleaming.  

It's bound to rain Saharan dust now, and re-stain it all red

Strange colours

9 March 2017

One day I spotted a cluster of green leaf spikes on the way to the compost bin, the next day, these crazy black iris had popped out.

 They're called snake head iris.

This is an unfiltered shot of one of the wildly colourful sunsets we've been having

Good therapy

3 March 2017

Our friend Liana, a reflexology, shiatsu and acupuncture practitioner, has been calling round to sort us out.  It is wonderful!

New batteries

2 March 2017

February was a difficult month electrically.  Since the four batteries that were fried by a faulty or lightning-struck regulator were taken out of the system last year, we have been staggering along on the remaining set of four - now six years old.  Dave was nursing them carefully, and swapping them around to try to maximise their capacities, but even so, we were running the generator to charge them up to twice a day, and even then, we might wake in the morning with no power in the system.

So, we scrabbled around for some money, and bought four new Trojan T105RE - the 'RE' stands for Renewable Energy, and they've been specially designed for solar systems.  The blurb says they'll last 10-12 years.  We were hoping to hold out for a lithium ion system, but in the end we couldn't wait and had to go with these, at 900 euros for four, from a Greek company that delivered to Lefkas town. (BatteryPark.gr)

 The final configuration of the old sets, evicted for recycling

The new set, installed and buzzing!

Garden works

1 March 2017

We've been having a little flurry of work in the garden.  We tend to go to the boatyard in the morning, then come home for a late lunch and potter round the garden in the afternoon.

 The buckwheat I planted to improve the soil where we don't have mulch is growing quite well.  It's a very pretty plant, with a red stem and later, small white flowers.

 

 This is an experiment in planting a few sprouted lentils that were left over in the bottom of the sprouting jar.  I tipped them out on a bare patch and they started growing.  Lentils are a speciality from Eglouvi, one of the local villages, so they are indigenous and may crop.

 Here are our six raised beds, four of which have been newly mulched, and are planted with potatoes, tomatoes, and peas.

 The kale is still producing little leaves, that are nice in salad, but the few remaining plants are trying to go to seed.  We'll be able to collect the seed and use it for next winter's sowing.

I've finished the olive tree bench.  It is level, despite how it looks, and will be a shady space to sit in the summer

 

 Dave is working on sanding and varnishing the floor boards from the boat

Then in the evening we went up to Neohori village to practice the song I want to sing with the band, at Dmitri's house.  We couldn't find the house, so I rang Dmitri, and he said, 'follow the geese', so we did.  And found the house.