Hallowe`en Surprises

 Well here we are nearly at the end of October. The pumpkins are harvested and there are half term plans to make pumpkin lanterns tomorrow with my nephews.

This year, these are too precious for lanterns.

The clocks have gone back, so evenings are darker by 5. Gardening days are shorter. There is still so much to do.

The sunshine was glorious today. We had our teabreak sitting outside with a butterfly flitting round.

 (Sorry its not quite in focus.)

The Red Admiral was enjoying the late-flowering bidens.

Paula and I took a flower bed each and cut back as much as we could. Mainly Michaelmus daisy. This is not the end of the story as we will have to dig them over and thin things out as well. Three more beds to go.

Amongst the growth were all the fallen apples. I managed to save a few decent drops for a crumble tomorrow.

 

Steve emptied the third compost heap. One still to go. 

The polytunnel is nearly ready for winter with broad beans planted and all the fairy things in one place. We still need to sort through all the canes and stakes.

 

I pulled up the last sunflowers, the tithonia and cut back some helianthus. Everything went into the new dead hedge.

(more about this another time) 

Here are the surprises. 

(Sorry my focus has not been good today.)

Cornflowers.

Statice

Helichrysum

Mallow

Calendula at full bloom.

I even had to strim all the edges as the grass is still growing.

And the guinea pigs loved the sunshine. They have been enjoying the fallen apples as well.

 

 

 

Dahlia Days

 

Oh how quickly October is passing by. Leaves falling. Geese flying over. Toadstools bursting forth. 

No frosts so far so the dahlias are still at fullblown glory. 

 

 Yesterday morning I had to push aside all the vases to have enough room to sit and eat breakfast.

I had to pick this double head of Penhill Watermelon as the stems were not strong enough to hold the heads.

The main jobs yesterday were digging out the third compost heap (Steve) and beginning the clearing of the barn path (me). I had a bit of help from Poppy and Alfie (Anne and Tim`s grandchildren) and we had lots of conversation about the different weeds and plants we were finding.

Anne`s dahlias have really taken their time with flowering this year. Its very strange because we have done nothing different,
 

 

The gnomes are drying off in the polytunnel.

 

And so are the scarecrows.

 

Nicotiania sylvestris is still flowering profusely.

 

I think this is a mushroom, also in the polytunnel, not that I would take a chance. It is almost perfect.

 

And here is the days harvest .... all quite yummy and all now consumed
 

 

Tumbledown Village

On our long walk to Dafnoudi Beach on the island of Keffalonia, we passed by a derelict village. It was a fascinating area. On making enquiries at the Old Stone House restaurant later, we discovered that this part of Antipata village was destroyed by the 1953 earthquake. It measured 6.8 on the magnitude scale, killed 600 people and raised parts of the island by 60 cm. The majority of people emigrated away from Greece. Those who remained rebuilt their homes.

Most of the buildings here are shells with roofs caved in but it is possible to see inside through gaping doors and windows.

It is easy to imagine the lives that were lived here.

On our last day we decided to walk there again and this time we walked amongst the buildings along rubble filled paths trying to surmise what they might have been used for.

For instance, was this circle of stone anything to do with olive pressing? There were many olive trees all around us.

 

Was this a bread oven?

 

 

And what could this strange shaped window have been?

We had more questions than answers.

But one building stood out ... an ornate frontage with a tiny metal balcony, the doors of which still had glass.
 

Later we found out that during WW2, the German commandant in the area, used this building as his living quarters and after that no-one wanted to live there.

The wide steps into this property were blocked by overhanging, dense shrubbery. But we couldn`t help wondering who had once walked up and down those steps.

Indeed who else had marched up and down the road we stood on, at that particular time.

 

There was a poignancy to our visit, imagining the devastation to lives and buildings in the wake of the earthquake and also WW2. The stones themselves, covered in extensive lichens, showing the passing of time.

 

 

Absolutely fascinating.

 

Turquoise Water and Mountain Views

Our Greek Island holiday was a bit of a mixed bag, weatherwise. We went to Keffalonia (which has various spellings) It is one of the Ionian group. We have been several times and we love it.

Our villa, in the village of Antipata, was lovely. There were views across green wooded areas to the sea.

On our first day it rained .... all day. It was a bit of a shock seeing as we were quite cold as well. Luckily Paula had suggested that we took more warm clothes. I am so glad we did. And we were stocked up on our favourite food.

 

We had a large covered area so we could still sit outside on the sofa set even when it was raining.

We had rainbows.

 

The following three days were just brilliant thank goodness.

We did a very long walk to Dafnoudi Beach ... a path leading down through a rocky wooded valley, opening out onto a rather stony beach. Glad to have had our swim shoes. The water was delightful. 

We had lunch in the Old Stone House which was the only restaurant in the tiny village but my goodness the food was good. 

I would go so far as to say, the best moussaka I`ve ever had. As you can see I did cut it in half but the whole lot was consumed ..... with relish.

It was a very busy place with people in and out all the time. This proved difficult on rainy days as everyone was squeezed inside.

I highly recommend this place. It is not far from Fiskardo which I understand is very expensive. We got a bit of a taster when we treated ourselves to three cakes here. The price ..... 9 euros (£8.50) I did not even enjoy mine!!

 

But it was a beautiful town .....  tiny clothes shops, souvenir shops, blue cushioned seating in quayside restaurants, moored yachts, flower-decked steps, walls of plant pots, bougainvillea spilling everywhere.

We visited Emblissi Beach on the way home. This location was stunning.
 

Turquoise water, smaller pebbles, quiet, mountain views.

Swimming here is going to be a treasured memory, floating around with the distant peaks topped by cotton wool clouds.

We had another day of rain where we were literally wrapped in blankets, having to sit indoors and turning on the air conditioning to heat .... unheard of.

But we need to remember that the Keffalonians have not seen rain for 5 long months so it was very welcome for them, if not for tourists.

 More next time.

Whipping Round the Walnuts

 Well we didn`t exactly whip round. For a start the lane was closed to traffic yet again so we decided to walk to the walnut field armed with nothing but garden gloves and carrier bags. 

Last evening Anne invited us to pick walnuts with her. So we set off in glorious autumn sunshine taking a short cut through the woods.

This year is a "mast year" which means a plethora of fruit, nuts and berries. The woodland paths are lined with acorns so much so, we were having to watch our step. Bit like walking on marbles.

 

The fungi is also going to be good this year.

 

We found Anne with the two dogs sitting in the sunshine near a walnut tree. There are about 40 trees here and we were harvesting before the squirrels got to them.

 

We chose to pick those with cracks or that had already burst open. We have never picked walnuts before so it was all new to us but I did know that the cases can stain your hands.

 

The walnut itself is encased in a green husk and on maturing, this splits open to reveal the hard inner shell. The shell encases the edible kernel.

We worked steadily round the trees gradually filling our bags.

 

In the past I should imagine walnuts would have been a very valuable food source for winter as they are already " preserved" in a shell, though protection from vermin would have been needed.

We filled our bags and made our way through the woods to the camping field where Anne carried on to the farm and we walked on home.

 

 At home we took off the last of the green husks, washed them and left them in open trays to dry off and mature in Steve`s greenhouse.

 

What a delightful way to spend our morning.