Smell the roses

The update today has a more philosophical lean to it than has been common recently, mainly because I have kept forgetting to put this in however that has worked out for the best as this week I have dealt with the problem so I can talk about it positively rather than just complaining.

A day out

I've spent the last couple of weeks feeling progressively more and more frustrated and not really knowing why. I live in paradise, we have a wonderful life and don't have to do much that we don't want to. We obviously both work but not a full week (I do four days, A only does three) and I am lucky in that my work is quite flexible to heading outside for fresh air is generally possible whenever I feel like it. The thing is it hasn't even just been when I'm doing my paid work but has bled into other times. It hasn't been helped by the fact that work HAS been quite stressful recently and it was easy for me to conflate the two however I was pretty sure that wasn't the case.

On Monday I had to leg it into town to ekont to pick up the tomato masher thing I had bought to make processing blanched tomatoes easier and on the way back up I suddenly realised what was wrong; the only time we go to explore the beautiful place that we live is when we have visitors and it was ages since the last time myself and A had jumped in the car and driven around and explored and I was frustrated because by working so hard (both paid work and then, on days off, work around the property) I was once again living a deferred life and I had promised myself that I would not do this any more. Of course you have to invest for future pleasure but why do only that; why not take some pleasure now? My decision was made and I told A when I got back that I really wanted to go for a bit of a drive around straight away. She had just been given a file however shortly afterwards it was taken off her and so we were able to head out. This was the best decision I've made for a while.

Me with the puppies

One of the corner trees in the garden

The enclosed garden with the war memorial

We gathered the puppies together, jumped into Thomas, and headed out onto the road. I had a rough idea of a destination but really what I was hoping for was a serendipity time where we explored and stopped wherever the urge took us. I was still feeling nervous, wondering if this was the solution, but as we drove it was very quickly apparent that this was exactly what I needed, and A was really loving it as well. She spotted a signpost to a monument and suggested we go check it out and so off we headed, up the side road, until we saw it and got out. It was a lovely little memorial garden to Turkish wardead with tree and flowers and a cenotaph in the middle. It was so peaceful there and we spent a few minutes walking around and breathing deeply and when we left I felt 100% better.

Bridge porn, just for my dad

Louise scampering up from the stream

My favourite girls walking on ahead

Interesting rock formation

Shadow people

We had only driven a few minutes from the main road to this place so we decided to head back and continue towards my putative destination. Not much further along we started noticing some amazing stone features in the landscape all along the side of the road. It was spotting a lovely old bridge down a ravine that prompted me to pull over and stop, so I could get pictures of it for my dad. It was the perfect place for a quick walk , though, so after running back and snapping a picture of the bridge I joined A and the puppies on a short stroll up towards one of the stone shapes. As you can see from the photographs the weather was just glorious and while it is a little cooler now the sun was very warm and it was magical to be out there.

Sat on top of another rock formation

A much needed relax

Chasing each other across the rock

Glorious views across the valley

Two angles of puppies spotting cows

Detail of the lichen on the rock

"Stop taking pictures of me!"

Just up the path was another rock and this one we could reach and climb on. I went ahead with the puppies for the photo opportunity and then A joined me and we climbed over it, looked at the views, smiled and laughed and relaxed, and talked about why we were out and how good it was to be out again. The excellent weather we are having at the moment opens the opportunity up for us to explore like this, even though it was the end of November. To be sat in a t shirt with the sun beating down at this time of year and be in such a beautiful place; we're lucky people.

The sign that caught our eye from the road

Looking further up into the rock field

Exploring further on

After a lovely peaceful time spent there we jumped back into the car and headed on down the road but we didn't get far before another rock formation, this time with a notice on it, attracted our attention. At first I just jumped out of the car to take a picture of the sign but it said that there were rock pools ahead so I shouted to A to come along, she locked Thomas up, and we went exploring again. This was a far more extensive area of rock shapes than where we had stopped before and we spent a fair amount of time climbing around them.

A cave up one of the cliffs

We climbed into the cave

A coming back from Thomas

Clearly visible up one of the cliffs was a cave that it looked like you could climb up to. I scrambled up quickly and very easily reached the cave but the final ramp to the rock above was just too off camber for me to want to risk. I'm sure I could have done it but my mind wasn't willing. After spending a little while sat in there we decided to continue a bit further away from the road but we had left the window down on Thomas so A ran back to sort that out while I went on. I climbed around a bit looking for the rock pools and had worked out where they were when A got back.

Puppies splashing through the rock pools

Climbing down to the lower ledge

A wishing rock pool; never seen one before

So many rock formations

Louise rushing from one smell to another

What's down here?

Everything is exciting for them

Can you spot the frog in the pond?

It didn't take long to get up to where we'd seen, earlier, a ladder leading down to a ledge and just by where this was there were the rock pools as advertised. One of them in particular was being used as a kind of "wishing rock pool" and there was money in it, someone's pendant and randomly the leg from a crab. I climbed down onto the ledge to check it out and we spent some time strolling around and letting the puppies stretch their legs and sniff everything they could get their noses near. As we headed back down towards the car to carry on our exploration we walked past a pool with some small frogs in it, hopping out of the way as we approached. Can you spot it?

Looking back the way we went

Thelma having an inconvenient snooze

From here we drove down the road until we reached the random destination I had picked out, the old border crossing town near Greece. The currently ubiquitous new road building slowed us down some and, after stopping in town so A could hop out and get us a drink, we headed back home again stopping only so the puppies could go to the toilet as they were a bit unsettled. When we got back we were tired (or at least I was) but so happy to have gone out. We have worked out our next target for a day trip though when this will be we leave to serendipity.

Food

Other than that lovely trip out we haven't really done much this week; it has been a week of paid work and not much else. I've got a few more pictures and updates for your before I sign off though so here goes.

Traditional Sunday curry

Thelma drags Louise by her neck

First of all when I left you last time on Sunday I was waiting for our guest to arrive for dinner. A had cooked an absolutely amazing curry which we all enjoyed. It was a lovely evening and so good to see S (of SandS fame as th'other S had gone on a trip somewhere) and to treat him to food so he wasn't having to eat alone the whole week. He stayed a bit afterwards and we sat and chatted, stared at the fire, watched the puppies fighting (and I FINALLY got the picture of Thelma dragging Louise by the neck), talked about Christmas and other things and then he headed off to get back home. Hopefully it won't be long before we see them again.

Relaxing with a beer in our favourite restaurant

Stunningly flavoursome Lamb Kavarma

When we got back from our trip out I told A that I was also taking her out for a meal that night so we got ourselves ready and headed down to our favourite restaurant quite early in the evening. We didn't rush our orders in but relaxed and enjoyed ourselves but when the food came it was superb again. I ordered my favourite dish (Lamb Kavarma) and it was out of this world with it's richness of flavour. Just as we finished eating the normal musicians came in and we got a wave from them both. We sat drinking our beer and relaxing and were glad that we did as the first song they played was introduced, in English, to us. I got the camera our and shot a quick video for you. It's amazing to be so welcomed here. Lovely people.

More of the sky

It is a recurring theme on this blog, the pictures of the sky. This is because it is a recurring theme of my life to see the sky and go "wow" and want to take pictures of it. There were a few occasions so far this week to indulge this passion and here I share them with you.

Before the moon rose

Stars above the local town

First of all we go back to last Sunday after S had left. We were watching Sopranos when A headed onto the balcony and I joined her and as I was out there I saw the faintest glimmer above the mountains opposite. Keen to miss nothing I ran and got the tripod, camera, and various lenses and I spent the next twenty minutes or so stood on ice cold tiles bare foot playing with exposure settings and ISOs to get the best shot. I'm not incredibly pleased with the outcome as the pictures I took when the moon finally appeared, looking huge and amazing, didn't come out at all however these two, one of the glow when I first started snapping and the second a thirty second exposure of the stars above the town below, are lovely.

Amazingly clear evening sky

After we got back from our trip out, but before dinner, I headed onto the roof terrace to get pictures of the gorgeous clear evening we were enjoying. Since we have finally started getting some rain the air has cleared up dramatically and the distant mountains, many miles away, are so sharp it feels like you could reach out and touch them. Every morning I've been on the balcony looking that way and marveling at this clarity. The camera really doesn't do it justice.

A super firey sunrise on Tuesday morning

Yesterday wasn't a great day for me. I woke up with a headache which lingered all day and turned into the edges of a migraine. In the morning I was  kindly let to have a lie in by A who was up and about early. She was able to get onto the balcony to get this picture of the sunrise and then came to tell me so I also went out but my pictures didn't come out as well as this one. I think if any shepherds saw this they could not help but take it as a warning!

Other stuff

So it has, as I say, been a first half of the week dominated by one day and, other than that, we've really not done very much. Because of my headache yesterday I didn't get out to do anything around the house and obviously on Monday we were out so nothing could be done.

It stayed lit all night

First of all is a very simple picture that was quite exciting for me personally to get. At the moment we are making absolutely no effort to retain fires from one day to the next, simply because we do not need to. The temperatures are dropping, finally, but with the sun out it is still warm enough in Room 13, once the chill of the morning is dispelled by an hour or so of petchka, to just let it go out. We are still using the living room every evening but the fire can be lit in there just before we go to eat and it warms up so fast that is fine. On Tuesday morning, however, when I went to sweep out the grate in the living room I found a large ember glowing brightly which smoked as I carried it to Room 13 to use to light the fire in there. It didn't work totally well however this is the first time a fire had gone all through the night by being banked down when we went to bed.

Newly laid stones at the top of the drive

The old stones are bedding in well

Today was another working day however, without the headache, I was able to go out at lunch time to shovel some more stones off the orchard. I took several wheelbarrows full down onto the drive and spread them around. My concerns about putting large rocks on there have been alleviated now we've driven up and down the previously laid rocks a few times. They are breaking apart and bedding in and providing the secure base that we were hoping for quite well.

So, there it is. A is dishing up a fantastic Pork with Mushroom Sauce, peas and mashed potato as I type this, the fire is lit in the living room and Mozart is queued up on the record player. Cheers.