Homecoming on Crete

Stopped in my tracks one afternoon when the sky was That Special Blue. Ordinarily, after mid-June temperatures have risen and day time skies are paler but it was cool-ish for a while….. besides, by then I have little time to notice the sky of much apart from what’s happening workwise….in a regular year that is.

The dogs waited patiently as I marvelled at hues indescribable. All I could do was look up and soak in the sight: simple, compelling, ahhhhh. Awe quickly turned to ‘OUCH’ as I failed to look down when we resumed the walk and my big toe zealously clattered against a loose pebble. The air briefly turned a not so pleasant blue, unsympathetic dogs sniggered Muttley style. The moment passed as I noticed how smooth the pebble was, the perfect kind of pebble for painting. The kind where the brush won’t drag, no bumps or holes to disturb fine writing; I wanted that stone! It had to come home with me. Further on, pebble in hand, I wished I could take an aerial shot of the top of the fortress to show the now glorious mounds of purple thyme bushes. While dogs entertained themselves and did their sniffy dog thing, I watched bees busy going about their work, gathering the pollen that makes the distinctive flavour in Cretan Thyme honey.

 

I released the pebble back to the ground, realistically knowing, hoping anyway, that it might be a while before I can paint again…..optimistically anticipating that I’ll be as busy as those bees……

Ups and Downs in June, part 3

The car broke down. In order to collect it from the repair shop in Hania I was a passenger for a change, a highly challenging 1 ½ hours of non-stop Greek conversation which is a bit more than I can generally cope with. Just as I was feeling proud of myself for perseverance, my driver friend commented on how poor my Greek was, to which I could only agree…..in Greek. So much for self-congratulations! While he engaged me with tales of his travels across the world I figured he couldn’t do much of that without language skills so I asked him. Turned out he speaks many languages including English but that didn’t change anything, we continued as we were.

 

During a lull in the conversation, heading down towards Voukolies, where the exposed earth by the side of the road is a ceramic red, I saw something tumble down the earthy slope. It bounced off the concrete ridge (the name of that concrete ridge?) that runs along the side of the road and then landed on the ground. It was a dishevelled semi coiled snake! Don’t know the name of it. What I saw doesn’t fit anything on Google: one side (bottom or top) was dark and other a light colour. It all happened just as we drove past. If I’d been the driver I may not have seen it at all. I was intrigued though, did it slip? Do snakes accidentally slip down slopes? Or did it, as it appeared in that flash, hurl itself down only to land in such an undignified manner? I could only grunt favourable responses to my companion the rest of the way as I pondered what might have been going on in that snake’s mind…..and then went on to think……

….about a snake chatting with his mate later that same day….’seriously, I’ve no idea what the heck I was thinking, overreached for one of those crickets that I like, felt the ground go from under, and before I knew it – thumped my head on that b**** concrete wall….pretty sure I was concussed, how embarrassing….. hope no-one in that passing car didn’t see……. ‘Once in Hania I collected the car, with a now functioning clutch. It had been sitting out in the sun for days, I was almost thrown backwards by the escaping bakers’ oven heat upon opening the door and needed a few moments to deal with the situation. Once all the doors were open, I stood in the shade looking up to the White Mountains, and there were the final spots of snow, still there even when the last days of the month were particularly hot.

 

Not only did the car break down in June, we almost did! Everyone involved in working, or maybe working, in hospitality have been obliged to undergo a mandatory Covid-19 safety seminar…. all in Greek, which was not an issue for any of the others but somewhat challenging for me……. we all completed the course, passed our exams and have our diplomas to prove it. Nowadays conversations take place that one could never have predicted, like discussing a favoured style of mask, exchanging information about where they can be bought and how much they cost………oh!…and lots of excitement about when a new supply of an even better style will arrive in a Hania shop. And of course we’re still coming to grips with some of the new protocols and getting properly organised, for example – at the café, salt and pepper will be in little paper packets not shakers…there’s more but you really need to come and do the seminar….

Life is indeed producing more lemons than usual this year (even if my trees refuse to), fortunately there are unexpected bright moments I’d ordinarily have missed…and no gin required to savour them.