JULY
WEATHER ...
After the mini heat wave at the end of June, July started unsettled and
windy. Things warmed up later in the month and everyone was sizzling as we
went into August. See more info below:
Latest
Crete Weather Link.
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Our
bird's eye view of a sparrows' nest
Birdhouse2.jpg
Copyright Richard@cretanvista
Astratigos
Village Life...
Is having to continue this month without Wilf and Pam, who have popped
back to the UK for a spot of R&R and babysitting. Meanwhile, Ann and
Richard are in control (and we use the term loosely...) and no doubt wreaking
all kinds of havoc. Sorry, Wilf - it has become "Homes and Gardens"
- read on....
Homes
and Gardens
We
have been watching with some interest for the last few months as a new stone
house has been going up in our village. The craftsmanship on it is
superb, and all the individual stones have been cut to size on site, hewn out
of enormous boulders. Unfortunately now it is nearing completion we can see
that its internal design leaves something to be desired. But everyone in the village has been horrified to see that there is
to be a swimming pool in the garden. Now it’s not that we are spoil sports,
it’s just that every summer we have a water shortage and some days, unless
you have a storage tank, you don’t get any water at all. It will be
interesting to see if this motivates anyone to contact the town hall about the
ongoing situation. Wouldn’t put money on it……
The other new house
currently under construction in the village (started some eighteen months ago
and still not finished) looks a complete mess. We believe the builder has some
financial difficulties and has left the site strewn with rubble, broken
bricks, wire and the usual debris. However, hope still springs eternal, and he
continues to bring prospective purchasers up to see it. First they have to
leap the four foot gap between the road and the front door, then they have to
envisage what it might be like with a roof, doors and windows. Any prospective
purchasers will almost certainly NOT be told that the gully which runs to
the side of the house takes all the storm water from the village, and when it
rains it gushes along the side wall of the house like the
Nile
in flood!
We have been labouring hard
in our garden this summer, trying to make what little water we have go round
between our new plants and all the hundreds of seedlings we grew in the
spring. When we hear the water tank on our roof filling we know that we have
good pressure, and we rush around with the hose giving everything a quick
drink, then fill as many buckets and watering cans as possible before the
pressure disappears again. We now have a gate across our drive to keep
marauding animals out, and we are careful to close this every night as we seem
to have the only patch of green in the area. The local sheep are so hungry
that they break out of their enclosures given half a chance, and our garden
must be a sore temptation for them. The local shepherd is very good and when he is
grazing his animals on an adjacent patch, he and his two dogs stand guard
along our boundary to make sure none of the climbers along the fences get
munched!
We
had hoped to be able to
include here a photograph of the young sparrows which have been raised in a
very untidy nest between one of our windows and its shutter (see picture
above). As we monitored
the building of the nest (the female did all the work, the male just sat and issued
instructions), the egg laying, incubation and hatching, we thought it was the
least the parents could do to fledge the youngsters at a time when we might be
watching. However, after three days of urging from the parents (chicks huddled
in the nest refusing to get out because of high winds), they all must have
flown together very early the first morning it was calm enough. Unfortunately
it was much too
early for us to be in our grandstand seats!
We
have been doing a bit of house-building ourselves this month: we were doing nothing very much one warm evening when our doorbell rang.
Three of the local children were on our doorstep. They explained that
they were making a ‘spitaki’ – a little house – and wondered if we
would help them. We agreed to go round the following afternoon and, once we
had been welcomed by the grandparents and eaten our way through a mound of
cheese pies, we were led off into the undergrowth.
Sure enough, at the base of an ancient lemon tree, was
their ‘spitaki’. It was made from pallets and pieces of wood, and covered
with plastic sheeting and palm fronds. There was also a huge pile of scrap
wood to the side, along with a pot of nails, a few pieces of wire and a couple
of hammers.
Our task – should we choose to accept it – was to enlarge their den as
much as possible, using only the available materials. We assumed that as two
of the three youngsters were girls and the other a boy, that another room was
becoming necessary, so we rolled up our sleeves and set to.
The major problem was our discovery that the nails
were of poor quality and not as hard as the wood they were meant to knock
into! However, with a combination of nails, wire and string – which we had
to provide – we managed to cobble/lash/knock together something which
resembled a small additional room. The children all stood around happily
watching, trying to anticipate our needs and cutting up string. They soon
decided that our structure was unlikely to be rain-proof, and would need more
plastic sheeting, but they seemed very pleased with our efforts.
As
long as the lemon tree is not
blown away in the next gales, the den should stand for a while. Richard and I
felt a bit like Robinson Crusoe – but
relished the challenge. We were a bit puzzled as to why we had been chosen to assist, but think it could be that all the other adults in the village had
already been asked and refused. Or it may just be that they realized how
practical Richard is and thought he would be the ideal chap for the job!
