We're home!

Monday 25th April 2016

We arrived at the port of Poros today at 11.20am. It was sunny and the sea was a sparkly blue. Unfortunately, instead of driving straight to our new home just outside of Sami, we had to drive in the opposite direction into Argostoli and pick up the house keys from the Estate Agent Vinieris before they closed at 2.30pm. I suppose we've driven over 1600 miles so another few is nothing. It's a lovely route along the south coast and brings back memories from previous holidays.We passed Katelios where we were based last year while looking for property. The view was stunning. I just had to send a photo to a work colleague back in the UK (Hello Ken!) who holidays every year in Katelios, to tell him how gorgeous Katelios was looking! How cruel am I? I think I caught him at a bad time as he had just finished a meeting.  It was a Monday morning too!
Sometimes you just have to do these things.
Vinieris were really pleased to see us. They were probably thinking - at last the mad english people with their 2 dogs and camper van have arrived. We collected the keys and we were off again to Grizata, just outside of Sami.

We've arrived - At last!

Going Home - Mark Knopfler

The house is just how we remember, but we head straight for the garden and it's looking lovely. Full  of shrubs and flowers. Lots of colour and fragrance. We love a nice garden and are looking forward to  spending time getting to know what's in it, tending to it, propagating from it (I like plants for free!) and the most important - eating and drinking in it. On a Greek island like Kefalonia, it's not about the house it's about the garden.  Even now, I'm writing this blog from the garden in glorious sun. (I'm actually in the shade as it's hot). The birds are chirping, the bees are buzzing, the goats are clanking with their bells, and the donkeys are making a racket!
The shrub that gets our attention straight away is the "Bottle Brush plant" or to give it its proper name "Callistemon". Believe it or not, it's an Australian plant but has been grown in Europe since being introduced to Kew gardens by Joseph Banks in 1789. The word Callistemon comes from two Greek words - kallistos meaning most beautiful and stemon meaning a stamen.
Being a scientist, I have used bottle brushes many times - Did someone get the idea of a bottle brush from this plant. Nature at its best again! I found a patent for a bottle brush from 1904 which was filed by an American, Lawrence J Widness.

The Bottle Brush  plant or "Callistemon"

Close up (It really is a bottle brush!)

Patent from1904 for Bottle Brush

Another thing - the bees love them. There are always swarms of them on the plants when the sun comes out until the sun goes down. The noise is amazing.
Since arriving on the island, I now know these plants are everywhere, but we hadn't seen them before so thought they were very unusual. It seems as though they have taken over from the bougainvillea. Gorgeous though.
Rocky and Bobby have made a bee-line for the garden too. You can imagine what they're doing! They are under trees, behind trees, and in hedges. It's great to think that they will love this just as much as we will. There are lots of shady places too so no worries there.
Snorky is parked out the front having a well deserved rest. He's been amazing for a 30 year old. We've had no bother with him at all. He's been up hills, down hills, through tunnels, and on ferries.

So........ now we're here.

It's time to live! Let's get going!