The onset of autumn - Keep calm and eat cake!

Winter is approaching and the weather has changed. In October we still had some lovely sunny days (average about 22 degrees) but now interspersed with thunderstorms and the accompanying rain.
We are so used to waking up to blue skies and sunny days, day after day, that we really miss it when it's cloudy and it rains.

The Bangles - Hazy shade of winter

Most of the tourist peeps have left the island. Sami harbour is devoid of yachts, only the traditional fishing boats remain. It's quiet.

Sami and Karavomylos in October

Sami harbour

Sami harbour front

Sami on the left with Karavomylos on the right

Sami beach

Karavomylos beach- Rocks and Bobs waiting for the pine cone to be thrown

Most of the tavernas/cafes have closed or are about to close and those open are virtually empty and now just catering for the locals. The views from these tavernas are amazing! In both of these photos you can see the island of Ithaca on the right in the distance, and the village of Agia Effimia on Kefalonia on the left.

We've never actually been down to Myrtos beach, only seen it from a height. This is the famous beach that was used as one of the locations in the film Captain Corelli's Mandolin (the mine explosion), and one of the most photographed in Greece, so as it was quiet we decided to pay the beach a visit.  It's only about 30 minutes from where we live. It was pretty much deserted.

Mark at Myrtos beach

It's October and we still have loads of plants still flowering in the garden. 

Our Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia) is in full plumage

The Brugmansia has its 

second show of huge trumpet flowers. They must be about 12 inches long!

Some insects are still around but at least the wasps have gone.

Praying Mantis on the patio wall

We've seen a couple of Kingfishers a few times now on our dog walks, but each time we saw one we didn't have our cameras on us. Typical! I did however eventually catch it, perched on the jetty at Karavomylos.
Motto - Always carry a camera!

On our way to Agia Effimia one day to do some snorkelling, we saw a school of dolphins in Sami bay. Photo not the greatest as it was on full zoom, but it was all I could do to capture them before they swam off,

We've encountered some lovely local people who have given us cake. A lady on the beach who paints pebbles gave us a Madeira type cake one morning. That went down well for breakfast!
A lovely older couple in our village stopped us in our camper van and gave us a tray of orange cake. That also went down well..... for breakfast, lunch and after dinner. They have also given us jars of homemade marmalade and Ravani cake in the past. Mmmm.....
You would think a tray of cake would last a while but no, gone in a couple of days. You can't take the risk of it going dry now can you?
So, now we've lost weight with all the snorkelling and dog walking, we've put it back on with all the yummy cake! You can't say no though -that would be very rude! May it continue.....



Talking of cake, we have also paid some regular visits to the local bakery in Karavomylos (Spathis bakery). In fact, every morning on our dog walk we call in and buy a couple of.....no not cakes.....cereal bars! Home made ones at that. I love them. In fact more than the cakes they sell which are out of this world. The man knows me now and as soon as I walk in, he knows my order. I mentioned these cereal bars to a friend who lives across the road from the bakery and she can't quite grasp how I can like a cereal bar above a cake. I think she said they were like something you would find at the bottom of a budgie cage. There's something about them though.
Unfortunately, last week when I went in to get my cereal bars he told me that they were closing - for the winter! Nooooooo!!!!! So instead of one cereal bar each, I bought two each just to tide us over. For a split second I almost thought of buying the whole cereal bar display - let's face it what are they going to do with them if they're closing? (I almost said that to him as well!). He did say that the bakery in Sami (the same chain) did stay open all winter. Phew! So now our dog walk has changed slightly to accommodate cereal bars in Sami. I say slightly - it's completely the opposite direction!

Keep calm and eat cake!

Mission Impossible!

A weird thing happened to us while walking Rocky and Bobby a few days ago.
Mark and I had just crossed a road and were walking along it when a van drove past us. I was aware the van slowed down as he did so. We kept walking but I instantly knew he was going to turn around and stop. So he pulls over and jumps out of the van and starts running towards us. Now in the UK at this point I would have been worried, even frantic, but here in Kefalonia I'm just very curious. What on earth does he want?
At this point we have stopped walking , and as soon as he reaches us, he starts jabbering in Greek. Well of course we have no idea what he is saying. He points at Bobby, our Jack Russell. I try to tell him we don't speak Greek but he just keeps talking. He then runs back to his van. As I watch him, Mark and I exchange glances as if to say "What on earth does he want?"
As I look back at his van, I catch a glimpse of a Jack Russell in the front seat. He returns with his Jack Russell in his arms, a bitch, and I think he's just happy to see another of the same breed. It's not like there are a lot of them on the island, or at least I haven't seen many owned by Greeks. We get caught up in the.... "Ah she's lovely" but he still keeps jabbering.
The next thing he does is turn his Jack Russell around and puts its bottom in our face and then points at Bobby! OK..... we get the picture now.......
We start laughing and I make the scissor hand movement to tell him Bobby doesn't have the equipment any more and it would be..........Mission Impossible!

Mission Impossible by The Piano Guys

Straight away he knows what we mean, says OK, waves goodbye to us and jumps in his van and he's off.
Shame really.....they would have been lovely puppies! Bobby, meanwhile, has been completely oblivious to all of the shenanigans and is unaware he could have had a good time if only the vet hadn't taken away his "dog" hood.

Bobby completely oblivious to it all!

September has come and gone. How time flies. All of our visitors have left. It was great to see them all.

Our son Tom and his girlfriend Lauren at Agia Effimia

Tony and Marie at home

Betsy and Steve at Agia Paraskevi (Exile)

My brother Barry and sister-in-law Vicky at the Bavarian Horse Riding Stables

Add caption

Michael and Viv at Antisamos.

We had good times with all of them. Here's one story......

We were in Exile on a beach (Agia Paraskevi) between Sami and Agia Effimia with friends Betsy and Steve.

Betsy, me, Mark and Steve

All four of us were in the water when there was a shriek from Mark. He'd been stung by a wasp. Wasps are notorious in Kefalonia and they will pester you even in the sea. When Mark was stung his glasses fell into the sea. These were his proper glasses not sunglasses, so straight away I dived down to see if I could get them, but it's virtually impossible to dive in the Mediterranean as you are so buoyant. There was a lot of splashing going on as I came up empty handed. Mark had left the water to concentrate on his finger which was ballooning with the sting.
At this point Steve said he would dive down and gave me his cap and sunglasses to hold and told me not to get them wet. He dived down.
I'm not sure exactly why I did what I did next - I can only assume it was all the commotion, but I dived down again after Steve. Steve came up empty handed and so did I. Again a lot of thrashing about in the water as we desperately tried to dive.
Steve then looked at me and said "Sharon - I gave you one job to do"........ I had dived under the water with his new cap and sunglasses in my hand!
Well at this point Steve, Betsy and myself fell about laughing, almost hysterical and we still didn't have Mark's glasses. Mark was nowhere in sight either. I'm sure people on the beach must have thought we were being attacked by a shark by the thrashing about and noise we were making! Still - it all came good in the end. We found Mark's glasses, Steve's hat and sunglasses dried out, and Mark's finger healed too. It's all good.

Agia Paraskevi (Steve and Betsy in the water)

Well, it's October now and we've been here almost 6 months. The tourists have all but gone and Sami has wound down. The roads are quiet, hotels closed and our dog walks in the morning and afternoon are just about devoid of any people. It's great! We have the coves to ourselves and the weather is beautiful - cool in the mornings and at night but a lovely 24 degrees and sunny during the day. We had a visit to Antisamos beach on 8th October and it was just gorgeous. Hardly any peeps there. We walked right to the far end and found a lovely deserted cove.

Cove at Antisamos beach

Having said that about the weather, we had a cracking thunderstorm (literally) the other night, a sign of winter around the corner. The lights went off on the whole island and it sunk into complete darkness for about 30 minutes. Eerie.
I've always wanted a wood burner. We have one in the villa and we've just recently sourced one ton of olive wood to burn on it. Hopefully this will see us through the winter. We just need to source the oil for the central heating and to heat the water as the solar panel will no doubt not be enough in the winter.

Wood stash!

We've also got a few tea light lamps for the fireplace which we have constructed with glass jars, shells, pebbles, stones, and urchins - the result of lots of beachcombing on the dog walks.

Wood burner lit for the first time.

We should be picking the rug up from Argostoli shortly, which will go nicely in front of the fire so it will start to look more homely.

We have an idea what to expect in winter but this will be our first - I think we're prepared!