Have you heard of the saying.....
"When life gives you lemons........make lemonade"
It's a phrase used to encourage positive attitude in the face of misfortune. Lemons (which are sour) represent difficulty in life, while lemonade (which is sweet) represents goodness.
In other words turn a negative into a positive! More about that later.
Well it's January 2018 and the island is full of lemon bearing trees. The trees are packed with them but the fruit tends to just drop to the ground and left to rot. I don't like waste..... so I've made it my job to research uses of lemons. I can't save all the lemons on the island, but at least this way we get to use our own.
With the photo below, Ive used an App called "ColorStrokes" to turn the whole image into B&W and then recoloured all the lemons (their original colour though), so you can see them a bit clearer. Really, I'm just mucking about but it's very enjoyable and therapeutic!
A perfect lemon tree not far from us.
Took me about 20 minutes to find all the lemons! No doubt I've missed some!
I say a perfect lemon tree because it's a lovely shaped tree and the fruit is all yellow, the same size and lemon shaped. Believe me, not all lemons are lemon shaped!
Our lemons just beginning to grow last year.
....and the ColorStrokes one.
The smell from the blossom is gorgeous - a bit like magnolia
....and the ColorStrokes one.
We arrived back from the UK after spending four weeks there for christmas with our son and his girlfriend and catching up with family and friends. It was lovely to see everyone, but it's good to be back to the tranquil life here on Kefalonia. No hustle and bustle in shops and no traffic jams. In fact where is everyone?
There were some lovely blue sky days to greet us when we got back, and there was a huge general cargo ship, the Nordic, originally harboured in Sami which was delivering wind turbines to the mountains up behind Agia Effimia. It later moved into Sami bay.
The Nordic in Sami Bay (Agia Effimia to the left in the distance)
....and the ColorStrokes one.
The wind turbine blades on the dock in Sami.
You can just see the wind turbine blades on the dock in the distance.
The 18th January 2018 was one wild day! Lovely blue sky but so windy. I've never seen the sea so rough.
In the photo below you can also see the wind turbines along the mountain top.
The wind turbine blades on the dock in Sami, being battered by the sea.
The boats in the marina were being showered by the sea.
Promenade at Sami beach
The sea has taken away all the pebbles from Sami beach. Sandy beach now!
Karavomylos harbour - Mark and Bobby checking that our little boat was OK.
No that's not our boat!
....and the ColorStrokes one.
Thumbs up - everything OK!
....and the ColorStrokes one.
Thumbs up - everything OK!
Even Rocky didn't venture into the water that day!
A video is always better than a photo!
The 22nd January 2018 was another wild day.
The Ionian Pelagos ferry leaving Sami harbour
....and the ColorStrokes one.
Really wild sea outside Sami harbour!
....and the ColorStrokes one.
Cargo ship (with wind turbine), ferry approaching Sami harbour and fishing vessel.
Really wild sea outside Sami harbour!
....and the ColorStrokes one.
Cargo ship (with wind turbine), ferry approaching Sami harbour and fishing vessel.
....and the ColorStrokes one.
The 24th January was gorgeous. Blue skies, quite cool but you could feel the heat of the sun. We decided to go up into the mountains behind Agia Effimia to see where the wind turbines were. We thought the view from up there would be great as there were no clouds that day. We looked at google maps and thought we'd found a way......
We nearly got to the top but the road was too bad for the camper van and we had to turn back. So close.......
So close...... Typical traffic jam on the way!
It begs the question.......how do these really long transporters get up there with the wind turbines?
Transporter leaving Sami harbour and navigating the narrow streets.
The valley behind Agia Effimia. Wind turbines on top of the mountain. We were nearly up there!
On the way back home we stopped off on the opposite side of the valley to look at Agia Effimia.
The very picturesque village of Agia Effimia.
We found a dirt track which we hadn't been along and abandoned Snorky (just while we took some photos).....well that's the price he pays for not getting to the top of the mountain!
Living on the edge...........Snorky in the distance.
The 25th January was another lovely day. The fishermen were out early in the morning.
Karavomylos - looking out towards Ithaca in the distance
The garage door on the house buckled with the wind, and we had to have the frame removed and refitted.
We 'd had the chimney swept on the 20th January when we got back from the UK as smoke was coming out of the wood burner and filling the room. So, once the chimney was cleaned, the woodburner was set up again and it was lovely and cozy - for one night! On the night of the 21st January, the glass in the wood burner cracked! We'd only had it replaced in November 2017! So it's back to the glass factory for a new piece of glass.
Those being the lemons - let's look at the lemonade...... oh yes......living on Kefalonia. 😂😂😂
