Just imagine! To mark the milestone in my last blog post I placed a copy
of my post on Facebook – I was delighted to get responses from many people I’d
met along the way.
Pam,
my 5-year-flat-mate in Thessaloniki, and I have shared many get-togethers since
then – even as far flung as Yemen and Oman. One memorable one was here and, at the celebratory
table, as she opened the cake-box, she saw the Black Forest gateau bearing, instead
of the requested, '20 years on’, the message: ‘20 years
oh no!’ - perhaps more apposite?
Here we are
together at one such past event.
This year Pam
could not make it so I decided to have diverse celebrations with old buds. My
first one was with Betta, my first Greek friend, who was to become my Greek
‘sister’. During a recent assessment trip of mine to Athens, we arranged to
meet for lunch. Of course, there were tears and laughter as we reminisced over
all the happy experiences we shared : from front-row tables in night clubs,
with gardenias gifted by the gentlemen, to crazy panayiria in hill-top villages
or disco-dancing after lazing on the beaches of Andros. Wonderful memories of
exciting, carefree days as a tourist!
Below you can see Betta and me on her Paleo Phalero
balcony in the mid-70s and more recently at lunch. Can
you recognise us?! Enough of the past for now!
This summer has been one of good production so you
have to rush to keep pace with the ripening process! This crate of
tomatoes boiled down to four jars of sauce to be used with pasta over the
winter.
Just when you think you’re ahead of the game, a kindly
neighbor leaves heaps of his surplus at our gate, bless! So, the onions and peppers are fried up with
some bean sprouts and soy sauce, wrapped in filo pastry; these spring rolls go
down really well accompanied by sweet chilli sauce.
But our summer is coming to an end: emerging from that
last swim of the season is always a sad moment. I love the Hockney-type hues of
the golden leaves floating on the turquoise water.
Our pampas grasses have thrown up their seed stalks,
standing proud and adding to the lovely textures of the golds and greens around.Our
pomegranate tree offers the last of the produce, their seeds adding a rich
sweetness to green salads. Lettuce is only
now coming on tap as the weather cools.
This summer, for the second year running, we had an
excellent almond yield. Once the husk is taken off, we set them out on trays to
dry in the sun – at least, that’s the idea. Though it cannot possibly be comfortable
to lie on top of such hard objects, this has become a favourite place of
relaxation for Mr Mao!
