Serenade the Moon

April is drawing to a close. The sky dripped sandy red rain sporadically all Sunday, clearing only at nightfall. St George’s Day was perfect and today is still and warm in the sun.

The vegetation is dying back rapidly now. Mud showers do more harm than good as the fine floury Saharan sand coats all the leaves as a fine desiccant, clogging leaf pores and choking the plants if it is not washed off straight away. The insect life, on the other hand, is flourishing. It is important to close the windows and doors before turning on the lights in the evening. Otherwise rooms fill up with moths, mosquitoes, daddy-long-legs and anything else one might care to mention. Suicidal moths hurl themselves at the gas flames and the geckoes that live behind the icons grow stouter by the day. The proliferation of newly hatched insect life has brought many birds onto Symi and every tree and shrub seems to be a-twitter. Forget peace and quiet – nature is noisy and exuberant at this time of the year. Cockerels and donkeys serenade the moon and sing rounds in the afternoons. The Lieni cows moo sonorously. I have two house guests at the moment and neither had realized just how noisy rural life can be!

The Symi is humming outside our window, waiting for the last stragglers to board for the return trip to Rhodes. There are still only a few day trippers around and the island is very quiet, even in the middle of the day when the boat is in. At present only the Symi is doing day trips and the souvenir shops in the harbour know how the day is going to fare within a few minutes of the ferry docking at one o’clock.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana