Autumn Crocuses

Autumn crocuses in a field in the Pedi valley.



Preparing for celebrations at the little chapel on my corner on Tuesday. It drizzled intermittently with squalls all day but the main rain held off until evening.



The name means The One Who Comes Swiftly. 



A grape vine with ambition on the Kali Strata. 



Rain clouds over Pedi at 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning.



The view from my office window just after 9 on Wednesday morning, as the rain began. The heavens opened a few minutes later and we received 22 millimetres of rain, most of it within the space of twenty minutes or so.  The Kataraktis flowed, as did every gully, street and staircase and the harbour was quickly a sea of mud.  We can safely say that the Rainy Season Has Begun.



On a clear day you can see forever - almost. 



Patterns in the sand.  Much of the run off from the mountain road to Panormitis comes swooshing down into Lieni, hits a rather badly designed culvert and floods into the dirt road at the bottom bend, from whence it spills over into the small farms and allotments below.  The bits of old lathe wall have been lying here for a while, probably waiting to be recycled into a chicken coop, but the flow of water made some interesting patterns in the sand that washed down.



The Friday morning Blue Star Diagoras, hauling up her anchor in a stiff breeze.  She is usually able to hold her place in Yialos with bow thrusters and two stern ropes but this morning the wind was so strong she had to lay an anchor as well which delayed her departure. The 7.30 a.m. boat actually left here shortly before 9 a.m. so the same scenario had probably played out at every stop along the way from Piraeus.

We are all shivering in the sudden cold and smelling vaguely of mothballs as winter clothes that haven't been worn since March are being dug out of storage.  Temperatures have plummeted as first everything was soaked in two days of rainy weather on Tuesday and Wednesday and then the wind swung to the north, bringing with it unseasonably low temperatures.  It was about 12 degrees centrigrade last night which is chilly indeed when a week ago it was still warm enough to eat outside at night.  It is not expected to get much about 20 degrees today.  The weather is expected to improve from Sunday when the wind drops and should settle into the more seasonable mid twenties.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana