Between compulsive election watching via the iPlayer and jet washing the courtyard when two minutes of midnight rain turned out to be mainly Saharan sand it has been a perfect week in Kirazli.
With such big temperature variances here we can go from jeans and Uggs to flip flops and air-con in a day or so around this time of year and now we are into regular 30 degree days and 20 degree nights and it will stay like this until the end of October at least. So it’s back to having a sun tan on the basis that brown fat is better than white fat and some of the winter weight gain is melting in the sun and a diet that switches from comfort food to summer food – broad beans this year have been amazing!
The lake at the end of the valley has disappeared again until the winter rains come and the valley is full of here today gone tomorrow poppies blooming on the verges and amongst the olive and cherry trees. The first rose bloom of the summer has been amazing and the petals in the pool are pretty and make it feel like some sort of exotic spa treatment when you have a quick dip.
The cherry harvest is on its way and the neighbours are keen to drag me up the mountain to help with the harvest from the high orchards.
Both Vinnie and Shadow are in disgrace – Shadow for preferring to bugger off and run for five miles instead of obeying instructions and coming when called, and Vinnie for completely failing to bite an arrogant tour guide who whilst guiding a pack of scantily clad tourists round the village barged into my courtyard and then insisted my house was a pansiyon!
To be fair to Vinnie it was the middle of the afternoon and his duty comes with dusk and thankfully tours of the village are rare and normally conducted by guides who have a better grasp of the niceties of village life and familiarity with the area they are guiding people around. Still it would have been nice if he took a little nibble out of the horrible man.
Anyway, today is doggie bath day – Vinnie has had one already this month but needs another as he is moulting and miserable. Shadow’s undercoat is thick with dust from her five mile run and she just loves the attention anyway so once the sun is on the courtyard its out with the shampoo and the hose.
Evils has smugly watched doggie baths in the past and preened his perfect self for not needing this sort of maintenance from the staff but he is about to have a shock – he’s next!
posted 12-05-2010 | 07:36:56 | Entry number: 49