Wednesday 21 September 2011
Arising groggily at 7AM, the five of us ate a light breakfast and drove into town to meet Nikos for grape picking, but after three hours of miscommunications and bad timing, we went home empty handed and had a late breakfast of bacon and eggs. We got "real" and acknowledged what we had learned from each other and ourselves those past nine days.
To work off some of Dian's stored up grape-picking energy (and a double espresso), she tended the tomato vines and removed every single dead leaf and branch.
Robyn took the girls out, shovels and rakes in hand, to weed a new area that she said would be "the Goils' garden." Tromping around in the overgrown outback (Nicole made the poor choice of wearing flip flops), they hunted for bulbs of flowers to "liberate" for their garden. Instead they found a patch of grapes, and the picking urge was at last satisfied!
On the way back they ran into their next door neighbor Nikos (different from the grape picking one), a Greek man who lived in Canada for 40 years and therefore spoke perfect English. He offered a drink and asked if they would rather hear Ray Charles or Eric Clapton. They said Ray, but for some reason or another Eric was put on, which was okay by them!
The visit was cut short by the waning daylight and loud stomachs and Nikos was thanked for his generosity. He put on "Hit the Road, Jack" as their exit music.
On the way back Nicole and Dian noticed a woman walking right next to Robyn and David's property, by the aqueduct. Robyn explained that the houses get certain week days to receive water for their own property, and that this woman was rearranging rocks so it would go to hers.
A mouthwatering dinner of Robyn's zucchini fritters, salad, fresh bread, and tzatziki (made by Nicole) was accompanied by a homemade plum liqueur.
After dinner we inadvertently staged a scene out of Little Women, with Charles reading (and finishing) Pudd'nhead Wilson, Nicole and Robyn peeling and cutting apples to make apple sauce, and Dian mending our sleeping bag. Since David had to take a phone call, Charles re-read to him the last chapter of the book as the rest of us crawled into bed, safe from the rain that had just started.
Arising groggily at 7AM, the five of us ate a light breakfast and drove into town to meet Nikos for grape picking, but after three hours of miscommunications and bad timing, we went home empty handed and had a late breakfast of bacon and eggs. We got "real" and acknowledged what we had learned from each other and ourselves those past nine days.
To work off some of Dian's stored up grape-picking energy (and a double espresso), she tended the tomato vines and removed every single dead leaf and branch.
Robyn took the girls out, shovels and rakes in hand, to weed a new area that she said would be "the Goils' garden." Tromping around in the overgrown outback (Nicole made the poor choice of wearing flip flops), they hunted for bulbs of flowers to "liberate" for their garden. Instead they found a patch of grapes, and the picking urge was at last satisfied!
The visit was cut short by the waning daylight and loud stomachs and Nikos was thanked for his generosity. He put on "Hit the Road, Jack" as their exit music.
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| Nikos sitting on his sun bathed porch |
A mouthwatering dinner of Robyn's zucchini fritters, salad, fresh bread, and tzatziki (made by Nicole) was accompanied by a homemade plum liqueur.
After dinner we inadvertently staged a scene out of Little Women, with Charles reading (and finishing) Pudd'nhead Wilson, Nicole and Robyn peeling and cutting apples to make apple sauce, and Dian mending our sleeping bag. Since David had to take a phone call, Charles re-read to him the last chapter of the book as the rest of us crawled into bed, safe from the rain that had just started.
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