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| Sunset from the village of Stoupa |
Even the morning sun’s arrival over the hill on which our house sits seems slow and timid compared to even a few weeks ago, in early October, when we came for our autumn stay. But even with a kinder sun, daytime temperatures are still reaching the 70F-degree level at times. We’ve been experiencing an Indian Summer, or Little St. Dimetrios summer, as they say around here.
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| The Stone House and the Hill on which it sits |
Stateside social media friends are reporting their hectic pace of preparations for Thanksgiving Day. It is curious to read their reports from afar where Thursday will be just other weekday – no marathon football on television, no stuffed turkey, no pumpkin pie. We do send holiday greetings to all who will be celebrating the day.
Instead of just one, here, you might say, our autumn has been filled with many ‘thanks-giving’ days, including:
Oxi Day October 28th, celebrated annually in Greece since back in World War II when the Greek Prime Minister said “Oxi!” to Mussolini’s plan to bring Italian troops into the country. Oxi, pronounced, ohh-hee, means ‘no’. The nearby village of Kardamyli was decked out for the day and hosted a parade and presentations by students from schools throughout the area. That is the major autumn holiday in this part of the world.
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| Students wearing school uniforms and traditional dress dance on Oxi Day |
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| Roasting chestnuts at Katania's Fourth Annual Chestnut Festival |
Olive Harvest: The hills are alive with the sound of chainsaws and tree shakers. The pace of the harvest has intensified with the olive presses running into the late night hours. (Glad we beat the crowds and can now sit back and literally enjoy the fruits of our labors).
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| Waiting their turn in the press - bags of olives |
Days spent with friends ~ We had two sets of ‘courageous couples’ who made the trip from Washington State to spend a few days with us this fall. They were adventuresome enough to get off the well-trod Greek tourist track and explore the beauty of this peninsula. There is nothing better than sharing a morning’s cup of coffee or an evening’s glass of wine with friends and doing a lot of exploring in between!
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| Memories made in The Mani |
The Days the Cats Returned – All of our previously reported upon stray cats are now present and enjoying life – with plenty of food and beverages – at The Stone House on the Hill. That would include Princess and Tom who we introduced you to last winter and Mom and the two kittens, now teenagers, who you met last spring.
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| Tom, left, and Princess have returned |
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| The Mani |
‘It was one of the loveliest days in early autumn,
the general atmosphere had a tendency to subdue everything of the heart
and threw me into a thoughtful mood.’
-- Charles Lanman, 1840
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| The sea - The Mani |
‘Autumn is the perfect time to take account of what we’ve done,
what we didn’t do,
and what we’d like to do next year.’
-- Author Unknown
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| A walk beyond Trahila |
‘Autumn is the hush before winter.’ – French Proverb
And as always we are thankful for all of you who take a break from your busy lives to spend time with us! We hope you are having a lovely autumn and that whatever the holiday is you are celebrating, it will be filled with happiness. Hope to see you back again soon ~ in our next post I’ll tell you our off-the-grid plans for Christmas!
Linking up this week:
Travel Photo Thursday –
Our World Tuesday
Travel Inspiration –
Mosaic Monday – Through My Lens
Photo Friday Wordless Wednesday
