A Life Well Lived

Ignoring the danger signs

by sadcatowner ^Pro @ 2008-07-18 – 16:43:37

This time of year is hazardous in Greece as in other hot countries. Fire is easily started and not easily stopped. The dry vegetation catches easily and it takes fast and decisive action to avoid disaster.

Luckily in lots of cases there is a fire engine, or helicopter or similar on hand to douse the flames before too much damage is done.

Today we were driving along a main road on the island when a car coming towards us started to wave at us. It wasn't anyone we knew and he was flashing his lights as well. We decided there must be some hazard on the road ahead and so we slowed down considerably.

As we continued quite a way on without any hazard materialising we wondered if we had read his actions properly. But we still kept slower than usual and we were alert and looking out for anything out of the ordinary.

Because of this we spotted the fire ahead, with the tail of traffic and people trying to fight the main fire at the beginning of the traffic in good time to stop the car. Just ahead of us was a secondary blaze that had broken out and there were cars actually waiting in the queue of traffic alongside the fire!!!

Although it was a bit dangerous to turn at that spot we decided it was less dangerous than staying parked next to a spreading fire with a risk of being trapped there.

We turned and on our way back home we tried to warn other cars coming towards us of the danger.

But most people appeared to ignore our warnings, and that was if they were even able to notice our flashing lights and waving arms as many were speeding along and ignoring not only us but everything around them.

We managed to stop a lorry and let him know of the danger, but a tourist car approaching just sped up and overtook the lorry while we were trying to wave and warn them too. They stared pointedly ahead in that way that people do when you know they have seen you but they are deliberately avoiding eye contact.

It was so frustrating desperately trying to help, but being ignored. I just hope they are all safe. I keep remembering the descriptions of people being caught in fires on the mainland last year. Now I understand how people could drive into danger.

I expect it will be OK - but it is a scary thing to witness first hand.

Ecologically friendly and saves money too!!

by sadcatowner ^Pro @ 2008-07-12 – 13:59:18

Yesterday I cooked my first solar powered meal.
Today I cooked my second :

solar cooked moussaka

Here's my solar cooked moussaka with feta cheese topping.

I left it in the solar cooker for about three hours and placed teflon non stick pan liner on top to try and increase the heat absorption properties as well as protect the food from the sun bleaching effect I got with my stuffed vegetables yesterday.

It worked and an added bonus was that the cheese topping actually browned and crisped!!!

I'm going to try and cook some chicken legs tomorrow.

Bizy Bakson

by sadcatowner ^Pro @ 2008-07-12 – 13:57:45

Originally posted 2008-06-29
Lots to do and it is very very hot...

Spending time swimming, snorkelling, and just doing day to day stuff slowly so as not to get overheated.

It was around 40 yesterday!!!

I have set up our solar powered oven on the top balcony and we have bought a small oven/rotisserie/hob to use on the bottom balcony so we don't have to cook indoors.

My first attempt at cooking in a solar cooker

My first attempt at cooking in a solar cooker - Yemista me Ryzi (except I didn't have room in the pot for tomatoes as well so I just chopped one up into the cooking liquid). So this is green capsicum peppers, baby round marrows and aubergine, stuffed with rice and herbs and other things.

Judging by all the steam and the thermometer which is still rising in temp - I am onto a winner here

The good thing is we were a bit worried about how we would cope with the heat of a Greek Summer - but it looks like we will be fine - touch wood.

Monday is supposed to be THE DAY for a predicted serious earthquake (tommorrow) so trying not to be too anxious about that.

I suppose there are quite a few people who would be quite relieved if we were squashed flat in an earthquake

I used to think that the only people who don't make mistakes are people who don't do anything at all. Now I think it's the only people who don't make enemies are people who don't do anything at all LOL.

Found another fascinating quote about fib telling:

It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place. ~Henry Louis Mencken, A Little Book in C Major, 1916

I suppose it is just another way of saying that people tend to judge others by their own standards. Which is why I always get so surprised when people tell me fibs or decieve me. Or maybe its just because I'm a bit thick .

Will take some nice Summery pictures to add to the blog soon.

We are getting a visit from someone next week (or are supposed to be) who is travelling on a seaplane!! I was hoping to get some interesting action photos of it landing on the water. But it will be landing at the airport instead .

I suppose it's more sensible, but a lot less interesting.

Victory to the Just (in)

by sadcatowner ^Pro @ 2008-07-12 – 13:53:46

Originally published: 2008-06-22

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that our friends Justin and Sue from Swansea were staying with us for a week. They were the ones who took the great pictures of the Turtle we saw while at Spartia Beach last week.

Here's a photo Justin kindly gave me of the Challenge 72 Yacht that Swansea Bay Sea School for has recently purchased and taken delivery of.

As you can see it is quite a large boat and a very nice looking one. I don't know much about boats in general and have only just been persuaded to stop calling sails 'flaggy things' but I am learning slowly.

swansea bay sea school challenge yacht

Anyway we heard today that Justin and his crew had won their class in the Round Lundy Race in this yacht.

http://www.ilfracombeyc.org.uk/Lundy.html

Here is the link to the offical results page.

I congratulate Justin and his crew on this win. They were looking forward to the race and were hoping to have fun but I know it is the icing on the cake to actually win as well as to take part.

If you are interested here's the link to the Swansea Bay Sea School Website with details about the sailing charity that Justin runs.

Looks like his holiday did him good - he's only been back a few days and already achieving great things.

The Heat is ON!!

by sadcatowner ^Pro @ 2008-07-12 – 13:48:13

38 degrees yesterday and we wanted to go out on the water to seek sheltered private coves to swim and cool off. Alas the waves were too big for the boat.
So we popped along to old favourite Antisamos beach instead. Not very sheltered and certainly not private, but the sea is wonderful there and once we paid for the sunbeds and beach umbrella we had a small patch of shade to hide under when needed.

With my trusty vivitar camera I donned a snorkel and ventured under the water to catch some video action of the fish at Antisamos.

But my snorkelling wasn't too successful.

Hubby kindly donated his bread from the swordfish lunch he had eaten at the Antisamos beach taverna and with young son in tow I went back into the water with the camera and without the snorkel.

This is the result achieved by standing in the water with the camera beneath the surface and while young son holds bread to attract the fish.

It is amazing how many varieties and how many fish wanted that little piece of bread.

There was a real feeding frenzy going on.

I found that Mark Twain (the nome de plume of Samuel Langhorne Clemens) has some very interesting quotes which tie in wonderfully with my personal ethics and here I share them with my readers.

Always tell the truth; then you don't have to remember anything.

Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction after all, has to make sense.

and a quote which just reminds me of one or two people I have met over the years...

The glory which is built upon a lie soon becomes a most unpleasant incumbrance. How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again!
- Mark Twain in Eruption

Turtley amazing Dude!!

by sadcatowner ^Pro @ 2008-07-12 – 13:39:19

We are generally having a great time living on Kefalonia and sharing our lives with our wonderful new neighbours and lately some old friends. Old in the sense we have known them a long time - they aren't old in either age or out look. LOL

So I'm starting with happy pictures taken by our friend Justin Cotter from Swansea who was out here last week. Turtles are not generally easily spotted by tourists, but we were super lucky to see some at very close quarters last week and Justin and his girlfriend Sue took some great photos of the experience.

turtle swimming in kefalonia

Here's the turtle as spotted a small distance away from the menfolk as they fished off the shore.

turtle gets closer

Here the turtle has swum up to the jetty and is heading towards a moored fishing boat in the hope of finding some discarded fish.

Turtle close up

Here is the turtle as it swam right under the camera. I think this one was quite keen on being photographed!!!

These turtles are called Caretta caretta or loggerhead turtles. There is an organisation on Kefalonia - The Katelios Group which is a small organisation working to protect the natural environment of Kefalonia. They focus on the conservation of the endangered Loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta.

Boat sinks in the Ionian - the med is not always calm and gentle

by sadcatowner ^Pro @ 2008-07-12 – 13:32:31

I am so pleased with the way my son has taken to snorkelling. He has also discovered he likes taking underwater video. I already included one of his shipwreck videos, but had to include this one as well :

It is a bit slow to get going, but as the shipwreck emerges out of the gloom it is a very eery moment.

There were two shipwrecks when we visited last week, but unfortunately another boat went down in heavy winds shortly after our visit.

We will be revisiting the site next week and we will get some footage of the new vessel. Don't worry there aren't any bodies or anything The boat was in poor repair and had been moored in the bay awaiting refurbishment, but alas nature had other ideas

It just goes to show that nothing can be taken for granted as far as the sea is concerned. Anyone who takes to the water must be able to rely on their boat being seaworthy.

Octopus and Starfish videos from Kefalonia

by sadcatowner ^Pro @ 2008-07-12 – 13:25:41

I have finally learned how to use Youtube. I don't know why I had such a reticence about it.

But here are some of the videos from our lovely day out.

Here's a lovely wiggly octopus.

Here's footage of Jamie collecting a starfish from the sea bed for us to have a closer look.

The secret of the cruellest curse of the seas - revealed

by sadcatowner ^Pro @ 2008-07-12 – 08:22:38

Ahoy landlubbers!!! Aaargh!!! Shiver me timbers.

At last we got underway and onto the water yesterday.
As previously explained on this blog we are unable to make use of the £37,000 plus Powercat 525 we bought from Powercats Ltd of Redruth and Poole, Cornwall in February 2008 as it was judged unsafe and not fit for purpose by a marine surveyor after a near miss incident caused by dangerous electrics on the new powered catamaran.

But we are not to be kept off the water that easily and here is one of the ways we managed to keep our promise to a young family we have known for years to take them on the Ionian sea for a day on the ocean wave. Well more like gentle ripple actually

Here is a picture of our vessel

traditional greek caique

We chartered this lovely old caique (pronounced Keye ee kee) to pootle around the blue sparkling waters of the Ionian seas around kefalonia for the day.

The wind was gentle and warm, the sea was just cool enough to keep you refreshed without chilling, and it was crystal clear for snorkelling to our hearts content.

snorkelling kit

Jamie, the Captain is a marine biologist and he helped the littlest pirates go hunting in the ocean deep for the secrets that are there contained.

They found beautiful deep red starfish, a killer starfish, a sea cucumber, some urchins and a lovely cuddly octopus.

After lunch he gave an informative talk on the life and habits of these creatures. They were placed safely in an onboard aquarium so that the children (and the adults) could get a close look at them.

Then we went snorkelling around some ship wrecks.

The life cycle and the dangers faced by sea cucumbers (which start out with the disadvantage of looking like a lump of poo in the first place) was told in its tragic entirety. Sensitive souls should skip through this part to the next picture which will be pleasant and calming.

Apparantly sea cucumbers have a deadly enemy - the pearl fish, which uses the sea cucumber like a sleeping bag and enters via the sea cucumbers bottom opening The pearl fish is not a little creature, but is about 2/3 the size of the cucumber

Once it has forced its way into the poor cucumber - it stays there as long as it can. Which means it eats the cucumber's reproductive organs to keep itself fed !!!! If I understood correctly the fish can then leave the cucumber and the cucumber can regenerate, only for the same thing to happen again, and again.

So it seems to me that the cruellest curse of the seas - must be to be reincarnated into a sea cucumber.

the onboard aquarium

Here we can see a large red starfish a killer starfish and a large mussel shell.

If you are interested in having this sort of experience yourself you can find out more on Jamie's website at http://www.ioniandiscoveries.com/

Challenge goes from strength to strength

by sadcatowner ^Pro @ 2008-07-11 – 20:29:33

Another great article about the new Challenge Yacht in Swansea

The boat looks great and all reports back from the happy owners are that it handles like a dream and is a skippers fantasy in reality

Now back to slightly less grandiose sailing

We had a lovely day yesterday on the beach at Antisamos. Our son took our friends children out for their first experience on the water on the little aquaglide sailing craft we have. Their ages ranged from 7 to 13.
We will be going out on a caique (pronounced Ka Yee Kee ) on Sunday .

Ionian Discoveries is run by Jamie Stirling and we expect to have another great day out on the water on his traditional Greek Fishing boat which has been kitted out for educational trips.

Here's a youtube video of Jamie in action. There are some great underwater shots here