A walk on the beach

So. For the last couple of days I have been battling a really impressive head cold. Mostly it felt like the head cold was winning. I have been coughing and sneezing and blowing my nose until I am bored with my existence. (Where does all that snot come from, anyway???)


Today, my dear T decided enough was enough. As I leave for the US a week from this coming Sunday, he sort of wanted to have better mental picture of me than a gooey blob surrounded by a drift of used tissues, coughing consumptively, and constantly saying "huh?" (ears are blocked). So he decided "we" would take the dog to the beach for a walk.

Balou loves the beach, she can run and run away from us and not lose sight of us. Then she can run back like a giant missle for a cookie treat or some water. [We always take along some water and a fold-up water dish which she appreciates now that she knows not to drink the sea water.]

Inevitably there are other dogs loose on the beach and so she has some dogs to play with - usually, they are fairly good-natured, though sometimes just a click up from feral! (This time there was a black shepherd type dog and a puppy with very big feet.)

Actually I had been looking forward to going to the beach again since the middle of October when the businesses finally take down the umbrellas and put away the chairs and the pedalos, and finally dismantle the "pay to enter" station in the parking lot for the main beach at Glyfadda. But as my mother was here and not really able to walk on the beach, we did other things instead.

The waves were running high and the beach was taking a pretty good beating! This is one of the biggest and most popular beaches in the summertime (and it's also packed with locals on kite flying day!!), so losing vast amounts of sandy beach to the autumn/winter storms hurts! Wet sand does however make for easier walking!

It was a gorgeous day to take the walk and we had a lovely time. The wind was blowing but the temperature was mild. The dog had a wonderful time AND she somehow managed to share some of her cookies with her new friends (not *entirely* her idea...)

Then we took a little ride and speculated on taking her with us the next time we go to Brussels. We thought we'd drive to Belgium instead of fly! (We did the drive once before three years ago, but not with the dog. We took my mother instead. We also took the ferry to Venice, but I fear that 24 + trip in a kennel cage, may be too hard on the dog, so we might have to go via Brindisi (only 8 hours) a shorter ferry boat ride; a longer - but more scenic- drive in the car.)


Anyway, we had a wonderful walk, (my knee didn't hurt once!) the beach was lovely and so was T.

I will certainly enjoy my time in the US, but I will miss Corfu like crazy!!!

So enjoy my pictures of the beach (click on them to make them full screen) and I sincerely hope none of you get this massively annoying head cold!

[Oh and there's new music on the little music player... I decided it was a Vivaldi kind of day.]

First week of blog winding down...

And I only missed Wednesday and Thursday of writing the blog!

Life on Corfu continues with today being hopefully the "last" day of rain (we think) . T. and grandson have decided to play golf anyway. We have a lovely golf course 5 minutes from the house. When we bought the house it was one of two golf courses in all of Greece! Now of course there are many more on both the mainland and on other islands.

The course itself, doubles as a bird sanctuary in the winter time! (well in the summer too, as the birds come no matter what) Actually, it's a marvelous lovely course that is really only busy (and officially open!) May through October. rAs members, you can play all year round without the club "facilities", except the bathrooms and lockers for your clubs are available. The birds, terrapins and snakes are free of charge! It's built in a rather swampy area, which means that in the winter time you have all sorts of water hazards you never imagine in the summertime!

T. and I didn't play much the first few years we lived here, tho T. loves to play. We finally joined the Golf Club two years ago, and T. started partnering with different members. Now he has a pool of folks he can join with for a round should he wish.

This year we renewed our membership just before our trip to London, wherein I messed up my knee. Unlike Tiger Woods, I do NOT play through the pain. Fortunately the Manager of the course has allowed us to transfer my membership to my grandson, so he can play for the summer with T. I remain conspicuous in my absence.

~~~

Tomorrow we're having a birthday party for a friend, so I must clean up the house a bit. After a week of ignoring things I always am surprised at the vast amounts of dirt that somehow accumulates. How does this happen just by sitting in a chair???


I blame the dog.


AND the cats.

The storm arrives

1:52 and the storm arrives. Much sturm and drang- wind, flashes of lightening, rolling thunder, very small amount of rain.

Have closed all windows and doors, lowered shutters, and brought in beach towels.

Dog, however, is a basket case. Wish the poor thing could just knock back a shot of tequila and go to sleep, but it was not meant to be. This poor 120 lb Bernese is reduced to a quivering wreck; much heavy breathing and trembles.

Of course I can't go to sleep. Someone needs to keep her company. We inherited her from a really nice man whose wife died, and he decided to move but didn't know how to manage the dog as well. He looked around for a good home. Guess what he found?



I tried to elucidate to my dear T. that it was like adding another person to the mix, emotionally. It was also a lot of work taking care of them, which explained why I didn't want to get any more dogs. (For some reason they always ALL hate thunderstorms and find it impossible to make it through one without a paw held. I am always at the other end of the paw.) We have had dogs for all the 40 years of marriage. (AND cats) And of course they die and I am distraught and inconsolable for months. Our last dog was a Turkish Kangal. He was amazing. I still miss him and it's been five years.

There was much pooh-poohing all around and the same old arguments of "protection and safety" thrown lavishly about. Basically, T. wanted another dog. So ended the saga of our inheriting a Swiss dog bred for mountain terrains, to ironically live out her life in basically a semi tropical sea level climate.

Hmph.

Perhaps one day in the nursing home that cruelly bans pets, I'll finally sleep through a storm. Though by then, I will no doubt have too many aches and pains to sleep and will spend the night counting seconds from the lightening til the BOOM, to guess how many miles away the storm is from me, sighing and missing a dog to hold paws with.

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YeeeHaaa!

New wave of wind gusts have blown awning out! Just returned inside after battening down hatches, chasing chair cushions across yard and battling sun umbrellas. Invigorating, but sadly a bit late. Hair reflects useless attempt of man against nature. T. awakened and growled and went out into the rain to rescue the injured awning.

In the light of morning, I feel, there will be damage.