Biba Playing the Straw

One raw, two edits.  The middle picture was desaturated a little and the colour balance altered very slightly to create a tinted sepia look.  The bottom picture has fuller, more natural saturation.  I wonder which her mum likes best.  Now we are going to find out if she ever visits her dad's blog!  Look for a comment below.  I am taking bets at 5:4on.  Well, I'm broke, you wouldn't ask for decent odds........

Jerry - the portrait

This lovely kitten was as laid back as he looks. Notice the flexing of his claws, this is a sign of recognition with many cats. Another cat Smokey, who has commissioned a portrait for this blog, has the habit of stretching and leaning against a wall or post as a means of saying hello, Porgy 'speaks' .


This picture was cropped to emphasize the eyes (and that little foot) a small amount of sharpening and saturation increase was all that was needed before a Photoshop filter was applied (Angled Strokes) to simulate the brushwork of a painting. Oh!, i forgot, the eyes were brightened and the saturation increased vbery slightly. The claw did not need sharpening......... However most digital images can do with a small amount of sharpening as a matter of course Filter >sharpen. done. 'Smart Sharpen' and 'Unsharp Mask' can be tried with images that seem to lack crispness. It takes seconds to see what they do.

Oops, dogz!

Socs has gone home, she knows how far to go.  Bunny will amble along to the end while Polly finds herself in the garden of the big house. Who's that barking?     My favorite flower of all - the Periwinkle we call it.  Ok, that's it, Polly is back up the tree sharpish, Molly is off, Bunny turns round and begins the amble back.

Home again

Well timed Polly. Set the delayed shutter release to 12 seconds, sat on the olive-press stone, Polly jumps. A split second earlier we would have had a decent action shot.

Off we go.

Round the corner, cat heaven here, hedges, trees, ruins - yes, well that's what Greece is about.  Polly likes this spot in the ancient olive tree.   Olive oil was the life blood of Corfu, as with the Mainland.  I believe the government used to spray the trees against a fly which otherwise ruins the fruit.  The old trees produce tons of small olives, used for oil and soap... hey, its a long story, I'll look it up.

The walk to the shops

1.  Molly notices that the boss seems to be going for a walk. and he's got his camera. Bunny, Polly and Socrates are around somewhere, and they don;t miss much either.  


2.  This is the path below the Panorama bar that connects my house to the village below with its many derelict houses (shades of the pot calling the kettle black)   As it happens the old farmhouse where I was reared had a big open fire in the kitchen and hanging in the chimney were two huge containers for water, a pot, and a kettle which you could tilt with a handle to pour water out of the spout.  You guessed...they were both soot black from a hundred years of hanging about over log fires.  In the harsh winters of the middle forties, regularly every Saturday evening water would be scooped from the pot into a galvanized bath placed in front of the fire.  The water made a strange sound as it was being poured, a flatter more rustling sound - as boiled water is wont to do.  I probably made strange sounds too at the indignity of being bathed, and knowing my bedroom would be little above freezing all night.  Before rubber was invented my hot-water-bottle was made of salt-glazed stoneware with a black bakalite stopper.  Not very cuddly I assure you.   We had 14 cats at that time but none was allowed to sleep on my bed.


Back to work.  3.  Below the wall a path which used to be cobbled, it still is, but many many decades have passed since villagers walked this way down to the shops a mile below, and the path is picturesquely overgrown for most of the year now.  You can see Socs and her Aunty Bess watching Polly play with something - throwing it up in the air and catching it.  I can tell you its not a ball.


At the end past another empty old house the path turns down left.   4. You can see the cobbled steps glistening with water that seeps up from the ground all winter.  Anyway, Blogger won't download more than 4 pictures from this amazing and riveting sequence, so I'll post the other 9 below.

Hot off the press(frying pan)

Another Sunday without bread. Another inspiration from the driven Dr.Awsom. The Peanut Paratha. A quick picture while it is still hot - a piece missing? Just testing. Try this at home - peanuts in the blender - salt pepper, whatever - about the same amount of flour - enough water to make a dough - fry in olive oil (of course) The result? Nutricious ! (geddit?)

The Hovel - Corfu

An early picture from the 'studio' window. There were some bonfires! A wood stove was not in sight at the time. The blue boards in the next-door garden were covering a 'vothro' or 'soak-away' or cess pit, if you want to be horrid about it. It has been decades since it was in use, and the little creatures did their job and not a whiff remained. I have one as well but exactly where it is I can't tell, but the space out the back is only 3 x 5 metres. The wonder is it works, and the old soil pipe which led from an outside toilet, now extended to my shower-room, has the correct fall. 


I mentioned that because the Greek tradition remains "No Papers in the Toilet". Instead, an often open bin is universally provided for your 'papers' (and you won't have been reading them .) The reason for this tradition is apparently that plumbers often didn't bother to ensure a decent slope (or wide pipes) for drainage.   Some of my sophisticated friends may not realize that in Greece the comfort of sitting down toilets is not universally offered to patrons of restaurants or old-style 'cafeneons' (bars).  A small tray with two raised foot-shaped plinths has a 3 to 4 inch hole placed between them.... OK OK, I will try to get a picture of one.  Of course the modern ones have a cistern for flushing purposes  (and one day you might be glad of Dr-Awsom's experience)  but be advised to step off the plinth,  readjust your dress, and stand well back before pulling the chain.  Unless you particularly want to have your shoes washed at that time. 


The picture below was taken about 3 years ago.  Sadly the ancient olive tree to the right of that minute shed, (the Penthouse actually) is no longer.  The space was needed by my wealthy neighbour with the very impressive name, Pericles (perrycleese, please) to build a lean-to 'apotheeki' (αποθηκι) or storeroom against my house! (Well, you know it isn't mine, don't you)    The interesting point is, it was built without anyone's permission least of all the Hovel's owner's.....  That's enough excitement for one post - you will have to re-visit for the continuation.


The little panorama is also from this time long, long ago, but the two-year old picture of the studio interior still represents the current state of my discomfort,  whimper,whimper...  Don't worry my friends, a 'DONATE' widget is going to be installed, by popular* request I might add, so that those of you who live in houses or flats with windows, level floors, etc. can follow this modest epic with a feeling of involvement. 

Another Sunday, Another Dawn.

This is the dawn that's coming your way from Corfu. Is anyone in yesterday's Wild West still awake?

Making Do

The little place you see to the right, behind the old olive tree is the 'penthouse' level of the Hovel . Another two floors are partly cut into the slope below what you can see; the chimney belongs to what used to be a kitchen below the patio in front of the penthouse. The patio floor is now propped up by columns, rain water currently floods through holes and cracks in this; luckily the kitchen floor is solid, and I dug a little soak-away for this water. All under control - the patio will be sealed shortly and a new re-inforced concrete floor laid eventually. The owner fixed a new roof and so the other rooms are dry now. All external surfaces have to be restored to their original appearence. I have a free hand in rebuilding the interior, which will be DBQ - designer-barn quality. There was no water laid on at first, no wiring, but the old meter had not been removed, just disconnected. A cable from a neighbour has served very basic needs over the last two years, and I have nearly finished wiring the place. Connection is expected any moment, the forms filled in, deposit paid. But this is Greece.

Early Blossom

Wish you were here (to make breakfast)

Agni Animal Welfare Fund - a calendar.

The calendar page below (yesterday) is the first of 12, surprise surprise, designed for a cat charity (Agni-Animal-Welfare-Fund) who do great work on the island filling a gap in the civilization of the people who are supposed to have invented it in this part of the world. Modern Greeks have an appalling attitude to animals in general, and like to pretend they have a better attitude to people than us English, as if this is some kind of excuse. Their hunters have blasted the wild-life into near oblivion; a popular brand of cartridge has a picture of a missel-thrush to indicate its type - say no more.

The theme of this soppy calendar is the cats who have adopted me, and kindly allow me to put words into their mouths. You will soon be wanting to send donations, please do; the animals here need the food and drugs that Angela, Graham, and helpers distribute Summer and Winter.

When someone tells me how, you will be invited to download free high-res calendar pages every month from here.

Never mind if I live out of dustbins, and shiver in my basement without windows when it's too wet to collect driftwood for the stove I made out of a thrown-out pressure tank, send your donation to Agni-Animal-Welfare-Fund why don't you. Look them up,. they are real - and just about unique on this island.