12. I Blame Global Warming.

After a very poor September, weather wise, we appear to be having an Indian summer. September was unseasonally wet and cold, and all the villagers were telling us that winter had arrived. Well, they were wrong! We are now nearing the end of October and the clocks change this coming Saturday, signalling the official start of winter. However, we have experienced 3 weeks of more or less uninterrupted sunshine, with temperatures hitting 24 degrees (in the shade) on some days. OK, so the days are shorter and the sun is much lower in the sky, but we are still able to spend most of the time in shorts and 'T' shirts. Compared to what we were used to in the UK at this time of year; well, you can't compare it can you!
There is still an abundance of summer wildlife around, but we are amazed to see butterflies sharing the same airspace as robins. Back in Blighty the robin is, of course, a winter bird; so maybe they are just passing through here on their way to an English winter. Beats us as to why they would want to, though!

Gifts of seasonal fruit and veg are still arriving with regularity. Over the last few weeks we have had donations of grapes (in large quantity), walnuts (straight from the tree), pomegranites, small apples and last, but not least, lotus (sp?), pronounced "lotoose". They are a fruit rather like a large tomato, but the donor couldn't give us an English translation, so they remain somewhat of a mystery. All these are in addition to the usual tomatoes, lemons, peppers etc. that we still, gratefully, receive regularly.

There always seems to be an over production of grapes here and now we know what happens to the leftovers. They are crushed at home in any suitable container and the resulting liqour is transported up into the hills somewhere, to be distilled into chippero (sp?), the local firewater!!
We suspect that this is the reason for growing grapes in the first place, and the ones we are given to eat are the leftovers!! Neither of us are particularly fond of this brew, so if we get copious quantities coming our way we may have to find out if it mixes with fuel oil. If it does, it will keep our winter heating costs down, unless global warming decides to extend our summer through to February!