As promised, some very quick snaps taken from the desk (and elsewhere) as yesterday was a day at home catching up on some work and not going out anywhere. As you can see, it’s clear out there and when you’re in the sun it’s actually very warm; you could probably sunbathe. But as soon as you go into the shade, then it feels cold, though it says it’s around 12 degrees out in the courtyard.
The Alarm Cat has been looked after while we were away and has been very clingy since we’ve been back. He shouts as lustily as ever around sunrise and when he wants something, but is very pleased to be able to come back into the house during the day and sleep on the sofa, back of the sofa, arm of the sofa, bed, under the bed, other unusual places. He’s also been out sunbathing, which will do nothing for the skin cancer he gets on his ears and nose, but there’s nothing we can do about that and it’s not yet very far advanced.
We have started feeding the strays again, our ‘post’ this winter being the bins that we visit every day when throwing out our rubbish. There’s a group of about 10 or so, some better looking than others. Symi Animal Welfare have provided the food and all we need to do is drop some off every day when we go that way. We are also putting down water for them when we can. So far the weather has been mild so they all seem reasonably well off.
Some of the local farmers are worried about this mild weather, apparently. When you think about it, we’ve not really had any rain since around May. We have had two big storms, and maybe a couple of days with rain too, but not the regular amounts we might expect at this time of year. This is not such good news for crops and olive trees, or for topping up sternas and filling up water tanks. No one really likes it when it’s dark and wet and cold, but the wet is necessary. Doing a quick long-range forecast check on a weather station online I see that temperatures are set to be mid-teens with sun, with a little rain from 29th onwards but not much, and no storms or heavy rain until mid-January. We’ll keep an eye on that while, hopefully, getting in some winter walks in the dry.
That’s it for today. There’s a noisy cat at my feet wanting something and so I must go and see what it is, then empty his litter tray and then see to the strays up the road. Beginning to feel my life is being ruled by cats.
