An old friend of ours had some goats that got away a few years ago. He didn't do anything about it and neither did anybody else. They went into the hills along the southern side of the island not too far from us. I remember our dog, Kandi, would suddenly prick up her ears and take off over the cliff. I'd usually go screaming after her not sure if I was more afraid of her falling to her death on the rocks below or of her killing a goat. But she did neither. What she did do was keep them out of her territory.

The goats over the years grew into a small flock. They populate the cliffs and drink mostly salt water. They are amazing creatures.

Now that our dog is dead, they have been coming around. There's olive branches to eat and other cultivated vegetation that they can't get on the cliffs. That is both a problem and really cool. If you're outside you can catch a mild scent of them even before you see them. But they will also come and eat everything I've planted here.

Yanni, our friend and stone-man, sets traps for them every evening before leaving. He hasn't caught any yet. I hope he doesn't. For him these goats mean quite a bit more money and food... for a while. They say that the meat from goats that drink sea water is delicious. I don't think Yanni is interested in that as much as making some extra money.

The original owner of the first goats that got away is also dead, so there is no claim on them. The mayor of the village told Yanni that whoever catches them gets to keep them.

Niko and I talked about gathering them up and keeping them here. At least that way they won't all be tomorrow's lunch. That seems so unfair. We might, but we're not sure if we want goats. When I say how sad it is to catch them the men say, "if we don't catch them someone else will".

Boys will be boys... I'm not getting on all men here, but rather man's need to conquer over nature. I mean, Yanni will be no better off after the goats are caught, slaughtered and sold in pieces. Not much in his life will have changed. If I could just open his eyes and put in there the riches he could posses by leaving the goats alone, to add beauty and inspiration to this deeply parched civilization.

Besides, there's plenty of goats to be had at the butcher's shop.

Enjoy these goats while they're here.... I'll keep you posted.

Be well......

Tags: goats, cliffs

Niko worked the top terrace in the garden the other day. Our guests and friends who came last year can see that we combined the first two terraces we had in to this big one. I'm going to fill it with tomato plants and marigolds and basil so that anybody who walks by will simply melt from the scent. Right now the aroma from the garden is musty, earthy, slightly tangy (from the wild greens) and iodine coming on updrafts from the sea.....

Be well......

Yianni, our friend and employee, worked 15 days to create this beautiful stone-terraced garden. I can hardly wait to get in there to loosen the earth and plant seeds that will grow into a luscious organic garden. Our guests last year loved it that they could climb in and pick eggplant and peppers and basil for their pasta. It's too bad that we had record heat waves last summer because most of our tomatoes burst open and were only good for sauces. It happened all over Greece. We just had a terrible tomato year. I'm hoping we can put up some shade for the vegetables this year to help things along. I also need to figure out the best way to mulch so that we can save on water, which is a luxury most people don't appreciate.

The stones were dug out of our lot. We hope to dig out enough to decorate the walls of the villas with them for next summer. It is a beautiful stone, washed in earth tones of umbers raw and burnt, sienna, ochre and grays. The old masters mostly used these earth tones to paint works of art beyond belief. Nature does the same thing..... rather, Nature did it first.

Be well.....

It wasn't all the snow, or the fact that it rarely snows on the island, nor was it the stark and mysterious beauty of it gathering on the olive tree leaves, or the sheer irony of snow on a Greek island... what got me was my own reaction to it.

I was THRILLED! Just like a kid I stood mesmerized, nose squished against the cold window, watching the fat snowflakes drifting down. I was so excited I had to run upstairs and wake up my kids and then we all stood, noses squished against the window, ouuu-ing and ahhhh-ing for a moment before we all rushed to get clothes on (we didn't bother with socks we were so excited to get out there) and then we burst outside to play.

I remember wondering why I was so excited about snow. I mean, I grew up in Minnesota for C's sake, snow is part of my being.

And I guess that's it. My reaction was so intense because snow was such an integral part of my childhood. For the past 20 years on the island I think I've seen snow 4 or 5 times.

I just miss it is all.

Be well.....

A few years back I was hiking up the backside of this mountain. I stumbled upon a pair of quail in my path. I remember the surprise that there was anything wild still alive on this island and then immediate dread for these amazing birds when I thought about the rampant hunting that goes on here. With no one to enforce hunting laws (indeed, there isn't even an officer of any kind on the island) I was sure that the quail scuttling into the brush ahead of me would be gone by the end of spring.

You can image my surprise when last summer, early in the morning, I saw 8 quail wandering past my front door! This photo is of one I captured (in an image) on my driveway. They were amazing. They worked together. One would fly forward and scope it out and then the other would follow. This one was the scout.

They are now nesting on the cliffside safe, at least for now, from hunters.

Be well....

Tags: quail, hunters, island,