Getting HOT

As we progress into the summer it's getting hotter by the day and the sea, just across the road, beckons. It's now firmly in the 30's C every day and our routine will definitely change. Last July and August we spent every afternoon in the Corfiot form of a siesta - dead to the world after lunch - even with the air-conditioning on! So this summer shouldn't be much different except that we now have a beach immediately opposite our home. (See the link to the "Sandy Beach Studio for some photographs)

A quick swallow....

Yesterday we went to the Kanoni Peninsula which is the part of Corfu where the very earliest settlements were established some 5,000 years ago. They abandoned these settlements as the port they were using was silting up - even then. It is now a lagoon and hosts the Corfu Airport amongst other things. Get to the point, Rob - there were a few swallows doing figure-of-eight circuits, swooping and swirling around getting their afternoon snack of flying insects. Here's one of them - remarkably lucky shot to be in focus at all.

Piano Concert

Last night we were delighted by a student playing what we believe to be a concert as part of her final examinations from the Ionian University Music Department. She played 4 pieces by Mozart, Brahms, Ravel and Prokofiev. She played to an audience of fellow students, her teachers, family and us.

It was an honour to be allowed to listen to her play. Magnificent!

When we lived in China and Hong Kong we often went to concerts by internationally-renowned players, especially in Hong Kong where we had the opportunity to attend many concerts in their International Arts festival. She played as well as any of them, even better in some cases.

Her name was Dimitra Kokkinopoulou - watch out for that name!!!

Hotting up

Now the temperature is hitting 30C at least every day, so summer is definitely upon us. We've refurbished our separate studio in the hopes that some visitors might just want to rent it for a few weeks through the summer months.

We've had a family of nestlings and parents in our eaves for the last month and I see now that they've all gone. I'm amazed at how quickly it went from building the next to the chicks hatching, growing and flying away - 4 or 5 weeks at the most.

Here's 2a photographs taken an hour before they all left home!

The Rotunda, Spianada, Corfu

On one of my walks through Corfu Old Town this week, I took this angled shot of the Maitland Rotunda in the Spianada.



It was built to commemorate Sir Thomas Mailtland, the second Lord High Commissioners of the Ionian Island during the British administration. The Brits were not exactly kind to the Greek people, their saving grace was that the built infrastructure.

The real thing

It's lovely taking and, presumably viewing, photographs of the things people expect to see in Corfu - the Forts, Churches, Liston, Spianada etc. But it's also nice to see some of the real town taken from a vantage point normally used to zoom in on the attractions.

So here is my take on a part of Corfu Town which I think is near enough "normal".



And a close up of the little church in the previous photograph.

Summer Festival

Last night and the previous Thursday we went to the tiny Anglican Church here in Old Corfu Town to attend their summer festival. On the Thursday we were entertained by two lovely girls from The UK playing a variety of music on violin/viola and clarinet - they were wonderful. Lat night it was students from the Ionian University playing violin, cello and the flute giving us a fantastic display of their talents. They could only play a few pieces for us before rushing off to play on a "rival" concert in St George's Church in the Old Fort complex.

The second half was given by three local Greek performers playing piano and flute with the added surprise of a tenor delighting us all with some Puccini arias. He sat impassively in a rather disheveled crumpled suit waiting patiently to perform. We thought initially that he was just someone who had come along to help. When he took his place behind the music stand, composed himself, clasped his hands below his "pottish" tummy and began to sing - we were all blasted into orbit by the power and beauty of his voice. When we (all 40 of us) kept applauding him, he demurely bowed with his right hand across his heart and smiled the most infectious smile you have ever seen. Throughout the evening he sang another two times and had us in tears with the beauty of it all.

The festival was in aid of the church which is in dire financial straits - it has been in existence since 1870 and keeps surviving on a month-to-month basis.

The view from the New Fort

In keeping with my recent decision to get a bit fitter, lose weight and take more photographs, Barbara and I visited the New Fort in Corfu Town - warm day, good walk and trek up to the top of the fort and this view.



Somehow we managed to fit in a shopping trip for groceries, a visit to a ship's chandler, a garden centre and a lovely concert at the little English church in the evening. Two lovely young women had come all the way from the UK to perform in Corfu - classical violin/viola and clarinet - lovely evening - plus delicious snacks at the interval.

Life is hard here!