A day in the life

The morning was filled with the usual at home sort of stuff. After swimming, much of the afternoon was spent sitting on my balcony with Graham, talking. Quite a lot to catch up on after not seeing each other since the end of July. Kat joined us after a dip in the now definitely 'refreshing' end-of-September temperature pool and the three of us talked away the rest of the afternoon and early evening.  Around getting hungry time,  Zeynep neighbour friend appeared, bringing me a complete (and delicious) dinner ! Neighbours regularly share homemade tasty treats - John's pancakes and smoked mackerel pate, Janice's  cakes and lemon curd, Arife's Turkish mezzes - but I think it's the first time a neighbour has given me a complete three course meal!!  It's so lovely living in a small community of such great neighbour friends. Later in the evening Rufus and I visited John and Janice for an hour and then just as Rufus and I were getting back from our evening stroll, earlier than usual at 9.30, the heavens opened.  For the next hour and a half I sat on my balcony while the deafening thunder, often directly overhead, reverberated so deeply that I could feel it.  (Rufus and cats were safely indoors.)  Sheet lightning, fork lightning,  and such a torrential downpour that rain bounced off the surface of the water in the swimming pool making fabulous patterns visible in the lightning filled night sky.  I tried taking photos but none of the images truly showed just how heavy and dramatic it all was, quite spectacular - so I'm sticking with my morning walk picture of a mechanical digger in the middle of an olive grove - surreal and like the storm, unexpected.