A different kind of wine making machine....

My friend and local taverna owner Rodamanthis, his father in law Michaelis and his uncle George were making the family wine this afternoon. George has this ingenious machine which strips the grapes from the stalks before they tread them under foot to get the juice out. The first picture shows the stalks coming out of the machine into a crate (and a few empty crates too..)



The grapes after stripping from the stalks, then go into sacks for treading.

These are still waiting to go in.

George treading the grapes and Michaelis supervising.
Smiling for the camera (I told them they would be famous on the internet.)
The whole family operation, with Rodamanthis (Manthos) on the right.

Demon Huntress Mark 2

Well Jessica has surpassed herself this time. I was very scared to take this off her, but also scared to leave her playing with it. I am not sure what kind of snake it was, but even though it was little I dont like them. If there are any clever clogs out there, they may like to tell me what it is.....

Prize Draw

Those of you who know my website http://www.alternativecrete.com may have noticed that I have been running a Prize Draw for people filling in a short questionnaire. The draw closed on 31st August and was drawn today. The draw was made by Rodamanthis who runs the taverna of the same name in the village square.


The names ready to go in the draw (not many I know!)



In the basket ready to go.....



Its getting exciting now.....who will it be?



And the lucky winner is....... Susan Scott..... Thanks to all for entering and thanks Mantho for conducting the draw!

Very Special Visitor

I am starting to get excited now as my daughter, Hannah, is right this minute on a plane on her way out for a weeks holiday with me.....I do love my beautiful girl...

Modern Wine

The modern age has now arrived in the village.....most of the residents still make their wine the traditional way, by treading the grapes. My neighbour George had this contraption arrive and his wine was completed in an hour instead of a couple of days.....I do wonder though..what does one man do with so much wine???

Lunar eclipse

Well I wasnt going to put these pictures up, because they are so poor (anyone who reads the blog regularly knows I need a new camera!), but everyone in England is complaining that they saw nothing and I decided bad pictures were better than not seeing at all.....so here it is.....The Lunar eclipse as viewed from my roof!
ps...if you click they get a little bigger.

Demon Huntress

Regular readers will already know Jessica, my baby (well not anymore, but hey!) well this is her turned Demon huntress trying to catch a crocodile, which is a lizard so named because they look like baby crocs....does she look evil or what?
And yes, well spotted she is balancing on the top of the door.