Restoring equilibrium

Hello! It feels like ages since we had a chat, doesn't it? Pull up a chair and join me for a trip to Greece. We had a fabulous time in Kos; it's one of our very favourite places to stay. Mr JK and I have been going back year after year for a long time and love it as much now as we did on our first trip. We've made lots of friends there and it is always a pleasure to go round and say hello to people once we've arrived. Of course, we don't come away empty handed - an ouzo here, an ice cream there. It's a lovely feeling. The village where we stay is small and unspoilt. The villagers carry on with their daily lives despite the visitors. Yes, of course tourism is an important source of their income but also fishing and farming play their part too. Rooms in the village tend to be let out privately by the villagers themselves, so it feels good to be helping them directly rather than giving money to large tour operators. The beach is huge and never gets crowded and that's where Mr JK and I spend a large chunk of our time. We're not sun worshippers, far from it! In fact we spend our time on sun loungers in the shade under the trees at the back of the beach. Our days are filled with reading, listening to music (Mr JK), knitting (me), playing endless games of Scrabble and a new one this year - catching up on the goings on in Ambridge each day listening to The Archers podcast on the beach! It is the most perfect way for us to relax and recharge our batteries.

Visitor numbers to Kos are down this year, in part due to some rather inaccurate reporting of problems with migrants and refugees. The local people we spoke to said that there was no problem at all and it had all been exaggerated by the press. I just hope that people return to stay on this beautiful island soon.

We took lots of cat food with us as usual, but noticed that there were far fewer kittens around this year. There is a neutering programme in operation on the island; cats that have been 'done' have an ear clipped so it's easy to spot them and also to identify cats that still need to be caught. Each day we walked down to the harbour first thing (after Mr JK had been for a run, that is!!) and had a trio of regulars who were waiting for us. They were sometimes joined by one or two others. The cat closest to the camera had a bad tail and we wished that we could have taken him to the vet for some attention. I love the second photo, showing them all washing after they'd eaten!

You can quite clearly see the clipped ear in the photo below. This cat was a beauty and seemed to have taken up residence near our favourite lunchtime taverna.

We ate delicious food every day - loads of salads and fish (Mr JK) and traditional Greek dishes (me) - I am such a baby when it comes to eating fish and can find a bone in a fish finger!! Mr JK has well and truly topped up his Omega 3 levels.

Of course I did indulge in some of my favourite sweet treats too - it wouldn't be right not to have baklava or yoghurt with honey! We ate loads of fruit too and managed to chomp our way through two large watermelons, peaches, nectarines and grapes, all of which were deliciously juicy and sweet.

I did some crochet on the beach on Granny Square Day, but the rest of the time I was working on some ideas using some of the soon-to-be-released sock yarns from Stylecraft. Sneaky peeks coming up!



It was a fabulous holiday and I'm feeling nicely relaxed and (almost) ready for the new term! I'll leave you with a few more photos of the holiday. There are loads over on Flickr too in an album and if you follow me on Instagram (link at the top of the page), you'll have seen what I was up to each day. I'll be back soon with a new pattern to share with you, all ready for those chilly autumn mornings! xxx