The Heel - usually best avoided but this is a good one.

We arrived as the sun was setting and the queues by Avis grew long. But the wait was fine, the car is brand new and Google Maps is the app to have, so with some trepidation and lots of excitement we set off on the right side. 

The roads mercifully empty as we adjusted to the changed traffic signals and the very abrupt lanes which lead into motorways but our trusted maps told us we were on the right track and after a small adventure in an olive grove we met Antonella, Francesco and Jianni who welcomed us not only to our home for the next week but to a plate of parmigiana, polenta and yellow pepper, and a local white. 

We looked around with cats eyes but had to reserve the best for the morning after. Waking early to the bird calls (endless fun for a certain man) to the warmth of the sun and that piercing perfection of the morning light. 

You come in through this magnificent gate. 

The houses, the farms, are all built in beautiful sandstone, some with the characteristic troulli which are so much part of the architecture of southern Italy. The stone is cool and warming at the same time and so reminiscent of the Greek world. These worlds grew side by side and there are still villages in this part of Italy which speak an ancient dialect called Grecko. 

Equally wonderful is the courtyard or garden. Hedges of rosemary and lavender that you brush past and leave a trail of wonderful scents, strawberry plants low on the ground ripening in the sun and pomegranate trees laden with flowering fecundity.  

And then the tranquil setting of the pool surrounded by the olives - and on these magnificent age old trees another blog just for them. 

A walk with a twist

Today's walk took the usual path down Ithaka Creek. Ibises scavenging, top knot pigeons cooeing and  a couple of ducks in the creek. Dougall was hell bent on having a ball. We ran down the hill to the path at such a pace, he was definitely walking me. He is my neighbour's pup, a boxer full of wonderful energy and enthusiasm. We have a great system. I borrow him when I want to take him for a walk and then give him back. Perfect.

I decided to let him off the leash and he bounded about. There was happiness in each of his jaunts, never too far, running through the long grass and the low lying branches as if playing hide and seek on his very own and delighting when he found me again.

It was an unusually quiet day and we saw no one, which was just as well, as I had him off the leash, until a couple appeared in the distance. I screwed my eyes a bit because I could see there was something on the ground and to my surprise I realised it was a cat. A cat out on a walk ?? That is unusual. So I rushed forward to put Dougall on the lead and as I approached the couple, she said "This is not my cat, but she has been following us. I was just taking my pet snake out for a walk". The snake was draped around her neck and the cat was now in her arms and she feared one might eat the other as we made our way past them with maximum enthusiasm.  

Well I did not want to risk carnage, so I hurried along with him and then looked back - was that for real? Yes it was, the snake, the cat, the tats and all of that ! 

What is the best thing about taking to the skies ?

Landing of course ! 

So that accounts for most of us out there. There is a small percentage who would still be up there...

What do you give the woman or man who has everything ?

A lot of us these days have most things, though we know many, many others who don't. A very first world problem for sure, but we are only here once, so I guess we are all looking for what may give us maximum pleasure and enjoyment in our short time on this planet. 

I got a bunch of barnacles for Xmas and how much pleasure or enjoyment I get out of those I am still weighing up. A more exciting Birthday present came from a dear friend who consulted hubby and came up with a Helicopter Ride over Brisbane. I took that as a hint that he would like to do this too, so it was a belated Birthday one for me and an advance Birthday one for him, when we took to the skies on a gorgeous autumn day. 

The helicopter could have been a toy. Raven is tiny, glassy, and my favourite colour, a dark blue. Does that count for attraction to the attraction and had it been yellow would it have been a no no ? We clambered in and put our safety belts on, " just like in a car" the pilot said, though I thought the distance you travel, fall, crash, may be vastly different. The engine was turned on and there was an undoubted tractor noise about it, chug chug chug, the rotary blades started up and behind us we could feel the engine warming up. Lets hope it doesn't get cold for it up there. We put on our head phones and talked into our mikes. A little nervously, but also hopefully. And then suddenly we were literally lifting straight off the launch pad and floating at an angle down the tarmac. An odd sensation and it almost felt like what fairies do in stories swooping in with their wands to spread their magic.Gradually we lifted to the 1000 ft that we would be cruising at and headed straight for the CBD. We looked down, where else, to see a well organised city, gridded and neat with homes and pools, roads and parks and the river snaking in and out. 

Then in we flew to the skyscrapers around the CBD and we literally circled them which was quite a thrill and admired the city as never before. Over to the western suburbs where C spotted the Medical School and our home not much further away, hovering over the Gabba Stadium and seeing how it dominated that landscape, before doing a south eastern turn to head back to the airfield. Methi, our trusted pilot brought the helicopter in to land exactly where we had taken off, a gentle setting down, unlike anything you experience on a plane, where you have the sensation of being forced back in your seat and brakes making unmistaken contact with the earth. Almost imperceptibly as if on a cushion, we were on the ground  and we waited for the rotary blades to come to a stop talking about the cityscapes and what we had enjoyed.  

Suddenly I was ravenous and wanted nothing more than a big brunch. All that nervous energy churning round inside not unlike those blades. Feeling alive and hungry.  A great Birthday pressie.