Saturday Night Fever

It's just another week here on the Emerald Island. The weather is sporadic. It's sunny most of the day and turns into a monsoon at night. A great deal of trees have fallen on the property, both here and at the kiwi farm.

The cart in question

Speaking of the kiwi farm, Sayer, Jon and Attila finished the kiwi harvest! In just a little over 2 weeks they picked 337 crates, each an average of 25 kilograms (40-50 pounds, more or less). Jon said that last year's harvest took over a month with 4 people and a Kubota tractor. This year we pushed a rickety hand cart up and down the soggy hillside. Hmmm, what to do at the farm now...

Aldo has continued to work at the riding center. The instructors have been giving him riding and handling lessons during their spare time. They might even make a horse whisperer out of him.

Aldo working on long reining Isabella

On a sad note, Mrs. Steen lost the first Skyrian born under her watch this week. Silverstar passed away quickly and we believe she might have been poisoned. It took 6 of us to load her into the back of the van for burial. Aldo stayed up and helped tend to the ailing animal but she did not make it through the night. It is fortunate, however, that she passed during the night and not during a lesson or while the children were at the stables.

On Saturday night we had a big party down at Captain's to celebrate Mrs. Steen's newest accomplishment. For over 4 years she has tried to get approval to build a new, covered arena and riding center near the kiwi farm. After much fighting and campaigning, she was finally given permission! Construction should start within the next few days and contingent on the weather.

All of the instructors, employees and long-time riders that helped make this possible were in attendance. Even the mayor of Corfu joined the 40+ people. Early in the evening, Captain George pulled Sayer back into the kitchen to prepare the plates for our guests. After the meal, Mrs. Steen said a few words of thanks and sang "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" in remembrance of Silverstar. After that, the party was in full swing with yet another round of karaoke. We will leave out the details, but the singing continued into the early morning hours and we closed down the house after the rest of the party left. Yet another great night in Corfu!

On Monday morning came clear and sunny skies. Jon loaded us up to go to the south of the island. The good weather was short lived, however, and the rest of the day was spent in the wind and rain. We passed through a few ghost towns including Kavos (due to the winter low-season) and knocked a few more geocaching spots off of our list.

Boom

Ruins of a monastery (we didn't find the cache)

Corfu Town from the observatory

This week we have some guests in the house and on the property. A news station from Athens is here to film a documentary on Mrs. Steen and her mission. They will interview a few of the instructors as well. Other than that, we are looking at another week of work and fellowship here at the Silva Project. Thanksgiving is coming up and perhaps we'll make some comfort food so as to not completely miss out on the tradition.