The world from my window

For eleven years, this was my holiday. Not bad for a confirmed landlubber. It all began in 2004 when Mr Grigg and I were looking for a holiday home on the beautiful island of Corfu. The place we wanted, on the edge of a village called Kavalouri, fell through. So on the last day of our fact-finding holiday, we called in at Gouvia Marina where my husband had an appointment with a man selling yachts. I'd sooner sit by the sea than sit on it. And then I saw an advertisement for a partnership scheme with the aptly-named Odysseus Yachting Holidays. We'd pay half the price for a boat and the company would pay the rest and charter it out. At the end of five years, it would be ours and, in the meantime, we could use it for up to five weeks a year.  Mr Grigg is crazy about the water. I am not so. I prefer rolling hills, cows and agriculture. However, I am pretty passionate about Greece, its islands, its people, ancient history and culture. And those azure waters are pretty inv...

I have just received an award from two lovely bloggers, Cheryl from Kangaroos of the Scrubby Bush (sorry Cheryl, but I'm from the Benny Hill generation and a title like that is bound to make me snigger), and Kelly Garriott Waite at Writing in the Margins, Bursting At The Seams (now that makes me think of an educated Victorian woman scribbling in stays, working hard to be noticed for her body and her prose). Now, as well as saying thank you, I know I am meant to do something before I can accept this award. I know you don't get anything for nothing. But while I figure out just what it is I have to do, hop across to my other blog, The World from My Porthole , for a sweet slice of life in the Ionian as Mr Grigg and I celebrate his special birthday today in western Greece. That's about it. Love Maddie x

As my resourceful Odysseus - Mr Grigg to you and me - makes sure our boat is watertight,  I am longing to be home. I am in the Ionian - see here - and the rain is pouring down like a patio water-feature set on high-speed. We have had thunder and lightning so loud and bright it could have been Zeus sending us a message from on high. We have family who need us back home and I am desperately missing The Enchanted Village and all its comings and goings. Even in paradise, things are not always as they seem. 'There is only one place to be when the weather is like this,' I say to Mr Grigg. 'Where's that?' he says, writing his daily log boat in the shelter of the cabin. 'Home.' That's about it. Love Maddie x

Join me on a journey to the centre of the earth and a hymn to Delphi, ancient and modern. Visit my occasional blog, The World from my Porthole , for the latest leg of our Homeric voyage in the Ionian in which Mr Grigg meets a real-life Python. I think you'll like it. See you shortly. Love Maddie x