Torches waiting for a spark

Prior to the fire of July 23, because of the enormous efforts over the past year of Vangeli and Sisi, who help me in the garden, there is still some semblance of a garden. Sadly this is not the case for most of my neighbors.

This past year, I "illegally" took out two enormous pine trees - last year one - and we topped and pruned three others.

I had gone to the mayor to ask permission to take them out as they were dangerously close to my guest house - my spitaki. He said I would have to go to the forestry service to get a permit - and it would take time to do this - and if I took them out and was "caught," I would be heavily fined. I took them out, and consequently still have the spitaki intact.

Every time I took out a pine, I planted at least one or more olive trees. Olives burn but they regenerate.

Vangeli and Sisi have raked up and filled more than 100...