Easter 2026

Easter came early this year. Bazaar at Arsakeio was an opportunity for Polyxeni and her “team” to work on creating their “merchandise” the weekend before, and then do some active selling at the Bazar, during the last day of school.

Easter week was a good time to spend a few days at Arachova. There was still good snow on the mountain, and we were contemplating to do some more skiing, we only had only one day of ski on a very foggy day this season (Polyxeni loved it anyway). But in the end we didn’t manage to take off for Arachova.

Polyxeni had her birthday surprise “party” @49 office on Holy Saturday evening. Afterwards we all walked to the Church at Kefalari for Easter mass.

PV power @Davleia

RES power stored in the 4 (newly bought) LiFePO4 350Ah batteries wired in 2S2P mode; charged by the Epever controller; PV input from 4 x Sharp 395w panels south facing; the 6kw 24VDC to 230VAC inverter feeds the main electrical panel on the ground floor, via a selector switch that was installed (selects inverter or diesel generator input). The power delivered is sufficient to power essential loads at the Davleia site.

If the works for the house proceed as expected, a powerful 3-Φ system delivering up to 6KW continuous power on each phase for a total of 18KW will be commissioned.

Electrical works

Απο τα μεσα Ιανουαριου αποκτησαμε pied a terre στην Αραχωβα, καθως νοικιασαμε ενα μικρο διαμερισμα 2ΥΔ σε συγκροτημα-πολυκατοικια. Ειναι ψηλα στο χωριό, πανω απο τον Αη Γιωργη, στα 1002 μέτρα υψομετρο βασει του google earth, με προσανατολισμο και θεα προς το νότο. Εχει, γκαραζ, τζακι και καλοριφερ με ηλεκτρικο 3Φ Boiler. Αυτο βέβαια ειναι κοστοβόρο και, το κυριοτερο χρειαζεται αρκετες ωρες για να ζεστανει το διαμερισμα οταν ειναι κρύο – οπως συνηθως το χειμώνα στην Αράχωβα.

Για να μπορουμε λοιπον να ξεκινάμε τον καυστηρα αρκετες ωρες πριν παμε εκει, πχ απο την Παρασκευή μεσημερι αν σχεδιαζουμε να μεινουμε ΠΣΚ, εγκατέστησα «remote control» στον πινακα. Χρειαστηκε να μεταφερω την ασφαλεια του θερμοσιφωνα στην πανω ραγα που ειχε χωρο, και να τοποθετησω ενα Shelly Pro-1 και 3Φ contactor, σε συνδυσμο με τον 3Φ ασφαλειοδιακόπτη Geyer του καυστηρα, που εφεξης θα παραμενει ανοικτος και θα λειτουργει μονο ως ασφαλεια. Ομως, μετα την εγκατασταση (που εγινε σωστά) ανεκαλυψα the hard way οτι ο Shelly αρνειται πεισματικά να συνδεθει στο internet/Shelly cloud οταν το wifi εχει “ασθενες” σημα, οπως στο συκεκριμενο σημειο που βρισκεται ο πινακας 🙁

Προς το παρον ο μονος τροπος για να αναβει ο καυστηρας ειναι μεσω συνδεσης στο wifi του shelly, και να δινεται εντολη χειροκινητα στο shelly app. Δηλαδη εγινε «μια τρυπα στο νερο» ή το «η εγχειρηση πέρυχε, ομως ο ασθενης απέθανε». Το επόμενο ΣΚ θα δοκιμάσω να ενισχύσω το σήμα του wifi με ενα tp-link repeater RE300, μήπως τα καταφερει να συνδεθει ο Shelly, ή στη χειρότερη περίπτωση να εγκαταστησω ενα Sonoff powr2 που μου φαινεται πολυ περισσοτερο robust & αξιόμαχο, για να οδηγει τον contactor.

Boating in Cyclades

Captain dap and the crew of two girls Andriana and Emmeleia sailed out from Batsi to Ysternia bay, Tinos Island. After some swimming and snorkeling in the bay, and with the weather permitting, we set out for Ornos bay, Myconos. We anchored far from shore, and used the dingy to get ashore, then took the bus to town. This was the first time for the girls in Myconos; we strolled around, had dinner and then visited Andreas, an old friend of the captain who moved to Myconos some 14 years ago, and who owns the Notorious bar.

After a drink and some catching up, we took the last bus to Ornos.

Trizonia island, revisited

It has been a year since we visited Trizonia for a short day-trip, together with giagia Polyxeni, Alkistis and Andriana. We had lunch at the harbor, at the taverna where long time ago, Dimitris and Christos were bringing every afternoon their catch of the day for cooking. The old lady would fry fish, and serve them with tomato salad and wine and her husband would join us for dinner and to pick our brain on pretty much any topic. We had arrived on the island on a tiny boat powered by a Seagull ouboard. We were two young students, complete strangers to the islanders; from their reactions it was obvious that they were curious and sort of amused. We had let all everybody know that we would be camping on the nearby -deserted- island of Ai Gianni’s, spearfishing daily, cooking our catch on a bonfire on the beach, and sleeping under the stars. The islanders seemed not convinced that two preppy schoolboys could pull this off, sustaining themselves on the small island for days, and so on. Well… we did start a bonfire the first evening, but ended up sleeping only that first night on the beach.  During our sleep in the middle of the night, we were first alarmed when hearing sounds btanches cracking and thought someone from the island had come to harm us; the next day we found out that there were loose goats on the island. But we also found out, the hard way (as one mouse walked over my face, stepping on my mouth, my lips) that there were too many mice running around near us and around the bonfire. They were too excited to have guests on the island and they were treating themselves with our food remnants – apparently there were no cats on Ai Gianni’s island. So we ended up sleeping on our tiny boat for the rest of our expedition. And no more cooking… we would motor to Trizonia village with the catch of the day, then motoring at dusk to Ai Gianni’s, anchoring the boat, tied to the shore. We still worried whether the mice would venture out from the beach and swim over to pay us a visit, but they never did 🙂

Part of Trizonia on the right, Ai Gianni’s island on the left, photo taken on 23-5-2025, the original expedition took place in early July 1975, half century ago.

camping @49

Sudden loss of power at base, forced Dad Mom Poly and Stuart to set up camp @D49 last night.

exploring unfamiliar territory

An emergency devised “backup” power source at base, keeps essential equipment running: router, duckpap.com, ipcamera and both refrigerators.

Poly presenting sculpted flower made for dad

Poly @ballet

after a Thursday ballet lesson, Poly is at work with her very talkative and sociable friend who is in the same ballet group. She is inviting her, along with another girl and a boy (the latter sitting quietly by his mom, totally immersed on her mobile phone) to come over at our home for fun and games.