In Crete this summer

 ... there were bold primary blues

and reds

a whitewashed villa with a deep terrace to protect from the fierce Meltemi wind

steep, stony hillsides dense with olive groves

winding roads dipping down

through tumbledown villages

narrow alleys overrun with climbing bougainvillea, jasmine, spreading vines

cheery geraniums, plumbago and pansies, orange trees and foraging cats

ancient ruins in beating sun, a din of clicking cicadas, the sound of summer

all paths leading to the sea

where a table at the edge of the water

always seems to be waiting

at any time of the day

Crete, July 2013