Tortalitza out of hibernation.
The weather is getting warmer and signs of spring are abundant. Almond trees are blossoming and my daffodils have bloomed. Another sign that it's getting warmer is that we can now find our tortoise "Tortalitza" roaming around the garden. She's come out of hibernation and is now ready to eat my lettuces once again. Whenever I plant any variety of lettuce she prefers it to the other green plants or weeds that I'm not growing to eat. Izabella is so happy spending time with her tortoise and by now it seems the tortoise is happy to see her. Foti has a tortoise named "Skorouli" but he's a little more evasive and difficult to find. Maybe he's still hibernating, hopefully we'll find him soon because the property needs to be tilled.
Izabella took her to visit the neighbors & she peeks from her temporary confines. I do think she's adorable.
Tortalitza is a Spur-thighed/Greek tortoise. You can find tortoises wandering the countryside and often stopping traffic. We don't take special care of her since we let her live in a natural environment in our garden. Although, we do make sure that there's always water available and that she's locked safely in her portion of the garden. If she wanders away from her enclosed space, Tarzan gets a hold of her and chews on her shell as well as tosses her around like a ball. We found Tarzan with her last year and he seriously damaged her shell. You can see the damage that he incurred in the first photo. She's healed well and again, we need to keep her out of his reach.
Izabellae enjoys Tortalitza's company
Our weather forecast for the weekend is fantastic (15 C/59 F) and we're planning to spend most of our time outside and Izabella will most definitely be enjoying the company of her tortoise. There's a lot to look forward to.
Have a wonderful weekend!
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Awesome!! I know Iza is happy that you found her tortoise before tilling. I am happy that the weather is looking so promising for the weekend. I only have a few more days in Greece...I want them all to beautiful and warm....well, here's hoping anyway. ;)
ReplyDeleteCheryl when the almonds begin growing, I'll pay you a visit:) I'll be waiting to see if you like them with salt.
ReplyDeleteTortalitsa, that's a lovely name for a turtle. Although we live in a flat, there is a small garden at the back and years ago when my children were young there were two turtoises my children loved just watching them.
@ Christie- they found her when you were here last week, remember? This weekend will be fantastic because we'll make it that way, regardless of the weather! :)xo
ReplyDelete@ Ivy- I will definitely try the almonds with salt and you're welcome to visit any time!
The name was made up by Izabella 2 years ago...it's her "Grenglish" for tortoise + the ever cute Greek "itsa"...:)
I think every child that has outside space should have a tortoise or two...
I look forward to seeing our tortoises come out again. We used to have Hermann's Tortoise [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann%27s_Tortoise] quite abundantly everywhere here, but now with all the house builds everywhere, they are very shy and further afield. (tho we had a family -with babies!- in our garden last year!) I hope they come back and now that you've found yours I'll start looking.
ReplyDeleteI'll not forget the first year we were here and our cat (who was fairly young at the time) had no idea what to do with it so she sat on top of the shell while he slowly crossed the lawn and went into the bushes. It was VERY funny. Of course I didn't have my camera handy...
We had a turtle! But he escaped! Go figure! A slow-moving turtle was able to escape the clutches of twin 7 year olds. So we started calling him the "ninja turtle" because he seemed to juet disappear into thin air. A more likely story is that they didn't put the turtle back in the box and became distracted by the pool and went swimming. Oh well. The turtle looked rather glum in the box anyway.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a mostly good life to be a tortoise around there (except poor Tarzan being a young, energetic dog.)
ReplyDeleteI can't believe it's already blooming there! Our early spring flowers are breaking through (I did see some snowdrops in bloom down the street). We've had an incredibly cold winter though, which just began to 'break' this week. It feels like spring but I'm a bit nervous to say 'winter's over' just yet.
I ate a raw green almond once - it tasted like a raw green bean, and had about the same consistency, but a bit firmer. Not unpleasant.
Can't believe the damage Tarzan did!
ReplyDeleteMy friend has a tortoise she found on the beach??
Have a fab weekend, we've had glorious sunny weather..
Take care
Jude
Wonderful..nice pet Cheryl.Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful creature to have in your life. I love tortoises! The only ones we have nearby are little longnecked tortoises that live in the creeks!
ReplyDelete@ Jes - Baby tortoises in the garden? How wonderful! Let me know when you find one. And -I think I the cat hitching a ride is hilarious. I would've loved to have seen that!
ReplyDelete@ Spuds- The ninja turtle! That's funny. A few hours must have passed for it to get away. I agree, a life in a box isn't very fruitful...the turtle took the opportunity presented to it. We had a hedgehog that did that, Iza left the cage open and it disappeared. Although I felt bad for the kids, I was glad it got away. :)
@ Syd- The tortoises do have it good around here, especially since they eat everything I grow and then some.
Everything is blooming and beautiful and I'm still waiting for our almond trees to blossom since all of the around us have. Ours always blossom later than others. I'll share pics for sure. Our winter was very wet, damp and muddy. I can't wait for it to be over.
Now, I must try the green almonds..:P
Have a nice weekend Syd!
@ Jude- I know! Tarzan really chewed her up. I was very concerned when I found him with her but she healed well although her shell doesn't look as beautiful as it once did. Yes, the tortoises hang around the beach, we found out other one on a road along a beach. I hope you have a wonderful weekend too! xo
:)
@ Krisno- Thank you, I think it's a wonderful pet too as she requires relatively no special care. Have a wonderful weekend!
@ Joy- We think so too. The kids really love spending time with them. It must be nice to see the tortoise near the creeks. Enjoy your weekend :)
@ Jes - Baby tortoises in the garden? How wonderful! Let me know when you find one. And -I think I the cat hitching a ride is hilarious. I would've loved to have seen that!
ReplyDelete@ Spuds- The ninja turtle! That's funny. A few hours must have passed for it to get away. I agree, a life in a box isn't very fruitful...the turtle took the opportunity presented to it. We had a hedgehog that did that, Iza left the cage open and it disappeared. Although I felt bad for the kids, I was glad it got away. :)
@ Syd- The tortoises do have it good around here, especially since they eat everything I grow and then some.
Everything is blooming and beautiful and I'm still waiting for our almond trees to blossom since all of the around us have. Ours always blossom later than others. I'll share pics for sure. Our winter was very wet, damp and muddy. I can't wait for it to be over.
Now, I must try the green almonds..:P
Have a nice weekend Syd!
@ Jude- I know! Tarzan really chewed her up. I was very concerned when I found him with her but she healed well although her shell doesn't look as beautiful as it once did. Yes, the tortoises hang around the beach, we found out other one on a road along a beach. I hope you have a wonderful weekend too! xo
:)
@ Krisno- Thank you, I think it's a wonderful pet too as she requires relatively no special care. Have a wonderful weekend!
@ Joy- We think so too. The kids really love spending time with them. It must be nice to see the tortoise near the creeks. Enjoy your weekend :)
This is an excellent post and photos dear Cheryl!
ReplyDeletePhivos- As always, I thank you for your support!!! I hope that you're enjoying the weekend~~
ReplyDelete:) xo
Cheryl, I'm envious of your springtime temps. We have had one of the coldest, and snowiest, winters on record. Snow, even if at first picturesque,gets tiresome after a while. I want to get back into some pretty shoes after wearing snow boots and Wellies for so long.
ReplyDeleteTortalitza the tortoise, what a fun name. Maybe if you feed her some tortellni she will dance the tarantella and leave your lettuce alone;)
Have a wonderful week.
Biddy,
ReplyDeleteI have to say that despite the rain our weather has been mild. On most days I only wear a sweater with a poncho. My pretty shoes are always muddy though.
I love your wit!
Have a great month and a great week! I always love hearing from you :)