Greece 2014

July 31, 2014

We are kissing July goodbye on a cool windy morning at Stavraqu.  Zinnias dance alongside Queen Anne’s Lace as a yellow ribbon flaps wildly over the heads of grapevines advising hungry birds to keep away. Stellios, naked (as a blue-jay?  Why is naked associated with blue jays?) stretches out on the old bed cover on the patio in his ritual pre-ouzo exercise program.  The day started oddly for me, because sitting up in bed I could smell no coffee.  Making my way to the kitchen, my first guess was an absence of filters, but in fact I learned when raising my troubled Ohio eyebrows in a glance to my husband, that he had simply forgotten to turn the machine from off to on, a gesture I immediately corrected.  So while the brewing commenced, I reentered my novelette and was back on the Island of Kalkos and absorbed in the icon mystery, The Lady of Sorrows, a little distracted page to page because I was clearly in the flight path of swallows who were attempting risky maneuvers inches from my scalp.  

According to our personal weatherman, Stellios Foras, storms are coming in our direction the first two days of August, but the final July clouds have been pushed back by a persuasive sun.  That said, it feels more like a warm autumn morn, which makes Stellios dream of football and puts me in a more productive mood.  My mental energy is almost always numbed and distorted by summer heat.  This day moves me to think of buying a box of number 2 pencils, yellow-lined notebooks, and a school satchel and ready my mind for learning.  Climate change, I guess, has brought the spirit of school days a month early. 

August  1, 2014

August has come to Ierissos with clouds and drizzle, disappointing to the locals and the tourists for a Friday and for many the opening of their summer holiday.  We even had an extra coffee while reading and going in and out of the house with the hopes of encouraging the sun to win.  Stell has already decreed this is a no-swim day.   I keep aggravating him by suggesting if the temperature continues to dip there may be snowflakes when Carrie, Paris, and Alexander arrive on Monday night.  He’s not amused.  I, however, have absolute trust in Stellios Foras whose forecast says the temporary chill will be over by Sunday.  I’m always amused by the Greeks who come out of the sea when it starts to rain, even when there is no thunder and lightening, fearing they may get wet?    Also, they are very uncomfortable here with even the smallest waves, which would be considered a calm sea in Hawaii.  Little kids like to have some waves pushing them down, but their moms insist they exit and huddle under umbrellas until hopefully calmness returns to Ierissos Bay.

I’ve made a hearty tomato salad, and we have some “new” feta from the shop that has opened in town to sell only more expensive locally produced foods.  I will say the cheese is very nice, a mixture of sheep and goat cheese.  In food, I guess, it is not necessary to separate the sheep from the goats.

August 2, 2014

We watched lightening move around the sky and over the sea for about two hours last night before retiring.  Then in the early morning hours thunder and lightening was directly overhead and the rain pelted the house and surrounds.  After a hard downpour the air is always so clean and the view of the mountains across the bay is crystal clear.  Swimming is in our future finally.  Stell did see in the paper that a lot of rain and even hailstorms are expected this month.  Most unusual.  I am about finished with my seventh book:

·      Three Bags Full

·      We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For

·      Home Cooking

·      In The Woods

·      Things Fall Apart

·      The Lady of Sorrows

·      By Its Cover

When I wrap up the Donna Leon mystery, I will begin Elizabeth Warren’s book.

Since many will ask me about how I found the village this summer, I will tell you it is in a very sad state of affairs economically as is much of Greece.  The more political everyday people blame the Germans and Americans and say we are “eating their lunch.”  Most of the people are angry because of the serious cuts in their pensions.  Many shops have permanently closed and the ouzo places have fewer patrons.  The younger people are not hanging out in the video shops and other hangouts like in the past.  Most of the tourists are Serbs and Bulgarians, and they do not eat in the restaurants.  The go to the cheaper grocery market and lykee (open market on Tuesday mornings) and buy food and eat in their campers or apartments.  They don’t buy drinks and trinkets, and their children aren’t riding in the bumper cars.  (Our young friend, Natasha, who works at a hotel where most of the customers are Russian told us that the Russians are quite polite, The Bulgarians less so, and the Romanians the worst.) Last night Stell had to make a quick trip to the village because his niece, Despina, called and said water was leaking from his apartment into her apartment.  They didn’t immediately find the source of the problem, but they just shut off the water.  On the way back to our house, a car followed him and the driver was beeping for Stell to stop.  The driver begged Stell for a 100 euro until Monday, but Stell didn’t have money with him and also he didn’t want to loan it if he had, because he was not confident the young man would not pay this back.  (He knows him.)  Increasingly, the young people are discovering that their parents and grandparents don’t have money.  As I have written over so many years, the people here indulge their children.  We know several families where they give their children their only car to drive minutes to the beach, while they, the parents, walk to accomplish their chores.  Now the grandparents and parents have sold their fields, the kids bought cars and bars (and cellphones), and there is no more money.  Stell predicted this several years ago, and I am seeing that he was right.  None of the business people are saying things are good this year.  I am very anxious to have Carrie and Paris’ impressions, because they tend to go to town in the evenings, so they will have a take on the economy as well.  They arrive in Thessaloniki around 4:30 p.m. on Monday, and Paris is planning on stopping at Agios Prodomos for souvlaki on the way here, so it will probably be around 9 p.m. before we see them.

We’ve had many ouzos with Michael and Anya from Pottsdam, and they are still expressing much marital discord.  Anya seems rather jealous of Michael’s successes this year in his lawyering.  Anyhow they are constantly snipping and snapping at one another.  We did learn a fun new expression from Anya, however.  The Germans call people who are pretentious and trying to project that they are important, shiggy miggy.   For example, men who must wear shirts with some alligator or other emblem are shiggy miggy. 

So that’s an update of events, people, and weather at Stavraqu Greece.  Enjoy your day and don’t be too shiggy miggy. 

August 3, 2014

We went to the village last night and the change we observed was dramatic.  The place was crawling with people and cars.  The restaurants were overflowing.  A couple of women were performing in the center – one singing, the other accompanying her on a guitar.  They were competing with a big party of people at the Touristico, where a women’s group was holding a fundraiser for an orphan from the village.  The very talented bouzouki player, Georgios was singing, and his orchestra seemed to be drowning out the two women.  Children were in line to ride the bumper cars, and people were walking around with their ice-creams or corn on the cob.  We finally found a table at Mitakos, and were joined quickly by Stellios Foras and Anja.  We had a perfect seat for listening to the “good” music.  We didn’t get home until 2 a.m.  More like the old days.  Now I will observe if these big crowds persist until August 15^th.  We’ve started closing our gate with our comings and goings and so far this seems to have kept the cow out of our territory.  Her bell is so damn loud that she can keep you (well especially Stell, not me) awake.  Coyotes surrounded the house last night so we had surround-sound howling. 

It’s considerably hotter today, so no question we will swim.  The word for weather heat is “zesty”.  Today is poli zesty.   The best way to manage this is to jump into the sea.   I am anxious to see if people stay on the beach or if many are weekend people who will leave after lunch to return to their apartments in Thessaloniki.  My friend Julie and her husband, Chuck, leave for Cyprus from Colorado on Tuesday.  She has accepted a four month teaching assignment.  She’s been writing a novel that is situated in Greece, so she should get some material for this or perhaps for another novel. 

August 4, 2014

Foras was here early this morning with a triopita for the kids.  Now I can say that one of the surprises for Alexander is that Stell brought a kitten here the day I arrived for Alexander.  It is black and white and loves pita more than fish, so I guess he is really a Greek cat.  For the first time this morning he ventured into the little forest next to the house and stayed away for a considerable time.  I thought this might be the end of him, but he’s back on Stell’s chair preening.  

I’ve started Elizabeth Warren’s A Fighting Chance, and no one is going to be the least surprised that I love it.  Stell gave it to me as a birthday gift.   Also, probably tomorrow we will start the interviews for our two summer studies related to civic engagement in Ierissos of people who are in the theatre troupe and a second group who have been active protestors of the gold mine.   I drafted the questions, Stell amended them, and then John Doble offered wise critique, so I think we are ready to go.  I want to know how involvement in both groups has influenced civic engagement.  It has been easy to think of people in the theatre troupe to interview, but a bit more difficult with the protestors.  There are innumerable protestors, but I very much want people we call just plain folks and not the more dramatic participants.  Foras’ wife, Katerina, is a very good choice, because she is a homemaker with no official role in the community. 

Here are the questions we will be asking:

Does an anticipated community crisis generate community engagement?

Why did you get involved with the anti-gold mine movement in Ierissos?  How would you characterize your involvement? Do you plan to continue to be involved?  Do you think your involvement has been meaningful?

Do you think the concerns about the gold mine have made local citizens more community-minded? Does the anticipation of a crisis alter leadership in a community? Has the crisis caused new leaders to emerge?

Does the focus of engaged citizens around a perceived crisis stay on what is anticipated or does it shift to other issues over time?

If you think citizens are more involved because of the gold mine, what are they doing?

Do people align with others with whom they have not been connected prior to the perceived crisis (including people who may have disagreed on other issues?)

Has how you think about the community changed?

Has how you think about yourself changed?

Does participation in a voluntary arts community generate community engagement?

Why did you get involved with the theatre troupe?  How would you characterize your involvement?

Does participation in the theatre troupe generate community engagement in other areas?

Do people who typically are inactive in community life, become motivated to act with others on community matters once they have been involved with the theatre troupe?

Does participation in the theatre troupe influence views of leadership in a community?

Does the focus of theatre members remain focused on productions or does it add or shift to other topics/issues?

What is the evidence of citizen engagement of theatre members?

Have you aligned with others with whom they have not been connected prior to your involvement with the theatre group?

Has how you think about the community changed because of being a part of the theatre group?

Has how you think about yourself as a member of the community changed because of being a part of the theatre group?

August 8, 2014

I haven’t written for several days because we have been entertained by Alexander, Carrie and Paris.  On Wednesday night we had a very dramatic storm.  It started around 9 p.m. with lightening and thunder circling the sea.  Eventually we had to move inside because of the heavy rain, some hail, and strong winds.  Alexander loved it.  At around midnight we all headed to bed, and the rain continued to pellet the house until early morning.  When we got up, Paris was gone.  He walked to the village and bought some supplies.  His shoes were covered in mud.  We didn’t go to the village, but gradually the sun came up and the ground became dry enough that they could go to the village in the evening.  Alexander finally got a bumper car ride, then they had dinner with their cousins. 

In the afternoon, Paris fixed our first meal on the new barbecue.  We had barbecued sausage and Carrie fixed some fried potatoes with garlic and wonderful oregano.  It was a lunch that felt like the one observed in the Boat Party painting by Renoir.  Stell and I stayed home when they went to the village, sipped Scotch and enjoyed the cricket and coyote serenades. 

August 10, 2014

Sunday.   Paris, Carrie and Alexander are going swimming and to lunch in Nea Rhoda.  We are still at the house with Foras and Jevilikis, since they have come here to do some minor repairs.  After Stell does his daily exercise regime we will go to Sultanas for mezze and ouzo, then to Mylos for swimming.  I rather suspect we will have lunch at Moraggio.  Last night the choir sang accompanied by a tremendous orchestra.  Tonight is the full moon festival.  Alexander is pretty excited about this.  I’ve started my new book Five Chiefs written by Justice Stevens describing the five Supreme Court Chiefs he actually knew.  I didn’t want the Elizabeth Warren book to end, but I’m sure she will write another one about her days as a Senator and beyond.  For some reason my MacAir won’t stay charged, so I have to plug it in daily which is getting annoying.  It is still under warranty, so I’ll see what is wrong when I get home.  Otherwise it works just fine. 

Katerina brought Alexander a small round watermelon.  She handed him the bag and he thought it was a bowling ball.  Now he laughs about this!  He calls the grocery store, Mazoutis, Mosquitoes. 

I really don’t have much too add to this message.  We are lazy and definitely refreshed with the sea every day.  We sit around and have delightful conversations at sunset, and our only regret is that Nic and Apisata aren’t with us – but everyone and definitely Anna, Stell’s sister, is hoping next year they will be in the mix.  Also, Jaiden is staying in Ohio.  She spent last week with her Dad, and today goes to her father’s parents for this week, then she will spend her last week with Carrie’s parents.  Everyone loves to have her, so the different venues are fun for her, too.  I sent her a photo of a dog on a balcony of an unfinished apartment and told her that he was going to fix it up before she visits next summer.  He’s a very friendly big dog who seems only interested in observing people enjoying their ouzos. 

More news as the week unfolds. 

August 12, 2014

Stell has just read the upsetting news about Robin Williams.  Tragic, tragic, tragic.  We are sitting outside and Carrie is doing a lesson with Alexander where he is working to write the letter V.  He has stickers at the back of the book which he can put on the page if he does a good job.  I call them stinkers instead of stickers, and he thinks this is really funny.   There is a beautiful sailboat on Ierissos Bay, the only boat we can see.  I’m reading Five Chiefs, and finding that when I read about the early court decisions, it is amazing to think that justice has worked as well as it has. Definitely there have been bad appointments since the beginning of the judicial branch as well as brilliant ones. 

Today I have to go to the local market and buy some olives and also a new supply of feta cheese.  Carrie constructed a family tree from dates I have assembled over the past few years beginning with Stell’s grandparents.  She purposefully chose an olive tree.  A local businessman has framed this, and we are supposed to pick it up this afternoon. 

There are church bells ringing frequently on a daily basis as we approach August 15^th.   Last night Paris prepared chicken on the new grill and Carrie made delicious potatoes. We always eat outside unless there is rain, and the past few nights with the full moon rising over the mountain have been enchanting.  Alex was a little congested and tired from the sand and sea, so I told him I would lie with him on the couch.  He conked out in less than ten minutes.  A few of the books I brought to read to him, I’ve read so many times that I’ve started to memorize them.  One is about a Mama Lion with a Migraine and another about some “Cut-up” boys who go to Camp Custer.  Oh yes, and then there is the all time favorite about Fire Engines.  Carrie brought a great book full of famous children’s stories including Alexander, and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day, Goodnight Moon, and Where the Wild Things Are. 

I have been very lax on reading some of the papers for Maxine at Kettering, but I will dwell on this when the kids return to Ohio.  For now, I just want to enjoy time with Alexander because I love kids and observing his development and his time with his Pappou couldn’t be more delightful.  He’s happy, not impatient, humorous, and creative. 

Tomorrow I will have been here a month.  Although we have a routine similar to other years, the time seems to be going faster.  Adeline noted many years ago that as you age, the days, weeks and months go faster.  It seems true.  I forgot to say that Paris got up very early yesterday morning and went on a serious mountain bike ride with Michael (who is 59) and three younger German guys.  He said the sites were impressive, but he was really exhausted when the ride ended.  He rides frequently with a colleague in Columbus, but not on mountain bikes. 

As in previous years, this day we describe as BAC = Beyond Appointments and Constraints.  These are days like those sought by people who wean themselves from the Internet/Facebook. 

Stell just said, “Okay I am getting dressed, and I will be ready to go.”  This means, I must be ready to go, too! 

August 27, 2014

You can see from the last day that I wrote that I have really neglected my journal this summer.  One reason is that it was possible for Paris, Carrie, and Alexander to stay with us for three weeks, and for sure I would rather spend time with them then write entries.  Also, because I have come for so many years now, some stories are just too repetitive.  Now I will use the photos on my iphone to recall some of the events.  Today I got my summer “hairs cut” by Costas.  That all went well.  He did a very careful “Vidal Sassoon” job.  When I finished I went to a little shop to get a small Greek flag for Nic, and then walked to Sultanas to meet later with Stell for an ouzo.  He was at the courthouse with the hopes of finalizing Paris becoming a citizen of Ierissos, since yesterday we had a successful meeting with the local priest who found Paris’ baptism in the book and prepared an official stamped document.  Keep in mind the church is about twenty steps from the courthouse.  Today when he took the official paper, the “bitchy” woman (not the same who had met with Paris and Stell several days ago and was very efficient), said she didn’t recognize the name of the priest!  Keep in mind, Ierissos only has two Greek churches, and one would assume that just about anyone here would know the names of both the priests.  On top of this, she now stated that she must have Paris’ birth certificate.  I won’t go into the details, but these documents have been presented so many times, it is absurd.   By the time Stell got to Sultana’s he was fuming.   I just kept waving the Greek flag that is for Nic, and the Captain who sits at Sultana’s keep saying, Ireni, Ireni (Peace, Peace).  Stell calmed down, Foras arrived, and then my hair stylist decided also to join us for an ouzo.  Before we left for Mylos, a younger man stopped by the table and said he wanted to talk to Stell later about “some matter.”

We went to Mylos – almost no one is at the beach now, and the young man came by to say that he is going to Phoenix, Arizona to work with some monk who has been establishing monasteries around the U.S.  The young man wants to bring some Greek dance troupes to the U.S. and wanted Stell’s advice on contacting Greek communities in the U.S.   We had lunch at Moraggio – moussaka and fried colikethia and came home for the daily siesta. Now it is 7:30 p.m. and we are approaching the sunset.

Something else that I haven’t put in the journal is that my college forever friend, Julie Bailey, and her husband Chuck are in Cyprus until December, because she took a recent temporary appointment to teach English literature.  This is her first time in this part of the world, so it is fun getting her postings.  She has a blog which I look forward to reading after next week in Watkinsville.  She said in a posting today that Chuck went for a walk which he measured by the number of feral cats he saw along the way.  Feral cats are everywhere in Greece, and we actually have one hanging out here.  In the book I just finished reading, Patrick Leigh Fermor:  An Adventure, the author says that Cyprus has some of the roughest terrain in all of Europe, and in older days when people were asked a distance from one place to another, they measured it in cigarettes smoked on the way to their destination. 

So we are in the countdown, as we leave next Thursday, a week from tomorrow. 

Another reoccurring event this summer has been the number of conversations family members have initiated related to the possibility of their children coming to study in the U.S.  Stell has prepared Carrie, Paris, and me to be very careful in these conversations, otherwise we might end up with cousins galore on our doorsteps.  Yesterday, for, example, we met with a “third cousin”, Maria, who has been accepted to study finance in Thessaloniki.  The pretense for the meeting was to talk with Stell about what would be good electives.  He then suggested I spend some time talking with her, and the truth was she just wanted to talk with me about American colleges and universities.  Lots of kids here go to diploma mills in England, a country that has made a fortune in the diploma mill business.  What I like is that Stell always insists when parents talk to him that they send their children directly to him.  Young people continue to be indulged – mothers still cook for grown sons in their 30s and 40s, do all their laundry, and iron all their clothes.  Our niece is going to one of the schools in Birmingham in September, and her mother wants to go with her to help her set up her dorm room!  Fortunately, our niece has requested that her mother stay home and visit later.  A man Stell writes with has a son who could go to school in a place near the Turkish border, which Stell says is an excellent institution.  Instead his mother wants him to stay and study in Thessaloniki.  A repeated story.  The attachments are greater than apron strings . . . more like umbilical cords.

Paris and Carrie did a lot of work while they were here.  Paris and Foras got the new barbecue in full operation. It has an electric skewer, so it was fun to have some shishkabobs.  Carrie cleaned all the windows, which is a huge job here, and Paris and Alexander mopped all the floors.  In addition, Paris got some type of sealer for around the windows to prevent moisture from damaging the windows.  Carrie, we learned, loves to chop food, so several times she got peaches from our tree (that was loaded this summer), and made a nice dessert, and she made several excellent salads.  Alexander and I enjoyed the popcorn, but Stell accused Carrie of making too much – that said, we managed to eat all of it.  Also, Carrie collected a lot of oregano (there is a luscious patch outside their bedroom), and hung it to dry.  Later Foras helped them sift it, so with that and what Sakis gave us we have a huge supply.  Old Nicos came up a few days ago and picked several more bunches.  People say that the oregano at Stavraqu is the best in the area.  It is definitely pungent.

We hung the family tree that was completed by Carrie in the Temple.  One afternoon we visited Stell’s sister, Ereni, in Olympiada.  She served us bougatsa and then we walked to a beautiful seaside taverna for lunch. The weather was perfect and the pictures  Carrie took look like Renoir paintings. Alexander wanted to wear my hat which made him look like a little French schoolboy.  The doorway to Ereni’s home is covered with strings of beads, and Alexander just thought it was great fun to go in and out of this bangly passage.

More to follow . . . .

August 28, 2014

One week until departure.  We have already arranged for the taxi with our cousin, Georgios.  We will leave around 5:45 a.m. for Thessaloniki, at 8:30 a.m. head to Athens, at 12:20 p.m. off to Paris, and I think around 2 p.m. be off to Atlanta. 

We went to bed early last night for Greek standards, around 11 p.m. after watching so many shooting stars (in August we see lots of them).  There is a little dead tree on the edge of the lawn, and when I came outside around 7:30 a.m. it was loaded with swallows.  They have a nest in the garage.  There must have been thirty or forty swallows sitting on this tree.  Then one of them gave the signal and they started swooping around the area and almost dive-bombing us.  They are the most inexpensive pest control company in the area. 

I finished reading Patrick Leigh Fermor (a birthday gift from Addie) a couple of days ago, and am about a fifth of the way into James Fox Five Sisters:  The Langhornes of Virginia (also a gift from Addie which I have recommended to Jinx).  Fermor, it is said, was the most popular Brit in Greece except for Lord Byron.  So I think I have read eleven books this summer.  I cannot read with the concentration when I’m in Georgia – too many distractions.  Here I can read for hours in the morning and often in the afternoon.   We are officially naming our library at Stavraqu, The Adeline S. Holt Library.  I think she has supplied nearly half of our collection over the years.

I don’t think I have much exciting Greek family news to convey this year.  Everyone seems healthy- this is of course the best news.  We’ve had nice times with both of Stell’s sisters, Ereni and Anna.  The night we had the joint-celebration of Carrie and Stell’s birthday, Paris brought Anna up to Stavraqu, and she loved sitting here reminiscing about her youth.  Stell says that actually Ereni worked up here much more than Anna, and he thinks Anna makes up many of her stories, but nonetheless they are happy and sweet stories.  

Today our caretaker, Stellios Foras, is taking his wife Katerina to the hospital in Thessaloniki, or if he doesn’t take her their son, Yiannis, will.  She has had a kidney stone since December or January, and this was the first time the surgery could be scheduled.  Keep in mind this is August 28^th.  If you don’t have connections and/or money, this is the problem of socialized medicine. I can’t  imagine living with a kidney stone this many months.  She is terrified about the anesthesia because she has never been put under.  We’ve tried to explain to her that there is really nothing to fear, but just saying the words doesn’t work.  I hope this all goes smoothly and I can see her a few more times before we leave.  Despite her discomfort, she has cooked many dishes for us this summer.  Unfortunately like too many people here she smokes, however.  There is no point talking about this, because it is a way of life, and although people realize (I think) the consequences, the addictions are intense. People park in the middle of the streets and block traffic to stand in line at the kiosks for their smokes.

We’ve continued to read our daily poems, and all of them this summer have been from Garrison Keillor’s collection about places in America.  Also, we’ve caught the major news on the internet and by listening to the BBC on our shortwave radio.  Weather-wise, the summer couldn’t have been better.  One or two fabulous storms, cool mornings and evenings, and warm afternoons perfect for swimming.  We even had wonderful red beets and okra at the Touristico a couple of days ago.  Now the tomatoes have ended in our garden, but I have no reason to complain, since I probably ate a bushel while they lasted.  Also, our little fig tree has produced this year for the first time. Billy has taken the cows to the mountain, so we don’t have to keep the cows away from the peaches and figs.  Foras did tell us that a wolf killed one of the cows, however.  Which reminds me, last night the coyotes were the closest to the house as they have ever been.  Alexander certainly had a grand exposure to nature this summer, and he tried to howl along with the coyotes. No wonder the herders have secured a little trailer next to the corral where they milk the goats. 

A wind is kicking up now and the day screams autumn.  Stell only hears the sound of Bulldawgs.

August 29, 2014

Windy, drizzly, autumn cool.  I can’t make up my mind as to putting on my bathing suit.  Sometimes what the weather is at Stavraqu is deceptive, because by the time you get to the village it turns hot.  Maybe I’ll take my towel and bathing suit, and make my decision once I’m in town. 

Katerina is in the clinic in Thessaloniki for her surgery today to remove the kidney stone (or beak it up with a lazer).  Stell just called Foras, but the surgery hasn’t happened yet.

About four couples are coming for dinner Sunday night at Moraggio. They are people Stell coaches on family business here.  I’ve decided to make a movie for them.  They wanted us to meet them on Sythonia like we did last summer, but Stell convinced them to come here.  One couple comes from Athens!  They told Stell that they are afraid if they don’t meet with him one more time that he will stop being “their professor”.  Hardly true, but flattering.

I forgot to mention that yesterday afternoon, Stell and I went to Foras’ for lunch. Yiannis had already taken Katerina to Thessaloniki.  Foras had made eel soup, but since he knows I’m not keen on this fish, he had chicken and manestra for me.  He also likes to slice up cucumbers and bathe them in vinegar and oil.  Very delicious.  Usually I don’t want people going to this trouble, but I think cooking for us was a diversion from worrying about Katerina.  I think she will be fine, but since she hasn’t had any surgeries in her life, it is a frightening experience for her.  In addition to Foras and their two unmarried adult sons, she has a 90 year old mother who depends on her.  In the summer her mother stays in her home on the island of Amuliani, but in the winter, Katerina keeps her with her in Ierissos.  Katerina has a brother who runs a restaurant on Amuliani, but we think they have had a falling out.  Unfortunately not unusual, here.

Carrie wrote to tell us that Alexander has explained to Jaiden that the only water we have here is from the sea.  I’m not at all sure why he has come to this conclusion.  We miss his insights.  His view of a bad word was “dinky donkey.”  If he didn’t like something, he said it was “gusting.”  He also would frequently follow up something we said with the expression, “Are you serious?”  I would say, “No, I’m Greek.”  “No you aren’t!” was his reply.  Instead of having allergies, he said he had “aggeries”.  Some of the Greeks call Carrie, “Karen.”  For fun, I would sometimes refer to her as “Karen”, and Alexander would protest, “No, it’s Carrie.”  He called garden snakes, garden nakes.  His girlfriend in Ohio is not Lilly, but Willwee.  He said he is going to bring her here next summer. 

I’m enjoying Five Sisters, but it is rather exhausting to realize how much energy
the rich and famous” at the turn of the century put into courting and match-making. 

I’ll wrap this up, because the wind is picking up and the mimosa looks like it is about to take flight.  I can probably read one more chapter before we head to town for the day.  I think the plan is to take Foras to Pizza Romina tonight.  Hopefully Katerina will come home tomorrow.  I asked Foras over ouzos yesterday where he would live if he didn’t live in Ierissos.  He said, Saudi Arabia, where he had worked many years ago.  He loved the efficiency and modern conveniences of the compound.  I’ve heard this from other Greeks who have worked there.  The Saudis keep workers separated from the locals, but they generously provide them with modern grocery stores and other accommodations.  Also, they were paid well.  Foras was able to build his home here with the money he earned from working there. 

Hope wherever you are and whatever the time of day, life is good!  

August 30, 2014 

We sat with Foras and waited to hear that Katerina was out of surgery and doing okay.  Last night he had dinner with us at Galitsanos.  It appears that the surgery went fine, but there is some concern that a part of the kidney stone may have moved up instead of down and they would figure that out this morning.  While we were at Galitsanos we experienced a rather scary event.  A group of young men pulled up on their bicycles which were loaded with camping gear.  One of the young men had a very small kitten that he explained to me he had rescued when its mother was hit and killed by a car.  While they had some drinks, it wandered around.  These young men were on some “ecological” bike tour which had originated in Sophia, Bulgaria.  One was Welsh, another German, also an Australian, and a Spaniard.  The Spaniard was the cat rescuer.  At some point the kitten made its way to a table of Greeks, and when it walked near the foot of a young Greek man, he picked it up and threw it against the side of a car.  The young Spaniard became furious and for a few minutes it look like World War III would occur, but finally these young men were separated and the young Spaniard began nursing the cat, which he continued to do until we left.  I don’t know if it survived or not, but definitely this was a tense time.

A more minor occurrence took place thanks to me this morning at Stavraqu.  Stell was brewing coffee.  I got up took a quick lovely hot shower, and then turned the hairdryer on.  The system couldn’t handle the load of the refrigerator, coffee pot and hair dryer, so everything shut down.  At first, I thought I may have ruined the system, but once Stell unplugged the refrigerator and the sun came up, the batteries filled and all is well.  The best cup of coffee I’ve had all summer. 

We have no appointments today whatsoever.  It is a cool morning again, but from here it looks like we might be able to swim since the sun is beaming and hopefully the angels won’t try and dry their wings while the coffee is brewing.

I’ve started to plan my packing.  Stell will take the suitcases down from the high cupboards today, and I’ll begin to load them for the trip home.  We don’t have much to do as far as the house.  Take the patio furniture inside, defrost the refrigerator. . . .that’s about it.

A big feral cat has bee coming here with more regularity and eating Manghes’ food.  Manghes, although much smaller/younger doesn’t seem frightened or to care. 

Oh, I forgot to mention that I saw Demetri Crisoulis yesterday.  Made my day.   He’s one of my favorite young men.  He hasn’t been here much because he works during the week at a cantina on Mount Athos, and also he has a steady girlfriend, Maria, who lives in Nea Rhoda.  At least I got to see him for a few minutes yesterday.  I hope when he does get married that Stell and I are in Greece. 

Something else really grand for me was a chance to take a few photographs of a couple (Dora and Telis) who simply intrigue me.  They come on the weekends in their truck loaded with fresh fruits.  They always stop at Sultanas and sell some of the fruit then go inside for an ouzo.  I think they get these fruits somewhere near Kavala.  Stell told me that the man is a public servant, so obviously this is a side occupation.  The woman is the most interesting to me.  She’s very tall, and Cher-like exotic.  I got up my courage yesterday when they were inside the bar to ask if I might take their photo.  She immediately moved close to her husband and put her arm around him.  I just love the photos, and I also took some of their truck.  Next summer I’ll bring them copies, and she said she was going to hang them in Sultanas.  I just love it when “characters” agree to pose.  Now Stell wants me to take a picture of him near the fig tree, because it was a gift years ago from Ketie Pippas.  Will do.

August 31, 2014

I forgot to say that I also saw Tolis, another young friend, on Friday night and learned that he had spent last year studying in the Netherlands.  As always he was extremely polite.  The most important news is that Stell has checked the sports report and knows that the Bulldogs hammered Clemson.  I can only imagine he will be impossible to live with all day.  He already shouted the news from here to the Village practically drowning out the church bells. 

I’m charging my movie camera to be able to make a movie with his family business clients today at lunch.  I imagine he will announce the Bulldog victory to them as well. 

I’ve started to pack, and I have about 150 pages left in my last book, Five Sisters.

September 2, 2014

Two more days at Stavraqu.  Yesterday we did our last swim, because the weather has turned windy and cloudy and the same is predicted for tomorrow.  We will probably have dinner at Pizza Romina tonight with Stellios and Katerina.  Katerina wanted to cook chicken and manestra, but I told him I was putting my foot down.  Although she a wonderful cook, she just got out of the hospital and I personally think she should rest.  Usually I don’t get my way on these matters, but this time I won.

Stell’s family business clients did come on Sunday, another Stellios and two Demetris.  Very nice people who call my Stell “Daskalos” – teacher.  I did make a short video of their time with us at Moraggio.  Of course, they ate lots of fish. 

We’ve heard from Anya, who has already bought tickets for herself and Helena to return to Ierissos for a week in late October. 

Sunday also the new mayor was inaugurated.  He’s very young.  The people hated the old mayor who favored the gold mine, and so they had put up huge signs that read “Stay away Pustis!”  He clearly was afraid of what might happen if he came for the ceremony, so he stayed away and his absence made the national newspapers.  Now the municipal offices have moved back to Ierissos from Arnea.  We didn’t see the inauguration, because Stell brought his business clients here for a whiskey. I thought it made sense to stay away anyhow, because there was the possibility of some riots or demonstrations. 

I want to go to the pastry shop to get some sweets to take home and also I was hoping I might go by the open market to get a few things that Carrie requested, but I don’t know if we will go to town on time.  Stell is also going to get his “hairs cut” by Demetri.  

Alexander and Jaiden start school today, so I think Carrie and Paris will hear some good stories tonight.  Alexander will go for four hours a day, five days a week.  He’s clearly primed for all the learning – he’s very curious about everything.  Jaiden had a great year last year, so we are also expecting this year to be another good one for her.  Of course, she continues to be Alexander’s best mentor.

So here we are in the first days of September, and like in every other year at this time we are anxious to go to our other place, Georgia.  We are three poems away from home.  Some people count the time in cigarettes, some in feral cats along their path.  We count our days in poems.  I forgot to say that Foras bought a new goat.  I asked him if it was a male or female – he said female.  So I asked him to name her Margaret.  He loved the idea, so now I am nouna to a goat named Margaret.

It’s 6:30 p.m..  We’ve been to the village and I got to the open market to get a few things, then we had an ouzo at Sultanas and came home for a homemade salad and potatoes.  It’s raining now and generally bleak.  I don’t know if we will be able to drive to the village for pizza, but we have enough food here to survive.  It really is spectacular when we have a storm and this is the third of the summer.  Oh yes, I forgot to say that Foras brought us five very nice bar stools.  Jevelikis son, Pavlos, had opened a bar last year in the village called MyBar.  It failed like most of them do within a year, so he wanted to unload the bar stools.  They work perfectly with our kitchen bar, which I designed years ago based upon the bars at 355 Roberts Road and 3131 Mars Hill.  Well, I may go finish my last book, since rainy afternoons equal read.

September 3, 2014

The rains were so heavy last night and this morning that we feared we might not be able to make it to the village, but things let up, and we took the long way down which is more paved road.  When we returned this afternoon, we did spin around in the mud a little, but we made it okay.  Since we’ve been home the sun has been out and there has been considerable wind, so things appear to be drying out.  Stell got his “hairs cut”, and we had our goodbye ouzo at Sultanas.  Tonight we will treat Foras and company to a good pizza and come home by 10 a.m., since we will need to be up no later than 5:30 a.m. to head to Thessaloniki.  Everything is pretty much done, but Stell still has to pack.  That really is a minor task for him after all these years. 

I wrote a little story for Alexander this morning titled Dinky Donkey.  For some reason, he decided that saying “dinky donkey” was like saying bad words, so whenever we said it, he would very sternly say, “don’t say that!”  It seems that if you don’t like someone you call them a dinky donkey.  I couldn’t resist writing a little story for him.  Here it is:

Dinky Donkey

Margaret E. Holt

September 3, 2014

Stavraqu, Greece

Not so long ago at a place called Stavraqu near Ierissos, Greece, a grandson came to visit his Pappou and YiaYia for a summer holiday.  His name was Alexander Asterios, and he was four years old. He liked his Greek home, because it was surrounded by big open spaces where he could run, play with his Saabs, and water the colorful flowers.  His YiaYia said she had never seen a four year old who could run as fast as Alexander.  He had shoes that had red lights on the heels that acted like boosters to make him able to jump high and race across the yard with tremendous speed.

When he first arrived at his Greek home, he was so happy to see that his Pappou had a surprise for him – a black and white kitten who they named Manghes.  Manghes was a very clever cat.  He liked playing with the Saabs and like Alexander he could jump high.  One day he even jumped on Alexander’s head! Although he was somewhat hyper, he was a gentle cat who did not hurt anyone with scratching and biting. 

There were other animals around.  At night there was a huge pack of coyotes who liked to serenade with their howling.  Alexander learned how to howl along with them. Also crickets were in all the fields and they rubbed their legs together to make the sounds of cricket violins.  Sometimes goats would pass by and their little bells made sweet melodies for all to hear.  Probably the noisiest animals were the cows with their big bells going clang, clang, clang.  Unfortunately, a few of them would invade Stavraqu and their bells were so loud that Alexander and his parents could not sleep.  Pappou would try and chase them back to their herd, but they were not afraid of him, so they hung around and ate peaches. There was also a large white and grey feral cat who would try and sneak food out of Manghes’ dish.  This cat was nameless.

There were three invisible animals too- a mother, father, and baby donkey.  The mother’s name was Winky Donkey (she got her name by trying to wink flies out of her eyes all the time), the father was called Stinky Donkey (for obvious reasons), and the baby was christened Dinky Donkey (because he was not very big).

They loved watching and listening to Alexander.  They heard about the bumper cars he liked to ride in the village, they knew about the swings, sliding board, teeter-totter, and tire swing.  They always hoped he would bring them some praline ice-cream from Mylos Café Bar, and some cheese pizza from Pizza Romina, but since he couldn’t see or hear them, he had no idea what they would like.  They knew he went swimming with his cousins, and they were really impressed to hear that he was swimming under the water. Dinky was really surprised when he saw that Alexander was not at all afraid of the lightening and thunder one night when there was a big storm.  The best part was that Alexander’s Mom made two bowls of popcorn, even though Pappou said “less is more.”

His YiaYia told him every day not to get wet if he went swimming.  He always answered, “Are you serious?”  And she would say, “No, I’m Greek!”  Dinky Donkey thought Alexander’s YiaYia was just joking. 

Alexander’s Pappou loved having breakfast with his grandson, but he was always telling him to drink his juice slowly.  One day when Pappou was drinking an ouzo, Alexander told him to drink more slowly.  So now they were even.  Stinky and Winky started chewing their hay more slowly, too, thinking this was a good idea. 

One day a friend named Katerina brought Alexander a very dark, round, watermelon.  When she handed Alexander the bag, he thought she was giving him a bowling ball.  Stinky, Winky and Dinky just brayed and brayed when they realized Alexander thought he had a new bowling ball.  Alexander said that was one of the most delicious bowling balls he ever ate!  Dinky said, “That’s gusting.” 

After three weeks, Alexander had to return to his other home because he was going back to school. His YiaYia and Pappou were sad that he had to leave. Now YiaYia doesn’t have anyone who wants to hear the Fire Engine Story.  Pappou says he enjoys the poems, but he’s tired of the Fire Engine story. That’s okay, because YiaYia says she will read the story to Dinky Donkey until Alexander comes back next summer. 

The End

Thus ends a really wonderful summer – time with family and friends, so much swimming, delicious Greek food and some cooked on the beautiful new barbecue, eleven books devoured, daily poems, morning coffees brewed by Stell, new girl twins (Maria and Phaedra) born in August, delicate sunsets, full moons rising over the mountain, magnificent violent storms, early morning cadres of sparrows, sweet breezes just right for sleeping and long private evening conversations under the constellations . . . . so be it.