Journal from Greece 2017

Saturday, July 15, 2017

3:03 p.m.

I’m in the Delta Lounge in the International Terminal.  Bill was a great driver.  He arrived four or five minutes early and then had to endure my talking to Atlanta.  He’s a good sport, don’t you think!  Everything has gone fine at the airport – no lines, not many people, although I did not pay attention (because I’m on vacation), so I got into the take off your shoes and take out your laptop line.  Nonetheless I went through in less than five minutes.  The guy at the counter who shipped my bags to Athens, Greece, was Spanish and he’s been with his girlfriend to Mikanos and advised me to have some retsina when I’m in Greece.  I assured him I would. 

They have some nice veggie dishes in the lounge and I’m having an ice-cold glass of the house Chardonnay.  The bartender is arrogant and doesn’t smile, but who cares.  The password for the computer is “sunshine,” but they told me it used to be “smile.”  I guess if they change it back the bartender might start smiling again.

There is a wee possibility of rain in Atlanta before I leave but for now everything is on time.  The flight to Paris is around eight and a half hours. 

According to my email Paris, Carrie, Jaiden and Alexander are in Munich and will fly next to Thessaloniki where they will spend the night and then drive to Ierissos in the morning.  Stell is planning to meet me in Thessaloniki around 5 p.m. tomorrow.  Seven hours earlier for those of you in Georgia. 

So a quick observation – Trump is trying to prohibit immigration of a lot of people, especially from certain countries.  The people in the lounge who have the job to walk about and pick up empty plates and glasses are all Black and they have wonderful accents that tell me they are from parts of Africa, perhaps also places like Jamaica.  Most are young women.  They are smiling and are very helpful.  I read this story in today’s AJC and I want to be rich and send the young girl in the picture money for her education.

http://www.myajc.com/news/breaking-news/syrian-refugee-girl-safe-georgia-amid-travel-ban-have-future/JlrLc9dHEyavt7PpXlBBeM/?ecmp=newspaper_email&user-access=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpYXQiOjE1MDAwNjI0MDIsImV4cCI6MTUwMDE3NzU5OSwicHJvZHVjdHMiOlt7InBpZCI6Ind3dy5teWFqYy5jb20iLCJleHAiOjE1MDAxNzc1OTksImF1dGhlbiI6ImJ5cGFzcyJ9XX0.o0h_p320X9C1NB3TN_Wl4sUBbJ0VAwrC4n5JQSRzptk&uuid=B2CC5A82-50FF-4273-A844-C536C8F8C16B

That’s all my news.  I’m truly surrounded in the lounge by men, mostly young men who are not what Stell would call thoroughbred Americans.  A couple of cute German guys who asked me for the password.  An Indian looking guy, and some fellows who look like they are representatives to Ghana or the Congo.   Very different from my Mars Hill Road environment.   I may rename this little corner of the Lounge United Nations South.  Boarding in about an hour.  Seize the day.     M

Monday, July 17, 2017

We are at Stavraqu – Stell, Paris, Carrie, Jaiden, Alexander and moi.  Since I arrived in Thessaloniki delayed yesterday we have been “enjoying” a serious rain and thunder storm.  My flight from Atlanta to Paris was delayed one hour, Air France.  Although I was flying first class, the first class of Air France doesn’t compare to Delta’s first class, so that was a little disappointing.  I sat next to a young man (about 50 years old) who worked for Georgia Pacific.  He was on his way to a whirlwind business trip to Valencia, Brussels, and maybe three other places in less than a week.  He told me that he was the oldest of ten children, and that he and his wife had five children.  Yes, they were Catholic.  He was a graduate of West Point and his wife was originally from Guam.  He was much more liberal than I would have guessed.  Mostly he wanted to talk about how intelligent he was, how intelligent his wife was, and how brilliant his five children were. 

I didn’t have much time to make my connection in Paris, and the French are much more into security checks now that they’ve had the terrorists attacks, so I had to really walk fast to the gate.  I made it!  Air France’s idea of first class from Paris to Athens is really sorry, too.  It just means you get lunch and wine (very good wine) and that the middle seat in your row is empty.  On this flight the other person was a handsome young Greek man, who slept most of the trip but at the very end told me that he was returning from work in Venezuela, so we talked about the horrific political conditions he had encountered.  He was going to drive to Evia and meet up with his wife and two young children and return to some Athenian suburb where he lived. 

Now I had to pick up my luggage and transport it by the 1 euro cart to Olympic/Aegean airlines. The line to drop it off was long but moved fast, and once it was checked I made my way to gate B12.  I was shocked to discover that the boarding was going to happen in 15 minutes.  I thought I had just made it in time, but after 15 minutes the mob standing around the gate counter was told we all needed to go to gate B19, so, in mass, we hustled off to our new gate.  Everyone huddled together and waited for the boarding call.  One family with three young children standing near me were constantly trying to get the kids to stop squabbling.  The only girl was full of piss and vinegar, and at one point when she was shoving at her brother, her Dad yanked her by her pony tail.  She immediately resumed annoying her brothers, when her Dad let go.  The person managing the gate announced a series of names asking that these people come up to the gate.  I thought I heard “Holt”, but when I asked an older man standing near me, he said “no”, they hadn’t called Holt.  Several minutes later they read a few more names, and this time I definitely heard Holt, so I went to the desk and they gave me a new boarding pass, since they said we were going on a different plane, and I needed the new seat.  We were bussed to the plane and eventually we all got boarded.  A mean looking Eastern European man in the row ahead of me had a row with the flight attendant when she attempted to shuffle things around in the overhead above his seat.  He told her not to move things around as these were important documents.  His roughness concerned me, but nothing came of it.  Once we were in the air, we were told that there was a bad storm in Thessaloniki, so we’d have to endure some turbulence and there would be no food service.  This wasn’t a problem, because the flight “normally” is 40-45 minutes.  We had enough turbulence that children were crying and old women fumbling with their crosses.  We were also told that we would have to stay away from the airport for an additional ten to fifteen minutes, because it was too stormy to land.   In addition we learned this was our pilot’s 40^th birthday.  I hoped he was in good form.  Obviously, we did land and Stell wanted to know where the hell I’d been as if I had the least bit of control over the flight. 

We made our way to Ierissos with constant rain, and I want you to know that as of now the violent storm has not ended, so we are all stuck inside telling stories, doing puzzles, etc.  It is 12:30 p.m.   Foras and Katerina wanted to bring us some food, but Stell said “no way” because they would get stuck in the mud.  In all my years I have never seen a serious storm of this duration.

Everyone is in good form despite the weather.  There is a bat hanging onto one of the window screens.  Batty has to be soaked, and Carrie and Paris said there are some mice in their closet batting around a marble. 

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Forgot to mention that I am reading a very good book – fiction, this time, titled The Swimmer by Szusza Bánk. 

The hurricane-ish weather lasted for twenty-four hours through all of Monday. We couldn’t leave the house.  Eventually it subsided, so Stell called Foras and asked him to pick up a “to-go” from Matakos and drive it up to the end of our long driveway.  The three heroes, Alexander, Jaiden and I were assigned to walk to the end of the driveway and meet him.  It was cold and as Malcolm would say Scottish “pissing”.  I had on a sweatshirt, but they were both in shorts and sleeveless tops.  They loved plopping through the mud in their flipflops.  Jaiden eventually managed to get some mud on her hands, then the tie she used to hold her hair back broke.  She has the greatest volume of hair this side of the Atlantic, but she couldn’t hold it back because of her muddy hands.  So she had to face in a direction so her hair would blow out of her face.   Too bad I didn’t have my camera.  Well, Foras, did not show up, but Alexander thought he saw the car in the distance on the paved part of the road.  I sent the kids back to the house, because I thought it was too cold.  Eventually, Foras came down the first half of the dirt road, then he got out and started walking toward me, and I started walking toward him.  We kissed and he gave me bags of food and beer. 

Paris was coming up the drive by this time and he wanted to see if he needed to help push Foras out of the mud.  Fortunately he did not.  We came back to the house, fed the kids, had our drinks, then enjoyed the meal provided by Foras.  We stayed inside the rest of the evening.  Jaiden and Carrie worked on a jigsaw puzzle, Alexander played with his trucks.  Paris built rivers and tributaries in the driveway in an attempt to free his rental car.  Eventually the next day when things started to dry out, he was able to drive up to the end of the driveway.

Tuesday was SUNNY, so Paris took his family to the beach and eventually Foras, who has borrowed our car, came to chauffeur us to Sultana’s for an ouzo and wonderful mezze.  Afterwards he drove us to his home where Katerina had prepared peppers, zucchini patties (with fresh mint), feta cheese (made from milk from the goat named Margaret, which I bought for Foras’ last summer), and a great big Greek salad. 

Foras drove us back to the house and soon after we arrived Paris, Carrie and kids came home from swimming and having a roast chicken lunch.  Jaiden and Paris later in the evening went to Mazuti’s for some groceries.  Carrie made us some delicious ham and cheese sandwiches, and we sat outside and told stories. 

Today it is glorious, sunny, a little breeze.  Paris and the kids are washing their car.  They will probably go back to the beach, and Foras will come and get us.   Thus begins another day.  

Thursday, July 20, 2017, St. Elias Day

So last night we all made our way to the St. Elias church area where a huge celebration was underway.  Roma people selling balloons and one young woman with a baby walking table to table begging.  Souvlaki, retsina on sale to everyone. 

This morning Paris and Stell are having an Amazon-GE debate.  Paris and I stayed up late last night when everyone else went to bed.  We do this once every summer, and it is fun.  Of course, sitting outside we could see all the constellations.  Which reminds me, Alexander would like to have us all call him Little Dipper.  He said he likes this name, even better than Alexander. 

Friday, July 21, 2017

Today is so far the hottest day, so swimming is on the agenda.  Stell is doing his exercises on the patio, and the kids are getting ready to head to town.  Last night we had sandwiches and popcorn.  Carrie and I had our usual favorite breakfast this morning, fresh tomato, olives, and gouda cheese.  We met two of Stell’s great-nieces yesterday and one of them has her boyfriend, Avery in the troupe.  These are Ereni and Sophia Katsaggelos.  Ereni is a medical student at the University of Chicago, and Sophia studies economics somewhere.  We met them for drinks and then we all went together for lunch.  I think Foras will come to pick us up later, because his jeep was just getting appraised yesterday.  His son, Yiannis, was hit by a tourist from Belgium and it takes days before an appraiser will come to town, and then they have the whole business of the repair.  Fine by me.  It is nice having a chauffeur every day.  Stell’s car passed the inspection yesterday in Polygoros.  It’s all we need, but for now Foras is “borrowing” it. 

I should mention that the coyotes were in full symphony last night. 

Saturday, July 22, 2017

A scorcher of a morning, yet unlike in Georgia there is enough of a breeze that we can sit outside and have our coffee.  Today I need to go by the bakery and get a birthday cake for Carrie.  Tomorrow at around 2 p.m we are going to have a crowd of family for a lamb roast.  Stell’s sisters, Foras, Katerina, Sophia, Ereni, Avery – everyone will be here.  I’m never sure why we have these parties in the heat of the afternoon, but we will again.  My Dad’s birthday is the 29^th.  He’ll be 91.  Carrie’s birthday is the 30^th and she will be 39. 

I walked again yesterday.  I’ve walked three times so far.  It’s an enchanting walk at sunset, because it is cool and the scenery is overwhelming.  I think it must be about 3-1/2 miles.  Part of the walk is along the fields, some vineyards and some lavender fields up to a little church called St. Nicholas.  The next closest little church is St. George’s so we have both Nic and George nearby.  Then the walk moves onto a paved road for about 1 mile.  On this part of the walk at the top you can see the water on both sides of the peninsula, some little corrals, a few houses, and a solar field.  Of course, this is a road that connects Gomati and Ierissos, so there is a little traffic, but not much.  Next you take a right and walk down a little idyllic roadway past an olive orchard toward our house.  This is about ½ or ¾ mile back to the road that leads to our driveway.  

So the big business of today is the ordering of the birthday cake.  I think it will be caramel. 

Monday, July 24, 2017

I didn’t write yesterday because there was too much going on here with the party.  Carrie cleaned the house and made three huge salads with fresh garden vegetables provided by Foras.  Foras came up with a “complete” lamb and Paris and he ran a skewer from its ass through its mouth and put the spit with lamb over the fire where it turned from about 9 a.m. until around 2:30 p.m.  Carrie made a butter, olive oil, garlic spread that Paris continued to use to baste while the lamb rolled round and round. 

The guests included Foras, Kateria, Foras’ son, Yiannis and his girlfriend, Johanna, Stell’s sisters’ Anna and Ereni, Ereni’s two granddaughters, Ereni, and Sophia, Sophia’s boyfriend, Avery, Stell’s two niece’s Mary and Demetra, and Demetra’s husband, Nicos.  Almost everyone brought sweets, halva, cookies, baklava, and I of course had picked up the caramel cake, which was beautifully decorated at the bakery.  Stell also had a case of beer and retsina.  Everyone appeared to enjoy the meal and the socializing.  After the company departed, Paris took his family swimming, and they returned around 9 p.m. with sandwiches for everyone. 

Paris and I both agree that something is “wrong” with Nicos, the surgeon married to Demetra, because like John McCain, he doesn’t make sense in conversation to either of us, and Paris said his hands “shake”.  I didn’t notice the handshaking, but I definitely didn’t understand him when he spoke, and in the past he always was clear, although he’s always been very quiet. 

The most obvious tension is between Sophia and Ereni and their grandmother, and it appears their feuds are far from being solved.  Here’s their “family problem”. Sophia’s Avery is ½ African American. In my opinion he’s gorgeous, very polite, funny, and a good conversationalist.  Alexander adores him.  Ereni’s boyfriend who is not here is 100% African American. He’s a medical school classmate, and like her father a twin.  She showed her grandmother a photograph, and Ereni (the grandmother) was really upset.  Of course, Ereni, is not formally educated, has probably had little to no contact with Black people, is ultra conservative, and would only be pleased if her granddaughters were dating thoroughbred Greeks.  Fortunately, this is nothing I have to engage with her in conversation because she speaks as much English as I do Greek.  Also, she really wouldn’t engage with me in conversation because she has as much regard for me as she does for her Jewish daughter-in-law, who I would say hasn’t showed up in Greece for ten years.   It’s sad, but unavoidable, and I’ve told both Sophia and Ereni to not expect her grandmother to change.  Besides they only see her when they come to Greece, and with all their studies they no longer come even annually.  I would very much like to meet Adam and probably will, since both he and his twin brother studied at Morehouse School of Medicine, and when they did their parents bought a home for them in Atlanta.  Ereni knows Adam will be most welcome to visit us. 

Stell’s sister, Anna, on the other hand remains full of life although age is taking a toll on her mobility.  She loved being here with all the family.  I did get a photo of the three of them, Anna, Ereni, and Stell. 

Paris and I stayed up after all the rest of the family went to bed and argued about politics.  We enjoy it, and we don’t agree on a lot of things.  He’s much more conservative, and his worldview comes from his work at the Schenker distribution center.  He is especially pissed with workers who try to game the system and are successful.  We yell and curse and drive Stell and Carrie nuts.  Then we kiss and go to bed.  My biggest complaint about his arguments is that he talks a lot about the “way things should be”, but he doesn’t really have an action plan for changing policies.  Our debating would be a good case study, because our worldviews come from our own work and life experiences, and these are different.  He for example, doesn’t think his Aunt Ereni is a racist; he just would say her life experiences make her biased and biased for him in this case is not the same as racist.   Fine lines of debate.  Nobody wants to think their relatives are racists, I would argue.

Stell was having a hissy fit this morning because of all the sweets people brought, especially the plates full of halva.  The good news is that he couldn’t blame those of us who are younger this time, because his sisters brought many of the goodies.   Oh those wasteful sisters!

Today we should be back to our normal schedule.  Ouzos, swimming, sleeping, reading and writing.  Carrie, Paris and the kids will return to Thessaloniki on Friday, because they fly back to the States on Saturday, Carrie’s real 39^th birthday.  I’m going to stop now because my battery is at 79%.  Seize the day.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Woke up to a lazy, hazy, crazy day of summer, but already the sun is convincing me we will have another scorcher.  It is Tuesday so that means I will make a quick run through the lykee and purchase some dishwashing detergent and some bananas.  I don’t want to do any banking today because there are always too many people in the bank on lykee day. 

Addie should be home from Cleveland now, so we hope she had a good trip and was able to see a lot of her relatives. 

We’ve been advised that the Ierissos Party is on Saturday night.  It is for me a boring event, but it is important to all the people from Ierissos who live in Thessaloniki in the winter.  Mary showed us the invitation yesterday.

Unfortunately Stell is having some irritation in his left eye so he may try and see a doctor today.  I think the eye doctor is only in town on Tuesday or Thursday.  He has been using some drops but they don’t seem to be helping much.

We haven’t had any coffee yet, because we have two bad batteries with the solar system.  Stell is trying to reach Socrates to buy a couple more batteries to replace the two oldest ones. 

No big plans for today. 

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Better weather this morning not so humid.  I think we all slept better.  The kids went last night to bumper cars and to Maria’s for pizza.  I’ve almost finished “The Swimmer”.  Today I will go to the bank.  Wish me well.  I hope there isn’t a long line.   Well, I’ll take my book and finish it if I have to wait very long.  Yesterday Stell went to the eye doctor.  He said he has never had a longer more thorough examination.   He was there for about three hours.  He has an inflammation, so he is using three kinds of medicine.  Meanwhile I waited with Foras for him at Sultana’s.  I had a couple of ouzos with Foras, but then sent him home for his lunch explaining that at age 70, I don’t need a babysitter.  Sultana took pity on me and brought me a plate of feta cheese and some carpuzzi (fresh watermelon from Nea Rhoda).  She also brought bread, but I’m almost completely off of carbohydrates, so I just had the feta and carpuzzi.  Then Stell showed up, and she gave him an ouzo and mezze.  I had to drive home because his pupils had been dilated.  I did okay, because there was no traffic, but I did have to remind myself about using a clutch, since my Toyota is not a stick shift.  Well, it came back quickly and we made it up the goat path to home. 

Although we spend less time in Ierissos, I do think the people seem more economically depressed than last summer.  Stell said he thinks that many people don’t even have 400 euro in their savings.  We do know that the fights continue about pensions and property, and we have family members directly involved in the fights.  Of course, the fight over the gold mine lives on and there are huge signs in the main parts of town protesting the mine.

Nonetheless the mine operates.  

I am watching the news from home and am glad to be a bit removed.  I plan to stay a bit removed until September.  We are BAC= Beyond Appointments and Constraints. 

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Believe it or not, we are “enjoying” a new storm this morning.  We woke up early to lightening and thunder and heavy rain.  It is serious enough that we cannot get out the driveway.  Carrie has decided to pack today, so that perhaps they can spend their last hours at the beach in the morning.  Paris is supervising Jaiden and Alexander in cleaning the floors.  Jaiden sweeps and Alexander (aka Little Dipper) mops.  Stell is working on his email.  Carrie fixed us omelets for breakfast and I did the dishes, so everyone has participated in the “economy” of the house.

Demetra phoned to say that the downtown luncheon was cancelled.  Since the thunder continues to rumble in the background, I think that was wise.

I did hear from Addie that she is home safe and sound from Cleveland.  We don’t have much other news from the States, except for a posting from Gordhan with a wonderful poem written by Anna V.  Later I will copy it and add it to this journal.  Maybe I can get it from my phone now:

Eternity

By Anna V Demarco

It is forever

Or

For never

Does it last so long it never ends

Is it so short it never begins

Or is it just an idea that exists

Never ending or beginning

So I forgot to write about my banking experience yesterday.  I went to the Greek National Bank, and I was pleased when I walked in that my number meant there was only one person ahead of me.  If you have read my journal in past years, you will recall that people who work in most public services don’t smile.  Stell says that they are taught that smiling is not professional and especially for women workers it can be considered flirting, so I was not offended when the young woman teller didn’t smile.  Although I always give them a big grin and a loud Kalimera.  She replied with a sober Kalispera.  I handed her my passport and $2500 in $100 dollar bills.  She put the bills into her little machine, and then pulled two out of the pack as they had some red writing on them.  She then looked very sternly at me and said she had to call some authority and fax copies of the two $100 bills to make sure they were okay.  I said fine, but also said if she just gave them to me, I would take them back to the States.  After what seemed like a year, but was probably a looooonnnngggg ten minutes, she was signaled that she could include them in the exchange.  Then she wanted my signature (that is of course common practice), my address and our phone number.  Well, we don’t really have an address other than Ierissos, because our house is up over the village and off a goat path, and frankly the phone number is so damn long that I don’t have it memorized.  So I had to walk over to Sultana’s where Stell was having an ouzo and mezze with Foras and take him back to the bank to give her our phone number.  I am not a violent person, but I was thinking it would be nice to pull out her pubic hair, because she was so haughty.  I got my Euros and went back with Stell’s to Sultana’s where the guys just laughed at my “attitude.” 

The sun is shining again, but we had a little more rain after our naps.  Paris had gone to the village and brought us a roasted chicken and fries and Stell made us a good salad.  I think the family will stay with us through lunch tomorrow, then they will head to Thessaloniki and spend the night.  Their flight tomorrow is to Munich, then to Newark, NJ and finally Columbus, Ohio.

We have especially enjoyed Alexander this year, since he will often stay with us at the beach, and he’s had lunch with the two of us a couple of times.  He’s only seven, but he’s a smart little fellow.  I like his confidence and his politeness.  He told us at the end of lunch that he needed to use the restroom.  I asked him if he’d like me to go inside the restaurant with him.  He said, “No” – he could handle this by himself.  He soon came out and asked me if W.C. meant the bathroom, I said “Yes”, and he turned around and found what he needed.  When he came out, I explained to him that W.C. stood for Water Closet.  He thought that was funny.  He’s definitely going to miss the beach when he returns to Galloway.

Friday, July 28, 2017

We had a good weather day.  The family went to the beach for their final swim and then met us at the Mouragio for lunch, which also included Anna and Foras.  They’d had a good swim, and they had a good lunch, then we headed back to Stavraqu and they packed up and headed to Thessaloniki for the evening.  Last night we had another huge rain, lightening and thunder storm.  Carrie made popcorn and sandwiches and we all sat inside and watched the “Greek natural fireworks show.”  It was spectacular.   So their holiday this year started and ended with huge storms.  Although they put an end to the beach, I think it was nice for them to see this sensational and drastic change of weather.  Also, it can change in a few hours from a dire storm to a sunny day at the beach.  Jaiden proposed that next year we have a new slogan which will be “Make Stavraqu Great Again.”  We all liked the idea.

Hopefully they will have an easy and uneventful trip back to Columbus.  Paris returns to his work on Monday and Carrie to hers on the 7^th.  The kids have a couple of weeks until school.  It was a good couple of weeks, but in my humble opinion not enough time.  Two weeks is a short trip to Greece when you consider the length of time it takes to get here and the length of time to get home.  The good news is that Paris has learned everything about managing the house, and he is tied into the banking and taxes that he needs to know for the future. I no longer worry that he isn’t prepared to take over everything.  It’s a big house for Greece, and dealing with banks and other institutions isn’t as easy as it is in the U.S.  Now he knows everything from cooking a lamb on the spit to accessing his own accounts.  He could possibly encounter a dispute with one cousin in the future, but I rather doubt this will happen.

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Yesterday my Dad turned 91.  I called him to wish him Happy Birthday, and he told me Bill and Pam were coming to take him to dinner.  He still has a very bad cough, which he has had for a month.  He told me he was going to the doctor tomorrow.  I hope he will, because he sounds “low” both in his voice and his spirits.  Understandable, I suppose, but not a good condition in which to be living alone.  Carrie’s 39^th birthday is today.  So far we have no messages that they are back home, but we are operating on no news is good news. 

Last night was the Ierissos Party Dance.  For me it was the same as every other year, but Stell enjoys seeing old friends and dancing.  We were home by 1 a.m.- an early hour for Greeks.  The food was terrible as it always is at these events and most of it is not eaten.  I wish they would just charge people the same fee and serve some heavy appetizers.  They do not understand Stell’s adage, Less is More.

We are reading a lot of poetry now.  All the books have been gifts from Julie Bailey, my forever friend who lives in Sedalia, Colorado.  We were English majors together at Ohio Northern University in the late sixties.  The following poem is Stell’s favorite of the summer.  It is included in Garrison Keillor’s book, Good Poems.  “Little Citizen, Little Survivor” by Hayden Carruth:

A brown rat has taken up residence with me.

A little brown rat with pinkish ears and lovely

Almond-shaped eyes.  He and his wife live

In the woodpile by my back door, and they are

So equal I cannot tell which is which when they

Poke their noses out of the crevices among

The sticks of firewood and then venture farther

In search of sunflower seeds spilled from the feeder.

I can’t tell you, my friend, how glad I am to see them.

I haven’t seen a fox for years, or a mink, or

A fisher-cat, or an eagle, or a porcupine.  I haven’t

Seen any of my old company of the woods

And the fields, we who used to live in such

Close affection and admiration.  Well, I remember

When the coons would tap on my window, when

The ravens would speak to me from the edge of their

Little precipice.  Where are they now? Everyone knows.

Gone.  Scattered in this terrible dispersal. But at least

The brown rate that most people so revile and fear

And castigate has brought his wife to live with me

Again.  Welcome, little citizen, little survivor.

Lend me your presence, and I will lend you mine.

The other two books we have started this morning (other gifts from Julie) are titled Poems That Make Grown Men Cry and Poems that Make Grown Women Cry were put together by a father and son team, Anthony and Ben Holden.  Anthony is a distinguished journalist and Ben is a film director.  We have read the openings about why they took on this project and have learned about their connection to the sponsor, Amnesty International.  Each book contains about 100 poems selected by famous men and women with  a brief explanation as to why the poem has brought tears to their eyes.  It was a clever project because you see some poets and poems repeated but also differences in what men and women selected, also you get a brief biographical paragraph on each entry and some rationale for the selections.

Right now Stelios Foras has arrived and he and my husband are setting up a fukah (yes that is the actual Greek name for mousetrap).  Carrie will be pleased to know that I heard the mouse in our bedroom last night.  It doesn’t frighten me, but it’s continuous scratching made it hard to fall asleep.  Everyone who knows me knows that I would win the Best Sleeper Award, so something really irritating has to counter my drifting off into REM land. 

I don’t know what our plans are for today.  The weather remains at or near perfect, it’s Sunday so the village will be packed (through August 15) with summer holiday people.  We probably won’t go to the village much at night with rare exception.  I did have an email from Petra and Kyros telling me they are expecting us to get together.  Nicos is coming with his girlfriend Sarah for ten days, but Thomas and Melissa won’t be here with their partners until after I leave.  Too bad. 

I’m going to charge this computer now, because it is at 79%.  I definitely don’t like to get near or below 50%.  I am also charging my phone now.  We do most “charging” when the sun is on high, because everything here operates on a solar system. 

Foras is leaving for the village and suggests we meet him at 1 p.m. at Sultana’s for an ouzo. 

Oh I forgot this.  Stell told me the three bad things in Greece are:  1)fires, 2)women, and 3)Tsiparo at noon      He thought of this because our cousin Thanos told me at the dance last night that he had been drinking Tsiparo at noontime and now had a horrible headache.  

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Today is a little hotter, but the water was ideal for a good swim.  We went first to Sultana’s where loud, very loud, Georgos was having an argument with another man which I did not understand. Later Stell told me that the argument was about some mules.  It appears that Georgos had taken some of his mules into the ocean because they were in the season where they are bothered by some insects called mule flies (which are probably the same as horse flies, but I’m not sure).  Apparently taking them into the sea kills the flies and calms their behavior.  The other man complained because he said he swims in that area and he didn’t like swimming in the part of the sea where the mules had been.  If you don’t know Greek culture, you might have suspected that they would have ended in a fist-to-cuffs, but the man who objected to the mules just listened to Georgos’ ranting and raving and continued to sip his ouzo and eat his mezze.  The other men just sat at their tables seemingly enjoying the verbal fray.  Sunday morning serenade.

We keep bumping into our Serbian family friends.  Today they were with another Serbian couple.  They are one of those families where everyone is really good looking, Daniella, Milosovic, Milan, and Maria.  Eventually we will have a chance to sit together for a longer talk over a drink or perhaps lunch.  I will take a photograph of them, so my journal readers can also see that they are fine looking family.  They actually live in Austria now, where Milosovic practices as a pharmacist.  There are as in past years lots of Serbians, Bulgarians, and Russians.  We’ve heard a rumor that a Greek Russian rich man has bought the hotel down the beach that has been vacant for at least ten years.  This is just a rumor though.  I haven’t seen any signs of “reconstruction”. 

Monday, July 31, 2017

Yes, this is official Kiss July Goodbye Day.  We slept in a little later than usual and then made it to Dr. Tony Somebody’s Office in Ierissos for him to do a followup check on Stell’s eyes.  He didn’t see anything serious, but he said when Stell had his cataract surgery on his left eye, a little piece remains that probably should be removed, but they both agreed the U.S. Dr. Tony could take a look.  He has very modern computerized equipment, so he made sure that I looked at all the pictures that he was looking at, although I don’t know what the hell I’m looking at.  Nonetheless, he seems very thorough and very professional, and Stell will see him one more time on August 21^st before he leaves Ierissos. 

I forgot to write about my sandals story yesterday, so I will post it here.  I’ve been wearing often a nice pair of Berkinstock sandals for approximately twenty years.  I wore them yesterday to Sultana’s, Milos, and the beach.  Then we headed toward Matakos for lunch.  When we got out of the car, the leather on one sandal just pulled away from my sandal, making it impossible to wear.  Stell said he could walk with one foot barefoot, and I could use one of his sandals, so we hobbled our way to Matakos.  As soon as we sat down, the leather on my remaining Berkie snapped away from the base of the shoe.  So now, I was sandal-less.  At the end of the meal, Stell called for the son’s owner, Georgos to come to our table.  He explained my plight, and Georgos loaned me a pair of his Mom’s flipflops.  Today I returned them to her.  They thought it was pretty funny.  I guess twenty years is a good “run” for a pair of sandals. 

We are listening to a good Louis Armstrong tape now.  Today I read a good bit of Billie Faye Wilson’s book, Swamp Bug Gold to Stell while we sat in the waiting room.  We really like it, and it is amazing what she has been able to recall about her childhood.  She also explains very well how religious people in the era of Hoover/Roosevelt could justify growing tobacco, although as she explains today the tobacco business wouldn’t fly so well in such a community.  To me, it is different I know, but it would be like working in a factory that makes landmines, most of which are made in the U.S.  If you really look into the harm they have caused people, especially children and older people, it would be hard to morally value your work.  But people have a capacity to look the other way, when it means feeding your family. 

I saw Asteri at Sultana’s and he told me he would be in the production this Saturday, I think of a Chekov play.  Also Yanni Foras will perform.  I think they are both superior actors.  I hope I can find out which Chekov play, so I can read it in English in advance.  This is always helpful. 

We heard from Aggelos Katsaggelos via email.  He wanted to tell us that on August 5 a couple and their teenage sons would be staying in Ierissos in his apartment.  He was hopeful that we would try and meet them and show them around the town.  He also wanted Stell to know the plans for flying down to the wedding in the Peloponnese, but Stell is getting less excited about going and is suggesting that we instead will go to Athens with Christos and stay there a couple of days with Ketie and Takis Pipas before my flight to Amsterdam.  Well, we have an entire month to determine our itinerary.

It’s a little hotter than I like but still okay for sitting outside in the morning and evening.  Just not as much of a breeze.  We are really enjoying the poems provided by Julie Bailey.  Here is our favorite from this morning:

Bani Adam

By Sa’adi

Here is a simple English translation of the poem:

The sons of Adam are limbs of each other,

Having been created of one essence

When the calamity of time affects one limb

The other limbs cannot remain at rest.

If you have no sympathy for the troubles of others,

You are unworthy to be called by the name of Human.

And a rhyming translation:

Human beings are members of a whole,

In creation of one essence and soul.

If one member is afflicted with pain,

Other members uneasy will remain.

If you’ve no sympathy for human pain,

The name of human you cannot retain!    (13^th century)

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Rabbit, rabbit.  Thus begins a new month.  Fall breezes, warm sun.  We’ve looked at our emails and Stell has done his exercises.  We have to go by the pharmacy and get one new prescription for his eyes, and I will walk over to the lykee and get some bananas.  I don’t think we have any other tasks today.  We of course have also read our poems this morning and will read a new set tonight.  One of the good things about the two newest books from Julie is that they are introducing us to a number of poems that are from non-Western parts of the world. 

Oh, we probably will get some more Scotch today as well.  We like sipping Scotch under the constellations and philosophizing to one another.  I’m sure that is exactly how the ancients got their great ideas. 

Anna (Stell’s 87 year old eldest sister) phoned last evening to tell us that she had a dream that we were both naked on Mykonos.  Why she would dream this, I haven’t a clue, but it is an amusing thought.  She is alone a lot more now, as her younger daughter and husband have returned to Athens, and there are no grandchildren here, although they tend to come at various times with their girlfriend and boyfriends.  This year one of her twin daughters will be married, so she will have a lot to talk about after August 27^th.  I am happy for her.  When they were born and in the years after she made multiple trips to Athens to help take care of them, and then their baby brother.  Cristianna, who will be getting married, is a doctor, Maria is a lawyer, and Costas is an engineer.  She should be really proud of what the entire family has accomplished.  Also, she continues to paint and I think her work gets better and better.  

The coyotes were in the area last night, but they didn’t come as close to the house as usual. 

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Here’s a poem I wrote for Alexander this morning:

                                      Ants’ Joys

When the giant YiaYia

Eats her breakfast

Every morsel and crumb

Doesn’t to her mouth last.

Small bits of olive, tomato, and feta pie

Drop to the floor beside her chair.

Thank Goodness she is messy or else

We would surely die.

Wednesday morning.  Stell’s eyes seem a lot better today, and he is reading again.  We’ve both looked at our emails and of course completed the reading of three poems. 

We’ve had a message from Aggleos’ friends who arrive from Paris on Sunday saying they would like to meet us with their teenage sons, Sacha and Illan.  I’m sure we will catch up with them some time that day.  The weather remains perfect. 

Not much else to report.  I’m still having fun reading Bug Swamp’s Gold, which is additionally fun because I know the author and it is the story of her roots in South Carolina about twenty miles from Myrtle Beach.  Nice reading with the sweet breeze to my back.

Cicada serenade underway on this still evening at sunset.  I’ve been so lazy today that I have next to nothing to write about at the moment.  We did have a nice swim.  Almost no one on the beach is Greek – instead there are Serbians, Bulgarians, Russians.  Stell told me the Eastern Europeans regard Hakidiki as their Miami Beach.  We had a sorry late lunch prepared by me with all I could find in the refrigerator, so tomorrow we will do better.  I combined some sausages with some peppers right off the vine, a tomato, a few olives, and a little feta.  Nothing to write home about.  I thought we had some bread for Stell, but it turned out to be moldy, so it is going to be a gift to Foras’ goats. 

I’ve read the Atlanta Journal online, but it depresses me as much here as it does at home.  Not the paper, per se, but just the Trump-related news.  I wish we could simultaneously impose sanctions against him as he supposedly will do against Russia.  How long before we see the first movie about his inane Presidency?  We could have a competition for titles.  For now, I think it should be called The Tweeter.

Scotch has arrived, so I’m going to turn my computer off and preparing for the poetry reading with drinks on the patio. 

P.S.  I feel really sad for all the school kids in the U.S. who have already returned to school.  I grew up with August as the last month of summer holidays.  This seems bizarre.

Thursday, August 3, 2017

I’m sitting on the patio listening to the bells of more than 100 sheep in the valley below the house.  This is a new flock, since mostly there are goat herds.  Stell has gone to check his email.  His eyes are getting better day by day, which is a tribute to his nurses, Paris and moi.   Today he has to go to the courthouse and the bank, and he keeps saying that we are going to visit his sister, Anna.  She calls daily to say she is lonely, because her younger daughter has returned to Athens and no grandchildren are visiting now.  I imagine they are all getting on with the business of the big wedding later in the month.

I’ve had little messages from Addie, Nic, and Apisata.  Nic and Apisata occasionally check on the house in Georgia, and Chris Franklin mows the lawn. I always pay the utilities in advance, so it is nice when I get the first bills when I’m home, because I usually have a few dollars of credit.  After 30 years, preparing for the time in Greece has become routine. 

We’ve heard back from the French couple who will be here on Sunday with their teenage sons.  We have their emails and phone numbers, so we will meet and welcome them to Ierissos. 

I’m half-way through Billie Faye’s book, and I’ve learned a lot about growing tobacco.  I didn’t realize it was so complicated to cure tobacco.  Our main crop here at our place is alfalfa.  The Karavasillis have had the field, but their contract ends in September.  Then Stell is turning the field over to Foras, and he will grow alfalfa for his goats and sell the rest.  He manages the vineyard and the olive grove, so he has tsiparo and all the olive oil he needs and we can use.  Of course, we only have less than two months need of olive oil here.   Nonetheless, this is a worthy savings for his family.  Katherina likes coming up here and collecting the olives.  This happens in the Fall, so I’ve never been here for the collecting and processing.  It’s a good bartering system for us.  

Time to brush my teeth. 

Friday, August 4, 2017

A scorcher with a slight breeze, but not enough breeze.  Yesterday I had to give up and take a Benadryl.  The heat affects my right sinus so badly that I can’t bear the inflammation.  I like the Fall weather better.  No news.  Tonight Yiannis will read from his new book.  Stell will probably go to hear him but I will instead go to Matakos or Romina Pizza and wait.  He is my least favorite person in the family, and I don’t want him to enjoy the benefit of my presence.  Tomorrow night we have the production of Chekov’s Vodka Molatov, which I think means something like seven independent productions of seven of his short stories.  One of those presented actually has been written by Asteri.  Stell is planning to ask Asteri to look at a few of his books and see if he convert parts of them into dramatic presentations. 

It is too damn hot today.  I could not find a cold spot in the sea, and you had to walk from your towel rapidly into the ocean, so as not to burn the bottom of your feet.  Yes, it cooled me a little, but as soon I was out of the sea, the temperature was soaring again.  Now I’ve had a little nap and a nice shower and I’m outside.   There is a little bit of a breeze but not enough.  I am so spoiled. I cannot imagine how people anywhere in the world work outside in such hot temperatures. 

I’m almost finished with Billie Faye’s book.  I’ll probably finish it tomorrow.  I made a dent in it while I waited for Stell to meet me at Sultana’s after he did some banking. 

I had a nice little email from Jaiden today.  She told me that she was having a hard time adjusting to U.S. time after being here.  I know the feeling. 

Saturday, August 5, 2017

SCORCHER of a day, and according to our local meteorologist, Stellios Foras this weather will persist through Thursday.  I’m not sure that I can persist along with it.  Last night we went to the Village so Stell could hear his nephew’s talk.  I took off alone for a “volta” along the sea.  There are very few Greek tourists.  I ended at Romina Pizza, which was packed.  I asked Stellios the young charming waiter to seat me inside because I didn’t want to take up a whole table, but he insisted that I sit at table for four outside.  I ordered a beer and sipped away, finishing the book Bug Swamp Gold (almost) before Stell and Stellios Foras arrived.  We ordered a small pizza, but they only had large ones left, so we ordered the large one.  Later after Foras had devoured almost all of the pizza and chugged the retsina (reprimanded by Stell), Maria joined our table.  Foras got “excited” with her presence, and ordered a cigarette while she talked about her troubled life before owning the very successful pizzeria.  He, of course, would insist that he doesn’t smoke.  Most smokers I know have said they haven’t given up the habit if they have to “occasionally” have a cigarette. 

Tonight we have the play, and he brought us an “early” copy of the program.  If I am in the mood later this afternoon, I might read a few of the short stories on the web.  I tend to get cranky when it is this hot, and especially when it doesn’t cool off for sleeping. 

Now that I have finished Billie Faye’s Bug Swamp Gold, I am starting Donna Leon’s Earthly Remains.  I did read the opening several days ago to Stell as he was having trouble with his eyes, but now he is able to read again, so I’ll give this a fresh start.  The other books I have for the summer are all on my Kindle, so I will have to charge it and then be ready to “read” and “roll”.

When we went to the Courthouse the other day and talked with the “President” of the area, Georgos Somebody, it appeared that everything was cleared and A-Okay for Stell to have his remains interred here at Stavraqu. Stell did say afterward, he would only believe this when he had the paperwork.   Well, yesterday, Georgos said he will have to get the okay from the Bishop in Arnea.  Another hitch.  The most important thing is that Paris and I actually know what is possible and what is not.  An ongoing investigation.

Yesterday I gave Maria (the tall Serbian girl who is a senior this year in high school in Austria) my copy of Sonia Sotomayor’s autobiography.  She has a great command of English and she told us earlier that she wants to be a judge.  Her mother, Daniella, is a lawyer, and her father is a pharmacist.  Her younger brother, Milan, said he is going to be pharmacist, too. 

Paris send me a great little BBC Travel video on Facebook today.  It was the story of the “whistlers” in a little Greek mountainous rural community that used to have about 230, but the population has dwindled to around 37 people.  The way they communicate across the community and around the mountains is by whistling.  Paris thought my whistling skills would make it possible for me to live with them.  I’d give it a try if asked.  

Sunday, August 6, 2017

The serious heat wave persists.  There are reports of people falling over and dying of heart attacks because of the high temperatures.  Last night we, nonetheless, made our way to the theatre, which turned out to be excellent.  I didn’t realize that Chekov could be so funny.  Yiannis Foras, Pelligia, and Asteri were among the best actors.  One skit was where a drinking dental student is dealing with her patient, Yiannis.  Finally, she uses a huge pair of pliers and removes his tooth, while he writhes in severe pain.  Then they end up singing the chorus to “We are the Champions.”  All of the skits were ended with really appropriate music of multiple genres. The guys who would move the props from one scene to the next were always dancing in exaggerated form to the music.  Another scene takes place inside a chicken coop, and the clucking resembles the inside of a beauty parlor.  Hilarious.

Stellios Foras and his wife Katerina had saved us seats, and we were next to the amplifiers, so I could see really well and Stell could hear.  After the production, we walked toward the sea, where an excellent local bouzouki group was performing.  People were dancing and everyone loved the music.  We went to Matakos for light food and retsina.  Another couple was with us- Sophia and Vassilly.  They live near Dusseldorf.  He’s 52, but has retired from his restaurant business and now manages a lot of property.  Sophia is originally from Ierissos, and Vassilly is originally from Patras.  Vassilly said he would like to stay in the house for several months she inherited from her mother here in Ierissos, but she said she would not want to be away from her grandchild in Germany for that long. Katerina and Stellios take care of the house while they are in Germany.   Yannis and his girlfriend, Yoanna, are renting a room for 100 euro/month.  Not a bad deal.  They were very nice, but Sophia was a chain smoker, which was sad to see because you could tell she had been a pretty younger woman.  I’ve seen a lot of women and men go up in smoke here.

Today the French family arrives (the ones we have been asked to show around town), and tonight is the Full Moon Festival. 

Also, we are still waiting for Socrates to bring our new batteries up to the house and install them.  Stell found a fan in one of the other rooms, which we can use this afternoon.  I never thought I would be saying it is too hot to swim, but truthfully the sea looks like a mirror and it is so warm that it brings little or no relief from the heat.

Too hot to swim.  Too hot to walk.  Too hot to sleep.  Reading and writing is all that is left and even they have to be accomplished in a lethargic pace.  New description of Ierissos:  A Town Where All the People are Hot

One funny other event from yesterday:  We had lunch at Colatzzis. The owner of the oldest restaurant in Ierissos has never been a friendly man. He has always sat in the chair by the entry to the restaurant and stared around the room.  Yesterday, I got up to go to the bathroom, and he was inside.  He greeted me like his long lost friend.  I couldn’t believe it.  When I returned to our table, we saw his niece carrying a tiny baby that she actually brought by for us to see.  Little Raphiela.  Guess what?  She’s his new and first grandchild, and he was strutting around with that baby like she was the only baby in the world.  I’ve never seen him over thirty years express any emotion, but this child has transformed his demeanor. 

I’m not praying for Sheetrock; just praying for Cool. 

Monday, August 7, 2017

I read in the Atlanta Journal yesterday that the temperature soared to 111 in Bulgaria yesterday.  I know it was well over 100 F. here as well.  We are overwhelmed by Lucifer and living a life of lethargy.  In addition to the discomfort, the solar system has failed this morning which means I have had no coffee.  I could have a Nescafe, but I hate Nescafe, so I’ll wait.  You would think everyone would just jump into the sea, but the sea is so warm it is not soothing either.  So instead of bitching and moaning, I will type a poem that I read this morning here for your entertainment.  I thought this was really delightful:

Poetry Readings

Charles Bukowski

Poetry readings have to be some of the saddest

Damned things ever.

The gatherings of the clansmen and clanladies,

Week after week, month after month, year

After year.

Getting old together

Reading on to tiny gatherings,

Still hoping their genius will be

Discovered.

Making tapes together, discs together,

Sweating for applause

They read basically to and for

Each other.

They can’t find a New York publisher

Or one

Within miles,

But they read on and on

In the poetry holes of America,

Never daunted,

Never considering the possibility that

Their talent might be

Thin, almost invisible,

They read on and on

Before their mothers, their sisters, their husbands,

Their wives, their friends, the other poets

And the handful of idiots who have wandered

In

From nowhere.

I am ashamed for them

I am ashamed that they have to bolster each other;

I am ashamed for their lisping egos,

Their lack of guts.

If these are our creators,

Please, please give me something else:

A  drunken plumber in a bowling alley,

A prelim boy in a four rounder,

A jock guiding his horse through the

Rail,

A bartender on last call,

A waitress pouring me a coffee,

A drunk sleeping in a deserted doorway,

A dog munching a dry bone,

An elephant’s fart in a circus tent,

A 6 p.m. freeway crush,

The mailman telling a dirty joke

Anything

Anything

But

These.

So I don’t know what today will bring, but it has started extremely hot, and I am feeling sorry for the goat herder as he guides the little feta-makers across the fields today.  The clinging and clanging of the little bells and the sun’s oppressive heat may put him in a trance.  That’s where I am starting this day.

I’m going to brush my teeth and return to the latest Donna Leon mystery, the annual reading gift for Greece from Addie.  How do people survive hot days if they do not read? 

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Slept in an oven against last night.  It’s been Lucifer hot since Friday, so I feel like I’m undergoing an endurance test.  I’m okay if I can actually fall asleep, but when I do occasionally wake up, I’m sleeping in a pool of sweat.  On the patio now there is  a slight and welcome breeze, and I did manage to keep the batteries operating long enough to prepare some coffee.  Really simple things make you happy here.  Yesterday was uneventful, but today, yes today is Lykee day again, so I will shop for bananas, olives, and I’m going to see if I can get some fresh apricots.  I never buy fresh apricots in the States, but they are grown in Greece, and a real treat when they are in season. 

Stell asked me to copy this poem for him from this morning’s readings:

The Wind, One Brilliant Day

Antonio Machado

The wind, one brilliant day called

To my soul with an aroma of jasmine.

“In return for the odor of my jasmine,

I’d like all the odor of your roses.”

“I have no roses, all the flowers

in my garden are dead.”

“Well then, I’ll take the waters of the fountains,

and the withered petals and the yellow leaves.”

The wind left. And I wept. And I said to myself:

“What have you done with the garden that was entrusted to you?”

So today perhaps we will swim, since the sea does not look like glass.  Usually if it is moving, it is colder. Also, I should finish Earthly Remains today which I have found to be a very good Donna Leon mystery.  Tonight we have scheduled to meet up with Katerina, Foras, and their cousins from German at Galitsanos.  I haven’t been to Galitsanos yet this summer, so it will be a nice change. 

The air has little currents of “cool” now.  Coffee and little currents of cool.  What more could a girl want?

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

It is a little breezer outside, but inside it is is still Dante’s Inferno.  Last night we went to Galitsano’s.  Not what it was in the old days with all the old men singing. Katerina, Foras, Vassilly and Sophia were with us, and Foras ate like he was starving, yet the buttons on his shirt are about to pop.  Poor guy, he can’t help himself; his appetite is bottomless, and he has no scientific understanding of the “bad news” of carbs, especially bread and French fries.  Katerina eats very lightly, and she tries to control her husband with her eyes of disapproval, but when she looks away, his fork flies onto the plates. 

We did swim yesterday, but it was painful walking on the beach into and out of the water.  The hot sand burned the bottoms of our feet.  We had a nice little lunch at Mouragio then headed to the hothouse for our nap.  I didn’t sleep well in the afternoon (which is a claim you will rarely hear from me), but last night I was able to get a decent sleep despite the heat. 

In case you are wondering about the French people we were supposed to meet who are staying in Aggelos’ apartment, well, we haven’t seen hide nor hair of them.  Of course, we rarely go out at night, and Galitsanos is not a likely place for tourists. 

I’ve started reading A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage.  Priscilla Sumner told me about this book on one or more of our walks.  It is my “cup of tea” and tea is one of the glasses.  It starts with beer, and now I’m into the history of wine.  I enjoy these kind of books that take a product like “cod” or “salt” and teach you so much about the world by tracing the history of something of consumptive importance.  I also admire the research that goes into the creation of these stories. 

I have been following U.S. news a bit more, but I shouldn’t because it just depresses me – deportation of immigrants, travel bans, walls.  I can’t stomach isolationists.  I think of all the seminars and courses on leadership, but we seem to be enduring a long void of anyone capable of statesman(woman)ship.  Although the recent votes of John McCain, and three Republican women demonstrated some civic courage (and McCain has a serious brain tumor). 

One bit of good news is that Stell’s eyes seem to be fine now, and we are down to the once a day drops.  In two weeks he will revisit the Ierissos Dr. Tony, and then of course, he will see the Athens’ Dr. Tony after September 8^th. 

Oh, I did get olives, bananas and some wonderful apricots yesterday.  The woman from whom I bought the apricots, said that although several of them had little bruises that the taste would be delicious.  She was so right!  Just like Bell’s I thought.   People turn up their noses if there is a little smudge on an apple or peach, but I want you to know I bought this near pound of apricots for 70 cents.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

It’s about 11:30 a.m.  Stell slept in (unusual for him) until 9:30 a.m.  I got up and read my email.  Had a very nice posting from Jaiden.  It’s still very warm with only a mere slip of a breeze now and then, although it does have a taste of coolness occasionally.  Last night (late) Foras, Katerina and their German cousins came up late “to see the house”, I made some popcorn and they talked and talked and talked.  Stell said they were very boring and he kept hinting that he was tired.  Finally, when they left Stell went straight to bed, but I stayed up for another half hour to take things inside and just relax while watching the full moon.  The full moon viewing produces much less angst than watching the evening news in Georgia. 

I’m moving along in my “Six Glasses” book, and I’m now fully engaged in the section on coffee, and I especially like the research done about the contributions made by the first coffeehouses, which actually offered an early form of the internet.  Some people argued that they contributed to a decline in scholarship and a rise in idleness, but in truth many of the coffee house scientific and informal conversations contributed to advancements because of the sharing of ideas. 

Stell says we are going to stop by Anna’s today and take her some tomatoes.  Foras almost always bring me a bag of tomatoes and cucumbers, and even though I love both, there are only so many a girl can consume.  I do wish I could share them with U.S. friends who love them as much as I do. 

I am pleased to report that the coyotes did a few short numbers for our visitors last night.  Since we cannot see them, only hear them, we can never be sure they will bless us with the howling at the moon. 

Back to the history of “coffee” I go . .  .

Friday, August 11, 2017

Seven straight days of Lucifer.  According to Christos (owner of Milos) after today we should begin to have cooler weather.  May he be a prophet.  Also, I have been advised by my husband, that the son of Marble Mouse is dead-caught in a mousetrap near the trash can in the kitchen. Marble Mouse was named by Carrie Kefalas, because she said she could hear him at night rolling a marble around under their closet.  Paris trapped and released him, but as I have tried to explain to one and all there is never “a” mouse in your house.  Think twice, there are mice.  You will have to ask Paris why he released Marble Mouse to the fields, but I guess he is following “the catch and release” approach from fishing to mousing.  After the more compassionate members of our family left for the summer, Stell trapped “a” mouse, but I knew this wouldn’t end their adventures, so I have been advised that Son of Marble Mouse is DOA in the kitchen this morning.  I feel no need to do an inspection. 

Yesterday we visited Anna and were happy to meet up with our nephew, Costis, and his girlfriend, Nadia.  Costis was proud to tell us that he has finished his MBA online from the University of Kentucky.  He is 26 now and like every other young Greek would like to move to the UK.  However, Nadia says she doesn’t want to leave Greece.  She works at a public high school as a school psychologist. 

When we came home from swimming and were about to begin our siesta there was a horn beeping in the driveway.  It was Nicos, Gregory, Georgia, and Anna.  They stopped to see us on their drive home from swimming at Serapotomi.  We have been invited to their place on Tuesday to celebrate the most famous name’s day in Greece.  We will be recognizing Despina and her daughter Maria.  Also, we’ve been told that Natasha will be home for holidays from Birmingham.  Her brother, we do not expect to see, as he is working in Holland.

The greatest highlight of my day was buying scotch at Marzuti’s yesterday.  Stell stayed in the car, although I wondered how he could in the heat, and I was afraid I might be arrested for leaving my husband in a hot vehicle.  I know the liquor is “locked up” in this grocery store and the routine is to ask a woman in a type of information location to do the unlocking.  She pointed to a VERY HANDSOME (George Clooney looking handsome) man in a Brinks uniform and told me he could get the booze for me.  I mean to tell you he was easy on the eyes.  So, being in a rather smart-ass mood, I spoke to him while he was unlocking the cabinet and said that in the United States I had never had liquor secured for me by a Brinks man.  He instantly replied, “Welcome to Greece.”  Then he asked me which check out line I preferred.  I said, “the shortest one” (there was no shortest one), and he again remarked, “Welcome to Greece.”  Buying scotch has never been as pleasurable.  I tried to relate my enthusiasm for the purchase to Stell who was melting in the hot car, and he didn’t seem to share it.

We have been able to swim as there has been some cooling off, and the sea provides a temporary relief. 

The night ended with the two of us watching the full moon rise.  The old man’s face looked like a pumpkin as it ascended into a few dark clouds.

Sad words from Stell this morning, “My Falcons lost!”

Saturday, August 12, 2017

I send this journal occasionally to family and friends.  Now that Nic has had a chance to “catch up”, he’s worried that his next Dad might be the Brinks’ man at Mazuti’s Grocery Store.  I’ve explained to him that would mean his Dad is a gigolo in a bullet-proof vest.  Not likely as I hate guns.  We are up and into our morning rituals.  Actually I got up earlier this morning, just before 8 a.m., and Stell has finally moved about at around 9 a.m. and made his tea and bread with butter and honey.  We have very different breakfast tastes.  I tend to have coffee first, then tomato, olives, feta, and little toast crisps.  Our meals are very different here from what we choose in the States.  Our next meal will be around 1 p.m. at Sultana’s and will include an ouzo and her wonderful mezze.  Today, some cousin of Stell’s wants to meet us because Stell believes he wants a recommendation for his son to have some business association with Mazuti’s.  Mazuti’s is a Kroger or Publix-like grocery chain in Greece.  The owner Pandelis is from Ierissos and is an ancient friend of Stell’s, although they haven’t communicated much in the last few years.  Also, Stell is less and less enthusiastic about recommending these kind of associations.  So we will see how this goes today.  We have had some interesting people join us in Sultana’s yesterday.  Our unfortunate person yesterday was a young man named Pavlos, who is a serious drug addict.  He’s probably about 30 years old and he looks skeletal.  He is excessively polite, shaking our hands, shaking Sultana’s hand.  Then, even though it was clear we were about to leave, he plopped down in an empty chair at our table.  Stell bought him an ouzo, but we left.  I don’t like this, but Stell feels sorry for the “kid”.  I feel sorry that there are no ways for him to get any treatment for his condition in Ierissos, and the fact that he already looks like a dead man walking does nothing for my mood. 

Because we are a “port” the drug problem is elevated, and we don’t even have a police station any longer, because some of those people protesting the goldmine, burned it several years ago.  It amazes me that things go as smoothly as they do.  Other than Pavlos, Stell and I have no actual knowledge of the drug business, because transactions are more likely underway at night and involve the nightclub-ish places. 

I finished The History of the World in Six Glasses Yesterday and I started reading a collection of stories by J.F. Powers titled the same.  I can’t remember why I added this to my Kindle, but they are very clever, although according to the statistics, I’ve only read 6% of them.  Finally, I have left the heavier read of Why We Hate Us by Dick Meyer.   

The good news is that my husband is about to bring me my first cup of coffee of the morning, and I am sitting out the patio in slightly cooler temperature, listening to the tingling of the little goat herd bells in the field right beside our house. 

Last night I tried to find the BBC on my AM/FM/Shortwave radio, but I could remember which knobs worked.  Now I’ve located the S350 Operation Manual, so I’m reminded in the little refresher section that I need to turn to SW1 and go to a particular location if it is nighttime.  Hopefully I will find some news tonight.  I will stop for now and read four poems to Stell to express my deepest appreciation for the rich, robust cup of Maxwell House French Roast.  We bring the coffee from home, and it is much better than the tiny cups with no refills you would get in the village.  One of the best “six glasses.”  

Sunday, August 13, 2017

An exquisitely happy morning beginning with a shower to wash all the salt out of my hair, followed by a invigorating cup of coffee made by Asterios Georgos Kefalas, the reading of four poems (one I will copy below, as I recognized its great truth), and my ritual breakfast described above.  Most of all my happiness comes from the excited cool breezes and the absence of sweat.

Here is the poem read from Good Poems: American Places (edited by Garrison Keillor):

Porches II

By Virginia Hamilton Adair

All over our U.S. the porches were dying.

The porch swing and the rocking chair moved to the village dump.

The floorboards trembled, and the steps creaked.

For a couple of decades a new light burned in the parlor.

The family sitting there silent in front of the box, voices and music squawking mysteriously from far places into the dim-lit room.  Conversation was hushed.

In the next two decades, a window in the box flashed unbelievable pictures into the room.

Strangers guffawed and howled with laughter.

Shots rang out, people died in front of our eyes.

We learned not to care, drinking Coca-Cola from bottles,

Spilling popcorn into the sofa.

A highway came past the house with its deserted porch and no one noticed.

The children wandered off to rob houses a few blocks away, not out of need, but simple boredom.

No more family games or read-alouds.

Grandparents sometimes pulled their chairs outside hoping neighbors would stop in.

They might even drag out an extra chair or two;

Still no one came, not even to borrow something.

But it was hard to talk with the TV at their backs, the traffic screeching in front, the rest of the neighborhood on relief or in rest homes or reformatories.

The old porch is removed, and the grandparents with it. 

So long, friends, neighbors, passersby.

Stell’s cousin never showed up yesterday.  What a goof ball. We had a nice day ending in the village with lunch at the Touristico that included beets, okra and spring peas (I guess they would be summer peas by now).  Petra and Kyros called last night, and we are going to meet them tonight at Mouragio for dinner.  Their son, Nicos, and his girlfriend will be with them. 

I will stop by Maria’s on our return home and order two pizzas for tomorrow night, a Greek Pizza, and the Margherita.  Everything should “settle down” after Tuesday. 

Stell is now reading Donna Leon’s Earthly Remains.  I am going inside and check my mail, then I’ll brush my teeth and savor in the cool temperature.  Hopefully we won’t have another heat streak, but since we go to Athens at the end of the month, there is no guarantee. 

Monday, August 14, 2017

All kinds of reports in the U.S. news about the tragic riots in Charlottesville.  The news continues to put me in a bad mood.  At least I will say it is cool here today, and we had a “windy” dinner last night with Kryos, Petra, Nicos and his girlfriend, Sarah.  Sarah is from Hamburg, and she is TWELVE years older than Nicos.  He is 22, and yes when she is 40, he will be a mere 28^th.  She’s very pretty and friendly, except that her left shoulder and left arm are completely covered with tattoos.  I cannot imagine making such a huge section of your body so ugly, and especially when otherwise she is a very attractive girl.  Kyros said he loves her, and he’s pleased that all three of his children are engaged or “in relationships”.  Kyros and Petra have invited us on another boat excursion and for a barbecue on Thursday, but Stell said when we came home that he would prefer to skip the boat trip.  I am completely GAGA (Go Along, To Get Along), so he can make all the decisions for the next two weeks, because I find that when I get involved in the planning, it just gets more complicated than need be.  For example, as you know if you have been reading this, he has invited the Serbian Family to come here for pizza this evening around 8 p.m.  I ordered the pizzas to be picked up when we were in the village last night.  My thinking was that today we would make our usual trip to town, and at the end of our swimming get some ice, beer, cokes, and remind Milos to pick up the pizzas.  But now this has changed, as Stell has invited some man and his wife here because she has made bomyas (okra), and thus I have been instructed to chill some retsinas, and they will also bring bread. Although I like okra very much, I never quite think of it as a meal.  Oh well, GAGA.  The day will happen no matter what people come and go, and I should learn to stay out of the planning.  Stell thinks I should be very excited to meet some new people.  I’m not excited. 

Yesterday, while we were having an ouzo at Milos, Stell got up to go pee.  The young muscle man having a coffee and seated next to us asked me if I was an American.  When I replied in the affirmative, he said he wanted to ask me a favor.  Sure, I said.  Would I read a loud from a script he had his part (as Andrew), because he wanted to hear an English speaking person read the words.  It seems he has been hired to be in a movie being made in the Netherlands.  I read his lines, and then asked if he wanted to read them back to me.  He said, no, he had the idea now of how they should sound.  He identified himself as George, and said he was a lieutenant with the local fire department here.  We talked some about fires in the area and he let us know that he was very frustrated with the monks on Mountain Athos, because in 2012, for example, when there was a major fire on the Holy Mountain, they had to wait for a considerable time before they could enter the mountain.  He thought the idea of monks in this century was ridiculous, and he said he was more an admirer of the earlier more scientific philosophers.  He thought the union of church and State was a hoax.  Rather unusual opinion for a person who I would assume was at least born a Greek Orthodox.  Of course, I think the monks are absurd myself.  That said, Prince Charles comes frequently to visit the Holy Mountain. What do I know? I can only hope that if this movie is produced that I might be listed in the credits.  We asked him how he got the part, and he said he found out about it on Facebook.  Soon to appear in a theatre near someone.

Tomorrow is the biggest summer holiday in Greece, August 15^th.  We will go in the evening to Despina’s.   Stell is dreading it because her daughter Maria has not performed well enough to maintain her Stell Scholarship, and also Stell thinks that Nicos’ son George would like to apply for a Stell Scholarship.  I’m GAGA. 

We await the okra people at 1 p.m.  Summertime and the living is easy.

A small number of people who know me really well know that I have often talked of an imaginary project for myself.  This project would involve my driving around Georgia and perhaps beyond and taking photographs of some particular yards.  They would all have in common that they are filled with kitch . . . . an abundance of kitch, that is little pottery elves, geese, flamingoes, Christmas ornaments (and many like blow-up Santas, reindeer, and angels), vases and flowerpots, birdbaths, and although I don’t like them for a minute those little black boys holding a stable lantern.  I once read an article that said in the South these were meant to signal people traveling the Underground Railway of safe houses, but I don’t think that is true.  I’ve always found them symbols instead of white privilege.  Anyhow, my project would have me taking photographs of these yards and assemble them together in a coffee table book.  If I had the time and courage, I would also like to interview the creators of this yard art, because I have always assumed they must have some common characteristics for this particular type of hoarding.  Today I read this poem and was reminded that my project remains only a project of my imagination:  

Plastic Beatitude

Laure-Anne Bosselaar

Our neighbors, the Pazzotis, live in a long narrow canary-yellow house with Mrs. Pazzoti’s old father, their 2 daughters, their husbands, 4 kids, a tortoise shell cat and a white poodle.

Their yard is my childhood dream:  toys, bicycles, tubs, bird cages, barbecues, planters, pails, tools and garden sculptures:  an orange squirrel eating a nut, Mickey Mouse pushing a wheelbarrow, St. Joseph carrying a lantern, his other blessing hand broken at the wrist, and two tea-sipping toads in an S-shaped love seat, smiling at each other under a polka-dotted parasol.

On the yellow railing around the deck, a procession of nine pinwheels.  This May morning, they thrash the air with each breeze like clumsy angels nailed to their posts.  On the garage wall at the end of the yard an electric cord shoots up to the roof.  One half connects to a blue neon insect electrocuter, the other half snakes to, then disappears into a pedestal cemented on the cornice.

And there she stands, in plastic beatitude—and six feet of it—the Madonna, in her white robe and blue cape, arms outstretched, blessing the Pazzottis, their yard and neighbors, lit from within day and night, calling God’s little insects to her shining light, before sending them straight to the zapper—tiny buzzing heretics fried by the same power that lured them to their last temptation.

From Good Poems: American Places, selected and introduced by Garrison Keillor

Okay, so the friends from Thessaloniki came and brought us lunch- Georgos and Galini.  Very tasty- okra (bomyas) in a salsa and yemista (stuffed peppers) bread and all kinds of vegetables for a salad with all ingredients from their garden.  They are a young couple in their early 50s and they have four adult children.  One son is going to marry soon on Santorini, and in addition they are “four months” pregnant.  Another has provided them with two grandchildren.  Georgos is a retired army officer, and now he has his own business, which involves providing business seminars for project management.  In addition, he is working on another degree in journalism.  Galini is a retired school teacher, and now she is her husband’s assistant. They stayed until about 4 p.m. and headed home to Thessaloniki. We tried to nap, but we aren’t used to napping so early, so we really didn’t sleep and to my surprise Stell insisted on going to Mazuti’s for the cokes, beers, etc.  So we are back at the house with everything we need for tonight.  And as I have mentioned, it is not hot.  Stell is reading Donna Leon and I’m reading the Stories of J.F. Powers.  He is a very clever storyteller.  I think I read about his writing in The New York Review of Books, but I no longer can recall why I ordered the book.  Doesn’t matter.  It was a good choice.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Xronia Polla!  Church bells ringing regularly as they move through the Maria’s Day mass along side the bells of the goats moving through the fields next to our house.  The weather is back to delightful, cool with cloudlets.  I read the word “cloudlet” in one of the eight poems we read everyday, and so I have decided I can use it in my writing. 

Our day yesterday was eventful as you already know.  The Serbian family, Daniella, Miloslav, Milan and Maria were afraid to drive their big car down to our house, so at about 8:45 p.m. they came walking down the driveway.  At first we had to apply mosquito spray to everyone.  They brought the pizzas I had ordered earlier and they brought a VERY RICH chocolate cake.  Maria, the daughter was lovely but absolutely quiet the entire evening.  Miloslav did most of the talking/questioning and Milan was such a smartass twelve-year old that his mother got very angry with him and was subdued with her anger.  How can I describe him – he’s good-looking, surly, smart, and sassy constantly.  He pushes his mother and baits her constantly.  She gets worn down.  His father ignores him and his mother, so finally when I’d heard enough I told him that he was disrespectful to his mother and I did not want him talking to her that way at my house.  He tried a couple of attempts to sass me, but when he realized he couldn’t wear me down, he got very sweet.  He’s skilled at manipulation.  What bothered me most is that the father does not reprimand him for the way he talks to his mother, and I was rather shocked also that she was overwhelmed by her son – knowing she is a lawyer.  I don’t know what this all means for their marriage, but they definitely are not in harmony on disciplining their son.  Maria said he behaves like this every day and then at night kisses them and says he is sorry, and they all forgive him.  I am not used to children being disrespectful to their parents.  Jaiden and Alexander are both lively and fun, but they would never get away with talking to Paris or Carrie like Milan speaks to his mother. 

Thus ends my first month in Greece this year.  Nothing dramatic planned for today – the usual routine-Sultanas, Milos, a swim, and then we will go to Georgia and Despina’s tonight.  We will take the rest of the cake and vegetables that Galini brought yesterday to our nieces tonight.

Now I will go and send a message to my colleague, Alice Diebel, a program officer at the Kettering Foundation.  

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Last night, after Stell had phoned a multitude of Marias, we made our way to Despina and Georgia’s.   It was a small group of folks, and Costas (Despina’s husband) was barbecuing chicken and beef.  Natasha was home from Birmingham, and she seems to really like living in England.  She showed us a photograph of her boyfriend, Adam, who is 34.  She said she wouldn’t date anyone unless they were at least 30.  Georgia and I had the deeper conversation starting with when she asked if we would be going to Cristianna’s wedding.  I said it wasn’t very likely, because Stell wanted to meet with some of his clients in Athens on the 30 and 31^st and I fly out early in the morning on September 1.  Then, Georgia explained that they had not been invited, nor had Despina and her family.  I rather knew there were some tensions in the family, but at last they were being addressed.  Despina feels that Demetra and Nicos only want hoity-toity people at the wedding, and she said she didn’t qualify as she is not a doctor.  I think they were rather pleased that we wouldn’t be going.  Oh, it is good to live far from these family stressors. 

We both slept well last night and I was greeted with a full cup of freshly brewed coffee when I finally pulled myself out of bed.  I read the usual four poems to Stell, and had a little of my usual breakfast, and then decided to read the news on the internet.  That probably was a mistake, because I watched a 22 minute video documentary prepared by HBO on the events that have recently occurred in Charlottesville.  Now I am numb from listening to the hatreds expressed by the neo-Nazis and also seeing the number of guns carried by one of the leaders.  No wonder the Governor called it a State of Emergency.  These white supremacists feel empowered by their march and the fact that they killed one woman with a car that was raced into a crowd of people.  Their hatred is intense, and all we can do is hope that more tempered minds will offer effective resistance.  The video was at the end of an opinion piece by one of my champions at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Jay Bookman. 

So I am living in a world of small-scale family tensions and large scale national(perhaps international) tensions.  Who knows what we are about to encounter with the return of college students to the 4000 plus colleges and universities?  Definitely more protests have been inspired, much like the sixties, but definitely with more powerful armaments.

My head and heart hurt.  Stell thinks all that has just happened is an “event”; unfortunately (and I long to be wrong), I think this is the beginning of a dangerous trend.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Stelios Foras and Christos Diglis are putting up the fence to bar the Karavasillis from plowing our field to plant alfalfa.  Stell is officially turning its use over to Foras to be used for him to grow alfalfa for his animals.  The Karavasillis were able to use it this last year, because the law gave them this additional year to finish up their “time”.  They have paid Stell everything that was the original agreement, so they can part ways on good terms. 

Today or tomorrow Stell will finish the Donna Leon mystery and all along the way he has been guessing wrong on who was the murderer.  I have done an excellent job of not giving “it” away.  I’m am about half way through the J.F. Powers’ short stories.  Today I read a very long article that Julie sent from the Atlantic surveying what has happened in our country from the 60s to the present day.  It was generally very depressing, however, the author did make some serious positive, hopeful recommendations at the end of what we as individuals can do to counteract the “fantasy” culture.  The problem is that most people who need to think seriously about these ideas would never ever be able to read such a long and critical piece.  Somewhat like Huxley’s conclusion that books would not be banned in the future ---- the problem is that people simply would cease being serious readers/thinkers.  I do hope that Malcolm especially will read this because of his ongoing frustration with the religious right.  I agree with the author’s understanding of how we got to where we are today with science denial and the love of conspiracy theories.  Opinions are like buttholes, and we have a lot of buttholes operating in our society.  I sometimes think it would be useful if we could divide our country into geographical spaces and all the buttholes could live together with their guns and crazy ideas – maybe we could name their State, Butthole Wyoming.

My right sinus is inflamed, so I think I will take an Advil.  I don’t do this very often.  I’ve probably taken three Advils all summer.   I used to say that I would leave my right sinus for George Bush, Jr., but now I think I will leave the entire sinus cavity for Donald Trump.  Well, my computer is at about 80%, so I’ll recharge it.

Friday, August 18, 2017

Windy morning. Last night Kyros picked us up at Mouragio at 8 p.m. sharp and we went to their beautiful villa between Nea Rhoda and Ouranoupolis. They live there for longer and longer periods of time with their main residence being in Thessaloniki.  We sat out on the front lawn facing the sea and sipped our scotch.  Kyros told Stell that he was going to put a swimming pool in the front of the house.  Stell tried to convince him that this was a bad idea, especially since water was going to become more and more of a problem in the area.  Kyros was not convinced by the argument.  Then when it was time for dinner we went to the other side of the house.  The table was beautiful, and they had prepared Mussels in Pilaf, and a shrimp, carrots, and cashews dish (made in the Wok).  We had a nice chilled white wine.  Also, Kryos has selected some lovely modern Greek music.  He seemed “healthier” this year, but he still drinks a lot, but Petra seemed less healthy, and had definitely had a year of weight gain.  I think she is bored living in Greece.  Like me, she doesn’t speak Greek, so although they go to some performances in Thessaloniki, she wouldn’t be able to understand most of what is spoken.  All of their children live in Germany.  Thomas works as an architect and is also working on another degree in Frankfurt, Melissa practices as a doctor in Hamburg, and Nicos, the youngest works as a bartender in Hamburg.  They always treat us royally, and going to their villa is a special occasion, because they have beautiful plants and flowers, and Kyros has taken up woodworking, including working with driftwood, so the house is decorated with many wooden art objects that are suited to the architecture.  Kyros returned us to Mouragio around midnight.

Today is of grand importance because I am getting my “hairs” cut at noon.  I think this year Costas the Younger will do the honors.  I really could get by until September 6^th, but I decided to have a little shaping and trimming because the final days in Athens will be spent with some of Stell’s clients, and I’d rather not look like I was just washed up on the beach. 

No other news to report – we are seeing the same U.S. news that is so depressing there is no point in repeating it here.  Also, of course, we see the international reports, which are also devastating. 

Saturday, August 19, 2017

If everything goes as is currently planned, I should be in Athens, Greece, one week from today.  We are thinking of taking the train next Friday and will stay at least two days with Ketie and Takis Pipas.  One day or night we will visit with one of Stell’s clients who is having a lot of trouble with one of his sons as far as the family business goes.  Stell plans on returning to Thessaloniki and Ierissos for much of the last week he will be here.  I guess I will begin my return packing on Wednesday and do some light housecleaning on Thursday.  I haven’t seen Ketie and Takis for about twenty years, because I really don’t spend any time in Athens.  They have two adult sons, Vassilly and Nicos.  Nicos is Stell’s godson who now lives and works in London.  Vassilly lives in Athens, but is currently vacationing in Santorini, so I don’t know if I will see him.  Neither of the boys are married and both are approaching thirty.  This is not unusual for Greek “children” who often don’t marry until they are into their thirties. 

We are BAC for the weekend (Beyond Appointments and Constraints) which is my favorite circumstance.  I can honestly say I feel a sadness for people who in their work years had appointments and constraints heaped upon themselves, and then died before they could enjoy some retirement and experience the joys and serenity of not being subjected to deadlines and clocks.  It is a great delight to be “late” for events and not care a whit.  I like letting go of the “German or North European” part of my DNA.  Definitely it has not been easy to ignore the Swiss clock connected to my soul.   Greece frees me of all timepieces most of the “time”.  

Yesterday we had a message from Mikel who is in Frankfurt with his dying brother, Peter.  Mikel’s oldest son, Maximillan is also by the bedside.  I think Peter has liver cancer, thus Anja and Mikel won’t be in Greece while we are here.  Anja remains in Pottsdam, and will probably come to Ierissos in October.  We met them years ago at the same time we met Petra and Kyros.  Both families have three children, two boys and a girl, and they are closely the same ages.  Maximillian/Thomas, Helena/Melissa, Paul/Nicos.  The “kids” were very close when they were younger and together in Greece.  Now their careers and partners have pulled them in different directions.  Melissa and Maximillan are doctors, Thomas is an architect, Helena (I think) works in commercial design, Nicos is a bartender for the time-being, and Paul is just drifting around and looking at girls.  All six are good looking.  Helena and Paul are the rowdiest.  Thomas, according to his parents, is lazy, but that said, he took over his Dad’s old architectural office in Frankfurt and he is working on a degree program in something else.  Nicos is the most intriguing to me at the moment, because he is dating Sarah who is twelve years his senior, perhaps they are trying to be like the French prime minister and his wife?  Melissa’s boyfriend is Turkish, which initially devastated her father, but now after at least four or five years of dating, her parents are quite convinced that he is a really nice young man (we think so, too), and he won’t force her to wear a burka. 

Coffee, cool breezes, and BAC.  Ahhhhhhh.

Sunday, August 20, 2017

My last Sunday in Ierissos. No plans for today beyond the usual schedule.  Tomorrow Stell sees the eye doctor, Dr. Tony, for his final followup.  I think his eye is fine now.  I will put the drops in for him tonight and hopefully that will be the last dosage.  Although, I have to say they haven’t bothered him in the least and he is reading like he did before the inflammation.  Today is hazy with a very, very, very light breeze.  As long as we aren’t having “heavy sweating” days, I’m content.  Swimming has been great again to use a familiar Trump phrase.  The sea is my gym, and I have my water weights so I get a good workout every afternoon.  We both have had modest appetites, so over-eating has not been a problem, and generally our meals consist of a light breakfast, modest mezze (which is probably my favorite meal) and modest lunch.  We don’t do dinners, but neither of us is hungry.  We have been sleeping a lot more than we would in the States, because we have at least an hour siesta each afternoon, and then go to bed by 11 p.m. usually.  I wake up around 7:30 a.m. and Stell rolls out around 9 a.m.  He always does his half hour of stretching exercises, usually around 11:30 a.m.  and he does quite a few laps later in the sea.

Speaking of the sea . . . the number of fishing boats with strobe lights at night have been incredible, but when we’ve asked the captains and crews about the catch, they tell us they are barely “making it”.  What a life.  They stretch their nets across the huge bay, and then in the early hours of the morning take their catch for sales.  Stell told me they are all fishermen from Cassandra.  The Ierissos’ fishermen seem to have given up and are just sitting at the bars drinking night and day.  I’ve really only had gavros, octopus, calamari and shrimp, since I don’t really like the other “big” fish.  The gavros and octopi are delicious, but the shrimp doesn’t compare to what I get in the States, although the shrimp dish Petra made last Thursday tasted more like what I am accustomed to eating. 

Stell has finished the Donna Leon mystery, and we had a fun little discussion of what we thought of the ending.  Now he is re-reading Works of Love by Søren Kierkegaard.  He told me that Kierkegaard was only 42 when he died, which surprised me.  I’m finishing probably today the Stories of J.F. Powers, and then I will begin reading Why We Hate Us by Dick Meyer.  That will probably be my last book before I am home, because I am hoping to read American and British newspapers on the way back to the States, where I will be met by a stack of New York Review of Books and New Yorkers.  I am still trying to win the cartoon contest in the New Yorker.  Maybe this year. 

My tasks are miniscule before I leave Ierissos.  I will do a little lykee shopping on Tuesday, Wednesday general packing, and Thursday light housekeeping.  Friday we will need to leave by 8 a.m. with Georgos to go to the train station in Thessaloniki.   I think the trip to Athens will be approximately six hours.  Christos will make our reservations tomorrow. 

Time to brush my teeth and get dressed. I have a bad-good habit of sitting outside in my underwear, sipping my coffee and greeting the day.  Nobody sees me except Stell and the birds, and none of them mind seeing me in my underwear.  I’m writing this especially for Nic, because the thought of seeing me sitting outside in my underwear will annoy him. 

Monday, August 21, 2017

Big day in America.  The solar eclipse across the United States has been scheduled by God for today.  The most hilarious cartoon related to this event is the one asking God for a sign to impeach Trump by blotting out the sun for a day.  Also, today Alexander and Jaiden return to school for the new school year – Alexander returns for second grade at St. Cecilia’s and Jaiden starts high school in a nearby public school.  Alexander loves school and is very ready to return.  Jaiden is more apprehensive because she is going to the public high school, and last year she had finished her last year of middle school also at St. Cecilia’s. 

We had another good rain in the dark early morning, so everything is very clear and green and until the sun comes out for a few hours we might find it difficult to get up the driveway.  It’s only 9:39 a.m., so there is plenty of time for the drying out to occur.  We both slept extremely well.  Tomorrow will be my last trip for this summer to the Lykee.  I want to get a number of mati’s for all the new babies, so their parents can pin them on their clothing to keep the evil eyes away, and also I will look to see if anything jumps out at me for Chris Franklin (my professor law mower) and Nic and Apisata.  I don’t have ideas, and I won’t get any of them the same old calendars, aprons, dishtowels or little Greek statutes.  Boring.  A thought would be to go to the pastry shop I like, but I had a disastrous return one year with some honeyed, syrupy pastries that leaked through my suitcase. Learned my lesson.  I absolutely refuse to buy another tee-shirt or coffee mug.  Adeline is always the easiest – she likes Metaxa, and so do I.  Sometimes I find old posters of events in the area still tacked to telephone poles and I detach them and take them home for framing.  I haven’t noticed any so far this year that are jumping out at me, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled today.  I think the people who browse souvenir shops have the same mental health issues that those who have all the yard paraphernalia that I described earlier in this journal.  Key chains and refrigerator magnets don’t move me, except I do like the refrigerator magnet that Nic brought to me from Russia which features Putin.  It feels sacrilegious to have Putin on my refrigerator door.  Maybe I’ll move it to the freezer.

Stell has just decided that the rain that came this morning is likely to put an end to the summer holidays for folks who had come to Ierissos.  The sea is never inviting to the Greeks without the sun, even though it can be as warm for several days.  This may sound like a “small detail”, but it is a huge matter when your number one industry is tourism. 

I’ll check my email now to see if there is news from Georgia, although it is just 3 a.m. so not many would be out of bed.  Later today I am anticipating many reports of the eclipse.  

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Very cool morning and the sun has struggled to break through the clouds, but gradually it is shining and that means the voltaic batteries will soon have enough of a charge to make a real cup of coffee. We’ve had messages that the U.S. eclipse was a huge success and many people have posted “corona” photographs on Facebook.  Jaiden wrote to me and gave me the list of all of her classes.  She will be in drama club and choir as well.  One of her classes is algebra, so I told her my favorite algebra joke:  Teacher:  Find the missing X.  Student:  I didn’t know that X was missing!  Paris sent a photograph of himself yesterday and his face was all warped and distorted. Not something he’d done with his camera, but what a bumblebee had done to him.  I hope he had some Benadryl.

Well, Stell got an excellent report at the eye doctors, and the religious authorities approved his request to be buried at Stavraqu.  In addition, he recovered his bank book at the bank and turned in his paperwork related to withdrawing from his account.  We didn’t swim, because the weather was weird, but we did “try” having lunch at Colatzzi’s.  Disaster.  Everything I tried to order from the menu was not available, so Stell had fish and some “cardboard” fried eggplant, and I had a Greek salad (which was good). 

Yes, today is my final Lykee day, so I’m going to see if I can get the little matis for all the babies and perhaps spot something for Chris, Nic, and Apisata.  At least it won’t be hot moving through the Lykee aisle.  Also, we will stop at Mazutti’s for the last couple of bottles of Cutty Sark.  Christos is making our train reservations today, and as soon as they are secure we will call Georgos for our taxi ride to the train station on Saturday. 

Now, I will brush my teeth and do some reading of Dick Meyer’s Why We Hate Us.  I have very little packing to do, so that can wait until Thursday.  I leave most of my summer clothes here. Why cart them back and forth across the Atlantic? 

Wednesday, August 22, 2017

A lot of shoveling of return travel plans are underway.  Stell has decided that he would like to get on the return flight with me, so he has his travel agent, Vivienne, see if there are seats.  The businessman in Athens cancelled his meeting with Stell and Christos, because he has to be out of town, so really all we have to do is visit friends and sight-see.  Actually I can’t think of anything new I want to see in Athens.  I’ve suggested we could change our train tickets and leave Thessaloniki next Wednesday and just spent Wednesday and Thursday nights in Athens.  No matter what, the plan stays the same for me, and hopefully Stell can come back at the same time.

The clouds and sun are still fighting this morning, but it is predicted to be warmer today.  Last night it was so cold sitting outside that I put on long pants, and added a sweatshirt and a sweater.  You can feel the switch from summer to fall in the air. 

I’m going back through my notes from Dick Meyer’s Why We Hate Us.  Here are a few of my notes with my thoughts in fuchsia:

He blames our (Americans) crankiness on:

1) rapid societal change (how could we pretend to slow it down?)

2) the combination of the moral, intellectual, and civic transformations that came after the sixties, and (what caused the changes during and after the sixties- prosperity? The useless Vietnam War? Greater diversity of peoples)

3) the disruptive social fallout from the revolution in technology at the turn of the millennium  (how could this possibly be countered? By parents, private associations/churches? Governmental agencies?)

“The enemy isn’t liberalism. The enemy isn’t conservatism.  The enemy is bullshit.”  Lars-Erik Nelson     (Why do we accept bullshit?  Is it more tedious and difficult to authentically educate ourselves? The pace of social change allows for only bullshit – there isn’t believed to be enough “time” to fully research and study ideas?  Bullshit is all we need in a me-society?)

The country is suffering from low self-esteem and is acting out.  (Studies of low self-esteem indicate that people with low self-esteem do not try and raise their self-esteem; instead they concentrate on maintaining their self-esteem – is this true of countries as well?  Did the Romans try and raise their self-esteem when they were falling?)

I have a thick file of polls that indeed say most people do think America is ruder, more vulgar, and more inconsiderate than it used to be.  But people almost think things used to be better and are getting worse. (If it is not required to be polite, considerate and civil by parents and social institutions in our relationships, why would we expect civility?)

By 2006, Americans on average spent forty hours a week in front of television or computer screens.  . . So public culture is omnipresent in a way it never has been. (Can this be altered like “smoking”?  If people could be shown and convinced that this is generally harmful for their own and others’ health, would they change their behaviors? I’d say, only a few.)

The worship of great wealth.  Wealth porn.  (I just read that increasing numbers of retirees from the University of Georgia will be receiving annual pensions of more than $200,000 annually.  The director of transportation just received a $100,000 raise in Georgia.  For me the problem is not just sheer wealth, but the problem is what people choose to do with their wealth.)

Too many choices (toothpaste, etc.) (So could we establish stores or shops that just sold two or three brands of everyday items – shampoo, dog food, vitamins, etc.? Doubt it.)

Bad news, there are no available seats on my flight back to Atlanta, so Stell will have to stay in Greece an extra week.  He’s okay with this.  Would have been nice to have him come home at the same time. 

Different topic.  Stell thinks this may be the end for Trump, especially with the negativity toward McConnell and the number of increasing semi-violent protests.  I can only imagine that security will be tightened dramatically at all the big football games this season. 

I’m charging my Iphone on this computer.  I’d say that works pretty well. 

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Perfect morning outside.  Lots of sunshine coming my way.  Might even take the last or next-to-last summer swim today.  Tomorrow is Addie’s birthday, and Nic and Apisata are taking her to dinner.  If we go to town, I will call her, if not I will send her a birthday email.  I’m doing a little light housekeeping today – sweeping the floors and cleaning the sinks in our bathroom.  Nothing major.  The house doesn’t get very dirty, only a little dusty, because most of the days and nights we are outside.  I just like to leave it a little better than I found it, but that will be hard this year, because Katerina had it spotless when we arrived.

Everything is set to leave here around 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Georgos will take us to the train station and we should be at Ketie and Takis Pippas by around 6 p.m.  They live in a large house which has a beautiful little guest house attached, so we may stay there until I leave “very early” Friday morning, September 1, for my 6 a.m. flight to the Netherlands. 

We have twelve more poems to read before we leave.  Time to brush my teeth and resume my housework.  I am going to miss these perfect mornings, since I am sure the humidity will be out-of-control in Georgia.  Seize the mornings, I say.

Had a big argument with Thanos this afternoon about Trump – keep in mind Thanos also has American citizenship and claims he voted for Hilary, but he said he doesn’t like what is happening in the United States now.  I explained that most of us don’t like what is happening.  He thought it was the spirit of America to give each President a chance.  I can understand this generally but I am not sure what it means to give someone with a narcissistic personality disorder a chance.  He’s been advised by many, Republicans and Democrats, to stop tweeting, but he pays no attention.  He can’t stop.  What can we appreciate that he has done for our country or wants to do.  He wants to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.  Who in their right mind would support building a wall anywhere in the year 2017?  He wants to repeal Obamacare, but he has no idea what would replace it.  Probably nothing.  He is doing a dangerous dance with North Korea.  Does he have a plan lined up to improve the infrastructure.  Don’t think so.  He wants to ban people from countries who have never attacked the United States, but maintains warm relations with the Saudis.  He won’t show his tax returns.  Why not?  He thinks people who are neo-Nazis and white supremacists have some good ideas.  I can’t imagine what they are.  I understand the thinking of allowing people taking new positions a chance to get their footing, but I cannot understand someone becoming the President of the United States who has so little grasp of what the job entails.  We are in for some hard years.  I just read in the Atlanta Journal that Trump is irritated with Obama because of some stains on the wallpaper somewhere in the White House.  Really?  He has time to worry about something so petty.  Everything he says and does seems to be intended to detract from talking about and doing what a President is supposed to do.  Lead.  He has also said he will shut down government if the Congress doesn’t give him approval to build the wall.  This bullying tactic is how he has run his businesses.  It may not work with the Government. 

We have just learned that we have to pick up our train tickets at the bus station in Thessaloniki at 7:45 a.m. on Saturday, because the train ticket service is no longer offered electronically.  Let the good times roll. 

Friday, August 25, 2017

Today is Adeline’s birthday.  Nic and Apisata are taking her to dinner tonight, Viv later in the week, and Stell and I will take her to George’s Low Country Boil after September 8^th.  Tomorrow Stell turns 81, and we will be traveling by train to Athens, Greece.  This is the BEST way to travel.  We will spend the week in Ketie and Takis Pippas’ guest house, and I will leave in the wee hours of the morning a week from today from Athens headed to Amsterdam-Atlanta.  On Sunday another friend of Stell’s, Maria, will pick us up to take us to her summer home for some “grilling”, and I know on Thursday we are going to visit a museum that was organized by one of Stell’s clients. Anyhow, it will be a real change of pace and place, but as long as we don’t have to move our suitcases around too much, all’s well.  Christos sent our train tickets to us by bus, so Stell picked them up last night in Ierissos.  Tomorrow morning we will just drive our car down to Foras’ place and be picked up by Georgos to head to the train station.  I think our train departs at 10 a.m., and then it is approximately a six hour trip to Athens. 

I imagine we will have our final lunch at Mouragio’s today.  Stell is working on a letter for his client, Mr. Spiros, with whom he is not too happy.  Of course the letter will first go to Christos who will “tone it down”.  According to Stell Mr. Spiros, who is 75 years old, has enjoyed at one time great wealth, but he is very dissatisfied now with how his son has been running the business.  Stell’s view of Mr. Spiros is that he is in love with himself and has lived his life to please himself and never really thought about exhibiting some love for his family.  I would sum up what I’ve heard by saying he doesn’t know how to move from Self-Eros to Agape. 

I will try and find some times to write this week, but I don’t know how this is going to work.  Four poems to go.  Here is the best one from this morning:

O Luxury

Guy W. Longchamps

O what a luxury it be

How exquisite, what perfect bliss

So ordinary and yet chic

To pee to piss to take a leak

To feel your bladder just go free

And open like the Mighty Miss

And all your cares go down the creek

To pee to piss to take a leak

For gentlemen of great physique

Who can hold water for one week

For ladies who one-quarter cup

Of tea can fill completely up

For folks in urinalysis

For Viennese and Greek and Swiss

For little kids just learning this

For everyone it’s pretty great

To urinate

Women are quite circumspect

But men can piss with great effect

With terrible hydraulic force

Can make a stream or change its course

Can put out fires or cigarettes

And sometimes

Laying down our bets

Late at night outside the bars

We like to aim up at the stars

Yes for men it’s much more grand

Women sit or squat

We stand

And hold the fellow in our hand

And proudly watch the yellow arc

Adjust the range and make our mark

On stones and posts for rival men

To smell and not come back again

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Today is Stell’s 81^st birthday.  We are currently on the train (first class $35 each).  We have just stopped in Katerini.  We left at 10:04 on the dot and are scheduled to arrive in Athens at 3:54 on the next dot.  Vegalis is going to pick us up in his taxi.  Georgos picked us up this morning at 7:30 a.m. and took us on a different route much more along the sea until we arrived near Thessaloniki.  We had excellent fresh coffee and bougotsa at the train station.  There were until Katerini two other people in the cabin with us.  The man is going to surprise his nephew at his wedding. He is 70 and since he worked for the railroad, he is riding on a free pass.  He told Stell that his 64 year old wife died a year ago.  It’s a very sunny nice day and the window on the train is huge, so I’m able to take in a lot of scenery – most of it so far agricultural.   I believe this is my first time to ever write in my journal on a train.  I like it, and I am jubilant that I don’t have to endure the Thessaloniki Airport, which every year in the past has been a disaster. 

Sunday, August 27, 2017

We are now staying in the small and very lovely guest apartment of Ketie and Takis Pippas in Athens.  Ketie is an artist, so it is full of intriguing paintings many of them considering the theme of sleep and dreams.  Their son, Nicholas, who is Stell’s godson, is home for a couple of weeks from his work in fund management in London.  They have a huge dog, a Bull Mastiff, which looks frightening but it very gentle in personality.  Fortunately, it stays with them and not with us. 

Backing up a bit, when we arrived at the train station in Athens on Saturday afternoon we were met by Stell’s taxi driver, Vegalis, who is an incredibly handsome younger man.  He has a 17 year old son, Demetri, who Vegalis says is suffering from hormones.  Vegalis’ wife is French.  He manages about 15 taxis.  He will pick me up on Friday morning at 3:30 a.m., and he has already asked if I would like a coffee.  Now that’s service! 

Last night we had drinks with Ketie and Taxis in their beautiful backyard courtyard and caught up a bit (for me after 30 years), and then Nicholas came out of the house.  He’s a weird looking young man with a dark Taliban beard and a body that resembles his fathers – bowlegged.  Like his father, and unlike his mother, he is not very social, although both he and father are fine with me one on one.  He is 32 and academically mature, and socially very immature – very me-generation.  He just wanted everyone to know that he was very hungry, so we went to some upscale part of this Beverly Hills of Athens, and to a restaurant that featured “meat” as Nicholas is a carnivore – he doesn’t want anything but meat and French fries.  Of course, we had nice vegetables with our meals.  Takis drove separately to and from the restaurant, and Nicholas drove the rest of us.  Nicholas said he doesn’t like to ride with his father.  He generally said he hates driving in Greece, and far prefers the roads and the “order” in England.  Which reminds me to note that this summer I drove often, almost every day in Ierissos.  I hated it, but I had no problems.  Of course, as you already know we have no police, so I didn’t have to worry about being stopped and asked for my driver’s license. I have my Georgia license, but I don’t think that would go very far here.  One day when we were on the goat path going up to our house, I did come face to face with some guys in a pick up, but we managed to squeak past one another and nothing came of the sort of “close call”.  Other times I just had to maneuver through a flock of sheep or herd of goats, but they are quite facile in moving out of the road.  Please don’t tell the authorities I was driving in Greece.

Now in about a half hour we will be picked up by Stell’s friends Maria and Apostolis and taken to their summer home, which his about 45 minutes from here.  I will write about this in my next entry.

Okay, so it just about 10 p.m. and we have been back at the guest house for about an hour and are both fighting to stay awake.  We had a glorious day, but I must Maria drove one hour plus to pick us up and she took different routes for me to see different sites around Athens.  Then we ended at her cabin-ish house in the seaside hills on the east side of Greece.  The winds were unbelievable, gusting all day.  The house has huge windows, so it is a bit like being in the Alps as you look down about the highways and villages.  She prepared a feast- goat, grilled turkey, oven-baked Greek potatoes, salad, and on and on.  First, of course, Stell, her husband (Apostolis) and I started with ouzo from Limni, which meant all kinds of mezze – cheese, their own olives, some bread sticks made with tomatoes, and too many other things- I can’t remember it all.  Their two sons, and three grandchildren from one son, George, and George’s wife, Alexi also eventually came by to eat.  The children, Tolis, Hara, and Aggelos were darling.  The first two are twins about to start third grade, and the pipsqueak, Aggelos is four.  Maria is an amazing woman, confident, kind, but unfortunately both of her sons are problematic.  Costas, the elder son, has been married and divorced twice.  He has two older children, in college who are 18 and 20.  We didn’t meet his children.  He has no children by his second wife.  He is very good looking, and came after swimming to eat.  He came by motorcycle.  He took a shower and came out sort of wrapped in his towel and he wanted to tell me that he had been to New York once when he was young.  His younger brother, George, the father of the three younger children, was also very nice-looking, and his wife was lovely, but you could tell quickly that he had no interest in her and little interest in the children.  Now, perhaps in the modern age this is not surprising to some, but what is ironic is that Maria, the mother to Costas and George, is a family counselor/advisor.  The sons were two self-absorbed young men who appear to have intense problems with marital relationships. 

Maria set up a lounge chair with a pillow for me by the windows with the spectacular panorama, and I fell sound asleep.  Everyone had a siesta, and then we woke up to Greek coffee and more fruit. I need to swim/walk – something.  Maria drove us the more than an hour drive back to our place, and I kept thinking she has to drive back through Athens to their place.  I complain about the driving around Athens, Georgia, and this woman who is four months younger than I drives around Athens, Greece, regularly.  I’m not feeling quite so heroic about driving in Ierissos this summer.

I’m going to finish my scotch, brush my teeth and SLEEP.  I can’t imagine what I will dream.  Tomorrow we make go to the Plaka and also to visit our young friend, Youli. 

Monday, August 28, 2017

We crashed last night after our long day with Maria.  We both slept very well.  Now we’ve made our breakfasts – I had some of the gemista (stuffed peppers) that Maria sent home with us.  Unfortunately I did not judge as well in making coffee this morning, so what I made was very weak.  I will probably get the hang of it when it is time for me to leave. Takis walked by our window a few minutes ago and invited us to the garden for conversation, so I’m sure we will join him and perhaps Ketie.  Stell is checking his email now and unfortunately reporting the horrible news of the hurricane, Harvey, that has hit Texas.  Devastating.  

I don’t know what we are doing today, but I also don’t care. I’m GAGA (go along, to get along).  Schedules, clocks, time, calendars will resume all too soon when I’m back in Georgia.  I have thought of a couple of plans for small projects when I return.  One is that I will put all my summer journals into one “book”.  I have everything in files, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.  I also have thousands of photos to consider adding to the stories. 

Well, we just had a phone call from a Christos who owns a company called Amrop.  He’s invited us to his home for dinner tomorrow.  He will pick us up at the end of the tube at 8 p.m.  Now I feel like I am really back in Greece when the evening doesn’t really begin until around 10 p.m.  Stell suggested we should see Alex sometime, but I objected.  He’s a big Trump supporter, and his arguments are insane.  He believes Trump will do great things for Israel.  Certainly he will, if he feels it will effect his financial situation.

You won’t believe this, but it is August 28^th and the weather in Athens, Greece remains delightful.  I anticipated (wrongly) that it would be another Lucifer. 

We are back in our little apartment after a day that started around 10:30 a.m. with a walk to Bachus, a famous café with the most beautiful ongoing display of sweets I’ve ever seen in one shop. We had a nice big cup of freshly brewed filtered coffee.  Then we walked a little further and got a taxi to metro (the tube).  It’s a beautiful metro built for the Olympics.  Very efficient and clean (built I think by the Germans and/or French).  Our ticket one-way was 60 cents.  We got out at the famous Constitution Square and walked quite a while to the Lotus office only to discover it was closed.  We then walked to a lovely little restaurant and had a terrific lunch with horta, chick peas, spaghetti and meatballs, and zucchini.  While we were enjoying our lunch a young man pulled into the restaurant on his bicycle.  He looked just like Jesus.  Stell commented that a motorcycle would be better transportation than a donkey.  While we were having lunch Youli phoned, because she had seen my message that were planning to stop by her Lotus office.  She explained that they are undergoing some necessary changes, so I think we may go back to Athens tomorrow and visit her at her home. 

We came back to the metro and home for our siesta.  Unfortunately Stell has been having some gastrointestinal issues, so he doesn’t find it as easy to sleep.  I think I slept for about an hour.  Now he’s reading his email.

Later Takis asked us to join he and Ketie in their courtyard for a drink.  Always present was their bulldog mastiff Argo.  She perhaps looks scary (that is why they have her for security and protection), but best that could be said is that she is more like a mean-looking marshmallow.  All she does is eat.  She eats figs from their fig tree and even jumps into the tree with pears to pull some down.  She’s absolutely fat, and I think has a rather pathetic bark compared to some of the other dogs in this highly protected neighborhood.  Nicos, who is home from London where he works in a financial trust organization, came out and indicated he was hungry, so we all took off for a nearby restaurant which featured meat.  Nicos only ate meat, no vegetables or anything else just a pile of meat.  He’s a weird young man who is somewhat bowlegged like his father, has a Taliban beard, and a very sad facial rash.  He’s clearly very intelligent when it comes to discussing “the stock market” and other financial topics like hedge funds, but otherwise, all I will say is that he is strange. 

I saw a little email on my iphone at lunch that reported 30,000 people had been evacuated in Texas.  When I can get on email, I will send a note to my dear friend, Windy, who lives with her husband and twin daughters in Houston.

Time to recharge my computer and phone.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

We joined Ketie and Taxis in their courtyard for drinks last night, and then Taxis took off in his little Smartcar to go see an outdoor movie- Dunkirk.  Ketie, Stell and I walked about 30 minutes to the village of Pendelli to look for hearing aid batteries, since he thought he had packed some but he couldn’t find them.  He got really agitated that the pharmacies in Greece don’t have them.  They told him he would need to go to the shop called Germanos.  Ketie has phoned this morning to say she would be here in 15 minutes with the batteries.  She’s very efficient.  We ate with Ketie at a bistro called Degas.  The weather was perfect, and young couples were all around enjoying drinks and dinner.  Stell was a little grumpy, but he lightened up when the food came, and we all agreed it was superb. Ketie and I had white wine and at the end of the meal we were each served a mastic, aperitif.  We then made the return walk home in the dark and arrived at our guest house around 11:30 p.m.  Today we will again try to meet with Youli at her home, and then tonight have dinner with the businessman Christos and his wife, Haris.  Tomorrow night the famous Haris Kakakis has planned a dinner party at her home.  I am going to have to come home just to rest up from all these dinner parties.  Well, three days to go. It is a little challenging living out of a suitcase, but I planned better this year, so I’m managing pretty well.   

I’m hoping to hear from my friend, Windy, today about how she has coped with the hurricane that hit Texas and particularly Houston where she lives.CC

Doug Kleiber wrote and invited me to his birthday party, which he is giving for himself.  He will also turn 70.  The party is Saturday, so I wrote back and told him that I would come if I was back in the zone.  The saddest news was that he told me his son Ryan, and daughter-in-law, Emily are separating. This is tragic news for me, because they have three beautiful children, Kate, and the twin boys, Rhodes and Benton.  Kate is just beginning high school and the boys are in middle school.  This is going to be hard on everyone.  Pam, their late grandmother, would be so distressed. 

Apisata would enjoy knowing that I am going meet an “old” friend of Stell’s tomorrow named Micah.  She lived in the United States, I think San Francisco, for 40 years.  I think her late husband committed suicide – he was a scientist.  She decided to return to Greece.  She has two sons who live in the U.S.  One is married to a Mexican woman, and they have two or three children. The other is going to marry a Thai woman in Thailand in February and Micah is going to the wedding.  Apparently she has very serve eye problems, near blindness, but everyone says she is very savvy and doesn’t let her vision issues stop her from anything.  Ketie said the Thai woman is very beautiful, but she doesn’t think she is nearly as smart as Apisata! 

Tomorrow night at Haris I anticipate the conversation will be much more political, because apparently Haris and Micah are very opinionated about U.S. politics, and I think they are liberals.  I will definitely report on what I hear.  These Athens meetings are much different than my afternoons at Sultana’s in Ierissos.  Haris heads a very successful business that counsels people who are having marital problems (yes, she is divorced – actually I met her late husband around 30 years ago – he also was a scientist and I’m told an alcoholic).  Her business coincides around many issues that emerge in Stell’s work with family businesses, because there are always innumerable tensions between husbands, wives, and children. 

Thursday, August 31, 2017

My last morning in Greece.  I haven’t had a chance to write in my journal because we have been roaming around Athens all day long, and when get back to our guest house we collapse.  Tuesday, we arrived at Youli and her mother, Maria’s place around 2 or 3 p.m. (I’m not sure).  This was my first time to meet Maria although I think we spoke on the phone to one another.  What can I say?  She’s elegant – tall, slender, blonde, soft-spoken with a beautiful face (classic, actually) that matched her manner. A number of years ago, maybe five or six, her husband Vegalis died rather suddenly from cancer.  Maria’s work involved managing the national scholarship program.

After a very nice chicken and Greek potatoes lunch, Youli, Leda, the dog and I took a walk in the neighborhood.  Stell told me later that Maria has married men hitting on her, but she explained that she doesn’t want to be a “parentheses”.  We also met Youli’s husband, Georgia.  A tall, thin journalist (magazine editor actually) with a Taliban beard.  He came and had a little conversation but then returned to their apartment to resume his work.  Youli was planning on taking Leda to the doctor that evening, as she had a cold and didn’t seem to be responding as well to the medicine as Youli would like, on the way she dropped us at the home of Christos and his family (the Amrop CEO for Greece.) The live in a huge house with a gigantic swimming pool, and we were entertained like royalty. In addition to Christos we met his wife Haroula, and one of their two daughters Sophia, a sassy (in the best sense) blonde who is engaged to a young man named Phillipo.  He was in Romania that evening because he is doing marketing for Forever 21.  The younger sister, who is married to a Russian, stopped by briefly.  She is the mother of their only grandchild Maximos.  Christos makes his own wine, and he had labeled one of the bottle with a picture of Maximos.  We actually took it to Haris’ house last night for her dinner party.  So I will write more about Christos later when I’m home and rested.

Yesterday we went first to Stell’s client and talked with the son, Spiros Spirou.  He is in a tremendous feud with his father (who is 75), since his father feels that Spiros, since he became general manager has put the company into a downward spiral.  I don’t envy Stell and Christos when they meet with the entire family on Friday.  Stell is expecting “George” to tell him to go to hell.

After our meeting with Spiros, he paid for a taxi to take us to the BEAUTIFUL new cultural center – which is now also home to the Greek National Library and to the Greek Opera.  It is an amazing place – from the 8^th floor you can easily see the port of Piraeus and all of Athens. It was very windy so we didn’t have lunch there, but instead we ate on the main floor in the bistro.  There are gardens with Greek herbs and vegetables, and the focus of the center seems to be on healthy living with yoga classes, computer classes, jazz concerts, movies, various exhibits.  Ketie told me the architect is a famous Swiss designer.  I have programs for both Nic and Doug because of all the attention to leisure and continuing education.

Last night was our dinner at Haris. She is a year or two older than Stell and lives also in a very sophisticated home.  Her Ukrainian cook had prepared the meal the table was decorated elaborately.  We first had drinks and mezze (pita and colochithea) on her patio, then dinner.  Micah was there and Stell said she looked like she had had her face lifted.  Since I’ve never met her before, I couldn’t tell.  He said Haris has had her face-lifted a couple of times.  They were dressed to the nines and Micha led the conversation all evening.  Her son is getting married in Thailand to a Thai girl in a few months, and he had prepared all the details of what they could do in Bangkok, Puket and beyond.  For one thing, Micah explained they could have a 3 hour massage, then she went on to say how they didn’t need to worry about their luggage and hotels, because people would be attending to their every need. Later, Stell asked me how long I thought this marriage was going to last, and I told him I wouldn’t give it more than three years. 

Today, my last day in Athens, we started off by taking the metro to Piraeus.  The metro is much older and the sights along the way and in Piraeus are very different, much more diversity, much more poverty.  We went to a museum established by a company that has a 230 year history as producers of flour.  Olga gave me a tour which included seeing the old machinery and tools back as far as 1914 and bread seals back to the Byzantine and pre-Christian period.  They often have groups of children visit and with some they have a baking class. 

We’ve come back to the guest house, and we are setting out yet again to meet Stell’s friend Manelos.  I met him last summer when I was leaving Athens.  I’m really tired, and Vegalis my taxi driver will be here to take me to the airport at 3:30 a.m.  I hope everything goes well tomorrow, because I am so very anxious to come home.  That said, I’ve had a remarkable time in Athens, and Stell has been amazing because he doesn’t feel well, and he isn’t eating enough, but he insists that we go to all these places and meet up with all these people.  Well, I’m going to charge my computer while we are out with Manelos and then put it in the bag for home when we return. 

Saturday, September 2, 2017

Afterward written in Watkinsville, Georgia-

My trip home was easy breezy.  Vegalis picked me up at Ketie’s doorstep at 3:30 a.m. (with a hot cup of black coffee he provided) and within a half hour I was at the airport (KLM).  I checked my bag immediately and we left for Amsterdam promptly at 6 a.m., so I had a little less than an hour in the club room and could notify Stell that all was well, as well as Devon whose company would be picking me up in Atlanta.  I had just the right amount of time to go to my gate before boarding, and the first class service was superb.  I was too tired to read, but I watched one movie and a lot of episodes of The Big Bang Theory.  We landed in Atlanta about a half hour early, I moved through passport control and picked up my bag, and Joseph Green pulled up in a gold Chrysler van.  He was a delightful conversationalist, and now I am home where the grass is tall, and there is some water around the water heater, but that can all wait until I am more awake.  Now I’m headed to get an egg McMuffin, pick up my prescription at Rite Aid, get the mail, and a few groceries – all of which I can accomplish in less than an hour.  I miss riding the Metro in Athens, Greece, a little- especially the older lines like the one we took to and from Piraeus.  It was a very spectacular 30^th summer in Greece.  Stell will be home on Friday and we will resume our life here with friends and adventures.  Today he has met or is meeting with the problematic businessman in Athens.  I will be ready for all the stories, when we sit down for our cocktail hours.  I also plan to reconnect with several of the people I met in Athens.  How can anyone possibly be bored or report they have nothing to do?