real estate

Tim-the-real-estate-broker called early last week to tell us an agent wanted to show our house on Sunday (tomorrow), then called back on Thursday to say there'd be another showing on Friday.  This requires, of course, that the house be spot-less, with no dogs or any sign of dogs around, the kitchen counters absolutely bare.... tidy, neat, clean, not my strong suit by any stretch!  so, i looked around and sighed a few times... then summoned my inner cinderella, and together with the mister, we got 'er done!  and you know, like when it rains, it pours?  on friday morning in the midst of this massive cleaning effort, some guy drives up and says he saw the for sale sign and could he please come in and look around??  he showed quite a bit of interest... but, we'll see... talk's cheap.

And beings as we have to be away from the house during a showing, we took our laptops and went to a cafe in Banks which has a wireless connection... and it felt like magic had been visited upon my computer!  I got 6 software updates downloaded, plus 3 other many-megabyte things, plus 5 books from audible, checked my email, read much of Huffington Post, and played a couple of games of solitaire, all in about 2 hours.  On my dialup at home, all those downloads would take at least 72 hours... HA!   how i do love wireless connection!  Tomorrow, we'll take my dad out for lunch while there are strangers in my house.  I'm so ready to have this step of the process done so we can move on to getting a house built in Duvall, get moved up there and be out of this limbo!  aarrrghh

If you are so inclined, please keep your digits crossed and hopes high that there will be a home buyer with money this weekend who will make us an offer that we cannot refuse.  and IF everything happened to move along as i wish, we could maybe possibly even go to Crete for easter again in April.  i'm certainly not counting on it... but would be delighted if it worked out that way.

the travel channel

I got sort of a taste of Crete tonight, watching Anthony Bourdain in several locations in Crete.  he is profane, irreverent, and a kind of goofy madman... but does put on an interesting show and doesn't just go to the known tourist spots.  he gets out and has some interesting adventures with the locals, wherever he goes.  although a lot of it is staged just for his show, there were "features" on tonight that were totally new to me... for instance, i've never been to a lamb roast where they shear the sheep, slaughter it and prepare some dishes that he calls delicacies involving intestine and spleen and other "goodies", then roast big chunks of lamb in a quite rustic manner over an open fire.  of course, the raki was flowing freely (Tony had some choice names for it, like paint thinner etc), and he did over-indulge in that and the local wine!  after the meal, some of the men dressed in the traditional garb did a rousing dance and shot off rifles... part of the ritual, i guess, tho not something i've seen there.  and the Travel Channel is likely the closest i'll get to Crete for awhile.  we are in a limbo waiting for the house to sell so we can move north to Duvall and get a new little house built on Chris and Kate's 5-acre lot.  my preference would be to skip all the intermediate steps and be living there right now!  i've always been in favor of instant gratification, and wish that were the reality... but it's not.  in the meantime, i've been knitting and working on a nap quilt, and enjoying both!

Inauguration Day

and a frabjous day it's been!  it would have been perfect to have been in DC with those 2Million or so people... even tho i dislike crowds and avoid them whenever possible.  we did spend much of the day watching MSNBC and the events of the day, often teary-eyed!  what can i say other than i am filled with joy and hope and overwhelmingly happy to see the end of the Bush error.  i really do believe that President Obama will be good for the country and the world.  the only thing i'd have liked to see different in this day is a separation of church and state... and if it's necessary to ask for blessings, don't stop at blessing the USA... bless the whole planet as we ALL need any help we can get.  and i LOVED that Yo Yo Ma played during the event, and that it was that piece even tho at the moment i can't remember the name of it.  and now i'll go to bed, encouraged with the thought that there's hope now of getting ourselves out of the pit in which we find ourselves.

ETA:  the name of that music is "Simple Gifts", written by Joseph Brackett in 1848

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come round right

Star Flower Cuffs

I knitted these cuffs using one of Lynne's latest patterns, with some of those left-over balls of yarn in my stash.  this is one of those high almost-instant-gratification projects.... fun to knit and even for me,  fast!!

xmas at last!

Chris and Kate and kids were finally able to get out of Duvall and make the trip to Banks, having been snowed in at xmas, then kept at home on new years day by flooding.  So they were finally able to open the gifts which had been sitting around here collecting dust.  On Saturday morning, Kate's mom came by for a visit, bringing Kate's 2 nephews.  Then Judy came with her 2 grandgirls and grandboy.... so there was a grand gathering of cousins having  (what else?) a grand time!  We opened gifts, had lunch, Maisy got to choose the bestest brownie in the pan, Chris became the major attraction with the kids.  He gave rides to each of them on his shoulders, then they ganged up on him and provided weight resistance for his push-ups!  he stood up to the challenge quite well!!

the top photo is Maisy, my great-niece, attacking the brownies.

then Alex about to get his "ride", with Zylie waiting in line.
kids helping Chris with his work-out.
more Alex and Chris.

UFO

I have pulled out of the pile of UFOs, this unfinished cardigan which was started in 2005, and has gone through lots of revisions and rippings.  Part of its problem (well... MY problem) is that i started it with no pattern and just a kind of glimmer of an idea of how it should look at the end of the journey.  It seems that it will  become a square neck, shortish, boxy cardigan in stockinette with 2 or 3 inches of garter stitch along the bottom and sleeve edges.  there will also be garter along the front edges and around the neck.  the main part of the knitting is finished, with half a sleeve and the finishing trim to do yet.  this time i'm determined to finish it and not send it back to unfinished limbo!!  after all, most of the yarn is purchased stash and is wool, silk and cashmere, and rather spendy.  the color work is mostly done in my handspun, also wool and silk and some cashmere.  so, now i've made a public declaration and i will have to finish it!

(top photo is front, 2nd one is back)

Also, i've now had almost a week of liberation after being confined to home with a driveway sporting about 18 to 20 inches of snow and an inability to get out of here.  it's not a bad place to be confined if the confinement is MY choice rather than out of my control (ah ha.. "control" is the big issue here!)  Anyway, at the point of my sanity being seriously in jeopardy, i was able to go out last monday, after 2 weeks of being snowed in.  and what did i do?  well, i went shopping, of course... Costco and Fred Meyer.  and since xmas was pretty much cancelled here due to snow and no electricity, we had the family holiday dinner on new years day.  but Chris and Kate and kids weren't able to get down here til next weekend, so we'll have more celebration then!

white christmas

and in my not so humble opinion... it's highly over-rated!  there's at least 18 inches of it on the ground and more was drifting down from the sky when i got up this a.m.  At this point i've lost track of how long this weather event has been happening.... and how many times we've lost electricity, how many times it's come back on for how many short periods of time.  in other words i'm awfully damn tired of it.  i think probably even the weather forecasting guys have lost their enthusiasm for it.  i do get a laugh at how excited and into it they get when there is a "big weather event"!  but... enough already.

and all of this being snowed in for probably 2 weeks, and reaching serious cabin fever state has given me pause (i love that expression).  this was by far the strangest xmas day i've ever had... nothing bad in the whole scheme of the world... just unusual and strange.  i really missed the ritual and the usual conveniences (like electric power, for instance)... and most of all i missed spending the day preparing for the big gathering of the tribe, and their arrival, and the excitement of the kids.  i miss the kids and the mayhem and chaos and flying wrapping paper.  i had plenty to eat... warmed up on the woodstove left-over soup was tasty, i was warm enough,  and had a couple of gifts for Jim tho there are several still out there somewhere that the USPS and UPS haven't been able to deliver yet.  And i felt so bad for my dad.  when i called to wish him a merry xmas, he wasn't quite sure that today was the 25th.  sounded like life was very quiet and lonely at his assisted living place and not a thing i could do about it.  all i could do was assure him that a warming up is coming and i'm hoping for/planning on being able to get out of here by monday and i'll see him then!  

I talked to Chris and Kate while we still had power (and phone!) and they're very snowed in also!  mostly, it's quite lovely to live in a rural area with space and nature all around... but there are times when it's a pain in the ass.  but in the end, the lovely outweighs the pain.

and the dogs LOVE the snow (Huskies are like that).  this being a dome house, the accumulated snow finally slides off the roof into huge piles and there's a big hill of snow in their play yard. when i let them out there today, Meika went charging to the top of the hill and challenged Tasha with a bark and that stance that means "come on and play".  Tasha took the bait and they were off, with wrestling and racing around and charging back up the hill o' snow til they were both grinning and panting!  looked like great fun!!

winter solstice

and we celebrate the coming of the light and longer days.  and here's the irony of the day... it's the longest night of the year, right?  our power went off at 3p.m.... meaning there was about 1 hour left of semi-daylight ("semi" because the sky was dark grey with snow clouds), making this certainly and literally the longest night of our year!  so, jim went out into the 12 or 14" of snow to bring in some firewood for the woodstove so we'd at least have heat, then built a warm and lovely fire, and i brought out a futon and quilts and pillows for naps in front of the fire (our living room is pretty sparse since we started - ummm - downsizing in preparation for moving).  we had pretty well resigned ourselves to being powerless... and lo and behold, after just 3 hours.. the power came back!!!!  and this is quite ok with me.  i'm totally happy with humming along to the not-so-longest night of the year.

i'm wishing everyone a bright and warm winter solstice, and joy as you dance naked around the bonfire.

it keeps on coming

just because it's there, i took some photos of the snow today!  there should be some lovely photo ops in the next few days... when we get more snow and then freezing rain.  it is just beautiful how it coats the trees and is all sparkley... and then the branches break and take down the power lines... and then we have no electricity or phone.  any guesses where i'd rather be right now?  like where the temperature is in the high 60s and it might be raining, but it's WARM dammit!
this is the view out the living room window.

life

well, my macbook had its hard drive replaced, i had to stop feeling smug about having back up for all but the 2 months i was in Crete, all that back up doesn't seem to be available to transfer onto this empty macbook, after a couple of days back and forth to the mac store (45 min. each way and dealing with parking lots FULL of frantic people out shopping like crazy) i just gave up on transferring anything and started rebuilding my address book and book marks etc.  (do i get the prize for the longest run-on sentence???)

we have been snowed/frozen in for about 4 or 5 days, which doesn't really bother me much as i'm into a kind of hermit mood.  Jim got the snow tires on the little truck and made the adventurous trip to Banks to the supermarket and post office... with no problems.  so, really we haven't been totally house-bound.  it warmed up enough today to begin the melting process, and then the temp started the downward dive again heading for 18F tonight.  sure do hope the UPS guy makes it up the hills in the next couple of days.  i'm still expecting 4 more shipments of holiday online shopping goodies.  hoping that the warm comes back in the next week so the tribe can come for the big turkey dinner on friday.

haven't even got any photos to put here... quite pathetic really.  but i did finish a hat and a pair of mitts in the past few days.  maybe i'll take photos tomorrow.

partying in Vamos

to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary on november 23, we had a PARTY and invited a bunch of our friends.  we must have had good karma going, as the weather was mild and dry and most of the partying happened on the porch, leaving the whole kitchen free for dancing (Greek and Albanian dances).  there was lots of food and wine and raki and fun til quite late!  and again, there was an international group of people there... Dutch, French, Syrian, Albanian, Cretan... and all of them, by the way, were most happy for us and the whole planet that Barack Obama will be our new president!!!  bravo!

into december

and a lot has happened since that last post of november 21... beginning with the work stoppage of my beloved macbook.  yes, i know, macs don't crash. at least that's what i thought, but sadly it was true and now it has a new harddrive... a few days before the 1 year warranty expired.  it was one of my first adventures after returning home, following the trip to costco on a saturday (eeeekk) to replace the tv set which made popping noises when turned on and then started smoking.  oh, yeah, then there was the trip to the ER at St.Vincent Hospital where the ambulance took my dad straight from tgiving dinner at Bud's.  Pop stayed overnight for observation (he'd passed out at the dinner table and was unresponsive for 8 minutes) (thankfully, there were 2 nurses in attendance!!) and he was discharged the next day and seems to be back to his "normal".  we got the dogs back from boarding kennel and they were uncharacteristically quiet for a couple of days... maybe fearing they'd have to go back to doggie camp if they made any noise.  i'm happy to say they are back to normal now, and as usual,

Meika is projectile shedding everwhere she goes.... normal.

it was 70s F. when we left Crete and it's freezing here.  nothing more to say about that.

bravo!

wow!! our lemon tree is multi-tasking again!  it has ripening juicy lemons... and has sweet blossoms opening up and creating that lovely aroma!  bravo indeed!

honeymoon

 well.... it's over!  talking about the honeymoon with our sweet house in Crete.  we had already made the decision that we would end the rental on the house because of the economic situation at home   and needing to get our house sold and prob. building a new one ... however, when there was a brief rain period a few days ago, resulting in rivulets coming thru the bathroom window onto the floor in quite significant puddles, then last night and today heavier rains with water coming in under the front door and thru the wood stove, and finally figuring out that there's probably a big black mold problem, which is probably why i've been wheezing lately.... well, the honeymoon is over.  oh, yeah... did i mention that slugs come into the house in the bathroom and in the kitchen, and that the limit was finding a slug on the toilet seat?  oh, yeah... did i mention that we've found scorpions in the house?  I'm really not a sissy and can put up with a lot without complaining.... however, slug on toilet seat is one thing up with which i will not put!!!  and this whole situation is sad, because i love so much about the house.... including the porch with lots of room for sittin' around, the abundance of roses, grape arbors, lemon tree, the location ... and so much more!  if i only had lots of $$, i'd love to do a lot of work on this house... sigh...

and next sunday is our 30th wedding anniversary, we're having a party at our house to celebrate and at this point i have no idea how many people will be there as we keep on inviting more and more and more people, and the Cretan way is that if you are going to a party, you bring along some of your friends.  could be a very interesting adventure!!!!

we woke to rain today, but by the time we'd been up for an hour (well, ok... we didn't get up til almost 11).  but, anyway, we had to do some serious shopping at the.. um.. supermarket.. out of essentials like toilet paper, tomatoes, tonic, vodka.... oh, yeah and milk.  So, we made a walk the long way to the store and here are some of the sights.... a huge luscious palm tree, bougainvilla in contrast to a white stone wall and aged door.  

and the best.. a 3-wheel vehicle which was first made around WW2 here in Crete and is no longer being made.  it's still used by local farmers in their work and make the most god-awful noise imaginable... especially when laboring up hills.  i believe it is called mechani.  and i'd love to have one!!

and then there was friday... Kristy and her friend from school,  Mahar, came for a visit.  We met her the first year we came to Vamos and were at the Dourakis winery at the same time.  She is a friend of a woman from Portland that Jim used to work with.  Anyway... she has been in Crete for 2 years now working on her degree in agronomy.  We gave her the grand tour of Vamos, then went to Bloumosif for dinner, followed by a stop by Liakoto for the view.  Well, not surprisingly, since there was only one other person there at the time, plus the bartender, we lingered and were convinced to have just one raki.  Well... there really is no such thing as "one raki"... so after several hours (and a few raki) we left.  and by the way, Mahar had just one raki and was the designated driver.   luckily, it is a short stagger from there to our house.  did i mention that we will need some serious detox-ing when we get home?  this culture is quite heavy on eating and drinking and i guess we are fitting in quite well.  oh, yeah... back to Liakoto tonight for the live music.

yesterday we went with Artemi and Xanathippi to see an area up in the hills east of here which is abundant with springs... and i mean lots and lots of water just pouring up out of the ground all over the place.  it is evidently a very popular tourist destination in the spring and summer months.  then we found a wonderful restaurant/taverna at the bottom of a small gorge, nested among a bunch of trees and lush growth... including banana trees!  great food!  whenever we eat with these two, we let them order most of the meal and it's never been disappointing.   2 of the arches pictured here have a sheet of water spilling down inside the arch.. it's amazing looking!!

Also, in this area is a small village up in the hills which celebrates the village's "name day" soon after Easter each year with a sheep festival.... shearing, sheep milk and cheese for sale, and generally a raucous event in celebration of their patron saint (whose name i cannot remember right now)  I think the village is called AsiGonia, but i need to check the map.  wondering if it even appears on the map...  Anyway, if we are here for Easter next spring, i really really want to go to this event.

Driving on these roads up in the hills is an adventure and not for the weak-of-heart!  my understanding of "hair-pin curves" is quite clear now.  and i live on to see another adventure!

more....

and today's adventure was with the Brit ex-pat community in Vamos and surrounding area.  there is an amphitheater of sorts up on the hill in Vamos... and there is a "theater group" comprised of mostly these Brits.  they had their 6th annual theater fest today in which they performed an assortment of entertainment... which included some satirical drama loosely following the adventures of Odysseus, interspersed with  music--  electric guitar, Greek bousuki (sp??), beattles songs, Greek poetry, some original music and overall a very entertaining afternoon!!  oh, and the costumes were outstandingly perfectly appropriate!!

(Terry - it's actually now 7pm here and i've finished my ouzo, Greek salad and raki and am ready to stagger home to eat our left-over lamb chops and grilled chicken from last night's adventure).

....and on

one of the new waiters at Bloumosifi... it's Gianni, from Syria and really a sweet young man!!  (he's blushing now)... 

it is so damn difficult to arrange photos and text on my blog that it is making me flipping crazy!!

but this is kind of like a journal for me and i want to get as much text and photos on as possible.

maybe blogger does not work well with mac... i don't know!  anyway, i'll put all the photos up on my flickr account (link in rt. column) if you want to see 'em.  i haven't been able to figure out how to write it out in IPages then copy and paste here.  it WON"T paste here.  gonna take a deep breath now and quit for awhile.  more ouzo and maybe some food is in order here.

the raki maker at work.  and, for what it's worth... if there is a Public Health Department here, i just don't know where they are!!!  this wouldn't pass any inspection i can imagine.  i take comfort in the idea that this raki is so high in alcohol it is able to kill any pathogens in the vicinity!  hope springs eternal, eh?

Berend helping with carrying wood for the CRM.