from Vamos, Crete

life is good! we are renting "our" same little house in Vamos and it really did feel like coming home! have stayed busy seeing friends, meeting people, going to a couple of parties, eating good food, drinking raki and homemade wine, marveling that the weather is so excellent. changes here continue as the Brits continue to buy land and houses here. there's a whole conclave of 'em. much construction and renovation going on. i marvel, too, that there is no evidence of crashes on the roads as these HUGE trucks carrying cement, tiles, building materials share the narrow, winding roads with cars and buses. this is a highway system of true hairpin turns... and they all seem to navigate it ok. me? i prefer the bus or taxi for my transportation. riding with friends, i just hum to myself and watch the landscape racing by. oh yeah.... speed is a big part of this equation. went to Hania yesterday with our friend Marina, shopped for a couple of hours, wandered down to the harbor and sat there just enjoying being there. our friend, Alex (Marina's husband) died Sept. 23 of a heart attack and we miss him dearly. he was a huge presence in our times here, and it's just not the same without him. Alex was a larger than life 74 year old man with 2 teenaged kids, a farm where he grew all kinds of lovely veggies, chickens, rabbits, kiwis. He also had several groves of olive trees, grapes growing in several locations.. and we've been the happy recipients of wine, raki and olive oil... all from the big barrels in his basement, and dined well on what he produced. i'll post some photos when i'm back home again. We miss Alex so much!!

today we are in Kalives, a nearby village, to visit the internet cafe, buy some Moscato (a lovely sweet wine) and walk on the beach.

just 4 more days here.... sigh..

on the road

We're at the Outer Banks of NC in the midst of pretty brisk winds... it's warmish and no rain, so not bad at all. Since we've been here, we've been to the Wright Bros museum in Kitty Hawk and drove down to the Cape Hattaras lighthouse... and eaten lots of fresh seafood. When ya get south of the strip malls and t-shirt shops, the landscape is lovely, wild and natural with lots of sand dunes. will be here til sunday, then drive back to Richmond and fly away on monday to Athens then Vamos, Crete for 2 weeks. my stepbrother, Jim, and his wife, Carla, live in Richmond and are down here with us and we are enjoying relaxin', eatin' and Carla and i will enjoy some retail therapy today. saw a quilt shop and a bead shop, both of which deserve some of our time and prob. some $$$.

before Outer Banks, i was in Asheville for SAFF and had a great time fondling fibers and seeing some dear twisted friends! my sister, Robin, drove down from Knoxville and she and Lynne and i shared a room and we had a chance to get caught up with each other. SAFF has grown a lot since i was there several years ago. will try to remember to get photos of the fantastic buttons and yarn i bought.... but "memory" is not my stong suit these days!

there have not been any entries here lately on account of my dell crashed and died and the mac needs updating of safari and OS and won't let me post to my blog.... or blogspot won't communicate with mac. whatever it is won't get fixed til i'm back home again 11/20. we didn't bring a computer with us (borrowing bro.Jims), so tata til then.