Easter in Greece

we are going into Easter weekend here... the biggest celebration of the year.  Looks to be 3 days

and nights of religious rituals, including a bonfire to burn Judas in effigy, a candle-lit procession through the village, fireworks... and then on  Sunday is a lamb roast!

this is likely the last post til i'm back home at dome central next week.  i'll put up more photos and descriptions then.

kalispera from Vamos!

last night we had dinner at our house for Elena, Toine and Valerie.  The Wookie dog, Ian also came and appointed himself the guardian of our domain... including sitting on the wall watching for signs of intruders.

life in Vamos, Crete

the village square at night.  this is where we had supper at a cafenion (souvlaki and greek salad) and  where  our friend, Velat, was driving by, saw us and stopped for a beer.  delightful to see him again as he has moved from Vamos and is living and working in Hania, and we don't see him a lot any more!  He is Kurdish and has been living in Greece for several years.

Jim and Velat

part of our yard.  there are several clumps of calla lilies  which someone weed-eatered half to death.  they grow very easily here and are coming back to life after their experience with the weed=eater.  geraniums, also, are everywhere.  i put a few clippings here and there in bare spots and they seem to be doing well.

and this is our friend, Toine from The Netherlands, holding his large and fluffy dog (I can't remember his Greek name, so i call him Wookie).  Sadly, i didn't get the best shot... when Wookie was giving Toine a kiss.

we have decided to rent this house long term, so have been doing some nesting.  I will get more

photos which shows the new arrangement of the furniture.  we also went shopping in Hania with our friend, Xanthippi, who showed us several places which have very good prices, and we found a piece with shelves which we'll go back and buy for the kitchen.  considering that the value of the dollar is crap compared to the euro, we won't be doing much buying!!

our time is getting short here and our schedule pretty full for the remaining days... tomorrow we will go to Marina's for dinner at 1pm,  Wed. to Hania with Xanthippi for more shopping (and buying of that bookcase/shelf unit thing) and go to the passport office to clarify some questions we have about how long we can stay here on a passport, and the possibility of getting a visa so we can make more frequent trips here.  and Wed. evening we'll have guests for dinner

(Elena, Toine, Berent (from Holland) and his Greek wife, Ghina)  it will be an interesting adventure cooking dinner for 6 with our limited supplies... 2 dutch ovens, one medium size frying pan, a very small refrig.  but, hey... we have wine and ouzo!! and glasses galore.  and then

on thursday we are planning to go to Rethymnon to spend the afternoon with Nikos, dear friend who used to be a waiter here.  Friday to Almyrda to see Georgios's new restaurant that he is setting up.  Sat.?? can't remember.  Sunday is Easter here and is a huge event.  we've been

invited to Xanthippi and Artemie's home for a lamb barbeque (the whole lamb on a spit!!).  and

monday, there is a small village nearby which celebrates their saint day (St. George) the day after easter... and it's a sheep festival with shearing, offerings of sheep milk cheese, lamb kabobs, etc.  and i'd love to go to that, and it's an event i'd prefer to go to with a Greek, so am hoping we can work that out.   and then on tuesday, we leave Vamos at 5a.m. to start that long journey home!

more later... maybe... probably

Vamos, Crete

this is the entrance to our house

what we see from the table on our porch, as we sit under the grape arbor.  the orange tree (not shown here) is in bloom and the aroma is absolutely intoxicating!  sigh..  We have harvested some of the lemons on the tree to the left of the porch.  That tree is multi-tasking... ripe lemons and new blossoms!  the flowers on the rose bushes are beginning to open up... gorgeous!!  the typical bright blue sky has not been visible due to dust from a dust storm in Africa having been blown in over us by strong winds from the south!!  there is a breeze from the north today which may remedy that.  the sun is out tho, temp is in 60's.  We have seen many of our friends and been welcomed warmly with hugs and kisses!  lovely!

We will probably take a 2 year lease on this house.  It is 80 to 100 years old and charming, tho kind of ... um.. rustic and plain in a lot of ways.  I've taken photos throughout the house and will post some of them soon.

We are here and all is absolutely wonderful!  we have free wireless connections at the taverna!  so here we sit at Bloumosifi Taverna with a cold Mythos beer and internet!!  Life is good!!

yarn/color/knitting... wheee

with yarn that i bought when Linda and i went up to the Madrona Fiber event, i started a scarf so i'd have some small and easy "take-along" knitting.  it began its life as entrelac and changed midstream to mitered squares because i just didn't like how it was looking.  and i love this yarn with one I bought from 3 Waters Farm in NC used in a random alternating fashion for the squares!!  it just seemed like i needed to put some fiber on the blog as it had been missing for awhile.  the project is mindless enough, while still being interesting, to work on during the upcoming trip.  that long flight is very wearing on my mind, body and attitude.  i don't do real well going without sleep for 20 or so hours, while also dealing with a variety of other humans who i'd prefer to avoid.  oh, well... it's all worth it to spend time in a small village in Crete!!