celebrating a first!!!

OK, I know that to many this would seem very trivial... but it's a first for me.  I got a pedicure today for the very first time ever and i loved it!!  look at that... who could not love frosty purple with an attitude on their little piggies???  and who would not love being perched up on that throne with feet in warm, soapy water, and have a sweet young thing diligently fixin' up your feet to be ready for summer nekkidness in sandals?   mmmm... what decadent-ness.  This was the first and it won't be the last.  Also, i had a massage.  this was all thanks to a gift certificate at xmas from my very dear DH.  i've been savoring the anticipation for 5 months and oh my it was sweet!  sigh... 

close to finished!!

the end is in sight for getting this quilt finished in time for my DS's birthday!  wheee... I'm almost positive he never reads my blog, so the surprise won't be spoiled.  There are no 2 squares alike, which made it fun to make.  The actual quilting stage began today, and i'm hoping to get it done this week.  It is a little less than single/twin size, so is intended as a nap blanket and is Portland Trailblazer colors (well, the red and black...).  surely do hope he likes it!!

the colors aren't exact... it is red, not pink and black, not gray!!

more fingerless mitts

I had some really soft yarn (alpaca, i think) that was perfect for mitts, so this was my take-along travel project.  I started with a free pattern I found through Ravelry and improvised a bit (as usual).  the photo looks a bit goofy as i couldn't model both mitts and take the photo, too.  oh well... 

I WON fibers in a drawing!!

just the fact of winning something is exciting, but i won lovely handdyed fibers and a tote bag from Black Bunny Fibers (Carol Sulcoski).  In a group on Ravelry called Knitters for Obama, in a drive to raise $$ for Barack Obama, you could make a donation to the Obama campaign and your name would be put in the drawing for prizes which had been donated by other members of the group.  I really had no expectations either of winning anything or of the prize being this cool.  The coral bundle is Wensleydale dyed with Brazilwood and Henna, the green is corrie and the blue is Border Leiscester/mohair.  And the tote bag is big and roomy... will be fiber filled!

more photos from Crete

some random choice photos from my flickr....

this is the house across the street from ours.

Elena brought me these beautiful roses from their yard!

another one of our kitchen.  the sink is solid marble, as are the counter tops and the table top.

there are snails EVERYWHERE around our house in Vamos!!!  (only one got inside that i know of)   This photo is especially for Elena since she thinks they are "cute"!

home again

we got home tuesday night... some 30 hours after haulin' ass out of bed at 4:30a.m. in Vamos.  we are now in that re-entry process toward what passes for normal here in my queendom.  Jim went and retrieved the dogs from a neighbor's boarding kennel early Wed. morning, and they've been sticking as close as shadows since then, maybe fearing we'll leave them again.  all is good here at dome central, with some bloomin' flowers and trees, the clematis on the gazebo about finished its spring show, the greens in the greenhouse lush and plentiful (what happened to those neighbors who said they'd come and get salad greens while we were gone???).. and the grass/weeds knee-high.

It was a bigger than life lovely 3 weeks in Vamos, and now we have a house to go back to and will do that early in Oct. for about 3 months!!  bravo!

and now it's time for a nap.

a few more Vamos, Crete photos

this is my most favorite rose in our yard.  it lasts a really long time as a cut flower!!

3 views of the kitchen/dining area of our little Cretan house

we will probably use the wood stove in winter for heat as there is no central heating.

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!!

life

very strange weather we've been having here.  one day there's sun and spring, next day snow and close to freezing at night.  at least the snow is minimal and melts away quickly... unlike what they have had in Duvall, where Kate measured it at 6 inches and took pics of the kids and dog frolicking in it!  and in between the sun and the snow, there has been rain showers and hail.  oh, well, it hasn't interfered with my life in the slightest.

this afternoon we went to the matinee of "Our Town" at the community theater in Hillsboro.  the only reason i went was because my dad (age 93) had a small role in it and he would have been hurt if i hadn't been there to see him on stage again.  and for the hundredth time (it seems like) he asked if i remembered when he and my mom were in that play together.  i always say "yes" even tho i was probably 8 years old and it was one of many i saw them act in, and i'm not really sure i remember that event, or if the memory is based on pictures i've seen of them and the stories i've heard.  "Our Town" is my least favorite play in the whole wide world, and i wouldn't have gone if it were not for Pop.  he did quite well, tho i hadn't thought i'd see him on stage again.  so... hurray and bravo for him.   it was especially sweet for him because my brother was also in the play, so the 2 of them were on stage together again!   i'm betting he is exhausted after 3 performances every weekend for 4 weeks, and i don't know how many weeks of rehersals!! 

thoughts

And i had an interesting thought... it came while i was thinking about cleaning the house (operative words: "thinking about").  There is a definite advantage to downsizing from approx. 3500-4000 sq. ft. house (impossible to measure a dome house precisely and accurately) to somewhere around 1600-1800 sq.ft. house.  and that is that there will be a far smaller space to feel guilty about not cleaning!  that makes me happy.

a Cretan dinner

tonight Jim prepared a delightful dinner straight from a cookbook "Foods of Crete - Cooking Recipes" written by a woman we met during our last visit to Vamos, Crete.  Her name is Koula Varydakis, and i'm looking forward to seeing her again when we are there in April.   The dishes he prepared were all delicious... mushrooms dusted with flour and fried, potatoes with garlic, lemon juice and olive oil and baked, a shrimp dish with onions, green pepper and garlic, lamb with garlic and onions, Greek salad (tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet onion dressed with olive oil and white balsamic vinegar) (which i can never get enough of), green salad from the greenhouse (rocket and romaine mostly) dressed with olive oil and lemon juice and white balsamic vinegar, and to top it off, raki (Greek fire water) (which was a definite hit with the guests... well, some of them).  I ate so much (and so well) that i damn near hurt myself!  and i have no regrets.  A dinner with the liberal use of olive oil and garlic rates high with me!!

And the guests... (from left, Amy, married to Jules, his dad, Bob, Jim-the-chef, Sarah, and Betsy.

amazing!

I'm not a crocheter by any stretch, but i think this looks really amazing!!  i'm impressed!

Crete

I just checked the weather in Crete... 62F to 64F and mostly sunny for the next 5 days, with 50sF at night!  sigh....  and 4 weeks from today, that's where i'll be.  This year we'll be in a different house and it has a garden and porch and trees, and this thought makes me very happy!  bravo!!

spring in the greenhouse

more Justify Your Stash

The Justify Your Stash mobius wrap (Lynne's pattern) is done except for dealing with the yarn ends.  Rachael was here today so i talked her into modeling it for me.  I really love the edging of pointy things and it was fun to knit them!!