Sunset glow

The glow of sunset on one of Chora's churches.

 

An Adrian farewell

We waved farewell to our son this morning
 as he boarded the ferry back to Piraeus
 and his long journey home.

Yesterday he finally had a dip in the sea at Agia Anna.

 

 

It was very special to have him with us for five nights.

Last night we visited the campground in Katapola to watch another rehearsal of The Cherry Orchard. Adrian had the opportunity to observe an outdoor Greek production and see many people he has met in their theatre roles. Now we will return to a slow rhythm for our final six days on the island.

John's birthday celebration

Last night we experienced such an outpouring of love for John on his big 80th!

Around 40 people arrived to shower him with hugs, kisses, wishes and gifts.

 

Milena arrived in her ballet/ princess outfit

and helped John to examine each gift.

She made him a scented candle.

Kalliroi, who brought delicious mashed potatoes, was gorgeous in turquoise.

She gave John a hand written compilation of poems from her favourite poets.

 

Theodosia and Myrto provided glamour to the evening!

 

Mansi, who brought homemade daal, joined Dagmar and Elena for dinner.

 

Adrian was surrounded by beautiful women all night!

John also received calls from Manuela & Wilma in Sweden, 

Rahel in Switzerland and Maja in Sarajevo during the evening celebrations.

Maja thrilled us by singing a beautiful song to him.

Michael Anne brought in her famous carrot cake while everyone sang Happy Birthday

in Greek and in English before John recited an emotional poem and thanked everyone!

Theo took over as DJ and played an eclectic mix of dance music.

What a wonderful evening!

29,222 sunrises!

Up this morning at 5:15am to watch John's 29,222th sunrise.

 

Clouds threatened to hide the sun but finally she appeared!

Happy 80th birthday!

Friday of the surprise visit

 

Morning coffee competition

Visiting Langada before the three hour jet lag nap.

 

Creative use of tin cans.

The secret arrival

I managed, with great difficulty, to keep the secret!

 

Under supposed directions from Mata to pick up a delivery of peanuts for the bar, 

we drove down to Katapola and waited for the Express Scopelitis to arrive with the peanuts.

To John's utter amazement...Adrian walked off the boat and toward us!

What a wonderful gift for John's 80th birthday.

We celebrated his arrival with drinks at Jazzmin and dinner at Parvas.

Not sure what time he will finally wake up this morning after such a long journey!

Shadows and princesses

Life goes on around us...

...shifting energy levels 

with each departure and arrival.

 

Today we shared a falafel lunch on the upper terrace of Tre Porto.

 

The cushions and shadows were fascinating.

 

And then the princesses arrived to record a piece of their theatre production.

Christo's creations

Colourful displays outside Christo's shop.

 

He dedicates his winter months to creating hand painted objects

to market in his shop during the tourist season.

Friends leave and painting furniture

The ferries started running again at midnight last night

and we said goodbye to good friends who prepared to leave the island.

 

Mancie gives Maja a farewell hug as Maja leaves for her return trip to Sarajevo.

 

Myrto and Ellie help to paint the furniture for Bayoko's re-opening!

Birthday, Outdoor theatre and Lukas

We celebrated another birthday on Wednesday...
...Milena, the daughter of our friends, had her 9th birthday!

 

Waiting for the birthday cake!

In the evening we attended a dress rehearsal for the open air theatre production of "The Cherry Orchard".

 

The Sleaze - Thodoros showing his seedy side!

John, Elena and Junior waiting for the theatrics!

 

Mata lecturing the maid on how to behave!

 

And, this morning we spent time with Lukas again.

Daddy and falling apart

 

Junior and Theo are two young men who have decided to adopt us as parents.

It is a constant battle between these two to get their adoptive "Daddy"s attention!

This one is still on the road...

...held together with chewing gum and rubber bands!...

...and pieces of fabric!

What a birthday!

What a birthday!

It started in the morning with cake, flowers 

and a birthday balloon from Maria, our landlady.

 

The cake was still warm, the flowers sweetly scented!

Tonight we gathered at Jazzmin for dinner prepared by Mata and Rahel...

...Amazing pasta, delicious baked sweet potatoes and incredible salads.

 

 

I was spoiled...friends cooked my birthday dinner and brought lovely gifts.

 

It was  my pleasure to share this birthday with Maja, a Sarajevo Princess!

I am wearing the top that John gave me and an Indian scarf from Maja.

She is wearing the silk outfit that Yorgos gave her.

Then we provided a little after dinner entertainment.

 

 

Spooning requires much dexterity between nose, mouth and tongue.

Our technique involves transferring the spoon from nose to mouth to your partner's nose!

And then there was scrumptious birthday cake

brought by Carmen and Baz!

What a wonderful birthday!!!

Hot winds

Hot desert winds 

blown from Africa

lift the grape vines

and dry the hillside.

 

Yesterday was the first day that I didn't wear either a long sleeved shirt or a jacket since arriving on the island. We are being embraced by hot winds for a few days until the wind direction changes and cools again from the north.

This morning our writing group met again to share stories on themes of family, passport and the sea.

 

I have spent so much time conjugating verbs in Greek lately that it spilled over into my "family" poem!

Conjugate your family:

Remove the ego

and reflect on

what he did to her

what she did to them

and ask yourself

if you did enough.

In future tense

what will he do for her

what will she do for them

and whether or not

you will do more!

 

The Swiss, the Brit and and Indian princess peering down on us

with offerings of freshly chilled slices of melon!

Full Moon Day

We have added two new members to the Amorgian family. Tonight they prepared an East Indian dinner for 14 members of our "family". It was amazing...rice, daal, chickpeas, veggies...absolutely delicious flavours that Fabian and Manci brought with them from India.

 

Kalliroi helping Fabian to dish out the feast.

Rahel is famished, with tongue hanging out, waiting for

her rice while Junior waits patiently and Mary looks on.

 

Tre Porto has opened their upper terrace and the view is wonderful!

A new business is preparing to open in Chora.

Busy

Although the island is quieter, we still seem to be quite busy.

 

Last night we joined Carmen, Baz and Lukas for dinner

and discovered a wonderful new addition to the outside

of the restaurant...a swing for Lucas!

This afternoon was spent with John Junior at the campground discussing options for the backdrop of the community theatre production. He came up with some brilliant ideas and will present some sketches tomorrow for the group to consider. Time is running out, there is no money and the Directors are becoming stressed.

 

After my 5th Greek lesson, we enjoyed a delicious dinner tonight 

of fish soup (Kalliroi), curried veggies ( Lin) and salad (Maja) 

at Yorgos apartment. Lukas loves all food!...especially cherry tomatoes!

Καλι όρεξη

Writing, walking and acting

Yesterday our writing group met at Tre Porto to share some of our creations.

 

Mary ( from Toronto), Julie (our hostess at Tre Porto) and John Jr. ( from Leicester England).

We heard beautiful writings in English and in Greek. Fortunately Anna is able to assist with translations. Our prompts for next week are " family", "passport" and "sea". John has already completed all of his writings! I am still trying to fit in time for writing between Greek lessons and studying!

This morning I walked down to the port of Katapola with Rahel.

She was very patient!...usually she runs this pathway in 20 minutes.

Today's walk took 1 1/4 hours!!

 

Rahel checked one of the cisterns...several frogs answered her!

In Katapola we watched the theatre group as they plotted out where the various scenes would take place in the campground.

 

They are rehearsing for a production of The  Cherry Orchard by Chekhov

which will be staged in the campground in early June.