Road trip!......

 

Ha ha ~ Demitri was rubbing his face into the pillows, and now he looks like a wookie.   :-)

We first visited St Katherine's Greek Orthodox church in Chandler, Arizona, to a retreat with Dr Jeannie Constantinou  as the speaker.  I really enjoyed it, although I realized on Saturday that I had only purchased tickets for Friday's Women's retreat.  How embarrassing.  I really need to pay attention!  I  should do those things on my computer and not my phone.  

Their church was very impressive.  They have a large hall, and a nice area outside with playground equipment for kids.  They are just now finishing up with the church building, and their parking lot already needs to be expanded.   

Sunday afternoon we drove to Spafford, Arizona, and visited St Pasisios Monastery.  It is such an amazing place.  A true oasis in the middle of the desert.  

We stayed in the women's dormatory, where each room can accommodate 2 to 3.  Our room was on the west side, where unfortunately there was a huge Anatolian shepherd, that really enjoyed barking.  The monastery actually has Anatolian's or Great Pyranees dogs that they release onto the grounds for protection.  So by 6pn we had to be in our rooms, since these were not pets!  Most of the population of the monastery are nuns, with only a few priests.  

They have large groves of pomegranates, and grow some of the largest I've ever seen!

Geese, penned in a small grove of pomegranates.  

They had apple trees as well.  In fact they grow much of the food they need.  A huge garden, olive groves, goats, chickens, geese and ducks.  As we wandered around we noticed that they were getting ready to cover the crops that they could winter over, with u shaped pvc pipe and plastic.  

 

Dog tracks in the sand...

There are 320 acres of land, most of it covered in greasewood, a spiny desert shrub.  

 

Here is one of the pomegranates ~ so huge!  I've never seen such large ones.  We had to wear long sleeves, long skirts and head coverings while we were there.  When we left, and drove out from the gates, we stopped and changed.  Right out in road!  Which is exactly what we did going in as well.  Haha

The food was really good.  I need to write them and ask if they have a cookbook or if they would share some of their recipes.

I am still catching up on all the things I didn't do while out of town.  A few days after we returned I was caught up in a wedding where I was the sponsor, or koumbara.  It was a lot of frantic getting ready! Although it was an honor, I sincerely hope I am never asked to do it again.  Whew. 

Have a wonderful week!  I hope your fall weather is like outs ~ perfect.

Love, 365 

 

 

 

:-( Watching Tsitsipas lose to Sinner...

 

What an honor for Stephanos to be picked to participate in the 6 Kings Slam, and what a drag to have to play Sinner in the first round.  He's a great player, but he is not in the same league as Sinner.  The only person I can think of that can give Sinner a run for it is Alcarez.  

Stephanos is such a gentleman!  Smiling, even though I'm sure he was frustrated.  

This is one of the last tomatoes on this particular plant.  As I scrutinized the photo, I thought it kind of looks like it's suspended by a chicken with green legs.  :-)

 

I have more tomatoes on my other plant.  The question is, will they ripen before the first frost?  Not that I think that will be soon.  Now that the temps have dropped, they aren't ripening as quickly.  I will really miss going out in the morning with my coffee to check on how everything looks.  

I can't believe the strawberries continue to produce, but they will probably stop blooming and producing soon.  Don't be jealous, because I only get one small berry about once every 7 to 10 days.  Romeo doesn't ever want any, he says I did all the work, and it's not like there's a bowl full.  Haha

I am still waiting for my large oven to be repaired.  It has been nearly a month.  It took 2 weeks just to have someone come out and tell me what needs to be fixed.  Even though this company specializes in repair to Wolf appliances, I'm not sure I'm calling them next time.  It's a fairly simple oven.  No digital settings, all manual.  

I will be so glad when it's working!  I have decided that I need to use the smaller oven more often than I have been.  I've been lazy, because I store my cast iron skillets in there, and apparently I'm too lazy to pull them out to use it.  

Friday morning, my friend Katherine and I are going on a road trip!  I am excited to get out and travel even if it's just a small road trip.  I don't think I've ever been to Chandler, AZ.  At least the temps aren't 110.  Still, it will be 87 on Sunday.  How does anyone ever live there????  I can't imagine how difficult it would be to garden in that kind of heat.

Well, I'm going to go and put some items in my luggage.  

Y'all have a great weekend.

Love, 365 

 

All the things.......

 

Our 50th Greek Festival was a great success!  From the left going right ~ tsoureki, paximadia, koulourakia, baklava, kourambiedes.  Across from the shelves are baklava cheesecake, combo packs, chocolate dipped paximadia.  Once again, the chocolate dipped went really quick, and we were out by mid day Saturday.  This is a three day festival from Friday through Sunday.  I worked each day until around 3 or 4 pm.  Each day I came home exhausted mentally (having to deal with my friend and coworker that is not good with technology) and physically (from running around and standing a lot).  I really don't know how many more years I can take this on.  I was so glad when it was over! 

My son and his fiance/girlfriend (not sure?) arrived late on Friday.  I still had to work on Saturday and Sunday, due to a mix up on what dates they were coming.  It worked out  though, as they were busy as well, visiting friends and seeing the sights, as this was her first trip to New Mexico.  They were busy, we were busy ~ my son bought a new game called Everything Ever, which was really fun.  The only real glich was the big fight they had on Tuesday night through Wednesday.  It wasn't a yelling fight, it was very quiet, and all I really knew was my son was very upset.  By Thursday, all was ok again, and Romeo and I breathed a sigh of relief.  I was glad they worked it out and stayed until today as they had originally planned.  

She's a lovely girl....very shy.  I  hope they can work out all their issues and stay together, because they seem very compatible.  Only time will tell.

We hiked the Sandia Mountain Crest Trail.  It was great with the fog, and not so great with the drippy rain.  The dogs got really muddy, so I guess I can say it was really a great day for them!  We had to give them another bath though.  

 

Interestingly my phone camera kept telling me to clean the lens, and it was only later I realized that the sensor thought the lens was smudged due to the fog. :-)

The kids (as we call them, haha) left this morning at 4am, so of course we had to get up at 3ish to say goodbye and send them off.  Being unable to go back to sleep I washed sheets, blankets and towels, loaded and ran the dishwasher, and then took off to pick up our champaign apples from Dixon's.   

They are beautiful and so delicious!  I am going to make some dried apple snacks with some of them, but mostly we'll just eat them and will make at least one pie!  

Dixon's Apples were originally here in New Mexico, which is how I first discovered them.  Unfortunately there was a fire at the apple grove, and then devastating floods through the burn scar.  The owners then chose to go to Wisconsin, and started over?  Or perhaps took over an existing apple grove, and then introduced the champaign apples there.  Once a year they come to New Mexico ~ and bring apples.  I look forward to it every year!  

Ok, I've got to go have an apple and some cheese.  Enjoy your weekend!

Love, 365
 

Happy fall, y'all!......

I love fall.  Come on cooler weather, where we can walk the dogs anytime of day!  The sun comes up a bit later, allowing us to catch a few more zzzz's.   That crisp air in the morning.  Love it!  It's also going to be a super busy month.  The 50th anniversary of the annual Greek Festival.  My son and his significant other will visit for a week.  I'm going to a Chandler, Arizona to listen to a talk by Dr Jeannie Constantinou ~ a writer and podcaster I highly admire.  A wedding on Oct 25th ~ I was asked by Corin to be her koumbara (her sponsor).  

I am currently finishing up painting the last wall in our "guest" room.  It has been many years since we painted in there!  I think it will look great when I'm done.  Then the annoying part of putting everything back in.  Curtains, book cases, throw rugs.  I plan to turn the sofa bed into a bed, since I think they will get in late.

Only 3 more work days of Festival packaging (we are done with baking, yeah!).  I took today off so that I could finish painting. A week from this Friday it all begins!  It will be interesting to see if we have more people this year because of the anniversary.  

In our stairwell is a window that I put a curtain instead of buying cellular shades (mostly due to the stained glass panel that is hanging in there).  I really liked those curtains ~ then one day earlier this year I came home to discover that Romeo took my curtains down and put a pair of plain dark blue ones up.  I don't like them, but I didn't want to complain, so I figured I would put the other ones up after some time.  And I guess I waited too long, because I could not find them this morning.   :-(. I could swear they were in the hall closet not long ago.

Does your spouse make decisions about home decor, and you just don't like it?  But you don't want to come across as some sort of home decorating diva?  Haha. 

This is a photo of my garden guardian ~ a small lizard that has been living in our wisteria all summer.  I often see him hanging around the garden....hopefully eating bugs!  I guess I have about 5 weeks or gardening left.  I will miss it.  Especially having to get used to store tomatoes again.  Tasteless.

Well, I must get back to painting!   Enjoy your week.

Love, 365

Eating crow:  I did find the curtains, they were in the closet underneath other things.  Oops.
 

Kpńtn ~ or Crete, written in Greek.

The road to Knossos ~ this is a road that was build during the time the Palace of Knossos was constructed (although our guide mentioned that there have been buildings on the site from way before the palace).  This road goes across Crete, she said, from sea to sea, which is around 36 miles, give or take.  Much is under buildings, roadways, and homes.  She semi-jokingly said that if you need a plumber, you wait to have them come until late in the afternoon  ~ because if they come across an ancient structure they are duty bound to contact the Greek ministry of Culture.  All digging must stop.  But if the archaelological office is already closed....you see?

Interestingly enough, all antiquities found anywhere ~ including your property ~ is automatically the property of Greece.  If the site is deemed important enough, they can take the property from you by eminent domain.  
 

Once a palatial entrance to the Palace.  Built in the 7th mellennium BC, this palace is the origin of the myths of the Minotaur, Icarus and Daedalus.  It was the political and ceremonial center of the Minoan civilization.

 

Beautiful peacocks hanging out ~ everyone got their phones or cameras out.

 

These two photos show part of the labyrinth, as part of the myth of the Minotaur.

 Gorgeous frescos......

Throne room and throne.  The throne looked almost like a kids chair.

 

A depiction of acrobatic bull jumping.  Our guide thought that it was unlikely to be an activity that was practiced....The idea was to grab the horns, then flip over the bull and hopefully make the landing.  

 

Beautiful ladies.....

One of my favorite frescos......

Last walkabout day in Crete....

 

I was surprised to see so many Egyptian crafts in Greece...

 

Love these jars with the dolphin and octopus figures.

 

Also loved this butterfly pin or broach, which had some colorful jewel or faience in it.  It was small, about the size of my thumbnail...

 

Such an amazing sculpture of the bull.  

Our last night in Greece, we stayed at the Brown Hotel, which was a funky "let's bring back the old days" vibe to it.  There were old record players, consoles and art work of the time (think the 50s). They had a fabulous roof top deck with a bar, and on one side you could catch a glimpse of the Parthenon, as it is lit up.  That night it was also under a partly full moon.  If I hadn't had to get up so early, I would have hung out there with a drink or two.  They also had hot tubs!

Well, that's all folks!  Thank you for hanging in through all these photos!

Love, 365