Mykonos....

If I had a dollar (or a euro) for each church we saw on our travels through Greece, I may have been able to cover half of the cost of the entire trip!  There were plenty in Athens, but when we visited the islands they were much more visible.  Some were small; they were built to honor someone in the family, such as a loved one who died during war and conflict ~ but I imagine there were many different reasons for building these tiny memorial chapels.  Our tour guide mentioned that many are built as a private family chapel, or are churches that honor the Saint of a local village.  I also visited a few cathedrals, which were stunning.  

I am not sure if our guide was correct in saying that this small church was one of the most photographed in Greece, but it is near plenty of restaurants.   

This church (which is considerably bigger) is about 20 yards from the one pictured above.  The cafe owners were cleaning up and preparing for the influx of tourists that would happen a couple of weeks from when we were there ~ so there were some that weren't open yet, including around half of the hotels. 

Mykonos....

It's easy to get turned around, wondering where you are ~ but eventually you catch a glimpse of the sea and you're back on track.

Note the date on the door of this church (1816).  The inscription, color and door columns caught my eye.

 

Mykonos is so picturesque!  

 The Mykonos windmills were primarily used from the 16th century until the mid-20th century. They were built by the Venetians and were strategically positioned to harness the strong northern winds to grind grains like wheat and barley. The windmills played a vital role in the island's economy, particularly in the 17th-19th centuries, by producing flour for both local consumption and trade. While still standing and serving as iconic landmarks, the windmills ceased their operational use with the advent of modern technology and the decline of traditional grain milling.   **I wish there had been one that had it's sails intact so we could view them turning!

Colorful little Venice.  Later, there were 4 girls practicing their cheerleading skills right on this beach ~ in their bikinis of course!  It was really chilly too.

 

I have been playing around with Copilot ~ a new app on my iphone.  Hmmm, it made me look younger and skinnier!  I like it!

As Dave and Ruth are heading up the path, I had to stop and take a photo of this little shop called Happiness.  My own was thwarted, as it was closed.  😊. Ruth and Dave were very kind to the solo travelers like me, and often invited us to dinner, drinks, and a wine tasting.
 

The hotel in Mykonos was one of my favorites, and this was the view from the balconey.

 

 Our tour guide, Michael took us to the Lighthouse point to take these gorgeous photos of the sunset.  It was extremely windy and cold, so as we were waiting for that magic moment, we huddled on the side of the old lighthouse out of the wind.

And this seems a good place to stop for now!  

No, I did not post every photo.  There are too many!

Love, 365 

Athens.....

 

Before I get to all the Athens photos, I wanted to show y'all this "Minute Suite".  I had a 5 hour layover in Dallas, so I booked one of these.  All it has it a desk and chair (if you want a quiet place to work) and a sleeper sofa, with a nice blanket (that was warmed, which surprised me) and a pillow.  I booked it for 75 minutes, and rested.  Napped a bit.  Stretched out my legs and tried my best to prepare myself for the nearly 10 hour flight to Munich.  It was really nice!  

Before I made the mad rush to find my gate in the Munich Airport, I bought some water, and wanted so badly to get this apple strudel.  Look at the size of it!!  It was really huge.  I knew it would be too messy to carry and eat on the plane, so I didn't get it.  Wish I had!

 

The only stadium made entirely of marble.  The olympics were held in Athens in 2004 (and also in 1896, and deep antiquity, lol). 

The Erechtheion with the Porch of the Caryatids.

 

It was quite windy and chilly in Athens.  

The wind was trying to blow my hair off, lol.

 

Just one of so many wonderful cafe's as you walk around Athens...

On one of our afternoons off, a few of my fellow travelers helped me find this small chapel dedicated to St Kyriaki, one of my favorite saints.  

 

We took a road trip to visit the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.  Lots and lots of stairs as we walk through the archaeological site.  

The serpent column, made of brass ~ this is actually a replica, as the original was taken by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.  An artist rendering of what it may have looked like below...

The Sphinx of the Naxians.  Originally it was on a 41 foot Ionic column in fron the Temple of Apollo.  

Of course I shouldn't fail to mention the Oracle of Delphi.  Apparently she stood over faults in the earth where toxic gasses would assist in putting her in a transe like state as she prophesied.  

Athens was our first stop, and is a wonderful city to visit ~ there are tons of cafe's and restaurants (many of them outside), and shopping (jewelry, clothing, etc) and site seeing, as Athens is a historical city with lots of history and archaeology.  

Our hotels were all fantastic, which the exception of the first one in Athens.  It was very small, and my view was of the alley behind the  hotel.  It was also weirdly laid out, and I kept fighting with the glass bathroom door, haha.  It was a nice hotel, but I didn't like my room.  

I will post more soon!  There are many more :-)

Love, 365 

I'm still alive!......

 

I survived the loooong flight to Athens!  It was terrible.  I was stuck inbetween two young people, who were very kind and considerate.  The terrible part was being in the middle seat for a 9 1/2 hour flight.  

I don't know if EF Tours waited until the last minute to schedule our flights, but I was in the very back of the plane on every single one.  Which means it takes 20 minutes to get off as you are waiting for everyone else to grab their stuff and go.  If I do another tour with them, I'm going to schedule my own flights.  

Greece was so much fun though!  We did a lot of sight seeing of archaeological sites, did a driving tour of a few places, ate some really wonderful food.  I think I will be sad when I have kalamari here in New Mexico, because it won't be grilled, and it won't be fresh.  😔.  I could certainly live in Greece if it was possible.  

At one restaurant in Santorini I had the grilled, and imagine my surprise when they brought me the entire squid!! It was really good.  I just couldn't quite eat it all.

The flight home was just as awful, with the exception that I picked the window seats.  Still all the way back in the plane though.  It took 3 days to stop waking up around 2:30am.  I was still on Greek time I guess.  

Two days after I returned, the office called and asked me to fill in ~ again.  I said I would, and did so for a month, but I sent an email to the practice manager that I could not stay indefinitely and gave her an end date.  Luckily they hired someone a few days after the email.  Prior to that I had the feeling that feet were dragging, which prompted the email.  

I will post with more photos of Greece....I have a so many!  It was really fun. 

I'll be back!

Love, 365  
 

Blessed Pascha ~ Happy Easter!

 

Our kouvouklion this year.  We had to do it after one service and hurry up to finish before the next one began.  We were vacuuming and sweeping as people were walking in.  

There were three teenagers that came to help us, and I asked them to decorate the dome.  They did a wonderful job!

Despite the wind, only a few of the flowers fell off during the procession.......

As much as I enjoyed Lent, I am glad to have more free time.  I have 6 days to get ready for the trip, which is plenty....but there are other things to take care of.  

I hope you all are having a wonderful day!  Christ is Risen!

Love, 365

 

The Life List........

 

Lol, this seems to be ingrained in my genetics.  My younger son is the same, poor thing.

Saying no should take less effort than saying yes, and yet......I have a lot of trouble saying no.

I did watch a great movie on Netflix called The Life List.  If you have Netflix, check it out.

On the upcoming trip:

Romeo keeps telling me how bad the exchange rate is going.   I heard this morning that Trumped has suspended the tariffs (except for China) and so we'll see how that affects it.  

I read that I can take a quart bag of liquids, aerosols, creams and pastes, limited to 3.4 oz in my carry on.  I think I'm gonna have to do a test run on that :-). I might have to buy toothpaste there....haha

One of my Greek friends said I should start packing now.  Ugh.  Do you know how many times I will take stuff out and replace it?  I think I'm going to stick to 5 days in advance.  

Do not watch you tube videos of the street food in Athens.  It made me so hungry, even after I had just had dinner......

Have a great weekend ~ it's only 2 days away!

Love, 365
 

Baking and flowers and baking......

 

Our Philoptokos chapter bakes koulouria, and dyes eggs for sale before Pascha.  Last Saturday we baked 720 (or so) koulouria ~ we sell those by the dozen.  Tsoureki is on Monday, with the exception of the 15 small loaves I baked for the shut ins.  Egg dyeing is on 4/17, and our priest hands out the red eggs on Saturday.....or is it Sunday?  It's all a whirlwind.

We have so many icons that need decorating with flowers.  There are 3 of us, and each one of us is doing this at least once a week.  Our main source for flowers is Trader Joe's.  Sometimes the grocery store.  So, we have to buy the flowers 2-3 days before, then I go down to the church hall to do the decorating.  

Don't ask me why I volunteer for all of this ~ most of me loves it, some of me wants to take a nap......

In a bit over 3 weeks, I will take off for Greece!  I'm ready, but of course I haven't packed yet.  I am after all, a pro-crastinator.  

I dropped by the office to take them 2 loaves of the bread, and from everything I heard, it's still nuts.  Soooo, when I wake up in the morning, I will smile, stretch, and hang out in bed for a few more minutes 😊

Yeah, I can be mean....

Have a great rest of the week!

Love, 365

 

what the heck?

 

                                                     "So, we just standing here or what?"

 I have been pretty busy catching up with things at home since I gave my notice at work.  I actually DID enter all the appointments through June, which surprised me.   The last week I told them on Monday I was done by the end of the week.  I was only regretful that one of the docs was out that week, so I didn't get a chance to talk to him.  Then it was like the frying pan to the fire.

Firstly, I have had a migraine once a month for the past 4 months.  Normally I only have 3-4 a year.  The only thing I can chalk it up to is allergy season, which has been awful this spring.  I know the wind hasn't helped that at all.  One was bad enough that I had to have Romeo come and pick me up.  

Secondly, it seems like my baking friend and I aren't friends anymore.  Honestly I have no idea why.  We haven't really talked much the past 6 months.  This week she has been very terse on her texts to me.  I asked her a few questions and she responded rather rudely.  After today's response when I asked about a key to a closet at church, "I can't help you, and I'm really busy" I told Romeo that it looks like we really aren't friends anymore.  Which really makes me sad.  Seriously, it wasn't like I asked her for anything more than a key to a closet.  What the heck?   At this point I guess I'll just write her off and leave it to her to contact me.   :-(

Well, I have a mountain of laundry!  I am taking out the cold weather clothes out of the closet and putting the warm weather stuff in ~ which needs a little freshening.  I hope you have a great week!

Love, 365

 

 

 

It's never ever going to end.......

Zoe-Zoe (which is what I call her most of the time), disgusted with the orange buffoon, decides to take a nap.  And hopefully dream of chasing bunnies.

Yes, I am still working.  I should have been done a week ago.  I really didn't want to be there when the new office integrated into ours ~ with very little notice to their patients, which just adds....well, you know what it adds.  Starts with an f and rhymes with chicanery.  One of the docs asked if I could help out with training the new front desk person.  I said yes, but that I would have to leave every day by 2.  He was ok with that ~ that's how desperate he is for more help right now.  So I go in at 8, and work straight through until 2 (eating lunch at my desk) and then run out the door.  It has turned into data entry more than training.  We can't just simply combine their schedule with ours, at least not without having no computer for at least 4 days, and be ok with losing some of the data.  We just can't do that.  So now what I do is answer her questions about our dental program, and put their patients into our schedule.  

I haven't looked at how far ahead their schedule goes.  Right now I'm on April 1.  Seriously, I can't do this long enough to get it all in.  So my plan is to kick butt next week and see how far I can get.  If I can get through June, I'm going to hang it up.  If I can get that far, then the existing staff can enter it in during the time they normally gossip and drink coffee (which admittedly isn't happening much right now).

I should be able to earn enough money doing this gig to buy Romeo a new computer.  He wasn't able to download the tax program because he isn't able to update his computer anymore.  I want to do it on the sly and give it to him as a surprise gift.  Mainly because I don't want to get roped into doing our taxes every year.  

~ I just typed a sentence that started with "I'm not doing this for more than 2 more weeks" but erased it, since I started this with "I should be done by now". Ha ha

A couple of days this week we've had lots of wind and dust storms.  You can't drive anywhere without having tumble weeds rolling across the road.  And it's nasty being out in a dust storm.  I had an errand I was going to do after work today, but I nixed it in favor of trying tomorrow.  The past 12 months have not seen much moisture.  As I was sitting at an intersection, I could see dirt being blown into the air.  

Have a great weekend!  I'm ready!

Love, 365
 

 

Two weeks and counting.......

 

Happy Valentines Day!

Apparently I have resting mad bird face, lol.

They are so cute, but this is an accurate depiction of walking with Zoē.  Really.  

Work update (besides the hint of two weeks left).....the construction people are supposed to finish everything up by yesterday (Saturday).  I certainly hope that is true, because we are all tired of our non-employees drilling, painting, sanding, vacuuming, hanging around chatting, taking up patient parking spots in our tiny parking lot.  Making a mess in the break room.  Please, just GO AWAY.  

I guess I'll find out on Tuesday.  It is my 4 day weekend, and I am catching up on chores, and bread baking, removing dog turds from the back yard.  It kind of feels normal. 

Since we work 4 days a week, I only have 8 more days to go, and one more paycheck. Some of my coworkers asked if I was ready to come back full time, and the answer is always no.  Nope.  Nada. Oxi (which is Greek for no, and pronounced ohee), nil (Irish for no).....well, I could go on and on, but you get the gist.

I heard on Thursday that beginning on March 3rd, they are incorporating another dentist's practice.  The dentist is retiring (surprisingly I know this dentist because he goes to my church).  I just want to say that I am so happy that I won't be there for that.  It is going to be chaotic for at least 2-3 weeks, then it will be awkward, because of the vastly different personalities (because I also know one of the hygienists that is coming from the other office ~ she also goes to my church).  When I say vastly different personalities, I mean a chasm.  

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  

Love, 365

4 more weeks to go.......

 

This is a photo of the dental offices new building.  

I am working during their move.  I thought it would be "fun".  I haven't been this wrong in quite awhile.  

They were supposed to move at the end of October ~ then the end of November ~ (you guess it) then the end of December.  The dentists finally said enough and told the contractors they are moving in at the end of January.  I went over to the new office on Monday and was horrified.  They are still doing electrical work, plumbing, painting, installing doors...and probably other things I have forgotten.  As I looked around I thought that there is a snowballs chance in hell all this will be done in one week.  And we're supposed to see patients too.  Nope.  I can't see it.  I hope I am wrong, because both of the docs are super stressed out over all the setbacks.  I suggested to the OM that we cancel the hygiene appointments for Monday, but she said we can't because there's no where to put them.  Really?  That's your big worry?  Hmmmmmm

I am not stressed, but bored.  After packing stuff up (which took only about 5 hours) there's nothing much else to do.  The phone barely rings, but that is because the patients know we're moving.  The OM keeps trying to suggest we all come late and leave early. The only issue I have with that is I need to earn that $$ for my trip.  I do try to find ways to be productive though.   I am so ready to be retired again.  I never missed working.  I know there are those that really loved their jobs, and miss them.  Not me.  I feel I've earned the opportunity to do what I want with my time, and life is too short. 

I did get my new carry-on (which looked so incredibly small), and had a practice session on packing it.  Thankfully it went very well...hopefully I will be able to lift it into the overhead.  Right now it's 16 pounds, but I didn't put everything in.  Just wanted to see if I could fit my clothes and knickers in and have room for the other stuff.  

Tomorrow is the last day of work for the week.  I assume we are taking packed stuff over to the new office.  We also need to confirm the patients for Monday, as Friday is the day the computers and phones are to be moved over.  Fingers crossed.  

Love, 365

Happy Anniversary to us, and to Peg and Rick :-)

 

Our anniversary (the first one, lol) is Dec. 1.  We rarely remember it.  It occurred to me a week later, and Romeo didn't even recall when I mentioned it.  I've always regretted getting married in December!  The photo above is when we had our church wedding July 3rd, 2023.  We don't even have photos from our first wedding, which I also regret.  It's a really long and tedious story that I won't bore you with.

Although going back to work has been ok, I must say that it's depressing that all the little things that need to be corrected are still issues.  I don't know why our clinical staff forgets half the time to take x-rays if the patient needs major dental work ~ or how chart notes are sometimes missing ~ or items that weren't done are on the walkout line when we're finishing with the patient.  All these things bugged me before and sadly they still do.  Really, why should I care?  I'm only going to be there 7 more weeks.  But. It. Bugs.   

I can make it 7 more weeks.  

Really.

I do enjoy the payday though :-)

In the meantime, we're having another round of appliance problems.  Our microwave died so we had to get another one.  The one I had I really liked, but I went with a Japanese model that had better rankings, and was about $100+ less.  Romeo was whining that for the few days we didn't have one he couldn't heat up his coffee.  Awww, poor guy.  Sheesh.  

We have had our cell phones for 3 years, and they are still great phones.  The only issue was that the battery wouldn't last more than 4-5 hours, and considering I'm traveling this year, we decided we would replace the battery.  It's cost effective, especially when you consider what they cost new.  So, Romeo decides to take his to a cell phone repair shop, even though I told him the Apple Store will do it for the same cost.  That was a big mistake ~ they put an after-market battery in, which fried the circuits in his phone.  I did manage to reverse the charges through our bank after explaining the situation.  When I called the store and explained that Apple said the phone was toast and would not be worth repairing, the person I was talking to said "that's what they always say!"  It was kind of pathetic.  

While I was in the Apple store having my battery replaced, I bought him a new cell phone.  It has some great features, but the one I really liked was photo editing.  Super easy to use.  Look at the photo below, which was the original photo of the one at the top:

I plan to borrow his to edit my photos.  It's such an improvement!

Well, it's Sunday night and I have to get my shit together for work tomorrow!  Have a great week.

Love, 365