Mykonos

We have now been in Mykonos for 5 days. We find it VERY touristy compared to Lesvos. Time to move on - so are leaving on the fast ferry today for the island of Naxos. We know absolutely nothing about this island so it should be an adventure. Mykonos reminds us a lot of Skagway - lots of little streets lined with stores (esp jewellry). This is a very popular cruise ship stop, so sometimes the town is drowning in foreigners...of course, we don't include ourselves as foreigners! And a lot of beach resorts. It is still the scenic whitewashed town I remember from 30+ years ago - just a lot bigger and faster. Next blog may be from the mysterious Naxos. Kalineekta.

Just have to share another of our favourite restaurant people with you. Don't know his name but he was soo friendly and his mother made goulash for supper (which I had and he was so happy) and we saw him every day and he was always smiling. Here is a pic of his establishment and of him smiling. Loved him and loved the area. Now in Mykonos and will send pics soon!

We drove through Agiassos (forgive me if the spelling is wrong-- Debbie was the navigator and I was the driver) and pictured above is Yanni. We stopped for coffee and Yanni is 80 years old and his father owned the coffee shop before him. He gave us his Greek coffee then more as a gift. We were wired on caffeine when we left. Driving through Lesvos in spring is fantastic!! All the wild flowers are in bloom. As well, there were vans full of birders. Apparently, Levsovs is the place to be now for bird watchers -- the migratory birds from Africa pass through here at this time. In Skala Kalondis, the birds were so thick, we could hardly sleep from the chirping!!We passed this field of poppies and were stunned.

We drove through Lesvos -through roads you won't believe, but we made it. Our favourite spot was Molyvos. Pictured here is the Hotel Sea Horse, which we stayed in and loved!! We loved Demitris, (pictured here) and we loved Molyvos. The people were sooooo friendly and every time we ordered something from a hotel, we got something free. Free ouzo, free walnuts, free.... This island was fantastic, now that we are in Mykonos, we see how un-tourist oriented this island is. The weather was sunny, the people were friendly and we could hardly find anything to buy as there were hardly any stores but the people made the island. WE LOVE LESVOS!!!

Still in Molyvos. We love it here. This is our dinner, drying in the sun. Took a trip to the petrified forest - a 3 million year old forest, pertrified in volcanic lava and ash..turned the trees to a rock like substance in many colours. The road in the north of the island is all mountain roads, barely 2 lanes with a multitude of very narrow hair-pin curves. Quite the ride. Tomorrow we're going to the hot springs to dip in the springs, then into the sea, then into the hotsprings. Going to our local taverna now to eat (dinner is 9-10 PM) then going to watch Barcelona and Milan vie for a spot on the Champions Leaque. Kalispera for now.

Greece

We arrived into Greece! Business class is the only way to go. Stayed 3 days in Athens, to visit the Acroplis, the Plaka - Syntagma Square, Amonia Square, all the old haunts. It was very very hot and our hotel was was very very hot too. Little did we know that Greek Easter is one week after our Easter, consequently, the ferries were all full. We took the cattle run to the island of Mytilini on the island of Lesvos. Debbie and I couldn't believe it. It was like a refugee ship with people (including us) sleeping in the hallways of the ship. The only saving grace was that we were on the top deck and if the ship went down, we would have been the first off. Almost all the shops are closed due to Easter and the early season but our hotel on Mytilini was fine, we could find tavernas to eat in and our rental car is CUTE. We stayed in the port city for a day and planned to drive north on the island but ended up driving south -- oh well. We are now in Molyvos (on the north of the island) (the first picture). It is the village of our dreams. We LOVE it here. The people couldn't be friendlier - we have have free food and ouzo at any of the tavernas we have frequented so far. The roads are the smallest we have ever driven on - one lane for two way traffic, so that takes some getting used to, but we are. The 2nd picture is of Chios, the island before Lesvos at 6:00 AM from the ferry. With the sun just rising on the village it looked beautiful and if we hadn't been sleeping in the halls of the ferry, we would have missed it. Molyvos was FULL during the Easter weekend, with all the Greeks travelling, music, singing, eating, lots and lots of fireworks. It was kind of fun seeing all of this. I'll try to keep up a blog, but this one is very very slow so we'll see how it goes.

from Athens Greece

Made it to Athens. Business class is the ONLY way to travel. Athens is as I remember it - huge, busy, smoggy. Did visit the Acropolis, and walked the streets and now it's time to go to the island. We are leaving on tonight's ferry. The weather is hot - 26 C - but bearable. The ferries are all full as the Greek easter stretches all week, so we were lucky to get one of the 7 available seats. Talk again from Lesvos. I have emailed my picture site to some family and friends. If you too want to see my pics, email me and I'll put you on the list. If you are on the list and have problems, email me and I will try to fix them.

The day before I leave

OK, honestly, I will stop complaining now. Here is a picture of the walkway to my front door and of my driveway with the drifts surrounding my neighbours van. Walking into the backyard, the snow was about 2" above my knees. The next pictures I hope you will see will be of Greece! If I publish more pictures like this, it means I am snowed in, missed my flight and you will also see tear drops falling down the lense. Yassou!

Well, I wasn't planning to blog before I left but... Tomorrow I leave early early in the morning. Today, I could hardly get out of my house. It snowed ALL day yesterday, and it is still snowing now. This is a picture from my upstairs bedroom. The roof was black shingles on Thursday - it is now snow drifts. So, I went out to shovel. Luckily, my neighbour has a four-wheeler with a plough and he came by to help me with my driveway. Even with that I shovelled for 1-1/2 hours. My other neighbour said it reminded him of those news cast pictures you see of them digging out in Newfoundland. Oh well, it's a good way to meet my neighbours and to build my muscles before I put on that bathing suit!

Just a sign-in before I sign-out. Next week at this time I will be climbing to the top of the Acropolis in sunny (I hope) Greece. Should the Greek (and in the last 2 weeks Italian) gods be with me I will blog from Europe, but no promises.
Spring is here although it is the most frustrating time of year. I look out the window at the beautiful sunny day, then go outside to a brisk cool wind necessitating a winter coat and gloves. The snow is melting slowly and the ground is still frozen. That is why I'm looking forward to leaving and returning when I can actually garden and go for walks without watching for mud and huge puddles and when I wash my truck, it may stay clean for more than one day.
I must have spring fever. I cannot seem to accomplish anything, yet start everything. And I feel like napping a lot, yet when I try, I'm not tired. I do take full advantage of dinner offers, theatre and the cinema though and on that note, went to the Arts Centre last night to watch Quartetto Gelato. Like Cynthia Steljes from the group says, Quartetto Gelato is from Toronto, and if you are not familiar with the word, Toronto is a Huron Indian word meaning City Everyone Loves to Hate. I was introduced to their music two years ago by Steve Gedrose (Rose Music) and have loved them ever since. They played a lot from their newest album "Quartetto Gelato Travels the Orient Express" (lots of Hungarian music in that one). My only regret was that Peter DeSotto had laryngitis and couldn't sing. If you have not heard of this quartet you can click here to connect to the Amazon site and when there, about 1/3 of the way down the page, you can listen to samples of their music.
Next, if you want a slow (boring) movie to watch (perhaps you can't sleep one night this will fix that) watch Capote. If you want a good movie to watch (and this suprised me) it is Inside Man.
That's about it from the north. Hope to talk next from the "old countries". Ciao.

I was on my lunch break yesterday, quietly eating my egg salad sandwich (in the living room in front of the TV I have to add) when a caribou walks past my window. Now I have lived in the bush for 10 years, country residential ( on 4 acres of land) for 17 years and have certainly seen my share of cyotes, foxes, wolves and even a muskrat, but never has such a large animal walked over my front lawn until I moved into the city. Go figure!

And what would we Canadians complain about if there wasn't weather??? Although our temperatures have finally warmed - around the 0 mark, the snow fell last night and all morning - about 6 inches - heavy, slushy, wet snow (although on the brighter side, it was excellent for making a snowman). Next time I take a holiday it will be in March so I can miss all this weather!

For those of you who haven't had a chance to tour my fair city, here are two landmarks. The first is Riverside Grocery. Any food item you can possibly think of is in this store. I don't know how they do it. I don't know when it was established, but I'm pretty sure it was here when I came north (1978). It is the greatest grocery store in the world! And the famous log skyscrapers. The smaller one is a store on the bottome floor owned by Gus Karpes and Irene Pugh. The taller building contains 3 apartments which I toured last year. Each floor is one apartment, rented to those who do not own much.

The party's over - of course I was the last the leave. Ikuyo and Kim allowed me to take one last picture. Ikuyo leaves for home on Saturday morning. Besides studying, she has been downhill skiing, ice fishing, dog sled riding, hot springs swimming and northern lights viewing, just to name a few of the extra cirriculum activies. And she took lots of pictures too. Sayonara for now.

My friend Kim has a Yukon College student from Japan staying with her for 2 weeks. She is, of course, studying English. Her name is Ikuyo Ishikawa (red shirt). She is 51 years old, a Phamacist, her husband is a Dentist, and her daughter has just completed her education to become a Pharmacist, and her son is currently in school to be a Dentist! She began studying English in October of last year and talks quite well for such a short time. She also took up piano lessons 2 years ago and played two songs for us. What a talented woman. Kim told her she was planning a dinner party and Ikuyo asked if she could invite her friends to the party so the small gathering turned unexpectedly into a large party. Here is a phote of Ikuyo with Aya, Kim's sister and her cute little daughter, Mihoko, Ikuyo and Mami.

Not much new here. Went for a walk today to my friend Debbie's house. She and her daughter Cody just went to rope basket sewing classes. Here is a sample of their baskets. I think they look neat. The weather is warming up a bit - I went for my walk WITHOUT long underwear although the wind was howling and blowing snow in my face so still needed my down hood. Just finishing off making the necessary reservations for my upcoming trip. My mom told me today about the first class hotels that now find they have bed bugs - one being the Crowne Plaza hotels which I almost made a resevation at! You should check the matresses against the headboards and also in any of the crevasses to see if there are bugs. So now you'll know what I'll be doing in any of the hotels I stay. Other than that, just plugging away at life. Ciao for now.

Tuesday, March 14th

Just to let you know, it was minus 18 celcius today...with the windchill it was MINUS 43 DEGREES CELCIUS!!! That was the daily high. How can that be - it is almost spring???? The night time temperature is -33...don't even ask me about windchill then.
Same forecast for tomorrow and the next day. Man, this is worse than mid winter.

The first picture is just a few steps down from that perfect lot. The view is amazing. The second is just behind my house. After that picture, my camera froze, so I have to stop taking picutres. Oh well, spring is just around the corner.
Today I was busy making plans for my Greece trip and found some monastaries in Italy. Interestingly enough, they are owned by the Vatican and the rooms are rented out. I just read Angels and Demons and all that stuff about the Vatican. Is it a coincidence? Are there really any coincidences?? So I'm checking them out.
As it was again even colder than yesterday, I am giving my 10,000 steps-a-day a rest and keeping warm. Will write again when the weather breaks.

On Sunday, I heard it was once again going to be a high of -17 degrees celcius. When I looked at my thermometer it read -2 degrees. Happily I donned my light coat, grabbed my camera and shot outside. I made it to the end of the driveway and quickly turned back to pull on my silk long underwear and 3/4 length down coat with down hood and insulated gloves. It was COLD out there. Once again, now sporting more clothes I began my walk. 4,000+ steps later (I'm counting my daily steps now) I knocked on my friend's door. It was there I discovered that it was -18 outside and with the windchill it was -28. I still had 2,000 steps to my house, but glad to tell you, I made it.
I walked through the new subdivision (top pic) and found the perfect lot (bottom pic) (although I am certain it is already sold) with the best view of any lot in the whole subdivision. Why does the scenery look so beautiful when it is so bloody cold outside? Of course, I blame this weather on my cousin Joe, who wrote about the warm spring weather in Ontario on his blog - just to make me jealous - it worked.

Watched a couple of good movies again this weekend, for those of you who don't know what to pick up at the movie store: 1. Million Dollar Baby - it took me a while to watch this one as I am NOT a fan of boxing...just like last year's Academy Awards said, it was excellent - and the ending took me by surprise. 2. The Secret Window with Johnny Depp - of course he is so cute to watch, almost any movie with him it it is worth watching, but the story was good as well, and again, the ending took me by surprise. So, two I am glad I watched.

As I was trying to capture the the vivid colour of the room against the new dark floor I spotted a little head in the window. Ren was sitting on the deck watching me take pictures. Obviously he often looks in this window if the nose marks are any indication.

Tonight is Academy Awards night and yup, I will watch. Just saw Walk the Line last night, and I must say that Joaquim Peonix should win for his part as Johnny Cash. He played the part so well and his singing was as close to Johnny as you can get without being Johnny.. If you haven't seen this movie yet I highly recommend it. And another note - everyone does their own singing - no voice-overs. It was made with the help of Johnny Cash and June Carter, so it is true to life. Also just watched Hotel Rwanda. Another excellent movie even though the subject is not one we wish to be reminded of. Haven't seen Brokeback Mountain yet. I'm waiting until I get in the mood for watching gay cowboys and that mood hasn't hit me yet. Well, got to go and see if my pick for Best Actor wins.

So now I'm on my 10,000 steps a day program. To reach this amount, I walk for about an hour each day. My walks are taking me through the "top of the hill" subdivisions. I am learning which properties are good ones, and when I pass an open house, I go inside. I also pass a lot of friends houses at which I stop for a cup of tea as well (not all of my steps have to be done at one time!). Today I stopped at Sue's house. She just had new hardwood flooring installed (looks fabulous!) and is just finishing off painting her whole house. This visit brought back fond September memories (when I painted my whole house). Good work Sue.

Rendezvous is over but the sculptures remain. Was downtown this morning so took a walk through the snow sculptures. Really enjoyed them. They did a wonderful job. Seems to get better each year and the 20 below temperatures are keeping them in good condition. Thought YUKONG (above) was funny.

And right beside the airport is the Transportation Museum with the old Paddlewheeler outside. That was it for my walk as I had to rush home to make a pot of tea and watch Coronation Street (when will Shelly find out Charlie's no good??? how will Steve tell Tracey he doesn't love her???.....)

Since I was at the airport, decided to take a pic of the largest weather vane in the world. It's the old Canadian Pacific plane (DC3??) that used to fly here many moons ago. It does turn depending on the direction of the wind. And on such a beautiful day, the mountains are spectacular against the bright blue sky. Hard not to take picutres of them.

Whoa, what a beautiful day. It may get down to 30 below at night, but it warms up to about minus 15 during the day and you can now feel the heat of the sun ... finally. This is the path out my back door. About a 12 minute walk will lead me right to the airport (you can see the air traffic control tower on the 2nd picture). This will save me cab fare when I travel, although lugging the suitcase will be a chore!

Luckily my favourite busker was playing his flute inside - he's such a pleasure to hear. Had our coffee and a nice chat, saw a few people I knew then headed home. Passed the Canada Games Centre, went inside to look for SR's stolen soccer boots (on the feet of a soccer player), didn't find them, so decided to sign up as a volunteer for the Canada Winter Games, which happens here in 365 days time. Apparently Rick Mercer is in town and is going to be interviewed by CBC at the centre, but he wasn't around while I was there. Too bad, I wanted to see how short he really was.

The place was packed. Drinking coffee was one of the few things to do downtown on this cold day.

The craft fair was in the Elijah Smith Building. It was small but the work was very nice. By the way, the slippers cost $125 to $150 now.

And that was ALL there was to do. The streets were filling with people looking for a venue and nothing else was going on. So, we went across the street to Zola's for a hot coffee.

Well, it's RENDEZVOUS time once again. Considering I am a Rendezvous scrooge, I bit the bullet and decided to venture forth to be part of the festivities. It IS a holiday today and the sun was shining bright (little did I realize when I made the plans it was -31 c at night and "should" warm up around noon) so off I went to Main Street. The snow sculptures were being created - as you can see there is still a lot of work to do. My fingers froze taking this picture, so I put my gloves back on and went next to the First Nations craft show.

Here is an article I heard on the news. I think it is quite funny: You can access this video through this link:
http://blogs.smh.com.au/mashup/archives//003599.html

A short video showing Hungary's prime minister impersonating British actor Hugh Grant could boost his chances of winning April's parliamentary elections, analysts say.

In a 45-second video clip available on the internet, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany imitates a scene from the 2003 film Love Actually in which Grant, playing the British prime minister, dances around 10 Downing Street to the tune of the Pointer Sisters' Jump (For My Love).

Gyurcsany made the clip last summer as part of a wedding present to government spokesman Andras Batiz.

"[Batiz] asked if it would bother me if he showed the clip to his friends and relatives, if it would embarrass me if my clowning around gained wider distribution," Gyurcsany wrote in his blog. "I answered that it would not."

Analysts said the clip, along with his blog, was a clear attempt by Gyurcsany to appeal to younger voters and help lighten his image.

"The scene is particularly surprising for someone who is widely seen as the epitome of restraint and seriousness," Availo Vesselinov, a London-based analyst for German investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, said in a report released today.

Vesselinov said Gyurcsany's Socialist Party, while still trailing the centre-right Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Union by a few points in the polls, could make gains among the nearly one-third of voters still undecided.

Oh, those honkys!

And this is what our mornings look like, if you're up by 8:30 AM. A great start to the day.

OK as I wrote this I did think about sailors' warnings, but please note, there are NO sailors where I live, so the remainder of the day turns out quite well.

This a week for brunches. Ev (Mrs Church) and Helen (Gramma) dropped in for coffee and muffins the other morning.

This morning was another, with 4 of us in total. What a lovely way to spend a morning. We then went out to McRae to visit the art gallery. We had a good look around at the newest pieces and a good chat with Patrick Royle and Jackie Ziehe. And the weather was glorious - sun, sun, sun and above 0 temperatures. We couldn't have asked for more.

Just heard that my own son never reads my blog so thought I would show you what I made. This is for his girlfriend. They use Xmas stockings for their gift exchange and are presently using Wal-mart cheapos, so I thought I would make them stockings for gifts. As she is high fashion (aren't they all at that age?), here is the stocking which will be her Birthday present.

Just a quick northern update. The weather is April weather already. Plus 5 and sunny and melting during the day. Down to a whopping minus 5 at night. Has been like that for the last few days and should continue that way for a few more. Love it!

Want to see a good movie? The Constant Gardener.
Want to see a boring movie? Memoirs of a Geisha.

And I'll bet you're all watching the Olympics. And you already know Canada won a gold in moguls and the score in Women's hockey against Italy was 16-0. Good start. I also watched part of the opening ceremonies last nights and saw Yoko Ono talking about peace, heard John Lennon's Give Peace a Chance and saw Sofia Loren and Susan Sarandon carrying the flag.

And for all you soccer fans - Man U won again today AND Chelsea lost 3-0. So, if Man U wins the remainder of their games and Chelsea loses the remainder of theirs, Man U will come out on top - although there is not much hope of that happening.

That's it for now. Ciao!

This is where I went on Friday to visit the surgeon re my carpal tunnel. I told him I had an operation already on my left hand - he looked at it and said, "this looks like my work" - I thought it was funny that he could read his signature in a scar. Now we just have to set a date and perhaps my right hand won't fall alseep all the time (although after 24 years, I'm kind of used to it). 

Time for a wee celebration - 2 birthdays and one visitor from New Brunswick, so we gathered at Debbie's house for a glass of wine and appies. 

The day was miserable weather-wise. Although the temperature wasn't too bad (around minus 15C) the WIND was. If we had snow on the ground, we would now have 6 foot drifts. Making our way from the truck to the dog show and back to the truck cooled us down enough that we had to stop in for a piping hot latte and FINALLY, we now have a Starbucks, hooray!

Did you watch the Super Bowl today? Although it took place in Motor City, we didn't see any Motown action at half time - we DID see the Rolling Stones. People can say whatever they want, but Mick sure performs well for 60+ years old. And they sang Satisfaction, a song that takes me back. I don't even know who won, but Craig Ferguson (my newest favourite comedian - I try to watch at least his opening monologue nightly - he's one of the few that make me laugh) says the Steelers will win because the Seahawks have a hawk on their logo and the hawks would want to fly south and wouldn't be interested in hanging around Detroit in the cold weather. So there you have it, I don't have to watch.

And for any Man U fan out there, they won again this Saturday with some fabulous goals. The game was a pleasure to watch.

Until next time....