Prospero's Cellphone

Getting into the Christmas spirit

2011-12-10T23:26:00.001+02:00

Today, in spite of the rain, my friend Samantha and I went into town to see the shops and get into the sights and sounds of Christmas time in Corfu. Monday is a Corfu public holiday (St Spiridion's Day) and sort of officially the start of Corfu's Christmas Holiday Season.

We decided to meet for a coffee and then do some serious window shopping, followed by a nice lunch.

For years Sammy's been telling me where the best places to shop are, with me finding my way mostly by accident. Today, finally we decided to do a first hand run though of place and meeting people. (in case you are reading this dear T, I didn't spend too much... honest!) It was just a fun, silly day and we had a marvelous time.

Apropos to nothing at all, there was a lovely performance in the old town in the square by St Spiridion's Church. Here are some pictures...

Everyone seemed to be having a good time and there were lots of people in the square...

From what we gathered, it was a gathering of local folk dancers as well as dancers representing other parts of Greece.

Some of the costumed dancers were from Macedonia (GREEK Macedonia, not the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia...)

There was much laughter and fun by everyone in between dances and folk songs. They were all accompanied by guitar and fiddles and tambourines, as well as triangles and handclapping.

lovely voices and dancers of all ages.

The men were well represented as well, but they were so drab next to the ladies that I just cropped and put the photos up that pleased me most and best represented the whole surprise...

It was a lovely charming interlude and it totally made us forget we were going to the store on the other side of the square they were dancing on!!

Ah well...

We discovered a charming "new" second hand bookstore next to the Cavalieri Hotel, and had an excellent cappuccino (OK, Samantha had an excellent cup of hot chocolate!) with it we had - between the two of us- one slice of apple tart, that was very very good.

Then we wandered the back streets, hither and yon, to seek out brilliant little shops that sold a bit of everything. (I found a gorgeous fresh water pearl ring, that would suit me admirably... that I didn't buy- hint hint) I bought a inexpensive belt (seriously needed one for dipping pants), a loaf of amazing bread, a small bottle of Grand Marinier (tis the season), a great present for my granddaughter, and two hand-blown colored glass bowels (in the Venetian style) for 7 euros each. They'll look lovely with tea candles in them, during the next power failure.

On our way, we came across this window display

It wasn't so much the chicken, as the fact of the TOTAL chicken....

We kept thinking that we'd never see something like this in a shop window in say London or even Chicago!

Then Sammy and I wandered down to the new market (in the place of the old market but finally finished and re-inhabited at last after 4 years) where Sam bought two sea bass for her Sunday lunch.

From there we went to our respective vehicles and were off to lunch at the Navigators in Kontokoli, where we had a lovely restoring glass of wine, and a marvelous homemade hamburger; for dessert we had a slice of warm gooey chocolate cake and a small scoop of ice cream (- and two forks)! A lovely end to a very very pleasant day.

Everything re-attached. The patient survived.

2011-12-06T23:04:00.001+02:00

Just a quick post to update that surgery went well and everyone seems pleased.

The detached retina is now attached and the surgery went well and very quickly. I just got off the phone with both my son and my husband and they too seemed surprised, pleased, but surprised, that they were home a good two hours earlier than expected.

T is in excellent health- except for the eye thing- and takes no medications but over the counter stuff on occasion. This seemed to take most of the health providers a bit aback, but his blood pressure and heart rate confirmed that he was in really good shape.

He said he started to come around about ten minutes before they were finished to mention to them that he was having a bit of trouble breathing as their set up for surgery was making it difficult for him to get enough air, there at the end. They were kind enough to ratchet up the oxygen feed in his nose, so he felt much better. Except for after it was done he was parched and drank about a liter of water and a big glass of apple juice.

Still he sounded pretty good and not too drugged up.

They go back to the doctor tomorrow morning, early, to make sure everything is still holding and in the right position.

As I thought I'd have a bit more time on my hands and sleep was pretty much out of the question til I knew everything was ok, I decided to make soup.

This actually goes back to the Pease Pudding recipe idea I had for tomorrow.

This idea is still out there but, just NOT until I find yellow split peas... and not ORANGE LENTILS.

Yes, I bought lentils instead of split peas. Duh. I'd like to blame it on worry over the eye surgery, but I think it's just me.

So in time honored tradition ... instead of making lemonade out of life's lemons- I made Orange Lentil Soup (Shorabat Adas).

Well, ok, I made it with only a very few variations. The first one was I didn't measure, because, soup is soup. Meaning I used about a pound of lentils, my own homemade chicken broth cut with water (it's all jellied, so you have to cut it), 2/3 of a huge onion I had in the fridge, and black pepper. (also haven't done the croutons yet either).

I added to the recipe, 2 carrots (chopped into small pieces), one stick of celery (again chopped), about a teaspoon of celery seed, and I didn't completely liquidize the soup, I left a few bits of carrots for color and texture.

I also will add a lot of finely chopped fresh flat leafed parsley tomorrow, but it's too dark outside so I can't go get it in the garden tonight.

So all is well for now and if you decide to make it, enjoy the soup! It's really REALLY good. I will go to sleep now with a warm glow from a cup of lentil soup, and the good news that T's on the mend.

The "eye's" have it...

2011-12-05T20:10:00.001+02:00

So. T's appointment was this morning (US time) in Michigan, and, sadly, after a thorough eye exam, the conclusion was: it was not a false alarm. Indeed the symptoms told the story and it IS a detached retina.

I read somewhere, online, that strongly nearsighted people have weak retinas. Who knew?? Supposedly it affects about 1 in 10,000 people.

Some lottery...

Surgery will go ahead tomorrow morning, and by tomorrow evening everything will be done.

For a detached retina, it was good news as it was still partially attached. Still it's disconcerting, uncomfortable and serious. Big deal to make sure you keep your sight!

And the recovery time will again be six weeks with no airplane travel due to the gas bubble placed in to reattach the retina.

As Pooh says, "Oh Bother."

The good news is that there are some medical aids available, that we didn't know about the last time, so hopefully, it will be less of an annoyance, (and strain on the neck!) and the recovery will pass a bit less slowly.

Meanwhile, the "girls" and I have been taking long walks in the rain.

It would seem that whenever I plan to go for a walk with the dogs, the sky opens up just when I'm at the furthest point from the house. (ha-ha, the gods of weather apparently have a sense of humor.) The dogs don't really mind getting wet. I, however, really mind going back into the house with a couple of wet smelly dogs! (tomorrow is dog towel washing day.)

I made a quiche for lunch, today. My best friend (and masseuse!) stopped by to give my frozen shoulder a work out. ouch.

But back to the quiche: It was a pretty standard one, with bacon, onions and cheese, but I added mushrooms because T wasn't here. I rarely add them to food, as he doesn't care for them.

I had the end cut crusts from a couple of pies I made last week and gathered them together to make a sort of franken-crust. It turned out pretty good- still light and flaky if a tad misshapen. (I gave my friend a "doggie bag" of half the quiche, so that she and her mother could have it for dinner tonight.)

Tomorrow I'm thinking about making Pease Pudding after watching a program on how to make it last night. Everyone was so enjoying it, I figured I'd give it a whirl. I'll try and take some pics and do a post on how I made it.

Meanwhile, it's good evening from Corfu!

Happy December!

2011-12-02T23:18:00.001+02:00

And how time flies away from me!

T is currently winging his way to Chicago to have his eye fixed in the US as opposed to here in Greece.

It seems he may have another detached retina. (ah genetics)

He had one in 2005, and had it taken care of in New Mexico, where I was at the time staying with my mother. T had his surgery the day before Christmas 2005.

It would seem he'll be having surgery again at the same time of year- just six years later- in his other eye. This time it will be in Michigan, and he'll stay with Oldest son and oldest grandson, in "all guy" splendor. It's hard that we'll be apart for this as most of all the big things that happen to us we somehow manage to share. Still I know he'll be in good hands, both with his doctors and with his sons to take care of him.

I'm staying back here, to hold down the fortress of solitude, better known as Villa Methavrio. The dogs, cats and I will be carousing and living a high life for the next several weeks, and as a bonus we'll be keeping better notes in the blog!

~~~

ON another note, I am really amazed at how easy and free Skype is. It's a shame it took me so long. With next to no effort, and no cost at all, I've managed to have several conversations with the Belgian family, (keeping updated on my cousins wife's surgery that took place the day before yesterday) and I just finished catching a quick update with my best friend while I lived in Turkey many years ago. She's a brilliant painter now, currently living in Florida, and it was delightful to chat for a few minutes, albeit just as I'm about to go to bed and she's all perky, awake and organizing a party for today...

The greatest drawback is that I'm all self conscious I feel I look horrible on the small screen, and I feel very awkward at seeing what I look like when I'm talking to people. You can see yourself in a small corner of the screen and note what you look like during the call, and if you have any spinach on your teeth... (note to self, give up spinach forever.) I find myself sitting up straighter and trying to make my hair look better, a hopeless task. Mostly it makes me wonder what I look like to other people, like when I go to the store or something. (I also don't recognize my voice!) This whole process is a sort of good news/bad news thing.

Anyway.

So that's it for today. The puppies are telling me it's time to turn off the computer. (they're SO bossy.)

G'night all

Ah that "thing in the middle"...

2011-11-15T14:44:00.001+02:00

This is the blog post I should have made last week!

Due to an unforeseen and totally annoying HUGE head cold (as rudely shared by passengers seated behind us in the airplane) T and I spent a miserable week (last) recovering and trying to sleep through most of it! (I am SO over air travel.)

Flanders on the way to beach

T and I flew to Brussels for an long weekend last week (Depart Corfu 3 November; Return 7 November). It was long time overdue to catch up with my cousins and my 93 year old Aunt Marie-Louise, (my mother's elder and only sister).

along the brislam

I also had a little "bit of my mother" that I wanted to leave in Belgium, preferably in the North Sea, which she loved, near her favorite childhood seaside resort, Blankenberge.

iconic pier in Blankenberge

Needless to say it was also a fine opportunity to savor Belgian cooking as well as catch up with the newest family addition baby Simon, born on the 29th of July while I was in the USA.

We had a surprisingly good time, with many shared and funny memories of our childhoods - my cousin and me from our first meeting when I was 5 and he was 8, through all the years in between.

me and my cousin

After my father died in 1959, I would fly to Belgium every summer after the school term ended and spend the three months of summer vacation living in the brownstone in Anderlecht with my Grandmother and Grandfather, while my aunt and uncle and cousin lived in the apartment upstairs and another great-aunt lived on the top floor apartment.

My summer would pass spending my days waiting for my cousin, Ray to finish school so we could "play" (mostly we tried to understand eachother as I spent a great deal of time trying to figure out what everyone was saying- in French!), driving my grandmother crazy, and reading American novels left by my mother on previous trips, until I discovered the bookstore in the city that sold English books and blew through all my pocket money!

ON the weekends, we'd all of us, go to the local cafe, to meet with friends and more distant family members,, and my cousin and I would play cards or as we got older, go to the movies.

one of the three apartments I remember

Some time over the weekend, usually Sunday, my aunt and uncle would take my cousin and me for an educational drive, to see the sights of Belgium, and of course have a good meal along the way!

Always for the month of August the family would rent an apartment in Blankenberge and every day would be spent "taking the air" bathing in the sea, and enjoying the seaside atmosphere.

lovely view to eat by!

In the great tradition of "all that came before", we had a great lunch in a super seaside restaurant built on the same (used to be a bit more humble) spot.

oh the yum...

Of course we had to have fish and I had to have Sole Meuniere with Frites.

T had cabillaud (fresh cod) with a marvelous and very traditional Belgian butter and cream sauce. (yes the arteries groan, but the taste is putting you at the gate of heaven!)

After lunch we had to walk a bit and wandered to the opposite side of the beach away from the pier to the channel that goes to the port.

no more fishing boats

There were more childhood memories, of my cousin and I getting up early to meet the fishing boats and talking the fisherman into sharing a couple of freshly cooked crabs wrapped in newspapers. (they'd boil them in a big pot, right in the boat for their fisherman's breakfast!)

Now there are almost no more fishing boats, just luxury yachts and power boats.

Still lovely but not the same.

the cheeses

the charcuterie

We came home to my cousins house, just in time to sit down for another, simpler, but amazingly delicious meal then went back (groaning) to our little hotel.

We stayed at the quirky little Hotel Centrum in Beersel .

the breakfast room

the coffee tea corner

It's a very odd little place, but it was clean enough, the room was big and we had a small ensuite bathroom. Breakfast was OK and the coffee was freshly made and my tea was hot. Best of all, it was close (5 minutes!) to my cousins house.

The rest of the weekend passed in a haze of exchanging wonderful memories, eating excellent food and all the while with a warm family all around. (Oh. And there was wine. I didn't talk about the wine and it was delicious and plentiful. Did I mention the wine? My liver is still recovering.)

taking in La Grand-Place

Taverne du Passage

We went into the city on Saturday, and shopped a bit and had a beer on the Grand Place then went on to a classic and favorite restaurant Taverne du Passage, in the Galeries Royales St Hubert.

There we again ate and drank marvelously (but we were having such a good time I forgot to take pictures!) served by excellent and long time waiters. I had a simple Steak-Frites and it was amazing. T had a Sole, my cousins had Choucroute, an Alsatian dish of Sauerkraut, sausages and ham, made with a Belgian twist.

Sunday we had a big family gathering and my cousin Maryse prepared a wonderful Carbonnade - a great Belgian Beef and Beer stew. (which I make several times every winter!) We finished it off with delicacies from the bakery... After which, I almost fell asleep in my coffee!

Ray and Arsène

my aunt and Simon (& me)

Benoit, Jenny and Melissa

Jeremy and Jenny

La Dessert

wherein I almost fell asleep

saying au revior

We flew out of Brussels at around noon and were home again in Corfu by 7 pm.

Then we got sick and went to bed for a few days and didn't remember to call my granddaughter on her birthday on Tuesday.

Again, with the belated birthday greetings!!! Happy 23!

In the end, that's why this post is a week late! (clicking on the pictures should make them larger)

So until the next peripatetic post... ta!

The return of the great pumpkin,...

2011-10-22T13:58:00.000+03:00

Well, O.K.

This year our pumpkins were not SO great, but we had a fun time anyway carving them and being silly with our favorite substitute grandchildren.

Our friend, E, who now lives in Holland comes to visit family a couple of times a year. (we're extended family, particularly near Halloween!)

So T carved away, whilst the little ones designed their ideas and tweaked their finished product.

There was great concentration and much ooh-ing and ahh-ing for the finished results.

I was not a participant as someone needed to document the proceedings...

[Meanwhile, Mr. Pumpkin Head is choosing to remain anonymous. ]

In spite of the weather periodically spitting and dripping on us, (there were bouts of sunshine as well) we all had a marvelous time.

The pumpkin family seemed content as well.

We got a little carried away with "costumes" as we had brought a "bag O' animal noses" back from the States, for everyone to try on, which certainly helped the festive Halloween atmosphere.

There was much silliness and miming of animal behaviors....

and noises!

really cute faces all around

Though as T mentioned, "An ornament finds its own tree"...

(And yes, it WAS a bad hair day...)

And with the rain....

2011-10-15T22:45:00.000+03:00

Comes the power cuts and electricitychallenges – as well as the odd disappearance of the DSLconnection!

The day after my previous post, on abright sunny day, the power went off from 8 to 1 (ish) in theafternoon! Supposedly they “fixed” all sorts of problems, andour power was supposedly 'good to go'.

Then we had rain and lightening and thunder...

~~~

storm damage

Currently, we only have partial power-1 phase of a 3 phase system- as a transformer near our house was hitby lightening and sadly appears to be dangerously broken. I saydangerously, because some of our neighbors (who are also with onlypartial electricity) watched the shower of sparks arc all night longfrom their living room window!

Several neighbors have no electricity,and one neighbor hasn't be affected at all. (I think out of spite wemay all descend on his house for dinner!)

a tiny problem

I am sure soon, we'll have noelectricity “if” they decide to come and fix it as they willprobably have to shut it down to work on it.

(Of course I say “IF” because whenone of the neighbors called to report the problem, he was told “thereIS no problem!”, in that charming Greek way, as they are wont to dowhenever “foreigners” call with problems. They usually presumeit is a minor problem of fuses that we apparently don't know how tochange or maybe even master fuses tripped and left unattended. Wenow have a Greek friend calling to report the problem and hopefully-eventually- someone will come out and see IF there is a problem. Ijust hope it's before the general strike next Tuesday!!)

good thing the flue is clean

Still we manage quite comfortably, and made our first roaring fire in the fireplace to cheer us up.

Meanwhile, the house is criss-crossedwith cables to provide electricity to the fridge and freezers as wellas jury rig a connection to the dryer so we can dry the “dogtowels” (the poor puppies NEED to go out and play in the rain andMUST come in the house- soaked to the skin!- and sleep for a while).

~~~

Which brings me round to what my post wasREALLY going to be about today...

In all the hectic craziness since ourreturn from Istanbul (see, NOW I'm going to tell you what reallyhappened between my post about our wonderful trip to Turkey, and mytime in Chicago!)I felt I should update you on some of the things that happened to make me not post...

Amazing Balou

Sadly, our great and wonderful Bernesedog, Balou died in early April, from a malignant growth in her neckthat had become inoperable. We were devastated, and if it would haveonly been me, I would have probably decided to never get a dog again,as it hurts so badly when you lose them!

T on the other hand had been talkingfor a couple of months, about getting another dog to keep Baloucompany- a puppy this time,-and he had found what was purported to bea Chow - German shepherd mix, he'd fallen in love with.

So at the end of April, we went to pickup what we thought was one 3 month old puppy.

such sweet babies

Long story short, we ended up with TWOpuppies, because the second (and last) puppy would never have gotadopted as she was very timid and fearful and didn't look anythinglike a shepherd.

I decided that it would be cruel toleave her behind so... (how do these things happen??) we ended upwith two puppies.

After we got them home, we realizedthat they were great “medicine” for missing Balou, and they madeus laugh constantly, and were smart and wanted to try and learn fromand about us.

We also discovered that they were abit older than advertised, by about an additional six weeks! TheChow and the German Shepherd parents must have been small by allstandards as the pups are very much mid sized dogs.

Their names are Rosie and Ginger.

Rosie

Rosie is the intrepid one and has aHUGE amount of energy (we refer to her as the “mad bee” when shestarts her flat eared sprints around the garden and us – andGinger). Rosie “looks” the part of watchdog, but she is veryfriendly and will come to the fence and greet anyone. The dog has nodiscrimination. She is fascinated by everything and never wants thewalks to end. She is totally motivated by food and can be trained todo anything – with enough chicken on offer.

Ginger

Ginger is very stand-offish withstrangers and barks and growls and is pretty much a great watch dog.She is at heart though, what could be termed a “couch potato”dog.

With us she's a big slob and will always slide from a sit to alie down if she can. She tolerates going for “walkies” butmostly because it seems to please Rosie so much. She's not veryadaptable with strangers and hates when we have company. She doesthings because she wants to or she feels sorry for us. She is NOTmotivated by food or treats.

holding paws while cat watching

They are completely devoted toeachother and play fight, play hide and seek, doggie tag and of course tease eachother constantly. If one isout of sight of the other they go “hunting” for the other one.

They've completely settled in and even were silly and fun company when our firsthouseguests of the year arrived mid May.

Sadly, right after our friends left(around the 22 of May) I was thrust into the panic of my mother'sbrain tumor and booking my flight to Chicago to be with my mother forher surgery.

When I returned in August, I wasworried that the puppies wouldn't remember me, or that they wouldn'tpay any attention to me, and I'd have to start from the beginningwith the basics. NOT SO! They greeted me like a long lost friendand everything's gone swimmingly since I've been home!

Three weeks after I returned from theStates, T flew back to the US to visit the boys and his brothers andsisters and cousins. We'd originally planned to fly together for thevisit (it's been ages since we've traveled back to the US together,just for fun!) but that was before my mother's problems, so weadapted, and split our trips.

T left and it was me alone with thedogs... we had a great time together, and I needed to be alone in myown space for a while. They were very sympathetic and gave mecuddles when I needed them.

They slept in their doggie beds in ourroom at night and snored so I wouldn't miss T, too much.

So finally it brings me round in an oddway, to our "right now" life in Corfu.

Things change, and they remain thesame.

restart to blog, i think...

2011-10-12T21:33:00.000+03:00

the first raindrops fall, and suddenly the season changes

All is well, and I think I have figured out how to post my pictures without too much trouble... If only I didn't have to LEARN so many new computer things, she says plaintively. (I keep repeating, "FileZilla is my friend".)

Corfu is wonderful at this time of year. Well, it's lovely at any time of year, but this time is my favorite because the blistering heat seems to break overnight and the temperatures drop into the exceptionally pleasant range.

Every day we have amazing sunrises and sunsets and glorious cloud formations that may or may not bring rain. Well they bring rain, it's just you never know where. This island seems to be a mass of micro climates!

For instance, last week T called from the village on his way home to remind me to bring in the cushions from the veranda chairs as he got soaked while picking up bread at the bakery. It was bucketing down rain - three miles from the house! I was in gorgeous sunshine, and laughed when he told me to hurry. The rain never hit the house that day, it seemed we were a little mini island of "dry", as it just dropped its glory on everyone around us.

~~~

Meanwhile, on a more personal update: I'm alright. I'm starting to sleep regularly. I get sad at least once a day (sometimes I get really sad), but I'm managing to think about the good memories and the happy times, and of course I remember how much my mother loved Corfu as well. I'll probably mention how I feel once in a while, but mostly I guess, I'll still be writing about my life and times here on the island, or maybe about our travels.

[If you are very lucky, I might even get around to finishing the picture story of our travels to Istanbul last winter! Yes, I know, lots of stuff to remember to do, SOooo many things to finish.]

I'll probably be mentioning the pitfalls of the project I've taken on... I'm going through all my mother's photo albums and I'll be choosing, and trying to scan enough pictures of her life into a presentation for a memorial we'll be having with family, and my mother's special friends sometime in the Spring.

Right now I'm just at the 'looking at pictures' phase, but I'm going to have to figure out what kind of computer program I will use to put together a nice slide show presentation. Sigh. My technology learning curve will be challenged yet again...

It's nice to be back.

2011-08-02T06:36:00.002+03:00

setting off the seagulls

Yes, I'm still out here in the virtual nether world... couldn't find any words to write sooner though.

Not everything has been horrible. Thank god my sons are there for me. They have all been amazing, taking different burdens from my shoulders.

Rough week packing things up. Had a few "wobblies", that's what I call them. They're just those moments that blindside you and leave you gutted.

Cleaning out drawers, going through closets. A lifetime in stuff. Hers and mine. (drawback of being an only child, with a slightly symbiotic parent-child relationship, I guess...)

All the little "bits" that each hold a story that makes me smile and remember. Then finding an odd bit that can't be placed that has a story she hadn't had time to share... and wishing she could tell me the story.

~~~~

Today, I needed to take a day "off". I realized that - pretty much since the 11th of June I've not had more than a few hours break from being with my mother. And the whole past week has been spent dealing with her stuff- yes, now my stuff.

So. I went to the dentist, there to spend an hour getting my teeth cleaned and another hour and a half getting a few little things fixed. (one more 45 minute session to go...) Still not bad for not having been to a dentist for a few (5?)years.

On the way out from the dentist I noticed a nice place to get a manicure/pedicure. I decided that between the multiple broken nails on both my hands and the callus on my heels, it was probably about time for a session. When I was finished I went to the grocery store next door and picked up the makings for a simple dinner. (I don't remember the last time I cooked a nice simple meal!)

I stopped off on the way home and had a light lunch and when I got back to sainted middle son's apartment I managed to do a few things, put the food from the store away, get a big glass of water, pick up a magazine and sit down in the "comfy chair". I sat down and then promptly fell asleep in the chair for about an hour and a half.

My next foray into excitement was to turn my computer on and play Angry Birds- a game, of course, to which I've become addicted (along with farmville...)

So now it's come to the end of my rather mindless day. (we had a lovely dinner, thank you)

Tomorrow I will go back and sort through more things and get as organized as possible for an up coming trip to Michigan on Thursday.

We (using the royal we, as sainted middle son will be driving the rental truck, loaded by he and organized youngest son) will take Oldest son gifts of a sofa, credenza, the desk, and desk chair, and a couple of other chairs and lamps. I will be driving backup car filled to the gills with other stuff, following rental truck so we have a way back home to Chicago...

Interspersed in all this, sainted middle son's apartment will host houseguests while we are away, and so I will be interacting with new people as well. They arrive Wednesday I think. I will have to pack up my whole room so they can have a place to stay.

~~~

It would seem that this little oasis of a "do-nothing" day was wisely chosen...

"The whole is more than the sum of all parts." Aristotle

2011-07-25T08:46:00.000+03:00

HENRIETTE “RICKEY” HARDY, 86, ofLincolnwood, IL, died Saturday, July 23 at Evanston Hospital, fromcomplications following surgery.

Rickey was born June 13, 1925, inBrussels, Belgium, daughter of Henriette and Louis Breuer. Shestudied art and design at the Institute de Beaux Arts in Brussels.

Rickey married Raymond Andrew Starr in1947, who preceded her in death in 1959. They emigrated to GrandRapids, Michigan. Rickey was a successful Interior Designer inMichigan from the 1950’s to the 1970’s.

In 1975 she married Kenneth Hardy andmoved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, which was to remain her home for thenext 35 years. Mr. Hardy died shortly after the move and Rickeybecame part of the community in Santa Fe, managing several successfulart galleries.

Her partner of 25 years, Joseph Sommer,died in 2006, and Rickey moved into Ponce de Leon retirementcommunity in Santa Fe and made many close friends there, until 2010,when she moved to Lincolnwood Place in the Chicago area, to be nearerto her family.

She is survived by her daughter,Jessica-Marie (Tom) Schafer; her grandsons Toby, Andrew, and NickSchafer; her sister Marie-Louise Dehou of Brussels; her nephewRaymond (Maryse) Dehou; her great-grandchildren, Alexa, Cole, andGabriel; and legions of devoted and loving friends.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donationsmay be made to the Humane Society of the US, Dept MEMIT9, 2100 L St.NW, Washington, DC 20037. Memorial services will be private.

Family Gathering

2011-07-23T07:03:00.000+03:00

Son "number one", as my mother often charmingly referred to him, arrived today to sit by me and keep me company for the day by my mother's bedside. This afternoon, youngest son ("number 3") came and about and hour later middle son ("number 2") stepped into the room as well.

We all visited with my mother. This mostly consisting of the normal repartee and banter back and forth between the brothers try to out charm each other (as they do) and get her attention, and then told her they were sweeping me off to dinner.

At 6:30 I was taken off to Tommy Nevins, there, to enjoy a fine pint of Guinness and a Caesar Salad. As son number 3 had arrived with lovely Liz and grandson Gabriel, we made a party for a couple of hours.

I returned to discover that no one had missed me and that mom had been carefully turned in her bed, received her medications and been properly looked after while I was away.

~~~

Not much of a change today since yesterday, except that her temperature spiked a bit in the nighttime (up to 100.8) and her blood pressure dropped a bit (88/63) as well. Her gurgling continues though the nurses have been conscientiously suctioning out the build up of secretions in her throat when they become overwhelming.

For the most part, during the day today, she went back down with the fever (to 99) and her blood pressure came back up (113/80). Everyone is amazed at her endurance, but she is coming to the end of her strength and of course also becoming prey to the infection that was running in her system from three weeks ago.

Fixing the infection is not an option, at this point, and would go against her "do not resuscitate" orders. She specifically requested no further invasive procedures.

~~~

I found a picture of the two of us, that I really liked from last summer, after we moved her from Santa Fe to Chicago. It reminded me of another wonderful weekend night family party in a restaurant not far from here called Hopleaf.

We chose it that night because it had Belgian specialties and we figured my mother would enjoy it (her being Belgian/American and all).

As it was a loud, busy and packed venue, she got to do what she so often enjoyed doing, people watch.

At some point while we were waiting for our table and the boys had gone to fetch us a beer, she said something to me like "Oh Honey, I think I'm the oldest person in this whole place!"

I told her that as always she was really the same age as all these people, just trapped in an older body.

Not forgetting

2011-07-22T03:21:00.000+03:00

When you spend time as a patient in a hospital you stop becoming yourself. Instead you become a disease or a procedure.

You walk around with a gown that opens in the back and wear socks with stickums on the bottom so you don't slip. It's a depersonalizing place usually.

mom and me 1949

The Palliative care unit certainly tries hard to break thru that barrier, but you are in a hospital bed with catheters and IV drips and medicine you need to get at regularly scheduled times.

Remembering who the person who occupies the bed really is not an easy task. (They've never seen you in real clothes!)

The nurses here on this floor try very hard, as do the Nurse-assistants, the Residents and of course the Hospice staff.

playing doctor

But you're still in a hospital.

The overflow of that hosptalized mentality hits me as well, as I am a part of what the Hospice people come to treat. I know that's not strictly true, but I feel so much like a bug on a petri dish sometimes.

Sometimes I don't want to be "the grieving family member". Sometimes I'd like to be a crazy dancer or an ex-race car driver. Sometimes the sympathy is just too much.

I am getting really tired of the phrase, "it's all right to cry".

So.

Today is a plateau day. My mother has stopped her descent and is in a holding pattern for a while with her blood pressure low but not yet dangerous, gurgling, but not choking, and finally she's been having a fever but it's not gone over 99 yet, so we all wait. I gave my sons the evening off from coming and looking solemn while at the same time feeling slightly ghoulish for not being able to interact with her.

~~~

we matched sort of

after my dad died

After my little outburst, of raging against the world, today I decided to go through some of my scanned old family pictures on my back up hard drive, and found some great mom and me shots.

OK. I found LOTS of mom and me shots, but I figured I'd share a few of them, mostly for me to remember this person of so many facets who made me laugh at myself and at life.

It was really nice having the pictures to look at, and I'm so glad I scanned them all into my computer 2 days before I flew to Santa Fe back in 2007 for her back surgery.

Even as she lies on this hospital bed and snores and gurgles and sighs her "ohhhh's" she was someone completely different 6 weeks ago, someone closer to the interesting woman in these pictures.

(Well, except for the snoring part...)

Rounding Corners

2011-07-21T07:29:00.000+03:00

Still a slowly decreasing spiral of energy.

My mother's blood pressure has been getting lower and lower all day, by small increments.

The nurses are no longer giving her blood pressure regulating medicines, but they are now giving her medications to dry the fluids and secretions in her throat so she's not moaning. As she couldn't swallow she was making sounds to try and clear it.

She's mostly unconscious now, and when she does surface she's looking through us to different place or time.

I've made up the sofa again. Another night by her bed.

Maybe the last night, maybe not.

Middle son and youngest son came by for a few hours this afternoon.

We clandestinely shared a bottle of wine (sadly she couldn't have any) and had a little "cocktail party" in the room with her. We laughed and remembered favorite stories that she loved.

~~~

Today I was bombarded with odd snippets of travel memory, from places I'd lived and become familiar enough with to find my way around. My personal version "google maps", ah, the things you do when sitting quietly for hours on end...

- Remembering the way and mentally going from my grandmother's house in Brussels - when I was 9 - to the bakery, to the greengrocers, to the butcher (we went to the one further away because his meat was better).

- Wandering back again to my favorite Kro (restaurant) outside of Copenhagen where we lived in 1997, that my mother had so enjoyed, near Rungstead Kyst where T and I lived for a couple of years.

- Taking a shortcut (in the late 70's) to the Plaza from my mother's second house in Santa Fe.

- Making my way again to Kusadasi in Turkey (1994 -ish) where I met my mom and Joe on the cruise ship and took them on a tour of bird island and had a great lunch on the quai.

- Figuring out getting around in Albuquerque in the spring of 2001 when my mother was hospitalized there for three weeks. Eventually it turned out to be a godsend when four years later, I had to know my way around as T needed eye surgery in Albuquerque and we spent the whole of the week between Christmas and New Year of 2004, going back and forth from the residence hotel to the hospital for follow up appointments.

- Getting to work from the little cottage on the lake where my mother and I lived after I graduated from High School...

So many more places and memories of my mother and I, like moving snapshots in a mental album.

In-between

2011-07-20T08:34:00.003+03:00

Changes are happening within my mother's body and her life force seems to be waning.

She's tiring.

Last night, she added a new symptom of moaning on her every outgoing breath- all night. Very disconcerting. It wasn't so much a pain moan as an "I'm tired moan". (I could agree with her as I didn't really sleep too much either.)

All day today I've noticed her fatigue. She didn't open her eyes as often, and seemed to sleep more deeply today than usual.

This evening her new symptoms include "wet breathing" which is a sort of gurgling sound that sounds like she should clear her throat or swallow, but according to the nurses, her swallow functions are not working too well anymore. They've suctioned out the spit that's accumulated several times, and given her some medicine but she still sounds a lot like a percolating coffee pot or a rattling noise. Not a good sound.

I am assured that it doesn't hurt. In fact it's harder on the person listening than it is on the the person going through it. Still it can be predictive that things are slowly shutting down.

~~~

Time is suspended while I am here, particularly as I have pretty much been living here for the last the last 18 days because though I have left the hospital for the odd afternoon or evening, I pretty much sleep and eat here. It's like being an expat in a foreign country.

Space and Time

2011-07-18T19:18:00.000+03:00

I am currently thinking about my world of this hospital and the country of this room. As the days pass and I bring back changes of clothes, switch books, bring cards, and newspapers, the room fills with the personalized detritus of my existence in the corner of the room under the windows.

When I am in the room, I look at the bed, and my mother, or I look out the window at the trees and roofs of buildings. At night, when I look out the window, I can see the lights in the windows of other rooms on the other wing of the hospital, with other people looking back out, just like me.

When T was here we explored on foot the realms of the unknown, beyond the hospital and discovered Lake Michigan was a 5 block walk from the hospital. 6 blocks in the other direction we found a diner with real malted milk shakes and homemade hamburger patties.

The temperature was mild and pleasant when T was here. Now he's departed, the weather has gone hot. Very.

Photo Credit: Steve Hall of Hedrich Blessing

Today it will feel like Mars, with a heat index of 109 F, so I'm doubting I'll walk outside. I'll walk instead, inside the hospital to get my exercise, today. It's huge, this building and feels a bit like one of the ancient Egyptian temples in Luxor.

The hospital lobby is immense (natural light - three stories high) and filled with the sound of a huge waterfall.

There's a baby grand player piano that plays everything from classical to jazz and plays the acoustics of the hall very nicely.

It sometimes feels more like a hotel lobby than a hospital. This feeling is fostered by the entry having a Concierge Desk, and Valet Parking.

The one constant to remind you that you are in a hospital though, is the food.

It is consistent and mediocre: a daily "hot lunch", high carb, everything slightly overcooked- as well as the alternate choice of a nice greasy grill with all the sandwiches prepared thereon and a deep fry with the french fries, onion rings and deep fried chicken bits to go along with it. Everything is topped off with a selection of sweets: brownies, cakes, pies, puddings ice cream bars, not from a bakery exactly, but sort of...

There's also the standard pizza oven with the (of course) Chicago style pizza.

~~~

So. This is the beginning of the third week in this Palliative Care unit. I feel sometimes like it has been months.

My mother still looks amazing, though she's thinner and seemingly more transparent than she has been to this point. Her skin is still lovely and unlined (how did she managed to avoid wrinkles?)

When she opens her eyes, she sees past or through the nurses, but when she looks at me, there is a touch of her old expressions.

For the last several days those expressions have been limited to "pathos" and, last night, an intense look she gave me when she was trying to cough and having some difficulty breathing.

She doesn't talk anymore, though she sighs and on occasion moans, as if to say "Ohhhh."

It has occurred to me that this special unit of the hospital isn't just for my mother, but for me as well. They are very supportive and caring of me. They are treating me as if I was a part of the process. They hug me and bring me treats from their homes. (Carol brought me homemade trail mix; Helen snapped up a piece of pastry from the nurses station. Angie calls in to check on our status on her day off.) They all have time to talk with me and some of them share their own stories and personal losses. They are caregivers in the truest sense. They recognize my pain and they reach out to try and help.

"Grief drives men into habits of serious reflection, sharpens the understanding, and softens the heart." John Adams

Sunday

2011-07-17T18:30:00.002+03:00

A sometime religious feel on this day. A Catholic lay minister comes to give communion to my mother and myself. Her mouth is too dry to take the wafer, so we say an Our Father and a Hail Mary "with" her and I receive communion. (It's been a long time for me. I forget how dry the host is in my mouth, and how I wait for it to melt before I swallow...)

Corfu early morning sunlight on the acacia tree

I used to do this Eucharistic ministry job for years when the boys were young. I went to the hospitals and nursing homes on Sundays after Mass and sometimes dragged the boys along. I know they would rather have been playing outside or watching TV or doing just about anything else.

(Me too, honestly, but, then, during those years anyway- for me- it was a "God thing".)

My kids went to Catholic school and we all went to church on Sundays for years. There was an order in our lives, a community around us for support, that was reassuring and neighborly.

I hadn't really made the connection, but we rejoined and started participating in the whole church thing shortly after my mother remarried and moved from Michigan to New Mexico.

I know that, for a while, even though I was 26, with a family of children and husband, I felt selfishly abandoned. (It had just been the "two of us" since I was 9!)

The Church became a larger presence in my life after my father died. My mother had promised him she would raise me Catholic, and so the year after he died she put me in Marywood, a Catholic boarding school, as a weekly boarder I stayed in the dormitory with about 30 other girls. (I went home on the weekends, as my mother lived only about 20 minutes from the school) The Dominican nuns who ran the school gave me kindness, order and community after the loss of my dad (and of course, my mother as well, to the working world)

~~~

My mother wakes up at 6 this morning drenched with what I presume is a malfunction of the catheter. Instead I am told that it could be her urine is starting to concentrate, another stage of body changes prefiguring her coming closer to the end. Sometimes this concentration causes internal spasms and then malfunctions of the catheter. On the other hand, it could have slipped in the night and all could be back to normal and she could continue on like this "for a while".

She gets an early bath and change of everything and then she calmly rolls over, on her favorite side to sleep deeply. The hospice nurse comes by to see how I'm doing and tell me that my mother's hands and feet are getting colder. (I think to myself, that my mother's hands and feet are ALWAYS cold. So are mine for that matter, as T tells me with great regularity!)

She says it with a serious look to tell me that the end is coming sooner rather than later.

The Eucharistic minister comes and goes in my mother's world with nary a flicker of her eyelid.
We are still in the land of the unknown, suspended in time and space, waiting, waiting,
Waiting.

2011-07-17T06:42:00.001+03:00

For some reason the first part of this poem has been on my mind for most of the day. Maybe because it makes me smile and think of my mother in her heyday...

I Knew a Woman by Theodore Roethke

I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,
When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;
Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one:
The shapes a bright container can contain!
Of her choice virtues only gods should speak,
Or English poets who grew up on Greek
(I'd have them sing in chorus, cheek to cheek.)

...

There's more to the poem, and I love it for all sorts of reasons, but that part just reminds me of her for some reason.

~~~

Today, started out a bit roughly for her, as she woke with a fair amount of discomfort. The nurses prompt attention to the pain meds helped a lot and made her comfortable. Of course I woke up with her and could only rub her back and gently brush her hair from her forehead. That terrible feeling of helplessness is not usually a great start to the day.

With T gone back to Greece (well, still in transit this morning our time) middle son came for a fairly early breakfast (just after mom was settled down and comfortable) bearing fresh croissants. Discussions ebbed and flowed and gently touched on decisions for "afterwards".

As per her wishes we needed to look into cremation- a subject fraught with landmines and potholes for the unwary or unprepared. We opted to go with the place that gave us the most information (and provided - on request- a detailed price list of optional services! They also broke down what the law required and what you could provide instead of their optional somewhat expensive products.)

Still, in a cheerfully macabre sort of way, their motto "Think outside the box" did get an inadvertent chuckle out of me.

Youngest son arrived shortly before noon and handed me the keys to the family car and told me to go do my laundry, take a long hot shower, have lunch and take a nap.

So I went back to my mother's apartment and did my laundry, raided the freezer (Stouffer's is WA-ay better than the hospital cafeteria!) and had a delicious glass of pinot grigio that had been conveniently left in the fridge. I took my shower and managed a bit of a doze, though not a full scale nap, while waiting for the dryer to finish, instead of sleep, I opted to talk to my oldest son in Michigan, and then T in Greece just before he was going to collapse in bed after his long trip home. I also touched base with both other sons, so I felt well rounded.

Of course, spending most of the day in my mother's apartment reminded me of her everywhere I looked. I had been living with her before she checked into the hospital, so all my stuff is still there.

Still it was better to remember her tottering about in her apartment (forgetting her cane whenever she went from one room to the next), than to see her in the hospital bed every day.

What can you do?

I got back to the hospital at around 5:30 and felt refreshed and ready to continue on,

as one must;
as one does.

Someday I'll finish what I start...

2011-07-16T06:28:00.000+03:00

After so long a hiatus, I'm sure that if anyone is left reading this blog, they're wondering "what happened?!" and "where has this dratted woman disappeared to now!?"

Lake Michigan in the early morning

In a quick nutshell, I am back in the States, in Chicago, or rather, currently just outside of Chicago in Evanston Hospital. I am in the Palliative Care Unit with my mother, who, at her own pace, by her own choice, is letting go of "this mortal coil" and moving towards whatever may or may not happen on that "other side".

She was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the beginning of June. The blasted thing was the size of a golf ball. It turned out it was cancerous. There was unfortunately another shadow on the MRI to tell us there was another tumor possibly forming.

Something had to be done as she was suffering incredible horrible headaches, her memory was often affected with blanks and confusion, and she'd started to have balance and vision issues that included falling and cutting her head open.

In the end, after a diagnosis was reached I flew to Chicago, and had a couple of weeks with her before the surgery was scheduled. The last week before the surgery, I was with her 24/7, as she had fallen, needed to be rescued by the Fire Department and have 7 stitches put in her head in the emergency room. Besides which she was constantly terrified as she'd become very wobbly on her feet.

The neurosurgeon and his team operated, in Evanston Hospital on Friday, June 17 (four days after her 86 birthday which we celebrated with a party) and they successfully, and surprisingly removed the whole tumor.

We were all hopeful until Monday morning the 20th when she had a mini-stroke behind her eyes. The surgeons went back in and inserted a stent to releave the pressure in her skull, and she remained in the Intensive Care Unit until June 30th when they removed the stent, and moved her to a regular room for 24 hours.

With what seemed like a sudden move, they discharged her the next day to the rehabilitation facility within the Independent Living complex where she lives.

24 hours later she was back in the hospital running a high fever, unconscious with an infection in her brain. This time she went from the ICU to the Palliative Care Unit within 48 hours.

She'd made her wishes clear before the surgery (My mother signed a Do Not Resuscitate order, and she had made it abundantly clear, she was adamant that she'd didn't want further surgery or any "heroic" attempts at prolonging her life and we all honored her wishes.)

Of course we're gutted and the process is not simple, but we're all managing - and I am in a good enough place to handle what comes next on my own.

The bottom line was finally stated by her amazing and very excellent neurosurgeon, when he came to visit her. He looked at me over her sleeping body and said "Sometimes it seems that we surgeons just want to save everyone, but sometimes we have to pause, stop and look at what the patient wants and needs. We can't lose sight of the person. She's an 86 year old woman with brain cancer. "

When things started to go pear shaped, everything was handled with a lot of respect, dignity and kindness. As of yesterday we've all been receiving hospice support.

I am spending my days and nights here, at the hospital, sleeping in Mom's room. And she is gradually moving towards her own endgame.

T flew from Greece last weekend and we gathered around to bid her take her journey with our blessing and godspeed. T left today to return to Corfu.

I am already missing him, and wishing for his strong quiet presence.

Yet death and dying are very personal things, both to the person who is dying and to the friends and family affected. We all have to wrestle with our grief and our grieving, alone.

I've not kept a journal up to this point, but I've decided to write a few of my thoughts down as I sit here in hopes that it might help someone else who has to travel this road.

We all have to travel this path at one time or another, because we have, or will have to go through the loss of a dear someone who means something immense and special to us.

There is so much to do and many things to think about, but for now, the sitting by the bedside and the waiting seem to be what fills my days. Quiet music plays. I've sprayed her favorite cologne on a soft floppy plush toy that seems to give her comfort as she hugs it to herself in her dreams.

Sometimes she smiles, sometimes she furrows her brow. There is no way of knowing for sure if any of this makes any difference, but I talk to her quietly, and sometimes I rub her back or her forehead.

I am in no man's land, waiting for my mother to die.

Continuing on, though not exactly the next day.

2011-03-23T22:34:00.002+02:00

And so the last of Izmir and continuing on to Istanbul...

[Sorry. I've stupidly done something to my arm/shoulder, and so typing has not been a priority the past few days. (Muscle spasm leading to pinched nerve... yes, ouch!) I think that the traveling has finally caught up with me, in a unique and sadly boomerang sort of way.]

So, after our big day visiting Priene, Miletus and Didyma, we decided that instead of going to Sardis on Monday (which was also C's birthday) We'd spend the day in town, Izmir, and do a little shopping, have a bit of a wander (visit the central bank to change some old and now uncirculating Turkish money that the bank in the US had given to C&S!) and have a döner kebap in the market or Kemeraltı in town. We also decided to "do" some little laundries in the room and then pack for our Tuesday departure.

we took advantage of the beautiful day and sat at Konak Pier

watching the ships and ferry boats and enjoying the sun

Iconic Izmir clock tower

choosing the best kebaps...

and something to drink (fresh squeezed pomegranate, orange or carrot juice).

too many things to choose

too many things to see

always something new, something more.

not far from the edge of the current bazaar- the agora of ancient Smyrna!

the birthday guy our last night at the hotel.

The next day was our anniversary, but it was also the best day to travel so we checked out and managed to find our way back to the airport. We were returning the car a bit early, but a kind young man outside the airport entrance offered to call the rental car people and within five minutes, they'd come to pick up the car.

We were early, but we checked in with no problems and had a coffee and flew back to Istanbul (the flight is about the same time and distance as Corfu to Athens, 50 minutes.)

We were met on time, at the Sabiha Gökçen Airport by the nice people from Backpacker's Shuttle and whisked away in a comfortable Mercedes van. The driver provided us with juice, water and little cakes (something our "no-frills" Pegasus flight didn't offer) so we had a nice ride back into town from the other direction, this time Asia to Europe.

We'd arrived in Istanbul at about 1 in the afternoon so we assumed we'd get to the hotel by around 2. We arrived just slightly before 2, and the check in took no time at all. We had lovely rooms, very different from our previous hotel rooms as the Hotel Ayasofya is an old historic house that has been converted into a charming boutique hotel.

lovely lovely hotel Ayasofya

Our room was small but perfect for our needs (the bathroom was tiny, but the shower had plenty of hot water) and we had a small desk a cupboard to hang our clothes and three windows with a little nook.

It's located in a *real* neighborhood that was not too noisy (it was March) and seemed filled with mostly locals (ie: not much tourist traffic). The staff and owner were apparently well respected in the neighborhood, so I didn't feel vulnerable walking around at night. Once we became oriented to the Blue Mosque and the ancient Hippodrome, it became fairly easy to find our way back and around.

Gaye and a couple of her great employees.

Gaye Reeves and her team are very hands on in their management style. Any questions you ask are answered - and if they don't know, they find the answer for you!

Our first question after we settled in, was where was the best place to go for our anniversary/birthday celebration dinner and without hesitation, she suggested Hamdi Restaurant which turned out to be perfect! Really wonderful food - Meze, raki and then kebabs. The restaurant was almost all filled with Turkish customers when we went. Gaye had made the reservations and we had a corner window table with a beautiful view of the twinkling lights of the city and beyond, over Golden Horn and Bosphorus.

The restaurant is located across from the Galata Bridge, next to the Spice Bazaar.

~~~

walking up to Hagia Sofia

But I suppose I should go back a bit. After we arrived, checked in and made our dinner reservations, we still had plenty of time to do some sightseeing. The first, of all the first sights to see, if for me anyway, is Agia Sofia or the church of the Holy Wisdom.

It always takes my breath away

each time I return the restorations have progressed

so many of the amazing mosaics uncovered

the beautiful details of its amazing history cleaned

the stunning mosaic frescos uncovered everywhere

even above doorways

millions of people have prayed in this place and you can feel the great reverence.

The first and probably humbler Hagia Sofia was built (probably) by Constantine before his death in 337. Fires and earthquakes contributed to it being rebuilt several times. The last and most familiar of these designs were by Isidore of Miletus under the direction of the Emperor Justinian.

The emperor had material brought from all over the empire - such as Hellenistic columns from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, large stones from quarries in porphyry from Egypt, green marble from Thessaly, black stone from the Bosporus region, and yellow stone from Syria. More than ten thousand people were employed.

Wikipedia

From there we went a short walk across the tram tracks to the Yerebatan Sarnıcı (in Turkish that means "sunken palace") or the Basilica Cisterns. This was build during the reign of Constantine,

such a wonderfully eerie place

the first time I was ever in this place there was haunting classical music playing.

The name of this subterranean structure derives from a large public square on the First Hill of Constantinople, the Stoa Basilica, beneath which it was originally constructed. Before being converted to a cistern, a great Basilica stood in its place, built between the 3rd and 4th centuries during the Early Roman Age as a commercial, legal and artistic center. The basilica was reconstructed by Ilius after a fire in 476.

Ancient texts indicated that the basilica contained gardens, surrounded by a colonnade and facing Hagia Sophia According to ancient historians, Emperor Constantine constructed a structure which was later rebuilt and enlarged by Emperor Justinian after the Nika riots of 532, which devastated the city.

Historical texts claim that 7,000 slaves were involved in the construction of the cistern.

The enlarged cistern provided a water filtration system for the Great Palace of Constantinople and other buildings on the First Hill, and continued to provide water to the Topkapi Palace after the Ottoman conquest in 1453 and into modern times.
Wikipedia

one of the two great medusa heads that used to lie under the water

they've protected them by taking them out of the water, but now they look a bit dorky.

after our sightseeing we stopped at a little place next to Hagia Sofia and had some tea and a bit of hubbly bubbly!

from there we had time to visit the Blue Mosque

The soaring interior was created by the architect Sinan.

looking back through the archway to see Hagia Sofia

Finally we walked back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. We passed the ancient Hippodrome along the side of the Blue Mosque.

Obelisk of Thutmose III

The Serpentine Column (with new paving stones!)

finally made our way back to the hotel.

We rested for about an hour and then took a taxi to the restaurant. A really amazing day. And as we left the warmth of the restaurant - waiting for our cab, we looked back and noticed someone else having a pleasant end to the day:

Next post will be Topkapi and the archaeological museum (another BIG day!)

Nothing like us ever was...

2011-03-19T22:22:00.002+02:00

Traveling through time and climbing over ancient ruins always brings me back to a poem I learned years ago (no, really!! 48 years ago!) I don't remember it all anymore but certain poetic phrases still stick. It was called Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind and the point it made to me anyway was that whatever we build and however amazing we think we are, doesn't last as long as time.

Still I have to say that the three ancient cities we visited, Priene, Miletus and Didyma are really spectacular ruins!
~~~

We left Izmir, with good driving advice from our friends from dinner the evening before, and we up and out early Sunday morning with hopes of seeing all the sights and getting back in good time to put our feet up a bit before dinner.

classic columns

Our first stop was Priene (and the new highway really did make a difference in the time it took to get there!).

We were actually very surprised that there were as many people at the site. I had been there many times in all the different seasons and I had never seen it as busy! There were about three tour buses worth of people, German, French and Turkish.

once the view was water

I'm guessing that it was a pleasant Sunday excursion trip by bus (since it was a very nice excursion for just the four of us. The weather was finally co-operating and it warmed up pleasantly.

It is such a peaceful spot, and the city is what I always think of as human scale, which just means that I don't find it to overwhelming, but can actually visualize people going about their day to day business there. Well, once they climb up to it. (It seems to have been very well defended and tho it had three ports at one time, it doesn't seem to have been a frequent target in wars or takeovers AND it's sort of vertical).

bouleuterion

One of my favorite spots in Priene, is this nice little 'city council' building or Bouleuterion. it's dated to the 2nd century B.C.

"... one of the best preserved examples of an ancient bouleuterion. ... it was surrounded by tiers of seats accommodating 640 citizens. In the centre stood an altar with a decoration of bulls´ heads and laurel leaves... The speakers addressed the meeting from a podium carved in the south wall between the two entrances."

Unless of course someone unforseen shows up and needs to say something "from the heart"... (or perhaps something he memorized for a forensic competition a gazillion years ago...)

Deciding to leave (unfortunately about the same time as several buses) We drove back to the main road down from Priene, and followed the signs to Miletus.

The ground is cultivated for farming (predominantly cotton, I think) but in the winter is very much wetlands. It's very rich land as it's all based on the silt of the Meander/Menderes River We saw a lot of birds. I remember once, years ago, seeing three or four varieties of herons and egrets.

theater in the afternoon winter sunlight

Miletus was a sprawling huge city. It was one of the 12 Ionian cities of Asia Minor in it's heyday. But its origins go back to Neolithic times. One of its claims to fame, it rebelled against the Hittite Empire in the late 13 century BC! By 1000 BC it's was comfortably being settled by Greeks during the Greek Archaic Period.

Being a city on the mouth of a river had advantages and disadvantages. Eventually by the 14 century AD, the silting of its ports became what really ended it's great history.

Still the thing to see here is the great roman theater...

Except because of all the tour buses disgorging at about the same time, and entering the theater, just as those ancient crowds, I decided we'd go up the right side next to the theater and visit the Baths of Faustina first.


a few people but not crowds

one of the pools with a copy of the statue of Dionysus (the original is in the Izmir archaeological museum)

Baths were quite extensive and included a gymnasium

one of the many tour groups catch up with us in the baths

moving out towards the theater passing a lot more excavation of the baths

and it continues! (of course this is the high ground... everything else is underwater!)

one of the MANY entrances and exits to the theater

ah, where to sit...

well organized to get people in and out- the tiers are very well defined.

obviously this was the good seat area. the seats are wider!

We crawled all over the theater and marveled at how similar the construction is to modern day amphitheaters. Then it was time for the last leg of our journey, Didyma. It's not really too far from Miletus and at one time the two places were connected by the Sacred Way, which of course is underwater in Miletus, so I don't have a picture of it.

Temple of the Oracles at Didyma

an enormous building.

inside the temple (sacred spring in center of temple)

what the temple probably looked like

the oracle brothers?

passages on either side to enter the central temple

massive pillars

so many pieces left to put back together


classical medusa head (probably from the architrave inside the temples)

Which of course is a perfect spot to finish for now, as we ended our tour in a little tea house across the road from the temple and sat for a few minutes and had something to drink while contemplating the building across the way, before we loaded ourselves back into the car for a comfortable ride back to the hotel in Balçova.

We got back in good time to have a little rest, dinner and a splash in the wonderful pool and jacuzzi. All in all, a wonderful day.

Tomorrow I'll wrap up Izmir and send us back to Istanbul for the final week of giddy excitement (and photographs).

Edging out happier thoughts

2011-03-15T22:22:00.002+02:00

The devastation in Japan has started to seep into all my thoughts.

I will continue to write about our trip to Turkey and to post the pictures, but not today. For me, right now, it feels like bad timing.

I know have no control over natural forces. I know that my having a happy life vs some Japanese person having a life suddenly torn from all familiar moorings and family and friends is not my doing. But for what it's worth, I am thinking about all those people who survived, and looking at the pictures (tho not so much tv as that is suddenly too much) and I am empathizing with them..

To imagine the force of a 9.1 earthquake, followed by a 30 foot wall of water tsunami that in some places went 10 kilometers (6 miles) inland, laying waste to everything in that wall of water's path is incredible.

Contemplating the fact that Japan appears to have moved 2.4 meters (8 feet) and the earth has shifted on its axis, is like thinking that a science fiction story is really true.

Anyway, my thoughts tonight are with Japan, the people, and the pets and domestic and wild animals affected- both the dead and those that survived.

I'm thinking of the pieces of history gone forever, and the potential meltdown situations with their nuclear reactors (someday becoming future history).

And I am thinking about what I would do, how I would feel if I were in their place.

We're really such a fragile web of life on this planet. And there appears to be no guarantees. I'll end this post with an excerpt from a sermon that has been riding with me all day:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.

Meditation XVI- John Donne

Freezing in Pergamom

2011-03-13T22:09:00.001+02:00

how we wished we could have seen Pergamom

So. Having departed from the "Itinerary" and gone to Ephesus two days earlier than planned, we woke up with a determination to figure out the highway system around Izmir and drive to see Pergamom. With our trusty maps in hand, we set off for the reception desk, and a nice young man printed out another map from the internet to show us the "simple" way to get there.

We were to follow the signs to Karşıyaka, Bornova, Menemen, Aliağa, and finally Bergama - which sounded straightforward. We went off assuming we'd just follow the signs with any or all of these words on it and we'd be fine.

Except after Bornova, no signs used any of those words.

It took me a while to finally figure out, from the backseat after frantically looking at the large map that what we needed to do was go in the direction of "Çanakkale"... meaning Çanakkale the province.... (at this point we had turned around once in Bornova and were back on the road of what we thought as "on our way" only to have the highway suddenly dwindle to nothing in the midst of signage that said we were welcomed into a brand new bird sanctuary!

We turned around again, and I suggested we lookout for the signs to Çanakkale which meant nothing to anyone, but it ended up working just fine and soon we were on our way, passing signs directing us to all the other names on our list til finally we'd arrived into the outskirts of Begama.

Ideally you are meant to visit the Acropolis first, then the Asklepion, and finally the Red Basilica, more accurately known as the Temple of Serapis (an Egyptian god). But we ended up doing the tour completely back to front. In the windy icy cold! Still we were so pleased we'd found it that we jumped out of the car and into our view of the Asklepion.

Pergamum had the fame to be the first city who showed reaction to the functional urbanism of Hippodamus as they preferred ornamental urbanism. Acropolis buildings were built and designed with the aim of impressing the ones viewing the city from the valley.

We were in the valley below. Even the ruins were impressive!

Pergamon's Asclepion translates as 'place of Aesklepios', the son of Apollo and the god of healing and health, and was an important health center in Greco-Roman times. Among the types of therapy practiced here were mud baths, sports, theatre, psychotherapy and use of medicinal waters.

We walked through the whole of the Asklepion, down below and onto the Sacred Way. (now i'll just post some pics with captions...)

Sacred Way

Roman theater

theater closer (nice human sized space)

entrance to the underground passageway

entrance to eventually get to the treatment rooms

a really long and slightly Freudian walk

one of the three still flowing fountains from the sacred spring

dear C taking the sacred (and still slightly radioactive) waters

Then it was onward to the Red Basilica or the Temple of Serapis. It was HUGE and loomed over the old part of the city where it was trapped by fences. In it's heyday it had a huge entryway road and land that extended far beyond the temple itself. (More pictures)

It was still pretty cold and windy so there weren't very many people around

one of the two towers we could explore

the other tower in use by the archaeologists

inside

and looking up!

Then we found the road to get to the Acropolis. It was right next to the funicular! I remembered the road being very steep and narrow with no guard rails of any kind, but I'd not really thought about T having to drive up AND back down again. (I'd done the palm sweating exercise a couple of times, but I don't have a fear of heights!) Still at least there were a few new guard rails and the road had been fixed of most of the holes I remembered! Still the poor guy held on really well, but at one point I got out of the car and walked ahead to make sure it was "go-able"! He did make it both up and back down again, but he suffered! Ironically we none of us remembered to take pictures of the blasted road up!!

So there we were at the top of what felt like the world and it was so cold and windy it brought tears to our eyes. (again with the pictures...)

on top of the world

dramatic theater sat 10,000 people

standing on what remains of Temple of Athena (not much)

Temple of Dionysus and the theater terrace


what's left of the Great Altar of Zeus (that's not in the Berlin museum)

Temple of Trajan

more bits of Trajan's temple

details of Roman Corinthian capitals

as an FYI, this is what the reconstruction in Berlin, of the great altar of Zeus looks like:

So that's our day in Pergamon. The ride home (once we got down from the Acropolis) was fairly unevenful. We got back with time enough to freshen up a bit and join some more special friends (and ex neighbors!) for dinner in Güzelbahçe near where we used to live. We had such a lovely evening - and we ate the most incredible seafood!! Stuffed mussels, fresh greens, lightly battered calamari, and shrimps (etc) then for the main course a simple grilled sea bass with chips (french fries) on the side.

dear friends

beautiful starters

the main event!

For dessert we had baked halva (it turns into a sort of custardly sticky creamy thing that's slightly caramelized on top... anyway, excellent. With out fish meal we managed to kill off a lovely bottle of Yeni Rakı Yeni Seri.

All in all a lovely day and a great evening. We got back to the hotel late, but not bad and we all slept quite soundly and woke up for breakfast at 8.

We hit the road at 9 and acted like we knew what we were doing.

I almost feel like I'm reliving the entire vacation in real time all over again! So. It's just past 10 and I'm done for today. Tomorrow I may or may not post Priene, Miletus and Didyma. [I'll give it a try, but it may be a Tuesday post... I have to get groceries SOME time.]

I hope you are enjoying this as much as we did when we all took the trip. Thanks for reading it.

The Aegean coast beckons, and we arrive

2011-03-13T01:56:00.000+02:00

Clock tower in the central square Izmir

We were met for our journey to Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, at 9 AM by a dignified driver dressed in a suit from the private shuttle service Backpacker's Travel Service.

For the four of us and all our luggage it was a bargain 50 euros or 105 TL (plus small added gratuity) the ride took over an hour and it was nightmare traffic all the way, particularly crossing the Bosphorus Bridge to get to the Asian side of Turkey. The driver was quiet and a very patient. (He even had a small fridge in the front, offering us cold bottles of water for us to drink midway on the journey!)

We got to the airport in plenty of time to check in for our flight, have a glass of çay, and make our leisurely way to the gate.

I had struggled with the options of getting us all to the airport. I looked into bus or train or boat and even considered taxis. In some instances (example:public transportation) some alternatives were much cheaper. But it felt a little like we'd be herding cats, and I remembered we were all "on vacation".

The ease of booking the Backpacker people online (and their quick response), was what convinced me to go this route. (we COULD have schlepped the luggage ourselves and made it happen for less, but there's enough stress in travel now a days and this seemed like a perfect solution). I include this diversion for any who may be considering travel to Istanbul and wonder at "the thing in the middle" ie: "airport....?.... hotel". If you are feeling intrepid there are many options, but lately, as I get older and have tried all the options, I find myself shepherding my resources...a little bit like "picking your [travel] battles".

The Sabiha Gökçen International Airport is very new, only built in the last 5 or 6 years and is really lovely.

We flew on Pegasus airlines, (they have a rather charming URL: www.flypgs.com which always making me smile and think of pigs flying, instead of a flying horse) I made all the arrangements online and printed out the tickets. When we checked in with the print outs, there were no problems. We were assigned excellent seats at check in and boarded painlessly. Well except for the slight moment of "duh" when we got into the wrong line and waited to go through passport control. When we got to the desk we were turned away. It was after all a DOMESTIC flight. sigh.

We arrived in Izmir to sunny skies and part of a familiar airport. The old international "terminal" was now the domestic terminal and it looked out onto a HUGE new building that apparently was now for International arrivals.

We were met by the representative of Elit Car Rental. 28 euro/day, everything included! (Full Insurance, Unlimited Mileage, Insurance for Tires, Headlights, Windscreen, Theft Insurance, Airport Delivery, V.A.T, Second Driver, 24 hours road service, and Theft insurance with NO excess!)

It was the best price I'd found on the internet for the sized car I was looking for.

I did have misgivings though as when I called no one spoke any English, except finally a young girl who told me everything would be alright and just fill out the form on the internet page. (I emailed a Turkish friend and asked her to call and talk to them in Turkish and give me her opinion, and she confirmed that they were actually all right, just short on English speakers as it was the off-season) I rented a Fiat Doblo Diesel (seats five and has room for five huge suitcases) and that's what the rep had brought to the airport. Clean and basic.

In broken English he explained everything we needed to know, took us to the gas station and filled the tank, filled out all the forms with our driving licenses, all the while smiling cheerfully while repeating all the services we were getting for free, and generally told us everything except where to find the map to the entirely new highway system that now rings around and through Izmir! Sadly the car didn't come with a map. Needless to say there were no bookstores en route. In fact he called his office and someone drove to the gas station with a sort of tourist map, and that's how we went off in search of the hotel - on the new highway.

We honestly found it by sheer luck, tempered by a vague memory of where Balçova was. As we were driving down a hill I happened to glance out the window and saw the entrance! Fortunately I looked at pictures on the net before we'd left!!

The hotel is a Thermal "spa" hotel, or rather small complex of spa facilities medical support, thermal swimming pools and jacuzzi, as well as meeting rooms and banquet facilities. There are two hotels: a simple hotel and a rather grand one. We were staying in the simple hotel. For 61 euros/night we got an en suite room, with a buffet breakfast and a buffet dinner and access to the pools and the fitness center as well as the park with the tennis courts and lovely gardens.

almost exactly our room

As we had taken advantage of the bargain prices, we got the "bargain" rooms.

The rooms were clean, if a bit "tired", but they were larger than I'd expected, and warm.

The warmth was generated by the thermal waters that heat the place! In fact ALL the water was thermal. The shower, the sink... the toilet... yes, the water was hot in the toilet!! We actually had to run the cold tap for a while (the way you run the hot tap in most places!) in order to get the shower water to be a bit more bearable! Our last morning coincided with a group who got up early and took showers --- draining all the COLD water, and making our showers very brief, emerging hot pink and very clean. We felt that the temperature of the water had sanitized us.

Our first objective after arrival was to scope our our local environment ... AND buy a map. The hotel didn't sell any maps in the gift shop.

We drove into Izmir, but ended up doing so by taking a back road, the only road that we recognized. SO many changes. When we arrived in town, we parked at the only familiar memory in town (so we could find the car again!!) the Hilton hotel parking ramp. Fortunately we managed to do it with all the elan we'd hoped to show C& S so as not to worry them overmuch at our bafflement of how to get around!

We wandered around a bit and tried a few places looking for a good map (including the Hilton hotel!) and couldn't find one, but we were referred to the "new" Konak Pier. When we lived there, the Konak pier was really just a sad falling down structure that was being eyed for demolition, until someone finally decided to invest in it and "do" something. When we left, they were still working out what they were "doing".

The Konak Pier building was designed by the famous Gustave Eiffel in the 1870s and has been used as French Customs, İzmir Customs, fish market and parking lot. The original steel construction structure were renovated with the latest technology and began to be used as a modern shopping mall in 1998. Konak Pier is the most prestigious center in Izmir with its movie theaters, restaurants and the famous brand shops. It is located on an area of 8,000 m2. A small parking lot is available.

It's lovely inside and filled with great stores, restaurants and a movie thearter. Also a really terrific bookstore with many, many English language books. In Remzi Kitabevi I bought several good maps, with the help of a really great guy who spoke excellent English and found exactly what I was looking for.

We would never have had the money to retire to Corfu, if that bookstore had been in town when we lived there.

So we returned to the hotel and had a surprisingly delicious dinner. (The food was simple Turkish home cooking with fresh ingredients and a large variety of dishes to select.) There were two other restaurants in the same building and if you ordered your meal (and paid for it!!) there, then you could enjoy wine with dinner. Our meals came with water, fruit juices, tea and coffee.

We also discovered that the thermal pools were open until midnight. Yes. We did. And an amazing event it was, as the weather had turned cold.

The jacuzzi was warm enough to need to get out and swim in the huge warm pool in order to cool down a bit. It was LOVELY.

The next morning we left with the best of intentions and were planning to go to Priene, Miletus and Didyma. Due to a fair amount of confusion, and T throwing up his hands and saying we'd go the "old way" (meaning via the back roads from where our old house was).


the old limani /agora

We'd arrived close to Ephesus by 10:30 in the morning and I knew that at this rate, we'd get to the three cities much too late to see much and we'd have to turn back before we'd explored everything. So, ever flexible, I suggested we visit Ephesus instead. That suggestion went down well and we'd arrived at our destination with plenty of time to wander.

The new discoveries at the site, and the changes made to some of the standard things were wonderful as it was - for me- like visiting an old friend, and her new family!

For now I'll just post pictures of Ephesus and let it speak for itself... or else the captions will!

in the great theater- still used today!

advertising to incoming sailors

the library of Celsus

falling lizards... or beware the edge? you decide.

Samson after the haircut

main street Ephesus

a sort of experiment in comfort

walk this way...

Inside the Slope Houses- the new excavations, now a new and wonderful exhibit.

a maze of upper class dwellings buried in the hillside

still assembling the puzzle pieces

but when the puzzle pieces fit...

it can be pretty amazing.

imagining people going from room to room

maybe house proud

kitchen with cooking vent and fish painted on the wall...

early church like room inside the complex of houses

even looking up, there's something to see.

so many puzzle pieces left!

exiting slope houses and wondering if they went to the library often...

walking back to the car

a choice for lunch in Kuşadası

We returned to the hotel just in time to quickly change our clothes and be picked up by our Turkish friends. About twenty of them showed up at a wonderful cocktail party they threw for us. We felt so cherished (and so awful that we'd waited so long to come back for a visit!) Everyone looked fantastic and we were only sad for not seeing everyone we wanted to see.

Sorry, by the way, the post has gone out so late, (I worked on it most of Saturday, but now it's 2 AM Sunday morning, so it would seem this will be a Sunday post!) I forgot that people need to fit into my day, even when I'm trying to write "important" things for my blog. (yes. go ahead and laugh. you know who you are!)

Tomorrow, OK, later today, I'll try and make another post and include more of our excursions...

g'night for now.

Of pleasures and palaces

2011-03-11T18:17:00.002+02:00

street art-literally- near Galata tower

We woke up "on vacation", a wonderful feeling wherein all the possibilities of the next two weeks are on the edge of your consciousness, waiting to happen. Even when you are 'retired', there's the same anticipation and refreshing feeling of things 'different'.

T's brother and sister-in-law (from now on referred to as C & S) were arriving later in the day, so we got up and had a very nice breakfast in the hotel's breakfast room. It was a typical Turkish breakfast: bread, jam, honey, yogurt, sliced cucumbers, tomato wedges, white cheese, black olives, and hard boiled eggs.

my çaydanlık

The preferred morning drink is çay or Turkish tea. When I first arrived in Turkey it became important that I master the art of making tea and having it available for when someone would drop in.

a couple of my tea glasses

Tea is typically prepared using two stacked kettles (çaydanlık) especially designed for tea preparation. Water is brought to a boil in the larger lower kettle and then some of the water is used to fill the smaller kettle on top and steep several spoons of loose tea leaves, producing a very strong tea.

When served, the remaining water is used to dilute the tea on an individual basis, giving each person the choice between strong (koyu; "dark") or weak (açık; "light"). Tea is drunk from small glasses to enjoy it hot in addition to showing its color, and sweetened with lumps of sugar.

As C & S wouldn't be arriving til evening, we decided to walk along Istikal street, and discover old landmarks and revisit places we'd gone years ago as well as discover where things were - in daylight.

We did manage, along the way, to find a computer guy who got my laptop to work fine at his place of business, because he had unprotected wi-fi. Still the idiot computer continued to be stubborn in hotel (and all subsequent hotels) so I found myself letting go of my frustration with it and I began to refer to it as "my little door stop". I figured I'd go on vacation from my computer as well.

I started keeping a journal on paper again and was amused by the novelty. However, I can't tell you how glad I was to have printed out all relevant emails, confirmations, and tickets (along with receipts!) that I had arranged before we left on the trip. Several times, they became VERY important to have to hand.

Hüseyin Aga Camii

We walked from Taksim Square to the Galata tower, taking in the sights and sounds (I have too many pictures of the buildings along the way, as I was fascinated by how lovely so many of them were!)

Along the way we went inside to see St Anthony of Padua Cathedral (link is a cool 360 photograph- not mine) and we also, just to be ecumenical, stopped to see a small but lovely old mosque Hüseyin Aga Camii built in 1597. We hunted up the locations of a few places to visit the following day and then we took the little tram from Galata all the way back up to Taksim Square.

lightly battered shrimp- very yum

We found a very nice Chinese restaurant, full with a lot of locals, where we had lunch. The food was made by a real Chinese chef and was wonderful, though the decor was seemingly an afterthought. Still, the prices were reasonable the food delicious, and so for me "Life was Good."

C& S arrived safe and sound and best of all with no problems. They checked in and then we all went for a short walk, then on to dinner at Haci Baba restaurant. (if you click the link, we sat at the middle table next to the window!)

end of tour downpour

We all made an early night of it and we off and running shortly after breakfast to visit Dolmabahçe Palace. We decided to walk, as C& S expressed a need to stretch their legs after 19 hours in an airplane. So walk we did from our hotel to the Bosphorus! Then we walked the whole of the Palace tour. When we finished it was pouring rain, so we decided to visit the little clock museum and the 'crystal palace' which turned out to be a (newly opened to the public) lovely Victorian solarium in one of the houses in the palace grounds.

Were it not for the rain we might have missed both! The clock museum was filled with amazing treasures, both Ottoman and European, gorgeous unique clocks (at least one of which took a whole lifetime to build) very nicely displayed.

Kamondo Staircase

From the palace we made our way to the Metro and took the T1 from Beşiktaş to Karaköy. Originally we'd thought of continuing on the metro and taking the second oldest underground rail line, Tünel, (1875; after the London underground in 1863!) but we took the amazing (and iconic thanks to Cartier-Bresson's photo) Kamondo staircase (1870) instead, finding yet another little piece of art nouveau tucked away in the city.

We made it to the Galata tower again, (from the other direction this time) and C & S went to the top. (as T is not fond of heights and I'd been up there already years ago, we stayed below in a little cafe and had a glass of fresh pressed orange juice..)

tea at the Pera Palac

From the tower, we decided on a short walk to the venerable Pera Palace Hotel, there to have our version of "tea". Two of us had lovely cocktails whilst those of us with real brilliance decided to try the profiteroles. (and, oh my, were they amazing.)

I was one of the brilliant ones. (see my profiteroles with incredible chocolate sauce, below. They were so good, I have nothing to compare them with!)

profiteroles to die for

We sat in the main salon and listened to classical music and took in the ambiance. SO cool. The room had enormously high ceilings making for a rich and wonderful musical sound.

I could imagine myself in an Agatha Christie novel, and expected to see Hercule Poirot step into the room at any moment.

We decided, since we were so close- even though we were pretty well walked out- to go across the street and see the Frieda Kahlo/Diego Rivera exhibit at the Pera Museum.

It was there that I had a little senior moment, as when the lady was about to sell us the tickets, she asked if any of us were students or over 60, and three hands went up, whilst I started to say I wasn't 60 yet... only to remember that in fact I was creeping up on 62!! Ah the irony! The last time I was in Istanbul, I wasn't even 50!! Of course I took a great deal of crap for the rest of the afternoon, from the three hand raiser "over sixties" on that boo-boo.

The exhibits were wonderful but we were totally blown out of the water with the Scenes from Tsarist Russia exhibit offered from the State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg , with paintings from the 19 century, in the period of Russian realism. It was stunning. (it also shined a spotlight on the life of the average man and what it meant to be a serf! Almost makes you understand the Russian revolution.)

After that we all knew it was time to take a little rest before we went out for dinner. Thankfully. We all napped well for a couple of hours.

We opted to walk back to Istikal street and search out a place for dinner. Dinner ended up not so special - and fairly expensive as "we" decided to listen to the "very nice man" who walked along side of us and directed us to his restaurant. [Reminder to self: NEVER eat in a restaurant where there are no other people...really.] T and I had misgivings but we figured it was probably going to be a good lesson early on in the trip for C & S. It was.

After dinner we walked around a bit and took in the lights and made our farewells to Beyoğlu.

The next morning we were packed and ready to check out by 9. Our transport showed up on time and swept us off in comfort to Sabiha Gökçen International Airport on the Anatolian side of the Bosphorus.

And a fine welcome to Asia it was!

Tomorrow I'll write a bit more about the next leg of the journey, but I'll close with a few more pictures from our time in Beyoğlu.

Galata neighborhood

T, C & S walking past a tobacco seller

hanging out my hotel balcony in the rain

Santa Ottoman Hotel

Galata tower at night

Memorial (with Atatürk) Taksim Square

Dolmabahçe in the rain

more Dolmabahçe in the rain

the Palace guard

the Bosphorus

newly restored ceiling in Pera Palace Hotel

Taksim Square at night

Young Turks protesting politely

side street near our hotel

we're having fun!

Nostagia isn't what it used to be

2011-03-10T15:39:00.001+02:00

We were going back to Turkey- but this time with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law- and were trying very hard to create a trip that would show them the best of why we chose to move there and stay (in spite of the "work" part...)

T and I left Corfu on the early morning flight, in order to make our connections. This involved, of course, a significant amount of waiting around while in the Athens airport.

The good news: there is an excellent bookstore in the airport. The bad news: if you buy heavy books at the start of your trip, you have to drag them around for the whole trip.

T bought the Millennium series by Stieg Larsson.
Total number of pages in trilogy: 1949. Still it gave us something to do while waiting.

Finally we arrived in Istanbul. Our first impression was not the typical chaos we remembered but the generic chaos that goes with most arrivals in "any" airport. Everything looked new. Passport control was fairly organized. Rather than a small table off to the side, there was now a "visa" window just next to passport control. Quick and easy visa purchase and then on to the relatively short wait at passport control for the arrival stamp.

Luggage was actually waiting at carousel. (unlucky with choice of luggage cart as it had the same problem so many grocery carts seem to have wherein one wheel operates in an alternate universe. Problem solved while T went to change money, I found a replacement cart.)

On exiting we were confronted with around 90 placards with all names but our own. It took several tries over a period of about 15 minutes, but we finally connected with our free shuttle to our hotel.

First impressions of Istanbul were that it was VERY much changed. The airport and the highway to the city were much better organized. We passed several HUGE shopping malls and literally, an entire new city of tower apartment blocks. The current population (13,120,596 in 2010) seems to be into shopping!

Then suddenly we came around a corner of the Kennedy Caddesi and there was the Bosphorus!

Of course there were hundreds of cargo ships moving slowly in the distance. The Bosphorus is like a giant airport for ships picking up and delivering cargo. Turkey is one of the few countries that remains self sufficient and can feed itself.

Among the products produced (though one would think from the local street touts that it's mostly carpets, leather jackets and tourist plates...) the manufacture of textiles is Turkey's largest industry (Domestic cotton and wool provide much of the raw material for the industry) Also produced for export, sugar, flour, processed meat and milk, and fruits and vegetables as well as iron and steel, boron products, caustic soda, chlorine, industrial chemicals, sodium phosphates and automobile parts.

That certainly fills a lot of container ships.

As we continued along we saw the ancient walls of the city, fortified by all and sundry... for more than two thousand years. The original Byzantium was founded in 667 BC by colonists from Megara, and obviously considerably built on for the next two thousand years!

I was fascinated to discover from my good friend Wikipedia that :

"the peninsula was settled thousands of years earlier than previously thought. Thracian tribes established two settlements—Lygos and Semistra—on the Sarayburnu, near where Topkapı Palace now stands, between the 13th and 11th centuries BC. On the Asian side, artifacts have been found in Fikirtepe (present-day Kadıköy) that date back to the Chalcolithic period. The same location was the site of a Phoenician trading post at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC as well as the town of Chalcedon, which was established by Greek settlers from Megara in 685 BC."

Finally we were nearing our destination which was the original European outpost in the city: The Galata area, and Beyoglu.

As we neared our destination the view out the window reminded us that we had missed lunch.

Street food is abundant and really cheap in Istanbul! (basically the exchange was 1 euro to just a touch over 2 TL which pretty much meant that it was simple to divide the price in half and figure out how much you were actually spending.)

view from a balcony window

So finally we arrived and settled into the Santa Ottoman Hotel, near Taksim Square (5 minutes) and Istikal Street.(3 minutes). The room was lovely. We had two wonderful balcony windows and a heavenly memory foam mattress bed.

On arrival I texted an old friend and we arranged to meet at 7:30 for dinner. Then we took a wander out to discover the wonders of Istikal Street. Istikal street NEVER sleeps. There are people going somewhere, either up or down the street all day and all night.

We wandered along with the crowds. I'll end today's post with a few pictures from out wanderings, and tell you that we had a great evening with our friend and had a brilliant dinner at Refik. Tomorrow will be more of our next couple of days in Istanbul (on the Galata side of the bridge, and our departure to Izmir)


Greek Embassy Consulate on Istikal (main Embassy is in Ankara)

Çiçek Pasajı

lovely art nouveau window above pasaji exit (duplicate above entrance as well)

St Antoine Church, Beyoglu, Istanbul

(for you Nina!) I ate one every day.

Galata Tower

and last but not least... where we had our lovely dinner:

tres tasty!

Excursions in my own mind

2011-03-09T23:41:00.000+02:00

From whatever place I write you will expect that part of my "Travels" will consist of excursions in my own mind.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1809

Galata tower and bridge from Topkapi Palace

Home at last, and finally. Not just "arrived" with all the luggage and the laundry, which was, actually, on Monday- but finally I feel here solid and re-rooted in my own soil today.

There always seems to be a certain disconnect when traveling between places and finally arriving. Maybe it's because travel is so fast. Flying time between Corfu and Istanbul is a mere hour and 50 minutes. Of course the airport waits and transfers and posturing is much longer.

Needless to say the dog was ecstatic on our return. She likes us both to be in the same room with her, so she doesn't have to keep track of where we are.

For sure, we had a marvelous time.

Turkey was as complicated and confusing and multi-layered as ever, with the same wonderful energy, charm and hospitality we remembered so well from our time there. (Our surprise was that it was much better organized than when we lived there, as well as much more modern and updated. In it's heart though, it was just the same...)

We kept fairly close to our initial itinerary schedule, surprisingly enough, to my way of thinking, as it was only an outline of suggested things to do and see. Still it was an outline that worked and so we all fell into it. We only made a few changes and that because of time and circumstance.

For me the surprise was that all my arrangements worked fantastically well! (with a few caveats in hindsight)

- We had three great yet very different hotels- all very recommendable!;
- The shuttles all showed up and worked nicely- both private ones and hotel shuttles (six separate shuttles to three different airports!);
- Our domestic flights within Turkey were great (Surprised and very pleased with Istanbul's "other" airport);
- Fortunately we connected with many old friends both in Istanbul and Izmir;
- The car hire worked out well (if a little roughly at first when we realized the car did not initially come with a map!) The fiat Doblo (diesel) is a basic and fairly comfortable car (LOTS of space for 4 people and their junk) to tour Turkey's back roads and ancient archeological ruins. It's not pretty but it's cheap and did the job.

And finally, once we figured out the new highway system in and around Izmir, driving was actually not as bad as we thought it would be. (sadly that "figuring out" part only happened the last couple of days... on our way to Pergamom we got lost following what we thought were the highway signs and ended up in a bird sanctuary. Nevertheless we persevered!)

My greatest regret was that I dragged my laptop along, which turned out to be as useful as a doorstop. In spite of free wi-fi at all our hotels, my laptop pretended it didn't understand what was going on whenever I entered the password of the hotel.

It did work once, when I found a technician the second day in Istanbul, and he connected with no problem- to an open and unprotected wi-fi signal. (I will have to figure out how to solve this problem. It would seem that when my computer was "wiped" and everything re-installed, that particular memory didn't quite awaken in the same way as it had existed previously...)

So this is the first post, but more will follow tomorrow, as I am trying to sort through about 800 pictures (t and i took separate cameras... so he could take HIS pictures, and I could take mine...) As my computer was pretty worthless I went back to my old fashioned journal keeping of years past, in a little spiral notebook. Except of course that my handwriting seems to have morphed into squiggles that resemble a cross between a doctors script, shorthand and a kind of Arabic swoop that makes it harder to interpret as the time between writing and interpretation gets farther apart.

The last thing I have to say is that, while in the Athens airport (lo-ong delay before our flight to Istanbul) T in his infinite wisdom purchased all three volumes of Stieg Larsson's Millennium series (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo; The Girl Who Played With Fire; The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest) These books have totally consumed both of us!! Really well written, and completely addictive, with a really unique and original character - not typical in most thrillers. Anyway, I will recommend them to you with a caveat- they are violent in parts but I will also say that these books grab you and hold on to you right through the end.

So, more tomorrow!

Well I seem to have skipped the rest of January

2011-02-20T19:24:00.001+02:00

But all is not lost!

I've spent the better part of last month making all the arrangements (hotels, domestic air tickets, car rental, hotels) for our adventure.

T spent his time wisely and called old friends in Turkey so we could try and get together!!

foggy sunrise a few days ago

Tomorrow we leave on the early morning Aegean flight for Athens and tomorrow afternoon we arrive at Attaturk airport at 3 in the afternoon.

I am SO excited.

We haven't been to visit for almost 15 years. It will be so nice revisiting old friends and familiar places!

We bought the house here on Corfu, just shortly before we moved from Izmir to Copenhagen. (we couldn't bear to leave the region and we had fallen in love with Corfu.

Still we would probably have never found Corfu if we hadn't lived in Turkey, so I have a special thankfulness in my heart for our time there.

Our house sitter is here and the dog and cats are happy. (as is our house sitter - he loves darts, so we put a regulation dart board downstairs in our guest apartment were he'll be staying!) This is a totally win-win situation as we have someone to keep the house running smoothly, the dog and cats have someone to annoy, and our house sitter will be able to play darts and watch sky tv to his hearts delight.

So this is what I did over the past month... I made all the arrangements for THIS! (except for C& S tickets from Seattle... they did that part!)

Our Itinerary:

Monday- February 21 brother-in-law and sister-in-law ( C & S) depart Seattle 1:30 PM

Monday- February 21 T and I depart CFU arrive IST 15:00 PM

Airport pick-up (by free hotel shuttle) Check-in Santa Ottoman Hotel Taksim Square (poor C & S will be stuck in an airplane, while we hopefully have dinner with old friend in Beyoglu.)

Tuesday- February 22 C & S arrive IST (via FRA) 4:40 PM (16:40)

Airport pick-up (by free hotel shuttle) Check in Santa Ottoman Hotel Taksim Square. After dropping off bags, we take a walk down the famous Istikal Street in Beyoglu and down into the Galata area.

Dinner at a nice "inexpensive" restaurant and early night.

Wednesday February 23 Breakfast at hotel then sightseeing.

[Choices include any or all: Dolmabache Palace (hrs 9:00-5:00); Galata Tower, (hrs 9:00- 8:00); Museum of Modern Art (hrs 10:00-6:00); Visit to the Mevlevi Monastery (hrs 9:30-4:30) lovely garden and cemetery (the rest of the monastery may be closed for renovation?); and, maybe a peek at the newly renovated to its former splendor, Pera Palace Hotel. Or maybe the Pera Museum (10-6) to see Maria Callas grand piano – (special exhibition is Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera!). Of course there are other things to see and do, checkout the links to Galata Area above!]

Thursday- February 24 Check out of Santa Ottoman Hotel around 8:30- 9:00.

Take private arranged (we pay) shuttle to Istanbul Sabiha Gocken International Airport (SAW) for our flight 12:50 departure to Izmir. (private shuttle for 4 people is cheaper, cleaner, safer and more comfortable than a taxi)

Arrive Izmir 13:50. Rental car reserved at airport. (hopefully.)

T will drive us to the Balcova Thermal Hotel in Izmir. (access to the hot spring "Baths of Agamemnon" to swim in!)

Spend rest of day scoping out our environment and maybe driving into Izmir for dinner (tho apparently dinner and breakfast comes with our hotel rooms- boy, did I make a good deal!) As the Archaeological Museum is close by, we might take the opportunity to drop in and see the loot from many of the sites we’ll be visiting.

Friday- February 25 Drive to Priene, Miletus and Didyma to visit the ancient cities (may include Euromos, Iassos and Labranda).

Eat en route (either picnic or small restaurant) Return to hotel and do dinner and/or go into town and meet with Turkish friends (group will meet us at hotel - we may just stay there and catch up!)

Saturday- February 26 Drive to Pergamon (aka Bergama)

As there are three parts to the city it will probably take the better part of the day to see. Dinner will either be at the hotel or in Izmir. Will meet with more Turkish friends.

Sunday- February 27 Drive to Ephesus (history), Selcuk (museum) and

Maryamana (house of the virgin Mary (yes, I know, the URL link SAYS “cappadoccia”, but it’s not)

If we have time we’ll drive to the seaside town of Kusadasi (means “bird island”) and have a bite to eat, hoping no birds are directly overhead.

Monday- February 28 HAPPY BIRTHDAY dear bro-in law!!

This is the day we drive to Sardis. It’s a very nice archaeological site but not too big so it shouldn’t take up the whole day.

Tuesday- March 1 HAPPY 42 ANNIVERSARY T& Me ! !

Check out of hotel 8:30 ish, and drive to airport in plenty of time to return the car and check in for return flight to Istanbul (dep 11:20)

Arrive Istanbul (SAW) 12:20 and take private shuttle service to Sultanahmet and check in to the AyaSofia Hotel. Ask where a good place to have dinner would be! Then take a little sightseeing walk. Maybe visit Hagia Sofia (open 9:00-4:30), and perhaps (around the corner) the Cistern, Yerebatan Sarayi (9:00-5:00).

Wednesday- March 2 Topkapi Palace (9- 7) and the Archaeological Museums. (9-7)

Thursday – March 3 Blue Mosque (9-7) cannot enter during prayer time, Sulemaniye Mosque (8-6:30), Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar (day to wear thick socks as must remove shoes)

Friday- March 4 Chora (9:30-6:30), Mosaic Museum (9:30-4:30), Old city walls

(no mosques cause it’s the Muslim prayer day))

Saturday March 5 Catch up day to see (or re-see) anything missed. Do Turkish Bath?

Or for anything C & S particularly want to see or do.

Or anything needing a second look (also shopping)

Sunday March 6 Relax catch up and pack

(as C & S will be in a state of NON sleep for the bulk of the night.)

Monday March 7 C & S fly out of Istanbul 5:45 AM.

Hotel will arrange free shuttle to airport. (will include a wake up call for C & S…) am guessing departure from hotel around 3 AM. Gaa.

T and Me depart Istanbul for Athens, 15:50 (obviously a more civilized hour).

We return to Corfu 19:15. (sigh)

and All's well that ends well!

Happy Epiphany (with a lead in to Carnival!)

2011-01-06T12:50:00.001+02:00

The word epiphany means “manifestation” or “revelation" and is commonly linked in Western Christianity with the visit of the wise men (Magi) to the Christ child.

Customs are unique in different parts of the world, but I'll give you my favorite ones from customs I am familiar with...

~~~

Ireland:
Little Christmas (Irish: Nollaig Bheag) is one of the traditional names in Ireland for January 6, more commonly known in the rest of the world as the Celebration of the Epiphany. It is so called because it was the day on which Christmas Day was celebrated under the Julian calendar, before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. It is the traditional end of the Christmas season and the last day of the Christmas holidays for both primary and secondary schools in Ireland.

Little Christmas is also called Women's Christmas (Irish: Nollaig na mBan), and sometimes Women's Little Christmas. The tradition, still very strong in Cork and Kerry is so called because of the Irish men taking on all the household duties for the day. Most women hold parties or go out to celebrate the day with their friends, sisters, mothers, and aunts. Bars and restaurants serve mostly women and girls on this night. Children often buy presents for their mothers and grandmothers.

Belgium:
The Dutch and Flemish call this day Drie Koningen, German speakers call it "Dreikönigstag" (Three Kings' Day). In the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany, children in groups of three (symbolising the three kings) proceed in costume from house to house while singing songs typical for the occasion, and receiving a coin or some sweets at each door. They may each carry a paper lantern symbolizing the star. [26] In some places, especially Holland, these troops gather for competitions and present their skits/songs for an audience. As in France, Koningentaart (Kings' tart), puff pastry with almond filling, is prepared with a bean or coin hidden inside. Whoever finds the bean in his or her piece is king or queen for the day. A more typically Dutch version is Koningenbrood, or Kings' bread. Another Low Countries tradition on Epiphany is to open up doors and windows to let good luck in for the coming year.

Greece:
In Greece, Cyprus and the Greek diaspora throughout the world, the feast is colloquially called the "Phōta" (Greek: Φώτα, "Lights") and customs revolve around the Great Blessing of the Waters. It marks the end of the traditional ban on sailing, as the tumultuous winter seas are cleansed of the mischief-prone "kalikántzaroi", the goblins that try to torment God-fearing Christians through the festive season. At this ceremony, a cross is also thrown into the water, and the men present clamour to retrieve it for good luck. The Phota form the middle of another festive triduum, together with Epiphany Eve, January 6 (and eve of January 5), when children sing the Epiphany carols, and the great feast of St. John the Baptist on January 7 (and eve of January 6), when the numerous Johns and Joans celebrate their name-day.

In the USA:

There are many customs, but I like the one in Louisiana the best as it segues into my last bit of information on the holiday....

Epiphany is the beginning of the Carnival season, during which it is customary to bake King Cakes, similar to the Rosca. It is round in shaped, filled with cinnamon, glazed white, and coated in traditional carnival color sanding sugar. The person who finds the doll (or bean) must provide the next king cake. The interval between Epiphany and Mardi Gras is sometimes known as "king cake season", and many may be consumed during this period.

The Carnival season begins on King's Day (Epiphany), and there are many traditions associated with that day in Louisiana and along the Catholic coasts of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. King cakes are first sold then, Carnival krewes begin having their balls on that date, and the first New Orleans krewe parades in street cars that night.

And, as a heads up to all of you out there, mark your calendars for making party plans!!

2011 Greek Carnival Dates

Triodion: Sunday, February 12th
Tsiknopempti or "Burnt Thursday": February 24th
Tsiknopempti Weekend: Friday, February 25th - Sunday, February 27th
Main Carnival Weekend: Friday, March 4th - Sunday, March 6th
Clean Monday: Monday, March 7th

March 9 - Ash Wednesday
April 17 - Palm Sunday
April 21 - Maundy (Holy) Thursday
April 22 - Good Friday
April 24 - Easter Sunday (Western Christianity - Roman Catholic, Anglican Communion, Protestant Churches, etc.)
April 24 - Easter Sunday (Orthodox Christianity - Eastern Orthodox Churches)

40 days before the beginning of Lent, Carnival begins on a Saturday evening with the opening of the Triodion, a book containing three sacred odes. This is a religious moment not generally observed outside of the church itself, so don't expect a sudden party to erupt.

The Friday, Saturday, and Sunday preceding "Clean Monday" usually offer vigorous parties, parades, and traditional events wherever Carnival is celebrated. In larger towns or cities "known" for Carnival, such as Rethimno or Patras, the previous weekend will also be filled with activities.

The last Sunday of the Carnival period is known as "Cheese-eating Sunday" or Tyrofagos as no meat products are allowed at this time. Macaroni is often served on this day. Surprisingly enough, the word "macaroni" is not Italian, but comes from the Greek words macaria or "blessed", and aeronia or "eternal". Thus, "macaroni". The preceding day, Saturday, is a special service for the dead in Orthodox churches, and part of the rites includes the making of grain dishes, probably a survival of the ancient rites of Demeter. Thus, "macaroni".

"Clean Monday" or Kathari Deftera, is the actually the first day of Lent (Sarakosti). While a holiday atmosphere still prevails, the foods consumed are all "pure", without the shedding of blood. But this allows cuttlefish and squid, fish roe, and other items. "Lagana" is a flat bread traditionally served on this day.

"Burnt Thursday" or Tsiknopempti is celebrated eleven days before the start of Lent. The "Burnt" part refers to the grilling of meats, a big part of the celebration of this day. The weekend following "Burnt Thursday" will also have parties and other events; technically, that Sunday is the last allowable day for eating meat and is sometimes called "Meat-eating Sunday". The best Greek restaurants will be crowded on this day - but seafood places are a safe bet to have tables available!

In Greece, Carnival dates are tied to Greek Orthodox Easter, which is usually different from Western Easter. Every few years, both calendars will coincide, this seems to be one of those years!

The most vigorous Carnival partying is on the weekend prior to the end of the Carnival season. This is followed by Clean Monday or "Ash Monday", a generally family-oriented day where, picnics and kite-flying prevail. "Clean Monday" is the last day of Carnival for the Greeks. "Fat Tuesday" does not exist in Greece - Burnt Thursday is its closest parallel.

The Greeks pretty much invented Carnival. Most carnival-related events are connected with the ancient worship of the Greek god of wine and divine intoxication, Dionysus. The processions, costuming, and feasting all derive from ancient ceremonies honoring him and other Greek gods and goddesses, though some claim parts of it, including the carrying of models of ships in processions, date back to similar rites in Ancient Egypt.

After the gorging- or what to do with leftovers...

2011-01-04T18:19:00.001+02:00

So you decide to cook a ham.

But there's only 2 of you.

Still it tastes SO good and it's a holiday and something special is in order. On the other hand what do you DO with all that leftover ham???

Of course there's always the traditional ham and eggs for breakfast ... or maybe a nice ham and cheese quiche, with a couple left over to freeze...

Or sandwiches, with lettuce and tomato.... or Ham and bean soup... OR BOTH!

Yes. I made some great white bean and ham soup! I sort of winged it, but of course that's the beauty of soup.

My white bean and ham soup

2 (15.5 ounce-ish) jars great northern beans, rinsed and drained

2 medium carrots, grated

2 celery branches small dice

1 parsnip grated

1 small onion, chopped

1 potato small dice

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

2 1/4 cups chicken broth (homemade)

1 1/2 cups cubed fully cooked ham

salt & pepper

1 or 2 T green chili paste (or chopped green chilies in a jar or can- we like spicy so I added a smidge more.)

fresh chopped parsley

In a large saucepan, saute the carrots, celery, parsnip, potato and onion in butter. Stir in the chicken broth, ham, seasonings and the beans; bring to boil then simmer over medium-low heat about 1 hour. Add parsley the last 10 minutes before serving. (of course you can totally do your beans from dried- soak over night and rinse and add to pot...) This is VERY good. It is also good for you. (It's nice to eat something and feel all sanctimonious afterwards...)

~~~
and there is STILL a little bit of ham left. (sigh)

Right. Tomorrow it's Hoppin' John!! (black-eyed peas, ham and rice!) THAT should finish it off!

Do any of you have some good ideas of what to do with leftover ham?? I'd really love to hear!

... Ham Stories

2011-01-01T17:14:00.001+02:00

Sadly, this is not a post about crazy Uncle Cecil and his amazing family burlesque show ... rather this post is for my Corfu friends who were impressed with my ham wrangling. It's a sort of 'photo doc' recipe for putting one together. (for the sake of the blog, I made another one for Christmas... and it was wonderful.)

So, here is the where, how, and what I did to make it happen. (sort of like the olive harvest to the oil pressing post )

This is the place I go to pick it up. (On the Paleocastritsa road, a little ways past the Casa Lucia sign, on the right hand side - with Town behind you- just next to the gas station.)

The interior of the place with the very nice gentleman (and his family) who run it. Obviously he sells many other pork things. He speaks a bit of English and he is charming.

The "ham" (aka gammon) Three kilos (+) was under 25 euros.

The before soaking and after soaking: fill a big pot with apple juice and refill the carton with water. Make sure the ham is covered completely. (I'm sure you could use cider as well. I have also just used water which works fine too) Put it in the refrigerator and let it soak for about 24 hours.

Empty the pot and remove the ham. Tie ham into a hamlike shape- don't use colored or plastic string. (you might have to cut a few pieces off but LEAVE the skin on!) Next put it back in the pot and refill with water. Cover the ham. Bring to a boil and skim. Leave to very slow boil for about 90 minutes for a 3 + kilo (about 6.5 lbs) ham, roughly 10 minutes a pound. Let cool and if not cooking refrigerate pot and all. For all intents and purposes you now have a "cooked" ham, and you CAN eat it.

But, this is the best part; take the ham out of its cooking juice (it will probably be a bit jellyfied, or at least thicker than water. I keep about two cups back to make gravy). Carefully cut the string off and very gently with a sharp knife cut the thick skin off the top of the fat, leaving the fat on the ham.

Turn the oven on at 160C/350F and preheat. Put the ham in a casserole or baking dish. Assemble the ingredients for the glaze.

For the glaze I used honey, dark brown sugar, seedy mustard, dijon mustard and soya sauce. I don't have a recipe- sometimes I use marmalade instead of the seedy mustard and soya sauce, (use whatever tastes right to you....) Don't make too much of it, though. (based on previous experience...)

Bake ham in the oven for about an hour or so. (it's cooked, you just want to heat it up.) Slather the ham with glaze for the last 10 minutes.

Ta-da! That was our Christmas dinner (which we actually had on Monday cause we both had a bad cold on Christmas Day...)

Happy birthday 2011!

2011-01-01T16:30:00.001+02:00

broadbeans (fava) growing in the garden in January...

One of the very best things about living in Corfu is the mild winters. The climate allows for a year round growing season.

In November T planted broadbeans (aka fava beans), and cauliflower, onions and chard, as well as parsley, parsnips and beets. (The first year we lived here we made the mistake of planting them in the spring, of course the poor things bolted and died long before they matured or else they just stayed in the ground hiding from the really hot summer sun.)

This month he'll plant potatoes and garlic. I am really looking forward to that harvest in the spring time. Nature always gives us something marvelous to look forward to.

We are also looking forward to our planned vacation at the end of February. (Yes we ARE odd.) We are joining my brother-in-law and his delightful wife on a trip to Turkey!!

The timing worked out perfectly all of us. My brother-in-law has a birthday on the last day of February and of course, it's our anniversary on the first of March... so we'll have a double celebration! As his business is landscaping, the timing is geared for his "slow" time. But it works out perfectly for us as we have always preferred to travel "off season".

There are so many things to see and do in Turkey and our fortnight visit will, of course, only scratch the surface... still it will be nice to see some favorite places again and share them with family.

We lived in Turkey for about 5 years, back in the 90's, so it will be interesting to see it again with fresh eyes.

We have all booked our flights but I am still hammering out, via the internet, our details of where to stay, how we're getting from point A to point B (and where point B is exactly...) as well as trying to discover "moderately priced" domestic Turkish travel that doesn't include expensive airline tickets and taxi rides nor leave us exclusively at the mercy of hostels and no star hotels. (It would be nice to be making this trip as a much younger person!!)

For sure we'll spend some time in Istanbul and then we'll be getting ourselves to Izmir. Somewhere in there we'll probably rent a car (tho NOT in Istanbul!) and try and visit some of our favorite places with Izmir as the jumping off point.
~~~

Meanwhile, we got lucky with the timing and a good friend (who knows the house and its foibles AND can deal with them!) will be staying in our house taking care of Balou -who can't come with us- and our friend fortunately also knows how to "herd" our cats without losing his mind. All in all, a win-win situation!

We will also be having house guests before we go...

- The previous "father" of Balou will be visiting for about a week in January
- and a young friend who will be working in Italy will come and stay for a visit on the January-February cusp.

This feels like the best way to start out the new year... looking forward to travel and friends while at the same time grounding yourself in your own back yard. (or "ground", as it were...)

There are other nefarious happy things in the future, which I will no doubt share as we get closer to the timing of it all but for now 2011 is looking pretty good! So again, I say "Happy Birthday, 2011!"

...And a Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T18:16:00.001+02:00

last night's Corfu sunset from the kitchen door

Yes. Well.

It may seem like I have forgotten this blog (or relegated it to the Well of Souls) but actually since my last post I have had my computer "fixed".

Having an older laptop with XP as my aging operating system, things began to seriously become undone. It was possible to check the email and touch base on facebook, but anything requiring doing two things at the same time would cause the computer to crash.

Steadily things got worse until I finally broke down and took it in to my gracious computer tech guy where upon he told me that things were starting to "degrade" (as in photos on my computer were starting to become inaccessible and programs were starting to fail) and I would have to "DO something!".

What this meant was that it was a good thing I'd invested in the re-installation CD's as we had to :"wipe" poor Ms Laptop who had started to develop Altzheimer's, and reinstall my same old XP program again. (this time without all the Dell junk I never used) Of course we also had to find all the other programs and the updates for the old programs and, and, and...

As for a New Years' Recommendation of "Needful Things to make 2011 a better year"- I recommend a little USB back up hard drive.

I finally purchased a nifty little back up hard drive, which is about the size of a pack of cards and I recommend to all and sundry BUY ONE, and back-up all your photos and important documents. ASAP (Unless of course you are one of those "Ant" people, and already have one, as opposed to the rest of us "Grasshopper" sorts who didn't.)

I have now obviously done this, in a proper Ant-like way, but unfortunately I did lose some photos before I could back it all up. Bummer.

Lesson learned.

Anyway, much of my seemingly cold shoulder to the blog has been because I have been first struggling with my computer, then going through the trauma of trying to save as much as possible on CD's, then taking my baby to the computer doctor to be "wiped". And finally relearning my computer (who is not the same "person" since the lobotomy), and then trying to find the discs to the old printer and other programs (still not up to speed on a lot of stuff), updating all and sundry, ... Oh yeah, and baking cookies, making quiches, cooking holiday meals and generally being a bit of a seasonal bon vivant.

So today I end this year and say, "I am glad you are over 2010". Between the collapsed septic field, the dried up well and other water issues, moving my mother across the US, the mini wind sheer that made a hole in the roof and took out half of our yucca trees, and of course the computer "fail" that I've just been through, I am thinking that 2011, even as an unknown, is looking pretty good!

For what it's worth, Happy New Year to all and sundry, and may all your toasts be true!

Tomorrow I will try and do a bit of a catch up overview of the past month that does not include technology issues.

Celebrating International Men's Day...

2010-11-19T12:34:00.001+02:00

In spite of the rainy day today, when I found out it was International Men's Day today, I figured we'd just have to have a celebration!

I figured I would honor T with a favorite meal meal of his (I'm thawing two frozen lobster tails that were being saved for JUST such an occasion...).

I would also write a post on what a great idea it is to celebrate this day! Considering I have 3 sons and 2 grandsons, I feel I have a vested interest in the day. (Plus, though it's not "yet" celebrated in Greece, it's celebrated in the US and Ireland!! so it "sort of" reflects life and times, eh?)

A little background from Wikipedia:

Calls for an International Men's Day have been noted since at least the 1960s when it was reported that "many men have been agitating privately to make Feb 23 International Men's Day, the equivalent of March 8, which is International Women's day" In the early 1990s, organizations in the United States, Australia and Malta held small events in February at the invitation of Professor Thomas Oaster who directed the Missouri Center for Men's Studies at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. Oaster successfully promoted the event in 1994, but his following attempt in 1995 was poorly attended and he ceased plans to continue the event in subsequent years.

Whilst the Australians also ceased to observe the event again until November 19, 2003, only the Maltese Association for Men's Rights continued to observe the event each year in February. As the only remaining country still observing the earlier February celebration, the Maltese AMR Committee voted in 2009 to shift the date of their observation to November 19 in synchrony with all other countries celebrating on a single date.

According to its creators, International Men’s Day is a time to highlight discrimination against men and boys in areas of health, family law, education, media or other areas and to project their positive contributions and achievements. During past years the method of commemorating International Men's Day included public seminars, classroom activities at schools, radio and television programs, peaceful displays and marches, debates, panel discussions, and art displays. The manner of observing this annual day is optional, and any appropriate forums can be used. Early pioneers of IMD reminded that the day is not intended to compete against International Women's Day, but is for the purpose of highlighting men's experiences. Each year a secondary theme/s is suggested, such as peace in 2002, men’s health in 2003, healing and forgiveness in 2007, or positive male role models in 2009, although it is not compulsory to adopt these themes and participants are welcome to come up with their own to suit their needs and local concerns. In 2009 the following broad objectives were ratified as a basis for all International Men’s Day observations:

To promote positive male role models; not just movie stars and sports men but everyday, working class men who are living decent, honest lives.
To celebrate men’s positive contributions to society, community, family, marriage, child care, and to the environment.
To focus on men’s health and wellbeing; social, emotional, physical and spiritual.
To highlight discrimination against men; in areas of social services, social attitudes and expectations, and law.
To improve gender relations and promote gender equality.
To create a safer, better world; where people can be safe and grow to reach their full potential

According to Mens Activism News Network, International Men's Day interfaces with Universal Children's Day on November 20 and forms a 48 hour celebration firstly of men, then children respectively, with a recognition of the bonds between them.

Here, here! And a big "thank you!" to all the good guys in the world!

Our olive harvest

2010-11-17T16:21:00.000+02:00

time to harvest!

Checking the weather, we discovered a block of what appeared to be four days of decent weather exactly at the time we had decided to harvest our olives.

We'd impatiently been looking for a new olive press, as our old press had finally given up the ghost and decided NOT to open this year.

We couldn't pick the olives until we'd found a press that was open! Finally, through the "garden center" in the Ropa valley, we found one in Gardellades. It was only about an extra five minutes from the house which all things considered, was pretty good!

The weather was sunny and between 22C and 25C (72 F-77 F) which was ideal and only a little warm.

T got everything organized and ready and 8:30 Saturday morning we were doing the first tree.

falling like rain

Raking the olives off the branches with three different sized rakes. Also with hands (but more leaves come off that way... and you have to sort out the leaves!)

There were so many olives on the tree!

medium rake

We managed to get a pretty good rhythm going, we me on the ground getting all the low branches and T on the ladder getting the high ones.

just before the gather

We used three different sized rakes (the heads were pretty much the same size) to reach difficult places.

Of course there is a certain amount of eye hand coordination that you need to use, particularly when you are reaching over your head.

We only had three trees to gather from this year, but they were, as usual, bountiful. Luckily, we had all of them trimmed two years ago and the man who did it, knew what he was doing!! The tree branches were laden!

[Long rake is being used on tree on left]

ready to gather

By the end of Saturday (we had to wrap up early as we were going to a friend's house for Curry night (see previous post!) around 5, we'd finished the first tree and rolled up the nets in preparation for sorting the next day.

[Balou really tried to help. She was at her best though, holding down the nets so the olives couldn't escape...]

Sunday we were again out early to start raking and gathering. We got three good sized bags from the first tree and three from the second tree.

It's a simple process, you hand pick all the big dead branches out of the pile of olives, then with the sorter you shake the olives back and forth until the little bits of leaves fall through and you have "clean" olives...

except the sorter weights about 5 lbs and you fill it with about 20 lbs of olives and shake out at least two pounds of detritus.

It takes about 5 of the sorters to fill a bag just under 60 lbs. Each tree had 3 bags.

At the end of the day you can imagine how your shoulders feel!

clever way not to tear up the nets!

Monday was the third and final tree. Some friends who'd never harvested olives, came by and so I got up really early to start some spaghetti sauce and make a quick cake. Then we were at it again by 8:30. We finished up the last bagging of the second tree and started raking the olives off the last tree.

Our guests arrived and while my friend decided to sit and draw, Alex decided to help T with the raking of the last tree.

He was so excited he begged to come with us for the olive pressing! (As he is young and strong and speaks Greek, we figured he'd be a welcome addition...)

Meanwhile I started to collect some nice ripe olives to cure in brine. I'd already done some green olives and some big Kalama's from a neighbors tree.

By Monday night the olives were all in their bags and shut up in the trailer waiting for transport Tuesday morning.

We arrived at about 10 AM, and waited no more than 15 minutes.

They had a nice little waiting area with a tv, which would have been fine but for the NOISE of the business end of the press!

There was a lot of machinery in there!

Then we were told to back the trailer up to the sorter weighing machine and empty the olives into the press!

We were really glad Alex decided to come- not least because the bags were pretty heavy!

All our olives were finally in the hopper...

sorter scale at work.

the washed olives go into the weigh bucket, to be tallied each time the bucket was filled.

our olive weight! (576 lbs) The olive press kept our olives separate, and didn't mix them with anyone else's, so it was only our olives processed to make our oil.

our olives were in number 2...

Our olives being pulped and the blades hand sprayed with hot steam water (oil and water separate quite nicely!) The greener the olives the less oil. Many people think that the oil is much better with a mixture of green and black olives.

riper olives than ours were in vat number 3!! (our oil was WA-ay better)

Steaming mountain of pits outside the building. When cooled and dried it's used as fuel for the olive press!

Finally into the centrifuge to separate our oil.

Filling the carriers- we had two large cans and two five liter plastic carriers. We ended up with about 30 liters of olive oil (or 8 gallons).

Our emerald prize at the end of the three days. (well that and the sore muscles!)

End of October through mid-November: storms and stuff

2010-11-16T22:08:00.000+02:00

Yes! You're in luck, this is another 'catch up post' that takes us from "it was a dark and stormy night" to harvesting the olives (only that post is for tomorrow as this catch up post will probably take up all the space.)

So, since last I posted, we finally found a pumpkin for carving on Halloween.

- In fact we found the Great Pumpkin. Since we found it the day after the last post, we had to wait 10 days to carve it...

- We had a great time with some friends who came for dinner. I made a ham- the kind that takes three days to make!

the recipe - long overdue... sorry Angie!- (buy a "ham"; put it in a pot and cover it with a mixture of water and apple juice overnight in fridge; the next evening, drain and refill pot with water and boil gently for about 2 hours for a 6+ lb ham, let it sit in the hot water on stove overnight; Next day, remove from water (re-weigh!!) and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes per pound. Score fat and put honey-mustard glaze over ham for the last 20 minutes.)

- Went out to dinner with about 14 of our great neighbors to Godero and had a wonderful night. Our neighbor Jan and his lovely wife Lillian were our hosts. As it was a meze (starters) restaurant, we ordered at least one of everything on the menu. It was delightful and delicious.

- Finally Halloween arrived and we carved the pumpkin.

Our favorite little ones, came from Holland for a visit to see their dad and grandparents and stopped by on Sunday morning to carve the great pumpkin into TWO faces!

- Then, cut up pumpkin corpse the next day and LOTS of pureed pumpkin for muffins, pies, etc.

Made a terrific Thai pumpkin soup (well that's what I call it as it sort of became more Thai-like, than anything else.) out of some of it. This was about a third of the pumpkin cooking so I could puree and freeze it in 2 cup bags. (I had blisters on my hands from peeling and chopping that much pumpkin!)

- Discovered a great organic restaurant! Had a terrific meal and listened to Blues music by our friend and his band.

It got a lot more rollicking, after dinner and we stayed til the very end. Both the band and the restaurant called it a night at the same time.

- Had the garden tilled for our winter plantings.

We bought some seeds and a few sets. We'll have fava beans, and broccoli and cauliflower, chard, salad, parsley and onions. (hopefully by December-January). We've sprouted seeds under the grow light downstairs and hopefully will get them in the ground shortly.

- Had TWO huge scary storms back to back

that destroyed a lot of the yucca trees behind the fountain/waterfall. (you can't even see the pond for all the debris!)

The winds also tore an awning in half, and ripped tiles off the roof to leave a fair sized hole right above our bedroom! We had no electricity for just over 12 hours, but many on the island had no electricity for 24 hours.

- A local sailmaker resewed the awning

and my beloved 'fixed the hole, where the rain comes in' ("to keep my mind from wandering..." as the song says!)

It's a good thing he spent so much time up there this past August, sealing the roof! That's mostly why the whole thing didn't get blown off! (as you can see from the inside photo, it's not a very "sturdy" roof!)

- Most recently we went to a friends curry night on Saturday, wherein I made a really good shrimp curry. As it was a combination of two recipes and the ingredients I had on hand, I can only hope I remember it well enough to duplicate someday...

Mostly though what we did this past weekend and yesterday, was harvest the olives and today we had them pressed.

Tomorrow I will try and reconstruct the process and post a bit of what we did. Hopefully, adding a little 'show and tell' with pictures from the picking of the olives to the pressing at the olive press.

It was a dark and stormy night...

2010-10-21T14:19:00.000+03:00

This post was written the day before yesterday. I didn't post it because the three times I tried, the electricity went "poof!" and stayed off until I'd shut down and unplugged everything computer, so I gave up. Today seems to be working, so just imagine that it's two days ago, OK?

[or reading and writing by rechargeable flashlight]

"It was a dark and stormy night," I am currently writing on a yellow pad, trying to be erudite in the glow of three candles and a rechargeable (blue light) flashlight.

Yes, the power is off again, and my faithful companion (the dog, not T) is keeping me updated on the fluctuating shifts in barometric pressure. Who knew Bernese dogs had a secret side as "weather canaries"???

So finally after much sighing and tossing and turning - the dog successfully managed by 5 AM to wake me up enough for me to decide to get out of bed, fix some tea and a piece of toast and settle down in the wing chair for a couple of chapters of my latest read (actually re-read).

T got up shortly after I finished my toast. Bleary eyed, he wondered what insomaniacal thing was keeping me up at this ungodly hour.

she would really like to be much smaller

The dog backed out from under my chair, yawned and turned soulfully guilty eyes up at him.

He sneered, (at me or the dog, I wasn't sure!) went off to make coffee and turned the TV on to check out the state of the world.

Just as he settled (fortunately WITH coffee), the power went off. No blinking, no; nor half hearted flicker of maybe coming back, no. Just off. Period.

So comes the long blind search for matches (that work!), to light the candles (which ARE everywhere, but really hard to see in the pitch black).

The the job of lighting candles through the house is an art, so as to maximize being able to see as we wander though the house; and so to light the last one. Usually, at which point, the power will come back just as we finish lighting the last candle.

Cleverly, T filled the buckets, which lately we've been keeping outside by the kitchen door, for just such an occasion, with water from the swimming pool (ahem, for the bathrooms... to flush?)

[I can't tell you how useful we find owning a swimming pool! Its versatility - apart from a fine place to swim and cool off on hot days- is only limited by imagination during power outages.]

Sitting, each with our respective hot drink and a cowering dog, in the study with the glow of the 3 candles and the one rechargeable flashlight, T shook his head and morosely said, "I'll never have any confidence in electric cars". I raised a questioning eyebrow, tho after these forty-gazillion years of marital bliss, early morning non sequiturs are standard from both of us.

"It's the rechargeable battery... you know, like the cellphones? only bigger!"

falling up the steps

"Ah," I said, "you mean it would be difficult to build in a big hand crank to get it up and going again to get you home should the car die on the road?"

He shook his head.

"No, it's because rechargeable batteries always die eventually, and for things like cellphones and laptops, they're impossible to find for that particular year or brand or they don't make them anyway, because it's not cost effective."

The last time we went looking for a battery for one of our cellphones, we were told it would just be cheaper to buy a new phone!

Potentially I suppose, T's right. You could spend what you thought was a small fortune on an electric car, only to be told a couple of years later, when the battery died for good and no longer could keep a charge for longer than 22 minutes, that it would be cheaper to buy a new electric car!

Whenever there is a long power outage, I generally find myself in sympathy with T. He has little confidence in technology. He functions well enough in the 21 century and does email and finds things well enough on google, but he is deeply suspicious of these 'bright shiny' bits of tech. He would never buy a new computer (he usually takes over my old ones with the outdated operating system,,,) and tolerates my passion for these "things", the way most men tolerate their wives passion for buying shoes, or salt and pepper shakers, or Troika glassware.

His life would never revolve around a computer or an I Phone, or for that matter ANY cellphone. (I have enough trouble getting him to remember to turn it on when he's off and about for the day doing errands!)

He just walked past the doorway with a cup of coffee in his hand and quizzically asked me what I was doing. I told him I was writing a blog post. He said "Hmm. What are you going to do, mail it in?"

dawn, finally.

Years ago, (in that other life), one of his managers remarked that T's cellphone was never turned on! He replied, "That's because my cellphone is for MY convenience, not yours."

Actually, he was right about the cellphones, maybe he's got a point about the electric cars!?

Olives: The Cure

2010-10-17T20:36:00.002+03:00

Sounds like a disease (or a rock band)! Actually it's more like tempering them from the hard, bitter, little, pit-filled, oil makers, into something you might put into a lovely glass of martini...

I'd like to say I meant to post this earlier, really! ---- good excuse this time!--- because we've been in the middle of rather amazing and, in a awesome way, lovely thunderstorms. Normally that wouldn't be an issue, except here on Corfu it is.

tonight's sunset

We have managed to fry so many electronic items, as most of the other inhabitants of the island, that it's pretty much a dark joke amongst all and sundry. First off our electricity comes into the house at supposedly 220 volts (in the US, it's 110 volts). That apparently is the baseline, because when we had it checked back when we discovered nothing in the house was properly grounded (we kept getting nasty shocks just touching light switches, never mind loading the dishwasher!) our electrical guy told us that it was fluctuating but generally running pretty hot... WAY over 220 and in fact at one point it peaked at 260.

This doesn't mean that we're all about to die or anything, it just means that if you are an electrical appliance living in this house, you are living a very hard life and your lifespan could be shorter than appliances that, say, live in France or Denmark.

last evening.

Combine that with spectacular thunderstorms with chain lightening and incredible sky to ground, and sky to trees and of course sky to power line, flashes we have regularly and you're talking MAJOR power surges.

Usually though electronic death to computers and cordless phones, is because the surge fries computers and routers via the phone lines, I presume when the lightening hits telephone poles and lines. (we ALWAYS remember to unplug the phone lines from the router box, as well as the regular plugs- now. We've gone through three. See? You CAN teach old dogs new tricks.)

Anyway, we've had the power off and on and off (and on and off and on) for the past two days as well as a few mighty "crack-BOOM" flashes to keep the dog awake (and her faithful companion- me) most of the night. It rumbled and grumbled long past the gale force winds and violent rains.

Last night, as the power was skipping around, we decided to go into town for our annual McDonald's hamburger, only to be caught in a real misery of a downpour that included, on our way back home, a good piece of the road going out of town, near the airport, that was door deep in run off water! (tres scary!) I would have taken pictures but I was too busy helping T drive!

So. On to the olive lecture... and the hypothetical curing of olives- which I will be planning to do for real this year, to go along with our wine, olive oil AND homemade vinegar (ah! but that's another post!!)

Here's a picture of the three sizes of olives we have. (that is a one euro coin, which is a about the same diameter as a US quarter)

The smallest one is the wild olive (of which we have three trees) The middle sized one is the one we mostly collect and make our olive oil from; and the big is a Kalamata and we've only just recently planted them (one). We have also planted seven more trees that are more like the middle sized one, but it will be at least 10 more years before they'll be producing much of anything.

I always thought when I read Lord of the Rings, that the Ents were related to the olive trees.

So. For the curing of olive to turn them into those lovely plump and delicious additions to our diets, one must make a commitment of fresh water, salt, and most importantly: Time.

Gourmets from the Roman empire to the present day have valued the unripe fruit, steeped in brine, as challenging to the palate. The bitter juice deposited during pressing of the oil (called amurca), and the astringent leaves of the tree have many virtues attributed to them by ancient authors. Olive oil as a cooking medium emerged as an economical alternative to the butter and animal fats used elsewhere.

Olives are high in monounsaturated fat, iron, Vitamin E, and dietary fiber.

These are a few simple methods used in many Greek homes.

Water Curing "Smashed" or "Cracked" Olives
(recommended for large green olives)

Wash olives. With stone or mallet, crack the meat of the olive, taking care not to bruise the pit. Put the olives in a pan and cover with cold water for 6-8 days, changing the water twice a day, morning and evening, until the bitterness is gone (taste to test). When ready, fill the pan with brine * (about 1 part sea salt to 10 parts water) and lemon juice (about 1 part lemon juice to 10 parts water), transfer to jars if desired, and refrigerate for several hours before eating. **

Brine Curing
(recommended for black olives)

Wash olives. With a sharp knife, make a cut in the meat of the olive (top to bottom) without cutting the pit. In a pan, soak the olives in brine (1 part salt to 10 parts water). Make sure the olives are submerged (use something to weight them down) and cover. Cure the olives for 3 weeks, shaking the pan each day and changing the brine each week, then taste for bitterness (they could take up to 5-6 weeks depending on the olives). When they taste the way you want, place in jars with brine (1 part sea salt to 10 parts water), add 4 tablespoons of red wine vinegar and top with a layer of olive oil.

Dry (Salt) Curing
(recommended for large black olives)

Outdoors, in a basket, burlap bag, or wooden box lined with burlap (that allows air to circulate), layer olives with coarse sea salt (you'll need about 1 pound of salt for every 2 pounds of olives). Leave the olives outside (with plastic underneath to catch the juices that drain) for 3-4 weeks, shaking daily and adding a little more salt every 2-3 days. Taste for bitterness (rinsing the olive first). When no longer bitter, you can either shake off excess salt and keep them that way, or shake off the excess salt and dip them quickly in boiling water to get rid of the salt. They can be marinated for a few days in olive oil to regain plumpness (this type of curing will shrivel them), or just coated well with olive oil (using your hands) before eating.

Dry (Salt) Curing
(recommended for small black olives)

In glass jars, alternate layers of olives with coarse salt. Every day for 3 weeks, shake well and add more salt to absorb the juices. Test for bitterness (rinsing the olive first). Continue to cure if bitterness remains, otherwise, add warm water to cover and 4 tablespoons of good quality red wine vinegar, and top with a layer of olive oil. They will be ready to eat after 4-5 days.

Oil Curing

Cover in olive oil and leave them alone for several months. Test for taste.

Tips About Brine:

* * The water/salt ratio is perfect when a raw egg floats in it.
* ** For cracked olives, when they're ready to eat, transfer to a brine that's less salty to keep for long periods.

Olives

2010-10-16T12:08:00.002+03:00

"The whole Mediterranean, the sculpture, the palm, the gold beads, the bearded heroes, the wine, the ideas, the ships, the moonlight, the winged gorgons, the bronze men, the philosophers -all of it seems to rise in the sour, pungent taste of these black olives between the teeth. A taste older than meat, older than wine. A taste as old as cold water."

Lawrence Durrell (1912-1990) 'Prospero's Cell' (1945)

It's almost that time of year, or I should say, every other year - for us anyway. Soon we'll be laying out the nets, and getting in the supplies of bags and gathering up the odds and ends (sifting basket, rakes, gloves, ladders, as well as sticking plasters [band-aids] and Voltaren Gel) for olive picking. T will have to mow the grass under the trees and we'll have to have at least a couple of dry days before we do all that.

After our first olive harvest, which was surprisingly backbreaking, I remember we both looked at each other and said, "They don't charge enough for olive oil!!" But then we did it again, because it was, after all, OUR olive oil.

We don't make a lot of oil. We really only have four super productive trees and 11 trees that are young (we planted them a few years ago) or wild trees with small olives. Still it's ample enough to last us for 2 years til the next harvest. We have enough to give to friends and a little bit left over by the time the next harvest comes around. I love the taste of our oil. It's lush and green and tastes like Corfu.

The wild olive trees are good for oil, but the olives are so small they fall through the nets sometimes and they have to be hand sorted.

Each harvest has been better than the last one, and our oil from the year before last was incredible- when T brought it home we were a bit panicky as it was cloudy and bright green. We thought we'd picked the olives too early... but then we tasted it and the oil was amazing.

It was our first year that we had the "cough", which is generally said, when you taste your oil and you swallow it and then you cough, it's going to be a really good oil.

Our discovery meant that we decided to pick the olives earlier, when the olive press wasn't as busy, and also when the olives were still a little green (thereby getting less oil) BUT the oil we got was wonderful!

Trial and error made us come to realize that we needed to plan ahead and get braced to pick the olives and get them into the olive press as soon as possible after they were picked. Lying on top of each other in giant bags means they can get moldy, which makes for really awful oil.

Basically we have to check the weather forecast, make sure the neighborhood community olive press is up and running, and then pick the olives and bag them and get them to the press within 72 hours (ideally!). Of course it's compounded by the fact that you have to have at least 450 Kilo's of olives or else they'll mix your olives together with somebody else's olives! (NO-ooo!)

~~~

So, today's post is a bit of a gathering of odd facts and gentle fictions on olive oil...

The leafy branches of the olive tree - the olive leaf as a symbol of abundance, glory and peace - were used to crown the victors of friendly games and bloody wars. As emblems of benediction and purification, they were also ritually offered to deities and powerful figures; some were even found in Tutankhamen's tomb. The olive was sacred to Athena and appeared on the Athenian coinage.

Olive oil has long been considered sacred. It was burnt in the sacred lamps of temples as well as being the "eternal flame" of the original Olympic Games. Victors in these games were crowned with its leaves. Today, it is still used in many religious ceremonies.

Over the years, the olive has been the symbol of peace, wisdom, glory, fertility, wealth, power and pureness. The olive tree and olives are mentioned over 30 times in the Bible, in both the New and Old Testaments. It is one of the first plants mentioned in the Bible, and one of the most significant. For example, it was an olive leaf that a dove brought back to Noah to demonstrate that the flood was over. The Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem is mentioned several times. The Allegory of the Olive Tree in chapter 5 of the Book of Jacob in the Book of Mormon, refers to the scattering and gathering of Israel. It compares the Israelites and gentiles to tame and wild olive trees. The olive tree itself, as well as olive oil and olives, play an important role in the Bible.

The olive tree and olive oil are mentioned seven times in the Quran, and the olive is praised as a precious fruit. In Chapter 24 Al-Nur: "Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The metaphor of His Light is that of a niche in which is a lamp, the lamp inside a glass, the glass like a brilliant star, lit from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the east nor of the west, its oil all but giving off light even if no fire touches it. Light upon Light. Allah guides to His Light whoever He wills and Allah makes metaphors for mankind and Allah has knowledge of all things." (Quran, 24:35). Olive tree and olive oil health benefits have been propounded in Prophetic medicine. The Prophet Mohamed is reported to have said: "Take oil of olive and massage with it - it is a blessed tree" (Sunan al-Darimi, 69:103).

According to the 4th-century BC father of botany, Theophrastus, the olive trees ordinarily attained an age of about 200 years. He mentions that the very olive tree of Athena still grew on the Acropolis and it was still to be seen there in the second century AD. When Pausanias was shown it, ca 170 AD, he reported "Legend also says that when the Persians fired Athens the olive was burnt down, but on the very day it was burnt it grew again to the height of two cubits."

Olive suckers sprout readily from the stump, and the great age of some existing olive trees shows that it was perfectly possible that the olive tree of the Acropolis dated to the Bronze Age.

Tradition points to the limestone hills of Attica as the seat of its first cultivation on the Hellenic peninsula. One Greek myth attributes the founding of Athens to an olive tree that sprung from barren rock at the bidding of Athena, during a competition with Poseidon as to who would be the protector of Athens. Herodotus also tells of the magic property of statues carved from olive wood. A sacred tree of the goddess long stood on the Acropolis, and, though destroyed in the Persian invasion, sprouted again from the root.

By the time of Solon the olive had spread so much that he found it necessary to enact laws to regulate the cultivation of the tree in Attica. From here it gradually spread to all the Athenian allies and tributary states. Phoenician vessels may have taken olive cuttings to the Ionian coast, where it abounded in the time of Thales; the olives of the Sporades, Rhodes and Crete perhaps had a similar origin. Samos, if we may judge from the epithet of Aeschylus, must have had the plant long before the Persian Wars.

The olive tree is native to the Mediterranean region and Western Asia, and spread to nearby countries from there. It is estimated the cultivation of olive trees began more than 7000 years ago. As far back as 3000 BC, olives were grown commercially in Crete; they may have been the source of the wealth of the Minoan civilization. The ancient Greeks used to smear olive oil on their bodies and hair as a matter of grooming and good health.

Olive cultivation is an important part of the Mediterranean economy. Oleoculture has been moving westward over the last three millennia, and today Spain is the world's largest producer of olives (36%) followed by Italy (25%) and Greece (18%), and world production had crossed 2,594,500 tonnes (2,859,900 short tons) in 2008.

The olive has also been planted in other regions such as Chile, Australia, and California; but the primary production is almost entirely around the Mediterranean.

~~~

Tomorrow, I'll be blogging about curing olives and what it takes... [Salt, for instance, is good... also water- and of course Time...]

Things to do on a rainy day... Carrot cupcakes?

2010-10-13T22:08:00.001+03:00

Of course, sleeping late on a rainy autumn morning is an option when you are retired: IF you don't have to walk the very large dog, that is... Balou yawns very loudly and grumbles under her breath, when we dawdle. She also shakes her head and flaps her ears, until you yell at her to cut it out. (then she yawns loudly again and starts to "lick-slurp-smack, lick-slurp-smack" her front paws with concentration and a certain echoing in the hall, until she feels she's made her point or you've come into the hallway and snarled, "STOP that!".)

We are slaves to that animal, and she totally knows it!

So. This was inspired today, by Cheryl of Rice, beans & pastichio..., who sent me a cute little "cupcake heart" (in that cheerful, charming way of hers) first thing this morning on Facebook. I'd been thinking about making some cupcakes for a few days.

First I assembled the ingredients:

My Carrot Cake Cupcakes
which I am guessing could be everyones?

3 or 4 eggs
1 C sugar

1 C oil

2 C flour
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon

2 C grated carrots
1 C grated apple
1/2 lemon
1/2 C (ish) pecans chopped
1 C raisins

pre-heat oven to 350F/180C.

Beat the oil (I used sunflower) and sugar together [careful it splashes] for about 2 minutes, add the eggs one at a time. I used 4 eggs because they were pretty small eggs.

Sift the flour salt and cinnamon together and add to the liquid ingredients.

Stir in carrots, apple, pecans, and raisins. (I used a large granny smith apple cored and cut up and pulsed it in a food processor til it was chopped but not mush. I leave the skin on cause we like the texture and the flavor. I used the juice of half the lemon on top of the apple and the carrot to keep them from turning color, and also for the flavor)

Then filled the little paper cupcake holders - I got the idea of using an ice cream scoop to fill the cups from watching the Barefoot Contessa's cooking program!

I baked them for 20 minutes in my fan assisted-oven.

Then cooled them on a wire rack.

I had some lemon buttercream (with cream cheese) frosting left over, a few orange and yellow sprinkles for the season and ta-da...

I would share them with you if I could figure out how to get them inside the laptop!!!!

Corfu Autumn (and what else we did in September)

2010-10-11T18:52:00.000+03:00

autumn sunrise

As always, Corfu in the autumn is stunning. The transition from summer to fall is complete.

Still we have the warm days, but suddenly, a rumble and we have the odd thunderstorm... or two days of blustery winds and the surprise rain shower.

morning light on the acacia tree

The nights are cooler and the days are shorter.

The light is different, and the clouds are spectacular.

It's my favorite time of year, because the sea is warm to swim in, the nights are cool to sleep, and the weather offers a bit of variety, instead of hot sunshine.

My enthusiasm for the time of year is no doubt passed along to our many friends and family, who come to visit.

Our "saint middle son" had planned to go to his cousin's Belgian wedding since it was announced last year. He decided that he would roll in a vacation as well and, as the fares were good (and the charter flights from Corfu direct with no stop in Athens!!) he opted to sandwich the long weekend wedding between a nice comfy visit to Corfu and arrived on Friday the 3rd of September (oldest son's b'day!).

We all played golf together (he and his father, as well as one historic game with BOTH of his parents!). We revisited and ate great meals at favorite restaurants, (and visited a few new ones), and generally ranged between relaxing and playing, which was a luxury for all of us. He was here for his father's b'day (September the 8th) and a good time was had by all!

Friends from England (who were on the island visiting other friends!) generously came and stayed at the house for five nights and took care of Balou and the cats, as we left for Brussels on Friday morning 10 September.

On our return from Brussels, we managed to cram in the last of the fun with a beach visit (and lobster lunch!) in Prasoudi, as well as a lovely sightseeing tour of the island and even a day's worth of boating - father and son bonding experience- to round off the "sms"s vacation.

Needless to say, we dreaded the 'let-down' after he left on Friday morning (17 September).

~~~

While "s-m-s" was here we decided to taste the wine that we'd bottled from last autumn. We were all quite surprised that it was drinkable. And even "quite good!" (- well that was from me, because I actually MADE it...)

So we managed to amuse ourselves Sunday, by distributing a bottle each of our homemade wine - made of course, with the able assistance of our wonderful neighbors- to our wonderful neighbors homes!

We went from neighbor's house to neighbor's house Sunday afternoon and passed along the fruits of our labor.

We came home slightly 'cheerful', (taste testing again and again...) and went to bed. Monday morning we woke up feeling awful, but not from the wine: we both caught a cold and were down and out for a week!

~~~

However, fate stepped in to lift our recovering spirits, and young friends from the US, in England for a wedding, sent me a message via email and facebook Tuesday (28 September) morning, wondering if we'd be up for some spontaneous houseguests!

They REALLY wanted to charter a sailboat and see some sunshine and Ionian Seas... only problem... they only had a few days... could it happen? Of course!

JetAir (or EasyJet, one of them...) arranged itself and we picked them up from the airport on Wednesday (29th September) morning! They got a quick tour of Corfu town, then we drove to the marina.

They rented a car, and we had a lovely dinner in town. (wherein they snapped this fine - tho dark- picture of T and I, with their camera phone.)

Contacting some good friends of mine, we made an excellent connection and Thursday morning they were on the water in a lovey little sailboat for a reasonable price. (They are both fine sailors and own a sailboat in the States.)

On Friday they rented a power boat and toured the northern beaches of the island and on Saturday they drove all over the north west side of the island and got lost and found their way several times, generally enjoying the mini vacation to the max.

Of course "when it rains, it pours..." Saturday we had committed ourselves to meeting the parents of a good friend of 'saint middle son' from High School. They were arriving on a cruise ship and would only be here for the day. They just wanted to "visit" and see how we managed to amuse ourselves.

As I knew from previous experience, cruise ship passengers sign up for tours of the island (that of course includes a lot of photo opportunities!) and often a nice lunch with Corfiot specialties.

So Friday I cooked up three special dishes, and had them all ready to finish cooking on Saturday. Leftovers wouldn't be a problem as we had our two houseguests!! (conveniently solving what we'd do for dinner on Saturday night!)

Venetian Shipyards photo-op

We gave a wonderful whirlwind tour (with photo ops... AND shopping!) and then drove back home to lay on our lunch spread.

We got them back to the ship in good time and a fine day was had by all.

Dinner worked out perfectly, and our houseguests packed up their bags, sad to return but glad of the opportunity.

Sunday morning we dropped them off at the airport for a mid- morning flight, and we went to meet friends for lunch!

~~~

That take us up to 'Old Perithia', which is where we went after we dropped our guests off at the airport!!

So. This is how I explain not writing a blog post for the month of September... I think I need to do less things so I can write more posts.

Or not...

Brussels wedding and family gathering

2010-10-08T23:09:00.000+03:00

Jenny's hitchhiker

Last summer my darling cousin Jenny (and her husband Benoit) came for a visit. They did a lot of sightseeing and Benoit did some diving. They really enjoyed meeting "grandson" and a good time was had by all.

She and her husband enjoyed their vacation here on Corfu, but it was to be their last summer on their own... they were anticipating the arrival of a new family member.

With her brother's (my other cousin Jeremy) wedding taking place, our planned trip netted us both a family wedding, and we got a chance to meet the newest family member: Arsène.

The civil ceremony in the town hall of Halle was lovely and the room was filled with well wishers from both sides of the new couple's family.

The only minor glitch turned out to be that it was market day and the town square and streets leading up to it were all closed off for the market stalls. Still it made for a charming crowd who spontaneously enjoyed the "show"!

My soon to be 90 years old aunt was in prime form and as she is dearly loved by all was in prime place.

My favorite part was after the ceremony, when were were all outside being arranged by the photographers, I noticed here was a small group of Japanese tourists who ended up taking many photos of the wedding party.

It does give one pause to know you are featured in someone's vacation photo packet!!

The reception was in a lovely old 17 century farm near the city of Mons (with cobblestone courtyard! excruciating on feet wearing high heels!) and beautiful buildings converted to serve the meal and have dancing and a nice party afterward.

I thought I'd include this photo of "saint middle son" as you can see the cobblestones we were all standing on for most of three hours! There's a lovely little pond behind him and the building behind the pond was where the dinner and dancing took place. This little farm had historically been on the road to Waterloo and over run by Napoleon and his troops.

The rest of our visit passed in a state of nostalgia for a beautiful and favorite city (Brussels) and great food, wine and amazing beer.

Every time my cousin and I get together in Brussels we race around, dragging our spouses and whomever else is along, down all the same back streets and little places we used to visit as children.

Some pictures of Brussels: the Grand Place

The Grand Place

Fountains I have loved:

[Particularly when i was a child!] The Spitter (le Cracheur)

Manneken Pis (obvious?)

Side street views I have loved:

a juggler store?

Tintin (with Snowy) and Captain Haddock (I grew up with the little guy!)

Galeries Royale St. Hubert

(first indoor shopping mall I ever knew...)

The amazing theatre of Toone :

which is a bit hard to explain as it's one family keeping alive an almost dead language- Bruxellois, which is a charming patois spoken at one time by the inhabitants of the city of Brussels. Toone is a theatre of puppets, or marionettes and originally they performed plays only in Bruxellois. There's a great deal of satire involved as well as clever interplays with words. There's also almost always a healthy dose of self-mockery that goes as well.

Brussels at times, over the past thousand years, has more like a small country between two others... the Flemish speaking people and the French speaking people of Belgium. Bruxellois evolved to include both languages.

Now for the food!

Moules in white wine sauce,

Frites- hot and crisp and homemade... (incredible seafood casserole in background)

Sole Meuniere perfectly prepared

Croquettes crevettes (with little grey shrimp from the North Sea...)

so many other lovely things... desserts, hard rolls, cheeses... excellent wines, lovely dark and also blond beers...

and of course, the eight pounds I gained in four days.

I'm alive... and visiting Old Perithia!

2010-10-07T16:48:00.001+03:00

hillsides of old Perithia covered with crocus

Yes. Well. What can I say. The month of September just got away from me. It slipped through my life like socks on a waxed floor, and the best I can do is tell you that I had a wonderful time of it!

Highlights include: "Saint Middle Son"'s visit; a trip to Brussels for a cousins wedding; (with concurrent visit/housesitting by charming Englilsh friends); delightful impromptu end of month American houseguests for sailing, and a delightful meeting, on purpose, with cruise ship passenger parents of son's dear friend for a day visit to Corfu (with lunch).

Old Perithia

But I'm going to start with last weekend first...

FINALLY, I visited old Perithia. Friends invited us to lunch at Foros Taverna (along with a nice amble and a bit of "work" clipping and picking wild rose hips from the bushes along the high paths).

Tomas drawing in background

Tomas the proprietor is a wonderful host with a surprising talent: he draws a picture of the village on a business card while you are eating!! (his phone number and hours are on the back for reference.)

His food (well, his wife's food!) was wonderful and the five of us ate plates and plates of meze instead of ordering a traditional meal because it was all SO good. For dessert he served us a delicious walnut cake which was incredible.[I hadn't realized he was "famous" as Rick Stein and Italian television has put him on the map- he is NOT a prima dona sort of guy- at all! Nor are his prices! Plus he loves dogs and told us Balou was always welcome...]

We decided to take the Balou along with us, because although she's large, she's so quiet and gentle and just so huggable, that we figured she'd be fine. (and she was!) She loved walking in the mountains smelling new smells and finding new brambles and weeds to get stuck in her fur (though I think she really enjoyed lying around under the table at the taverna best!)

The weather was perfect and the company was totally enjoyable.

Old Perithia is the ruins of an absolutely lovely village high up in the mountain almost on level with Pantokrator [914 meters] It was built in the 14th century as an escape from the two big annoyances of the times: pirates and malaria. It's a perfect example of a traditional Corfiot inland village. By the 20th century both annoyances had pretty much been cleared away, so everyone moved to their "other properties" near the sea, and "old" Perithia was born.

one of 8 (or 11)

In its hey-dey, old Perithia boasted a police station, a school, a court house and 8 (to 11- information varies!) churches- built by the individual families!- with over 1500 residents- many of whom where well off.

Now there are only a handful of people who remain all year. Thankfully the great taverna owners (Tomas included!) are among the people who stay year-round!!

I'll include a few photos of the ride there...


looking towards Butrint (Albania)

You drive past Kassiopi and before you get to Acharavi you take the turn to Perithia, Old Perithia and Loutses. [picture is of the delta where the sea used to wash right up to the edge of the ancient city of Butrint - a world heritage archaeological site in Albania.

The road winds up several switchbacks and takes you quite high up and deep into the center of Corfu.

So that's my lovely Corfu for now. I will try and give you a bit more details on Brussels and saintly son's visit in my next post...

(not to mention at some point I'll have to give you the three incredible recipes I used to serve our visitors who came for lunch! Three Corfiot specialties: Sofrito, Chicken Pastisada, and my favorite: "little shoes" or Papousakia....)