Monday, March 23, 2009

Scruffy Puppies


Spring is here and stray puppies are everywhere. I came across this family a few weeks ago. They've taken shelter under an abandoned truck. This bunch is lucky as they had food and water, so it appears as someone is caring for them.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Fanoi




Once again we vistited a few bonfires/fanoi on Sunday night. We dance around three of them. I guess there were about 15 fanoi but I'm not sure. It's tradition that if you aren't able to visit all of them, then you should visit an odd number of them. 


Kneeling was part of the dance... my knees were killing me the next day!



Thursday, March 12, 2009

More Apokrias/Carnival...

Traditional costumes

Alexandra dressing up

The giant lagana this year, complete with a helicopter joke.

More traditional costumes
I spotted Elvis in the crowd!


The center of Kozani around 7:30am Sunday morning...another day to go! 

Links

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Carnival/Apokrias 2009




Kozani clock tower 


It's been  a week since the Apokrias/Carnival celebrations have ended. It's taken me that long to recover from a weekend loaded with food, drinks, kids in costumes and dancing.  
Once again, we headed to Kozani for Apokrias. As my husband's family lives in the center of the city, we were only footsteps from a party at all hours. The music didn't stop until about 8:30am each morning, firecrackers went off randomly and everyone on the street seemed to be enjoying themselves. Sleep didn't come easy but since this only happens once a year, we endured.

Our first endeavor was late Saturday afternoon. As we approached the center of town,  we had to navigate our way through the dancing crowds until we found one that was  filled with familiar faces. 
I was perfectly happy finding a seat so that I could enjoy one of my favorite pastimes...people watching. My husband and his sister started to dance with friends. It was a great way to start our weekend...we eased our way into the celebrations. 


Our table...(not my smokes)

Kosta dancing with friends

Me...sipping some ouzo, enjoying my surroundings. 


Later that evening, I headed back home so that I could get the kids in their costumes so that they could join us.  We took them to the center so that they could indulge in cotton candy, balloons and dancing.  We had a fantastic time! 


Alexandra loves her balloon!

Traditional dancing in the center on Saturday night



Links 


A special note for today...

Happy Birthday Christina!