Summer...

Just a quick hello from the dog days of summer. It's been hot,  but yet so lovely. The sea is beautiful and it hasn't rained in weeks. Had some friends from the U.S. stay with us for one month, we traveled, ate and laughed over drinks.  Wishing that all of you enjoy the rest of summer!  

Be back soon...

Thanksgiving~No Turkey But Lots of Drumsticks

Izabella made me a special sign without any help so she didn't realize Thanksgiving is one word~she's so incredibly sweet. Lucky, lucky me. 

~~~

Thanksgiving has come and gone once again and I suppose I can now call this an annual post since many of you are interested in how we've celebrated our holiday and I'm always happy to share.  It's our third Thanksgiving in Greece and I think I've finally figured it out. I don't get stressed about it anymore, not like I did the first year that we were here. I was searching for a turkey off & on for a few weeks, a frozen turkey that is.(for my new readers- Greeks typically only eat turkey around Xmas, therefore it's not widely available or easy to find anytime before December )  I could've probably ordered a fresh one but I can't even begin to imagine how much that might have cost-since I've inquired before. Last year I think my local butcher said that a fresh turkey would cost about 70 euro for 7 kilos- not what I want to spend for a busy weeknight celebration. Now, if I was planning to have guests I'd probably pay whatever I had to, but that wasn't the case. So I searched for a few weeks, but didn't really go out of my way since I knew that a local grocery store always carries turkey drumsticks and I'd be perfectly happy roasting those if there was no frozen turkey to be had, which at the end of the day was the case. Before I purchased the drumsticks I bought a chicken as plan B- but alas, there were enough drumsticks to roast for my family of five. I bought the last six in the butcher's case. 

Just out of the oven...

Since I only had drumsticks to roast without a whole turkey to stuff, I placed the drumsticks on top of the stuffing and everything turned out absolutely delicious. And with these six drumsticks I had enough turkey drippings to make gravy that lasted through Friday's leftovers. 

You can see here how the drumsticks were so tender that they fell apart as I removed them from the  pan.

Along with the turkey and stuffing I made mashed potatoes and corn with dinner rolls on the side. I decided to skip salad altogether because we eat salad almost every day and I thought since there was so much food no one would eat it. But I was wrong, my salad eating little man, Foti, asked where the salad was as fixed his plate. Next year there'll be salad. And not having salad wasn't the only hitch, Alexandra wouldn't try any of the food except for the turkey and the rolls- she said, " take that other stuff off my plate." I was shocked by her demand but I suppose it's only natural for these foods to be foreign to her since she was only 10 months old when we moved here and I only make mashed potatoes & stuffing twice a year. OK, I might make mashed potatoes four times a year, but it's not enough for her to become accustomed to the flavors and textures of these foods. She didn't even like the corn, which was hard for me to believe. Most kids like corn, right? Again, it's not something we eat regularly and she's only 4 years old so I guess I can't blame her for being put off by food that she's not used to. Maybe she'll want to try something new on Christmas. 

For dessert I made an apple pie which I served with vanilla ice cream. The kids loved the apple pie so that was a winning choice. Izabella is my photographer and we laughed so hard when we saw this first photo of me holding the pie and Gigi begging for some. This is a Gigi photobomb- we have many of these. 

So Izabella insisted in taking another photo, without Gigi's little paws and here is our second attempt. My pie isn't picture perfect, let me remind you that I'm much better at cooking than baking and although my pie looks deflated, it was 100% delicious. 

We also enjoyed some cookies and cinnamon rolls that a friend of mine made. She insisted that I swing by to pick these up on my way home from the school. She didn't have to twist my arm. She's extremely thoughtful, I'm thankful for that. 

Our weather has been incredibly mild and my rose bushes are flourishing- so I was lucky enough to have beautiful roses from my own garden for our Thanksgiving table. Love my roses! 

Here's a photo of Gigi looking impatiently at me, waiting for her share of turkey. I know you can't see her eyes here, but trust me... it's the look.  

One last photo before dinner...a new favorite of mine. 

So as you can see we had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving dinner. I was organized in preparing this year and everything rolled along just as I had planned. We watched the Macy's Day parade via live feed online, made a few phone calls to friends and family, did homework and went to bed on time since the kids had school the next morning. 

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and I miss celebrating with my family and friends in the U.S. because although I have started my own family tradition here in Greece, it doesn't compare to the beautiful  chaos of spending time with my immediate family or being spoiled by my mother's lemon meringue pie. (she normally makes  one just for me! ) I'm hoping that my kids will have fond memories of Thanksgiving and if we're still in Greece when they're older- I hope that they continue this important tradition. Now, on with the rest of the holiday season...ENJOY! 

A Whole Lot of Nothing...

I realize it's been a while since my last post, almost 3 weeks. Sometimes there's so much going on that it seems overwhelming which leaves me feeling like there's nothing to say, but then again, there's a whole lot of nothing. May is always a busy month for our family. We start with a BBQ on May 1st to celebrate "Protomagia". Usually I take a few days to prepare for that and a few days to recover.  Mix in national holidays,  general strikes (teachers included), my birthday, Kosta's name day, weekend outings and a few illnesses--(ok, basically just life)-- and I'm pretty much exhausted by the time I have the urge to write, leaving me with just enough energy to do some mandatory online socializing and read some news, that is, if I haven't fallen asleep first. 

So this week I have a whole lot of nothing coming up. But before I start bringing you up to speed,  I'll share a big happy smile from our newest resident,  Lobo. He's settled in nicely and I think he's pretty happy with us, he hasn't attempted to flee yet! 

Enjoy the remainder of the weekend! 

Coffee on a Wednesday Afternoon

Spring has been so enjoyable and the weather has been perfectly spring-like. One our favorite things to do in spring is to a enjoy cup of coffee, or two, alfresco. It's always fun to visit different cafes and change our view. Plus, the kids alway enjoy getting away from home a little. Here's a series of shots taken one beautiful, spring Wednesday afternoon. The temperature was about 65 F/18C. Just perfect. 

A covered carousel, the children wondered when it would be working.

Alexandra running along the port. 

Foti is always impressed by the fishing vessels. 

Izabella looks for fish. 

It's great that there's a park near the cafe so that the children could play while we enjoyed our coffee. 

A friendly dog receives a lot of attention from the customers. 

Cappuccino!

I love the simple blue & white furniture here. Invigorating! 

We had coffee in Nea Michaniona 

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Lobo

Lobo on one of his first nights in the compound. He was still a little nervous. 

I'd like to introduce you to our newest resident, "Lobo".  Lobo is a stray that was hanging around outside of our gate for nearly a week. He grew so comfortable with us that whenever we opened the gate to leave, he would run in and we couldn't get him out. 

I fed him and I rubbed his head and now he's definitely not planning on going anywhere anytime soon. He's wearing a collar so I assume he's lost. I've been to the vet to report that we have him. Lobo is welcome to stay until we find his owners (hopefully). 

We decided to name him yesterday because we were calling him "the dog" for more than a week. 

The kids think that he looks like a wolf to them so they decided to call him "Lobo" which means "wolf" in Spanish. 

I believe that he's a Belgian Shepard, he's gorgeous and still quite young. He has a bad habit of jumping on me when he sees me but since I've been working with him, he's not jumping as much. (although it's still irritating...  

he's a big dog!)

He's adorable, gentle and already very good to the children. As you can see, he's relaxed a lot since we've taken him in. Although I don't mind keeping him, I hope to find his rightful owners as he's probably missed.  If any of my readers know of anyone missing a dog please leave a comment or show them this post. He could be from the areas of Mixaniona, Epanomi or Mesimeri. In the meantime, he's getting a lot of love & hugs from us. 

Early Morning Walk at the Marina

One thing I haven't done  in a while is post photos that I've taken on the same day as the actual post. I started this morning and I'm motivated to have this up before I go to bed only because today's weather is so spectacular and I want to share just how beautiful of a morning we had. 

Shortly after dropping Izabella off at school I was ready to turn the car around, go to the bakery and then head home. Given the fact that we've been stuck in the house for two days with another nasty virus and that the weather was so beautiful, I decided to take a ride instead. Foti and Alexandra were with me. Foti's school was closed for conferences today and Alexandra doesn't go to school yet.

So, we drove to a local marina to take a walk. It was around 8:30 am and the sea was calm... 

The sky was so blue. 

The kids loved to look at the geese & ducks that live at the marina. 

Fishermen cleaning their nets. As they tossed the fish & other creatures from their nets the seagulls were there waiting to collect. 

Alexandra  posing on a rock, squinting in the bright sunlight. 

A look off of the pier, the water was is so clear. 

I almost missed this as we walked along the pier...

I had to go back to look at it. Someone's boat has sunk!  I feel bad for the owner. We've had a boat sink once and it's difficult to recover and repair a sunken boat. 

Naturally, we were approached by a stray dog. This one was absolutely adorable and luckily I had some doggy treats in the car. This pup worked hard for a treat. It was so sweet and playful. 

The dog loved the attention from the kids. 

Beautiful purple flowers against the natural blue backdrop of the sea. 

And here's a very pleased Foti. He was so happy that he was able to see boats, fishermen, ducks, geese  and so much more this morning. He thought  we were only going to drop his sister off at school and return home, hence his outfit! I told him to get dressed and it's what her threw together for the car ride and I didn't have time to find him anything else.  Besides, it just doesn't matter. 

I hope that you've enjoyed  the photos from our walk. It was so beautiful and quiet. I plan on taking more morning walks now that spring is here.

Puppies at the Supermarket

Last week we as were leaving a supermarket, we spotted these two adorable puppies sitting near our car. They seemed apprehensive about our presence as they ran to hide as we approached. I could see their heads peeking from the other side of another parked car. Since we just bought dog food and treats I decided to share some with these sweet little faces. They were very hungry, so much so that they were shaking as I put the food down. Fed and happy I earned their trust and was able to get a few great photos of them. 

How can anyone not love this face? 

Hoping for more food.

 As I look at these photos I sense sadness in their expressions. Maybe it's just me, but that's what I see. 

After the food, we also gave them treats. Foti enjoyed treating these puppies and asked if we could take them home. I wish that we could as I do really hate seeing so many stray dogs here but we can't. I do hope someone takes these puppies in. 

Have a nice week and since it's already March...a great month!

~καλό μήνα kai καλή εβδομάδα~

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Snowy Saturday Morning

View from Foti's room

All week we anticipated snow on Saturday. The children were excited and kept reminding us that it might possibly snow today. It's exciting because snow isn't typical for the area that we live in. In fact, the last snow that we experienced was two winters ago, our first winter in Greece. So, this morning I wasn't able to sleep in  like I'd hoped but instead, I had to get up and dress everyone to enjoy the snow. I didn't mind. The kids were ecstatic. So we got dressed and went outside to play in the snow. Well, the kids played. I took photos. Enjoy...

Izabella and Alexandra happy in the snow. They were so happy to pose in the snow. But, we had some difficulty taking photos because...

Tarzan kept jumping in and around the shots.

 Some of my lemons covered with snow.

My foot in the snow. Not the best choice of footwear given the little holes in the shoes. They're usually great for running outside or doing chores, but not in snow! My feet did get a little wet.

Foti posing in the snow. At first I was going to crop out the dogs but decided to keep them in so you could see how chaotic it was. They were having a blast running around and playing and again...

getting in the shots.

A branch from my daphne/ laurel tree covered in snow.

Gigi, looking out for Tarzan.

Tarzan took a moment from playing to lick snow off of a bench. I understand, I love eating snow too!

A calendula flower covered in snow.

After a while, I found Gigi waiting in front of the door. She had enough-time to go in where it was warm and cozy.

Inside, the kids were treated to hot chocolate and tsoureki to warm them up. Most of the snow has started to melt now, I'm glad that they were able to enjoy a snowy Saturday morning.