Tarzan

It was a another rainy day when I set out for the grocery store. I was navigating my way around miniature lakes that have formed along the road when I swerved to avoid running him over. I stopped the car and opened the door to see where he went. And then, there he was. Standing in the pouring rain, muddy and shaken was a little black puppy with white markings obviously in need of a loving home and at the very minimum, some food.

I closed the car door and thought to myself..."oh crap". I sat in the car sheltered from the rain as the puppy looked at me from outside. I dug in my purse for my phone and dialed home.
Kosta answered and I said, " you're going to kill me".
His reply was, "what did you do to the car?". (typical male response eh?)

I said, "nothing, the car is fine but there's this puppy out here...it looks distressed and it's alone...near the dog lady...I don't want her to get him. Can I bring him home?" (the dog lady is a dog hoarder, her dogs live in cages and filth...over 200 of them...someone probably dumped him there thinking she's doing a good thing)

Without a pause, he said yes. (Whew... )

I opened the car door and he was a little nervous but then he came toward me, licking my hands and wiggling his little body. I picked him up and put him in the back of the car. He was so muddy and seemed to have some trust in me as he didn't put up a fight when I placed him in the car.

Izabella was home from school that day, she was very ill early in the morning. She watched from the front window as I took the puppy out of the car. She started to giggle and jump on the couch. I put him on the back porch with some food and water. He ate all of the food within minutes. I still had to go to the store so I left him on the porch with some towels and blankets where he was sheltered from the wind and rain.

Here he is, shortly after his arrival, muddy and wet.

He was a little camera shy too.

Here he is just days after we took him in... already comfortable with stealing my slippers and outfitted with a masculine collar.

Biting my toes...

Getting to know Foti.

Foti is thrilled with Tarzan because he's always wanted a big dog...a big dog that's a boy. I remember when we introduced him to Gigi. He was disappointed because she was a small dog. Foti also named him Tarzan. Other name possibilities included: Hercules, Caesar and Zeus. But, Foti picked Tarzan and so that's his name. End of discussion.

We took him to the vet for his immunizations and his estimated age is about 2 months. Yep, he's a big 2 months! He's a Shepard dog but I can't find his breed online. Well, I'm sure that he's not 100% anything, but I'm still looking for the closest match. He's going to grow to be about 70lbs./around 32 kilos and I'm told that he's going to be wonderful with the children. Actually, he is a very gentle dog and is already great with them. We've had him for about 2 weeks and he's already grown a lot. He's also damaged a lot! That's why he'll be our happy outside puppy...much too big for indoors. Tarzan is the now the king of our olive grove.


And there's one more... dog...



Shortly after we took in Tarzan, another stray dog came to our home. She walked in the gate as if she belonged here. It seemed as if she knew Tarzan because she went to him as soon as she was in. I put her out of the gate and she came back in through the bars. Kosta and I put her out again, only for her to return. We spent 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon putting plastic mesh over the bars so that she couldn't get in...but alas, she got in. As she would squeeze through the bars she'd get stuck and squeal as she wiggled her way in, she was desperate. We couldn't watch her do it anymore...so we let her stay. I called a local animal rescue agency and our vet to try to find her a home. She's adorable and really no trouble at all. We've actually considered keeping her too. But can I have 3 dogs and 3 kids?! I received a call from an organization in Thessaloniki, they may have found a new home for her. We're really on the fence because she's a doll. And, whenever we open the gate to pull the car out -she watches patiently and as soon as we're ready to close the gate, she runs back in, making it clear that she plans on staying. So, we haven't officially named her because we don't want to get too attached. Izabella calls her "Asproula" and I call her "Blondie".




Here she is...

I'm not sure what will happen with her but whether she stays here or goes to a new home, she'll be loved more than she apparently had been. I've got my hands full but it's ok. The kids love having 3 dogs to play with also. There's never a dull moment around here.

Rainy Day

It's raining again...

New Year's Eve...

Adjusting to the holiday schedule in Greece was  a little easier this year. First of all, we weren't sick during the holidays this year...last year was miserable and it took a lot of effort to try to make things enjoyable. Next, our children have been in school for their second year and have assimilated to the local customs. One of the customs here is that Santa -aka -Agios Vasilis doesn't visit children until New Year's Eve. That's ok though since our children receive gifts from family and friends on Christmas and then Agios Vasilis comes brings more gifts on New Year's Eve.

Things became really exciting this year because we were invited to an event that took place at a local port. Agios Vasilis was due to arrive late in the afternoon! Izabella grabbed her list hoping that she would get to go over it with Mr. Vasilis...here's a picture of our little munchkins waiting for his arrival. We were told that he would arrive by boat which we thought was really cool. 

Izabella anxiously looks around and under a bridge to see if he's on his way...

She spots a small boat in the distance. Flares and noisemakers were used to signal his arrival.

Foti waves at Agios Vasilis.

Agios Vasilis and his crew.

He gave everyone a few gifts, kids were shoving and pushing to move up front so we  kept ours to the back so that they wouldn't be trampled. Serious crowd control issues...

We waited for the crowd to disperse so that our children had a chance to talk to him. Izabella was very suspicious. Shortly after I took this photo she tugged on my coat, wanting to tell me something. Here's what happened...

Iza- "Mom, mom...I have to tell you something."  She looked very concerned.

Me-" What honey? What's going on?" 

Iza-"It's about Santa...I think that he's fooled us!"

Me-"Why? What makes you think that?"

Iza-" Look at him! That doesn't look like Santa! I know what's happening!"

Me-"What's happening Iza? Tell me what you think is happening."

Now she looks at me very seriously and says, " It's not him. It's two elves, one standing on the other...I was held by two elves!"

I giggled and said, "maybe you're right, it doesn't look like him does it?" 

Honestly, I wanted to laugh so hard, but I had to contain myself. I couldn't wait for the opportunity to tell Kosta. Isn't that hilarious?  Anyway, back to the pictures. 

Me 

Kosta & Alexandra

Me & the kids again...they were watching other children play while we forced them to have their picture taken.

We had a wonderful time!

Winter warm up

Before I get back to my regular blogging I have to share with you that I'm perplexed as to how I have fruit flies attacking my glass of wine. I mean, it's winter and it's cold here...I haven't seen any fruit flies or any flies at all  in weeks... 

???

That's it for now...I have more posts coming this week! 

Gigi's Christmas

We enjoyed our Christmas celebration and Gigi did also. She's adapted well to spending a few days in an apartment. Why wouldn't she? She's just as spoiled as the children! I don't have much to say as I believe that pictures tell her Christmas day story.

Yeah, baby! She scored some turkey from the table!! ( We never feed her from the table...Merry Christmas Gigi!)


Yia-Yia made her a sweater and Thia outfitted her with a shiny bow.

Here's what she thought of the bow.

I'll be back soon.

Wishing you all peace & love this holiday season!

Merry Christmas!

Here's a picture that my sister sent me. My nephew is wrapped snugly in his fleece blanket gazing out at the snow. It's a perfect representation of what I miss...my family and a cold, snowy Christmas in Wisconsin. I think that it's the perfect picture for my holiday message.

So, wherever you are and whatever your weather is like, I want to wish each and everyone of you a Merry Christmas!

Kalikantzeri

In Greece, kalikantzeri are goblins that appear from the earth during the 12 days of Christmas. They're known to engage in mischievous behavior during this time. Honestly, I didn't know anything about "kalikantzerakia" until this year when our children came home and excitedly told us that they'd perform as the goblins during their school Christmas program this year.

The little kalikantzerakia causing trouble!

The lights were low and the costumes and the background were glowing.

Both of my goblins tossing confetti simultaneously.

They had a great time performing with their friends and the program was adorable!

Kozani in December

The center of Kozani lit up for the holidays.

My heart is broken.

Last week our koumbaro, friend and Godfather to Alexandra passed away. He was only 35 years old. So, for the last week I've been with my koumbara and her family.

It was early Thursday morning. I was getting the kids ready for school and the phone rang. All that I can say is that it was the phone call that we all dread.

It's been a long week.

Time seems to be standing still.

He had symptoms, but never had them checked. I suppose that's because he was only 35 he probably didn't think that they were that serious, we'll never know.

My sweet koumbara is torn and needs support so we're doing whatever we can to help her.

I haven't had the time or the appetite for blogging as I'm sure that you all understand.

I took some time to check my email Wednesday, for the first time in a week and found a nice surprise. My friend Phivos sent me a link to one of his more recent posts. His post is titled
"Peace on Earth-Children of the World". He kindly included our children in the post and it was a sweet and welcome surprise. If you have a chance please take a moment to check out the post and his amazing blog.

Thank you Phivos. :)

Thessaloniki, turkey & tree...

So I mentioned that I don't like to let more than a week lapse between posts and then 2 weeks slide by...

The main reason?

My laptop crashed. I was out of commission for a few days.

Now that everything is working again I'll share some pictures from last week...


Wednesday

We went into the city to take care some things and Alexandra loved visiting the pigeons.


Before leaving, we enjoyed coffee at Starbucks while Alexandra indulged in a giant cookie.
That evening, we listened to an amazing woman speak about working with children in Africa.

Thursday

Thanksgiving!!! I hope that all of you that celebrated had a nice one! Although it was a regular weekday I still made a turkey & some fixings. I didn't go overboard though. This year's Thanksgiving was much nicer since I had myself together and shopped earlier. I bought the turkey a few months ago so all that I had to do is remember to take it out of the freezer on time.

The kids helped by helping mash the potatoes and also setting the table. It's not a formal setting by any means but we love our Fiestaware. My friends Beth & Linda turned me on to it years ago. I think of them each time I use any of it, which is daily. Thanks you two!



Kosta's plate-turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and stuffing.

Saturday

We put up our Christmas tree.

That's last week! This week has been a sick week. Iza & Foti came down with a nasty virus and have been home from school since Tuesday. Actually, Iza went to school today. Foti will more than likely go back tomorrow. Iza is excited to go to school tomorrow because she'll be bringing a cake and treats in order to celebrate her name day, which is Saturday. Her middle name is "Victoria"-a version of my mother-in-law's name-"Niki"- which is what we celebrate. She's been announcing it to everyone a week. So, I hope that she enjoys herself tomorrow.

It's been over a week since my last post! I usually don't like to have that much time lapse between postings but I've been very busy. Kosta was in Wisconsin for the whole month of October and there's a lot of work to catch up on. Also, the first week that he was back I was very sick so he had to step in and help. I have perfect timing, don't I?

That weekend he left to visit his family and later in the week he had to travel to Athens to finally have the emissions tested on our car that we imported over a year ago. So, he was gone for another three days so I've been on my own a lot.

Of the more important things that needed to be done last week were having our diesel delivered so that we could finally have real heat in the house and we had to have the property tilled(freza) since it rained most of the month of September and it didn't get done then. So, here are some photos from last week...

Freshly tilled soil-I always love how the earth looks just after this is done.

Gigi really enjoys the fluffy soil after it's been tilled. She rolls in it! (drives me over the edge!) But, it makes her happy. Dirty dog! :)

The man that was tilling our soil made an amazing discovery in the olive trees...a beehive! The bees must work very fast because I was just back in the trees picking olives about one month ago and this wasn't there. It's impressive isn't it? The best part is that now we have our own honey!

Here's a closer look at the beehive. I didn't want to get too close as I'm sure that most of you understand!

Our neighbor has the experience and equipment to handle bees so he said that he would help us remove this hive. We're probably going to set up our own boxes(is that what they're called?) so that we don't destroy the colony. Bees are disappearing rapidly and we'd like to do our little part in keeping them around. This beehive is just amazing and it's a great experience for the kids to see them at work, priceless experience.

Here's a photo of Gigi basking in the dirt, like a little piggy.

It rained a few days later and Gigi decided to really act like a little piggy and she almost turned black. She had more burs on her than normal on this day also. So, we've decided that Gigi isn't allowed outside without a leash this winter. I can't bathe her everyday. I don't like it and she definitely doesn't like it so we'll see how this works out.

I'll leave you with a photo of a beautiful sunrise that I captured. Have a great week!

Today's weather was gloomy and cool. I took this picture last Sunday when the weather was sunny and warm...