I don't want this to become a weather blog, but it has been a major factor lately. We have had a couple weeks of cold, windy, wet weather; lots to complain about, except for the fact that it not near as bad as the more northern areas of Europe, or more northern areas of Greece for that matter.

But today we are back to warm, calm and sunny. I did not need my jacket on my morning walk today. Now for the interesting part of this post. After the several days of southerly winds our Piso Aliki beach is covered with small bits of seaweed to foot or more in depth. The next storm will wash it all away again, so I have gathered some as mulch for our flower garden and fertilizer for the vegetables next spring. I feel like such a resourceful pioneer.

It does make us feel good to use local products whenever possible. Years ago Karin went out with one of the Greek ladies gathering horta (wild greens) in the fields, but she didn't go back soon enough to remember what to pick. Now when I see something that looks lush and green I ask her but we are both too timid to pick it, cook it and then eat something we are not sure about. So we need to watch for another Greek lady out in a field.

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Statistics time: In one of our Paros newspapers the local Port Authority was quoted as announcing that tourism had increased 35% this year over last year. I found this hard to believe. True last year was down considerably--due to the Olympics everyone said; if people weren't going to the Olympics they tended to pass on Greece that year. True this year was quite busy in the few days of high season--many more Italians than recent years for some reason (if anyone knows why, let me know, please). But most of the season was normal for hotels. Of course the port activity would include Greeks visiting friends or using their holiday homes. Private home construction has been booming on Paros. Another explanation is that many Athenians did not holiday last year; choosing to stay in Athens for the Olympics.

Now comes another set of numbers from the Institute for Touristic Research and Forecasts (ITEP) indicating that the regional areas of Greece, including many islands, experienced flat to declining numbers. They did not list the numbers for Paros, but we were not included in the list of islands with positive increases. Go figure.

ITEP does predict an overall increase in visitors to Greece of about 6% for 2006. We hope to do our part with just friends and family.

Greece tourism

Ha, there is no such thing. But the blog authorities are going to zap me for going a week without a post, so I have to write something.

Actually, my wife, Karin, decided she wanted to show our English and Dutch friends what an American Thanksgiving was like so we had 6 people over for a Turkey dinner with all the trimmings as they say--except no pumpkin pie. She couldn't find any pumpkin on Paros. It was quite an experience getting the fresh turkey from the local butcher who doesn't speak English. Karin started out wanting about 18 lbs. or 9 kg. He agreed to 7 kg.; when we went to pick it up Wednesday it was 5.5 kg. So not a lot of left overs.

Karin has decided she likes a fresh turkey better than frozen, but it may be better because it is local free range. When we take our morning walks we pass by several plots with turkeys.

Anyway the food was all perfect and we had a great time explaining the food and holiday meaning. The only things missing, other than pumpkin pie, were football and family.

I can not resist commenting that today is wonderful: calm, sunny, fresh clean air (from short thunderstorm last night); our neighboring islands are back after having disappeared for a couple weeks.

So perhaps an appropriate photo is this one of Santorini by a 2004 guest, Ray Keppie of Australia. You can actually see about 50% of the island. Santorini is an ideal overnight trip from Paros. It is too small to spend more than two days there but we recommend that everyone sees it. It is both fantastic and unique.

Looking for a catchy introduction to today's blog I did some research and actually learned something. The phrase "100 kinds of snow" was in my mine but I wanted to check the fact for the exact number. I learned the Eskimo's had only two words for snow--as a skiier I had a lot more than that--yet variations of this phrase are frequently used in introductions to compare to the writer's 100 variations of something.

So moving on, I will use another cliche' instead. Here on the island the "different drummer" that we march to is the wind. Yesterday the prevailing North wind let up in the morning so Karin and decided to drive our mopeds into Parikia. Usually the strong North wind adds 10 minutes to an otherwise 20 minute journey. Well everything went well until the trip home; a Southwesterly wind had sprung up and we now had the headwind on the way back.

Since we were a little chilled and had company coming over we decided to build a fire in the fireplace. By the time I had it burning well, however, the wind had swung around to full Southerly and was quite warm. Karin said it must be hot in Africa and I responded, Yeh, we are helping make it cooler there. HeHe

Well our visiting friends fell asleep in front of the warm fire while watching our favourite video: Waking Ned. Karin and I have seen it at least five times and still laugh through it because we miss Ireland very much.

Though we wouldn't trade it for life here, would we??
Share our Piece of Paradise on Paros

Nothing interesting happening today. I am doing odds and ends on the computer as well as sorting through boxes of files--the paper kind--looking for some old records. Maybe even getting a little organised from the last 3 or 4 relocations--that's house moves for Americans.

So I thought I would post two more of Yolanda's creations. Both photos taken in Aliki. The two bugs, uh boys, are in front of Manoli's, the most popular eating/drinking place in Aliki. We hate it when he closes for Christmas and January.

There are more photos of Ric & Tim throughout our ParosParadise web site.

We just got back from our first Greek language class. It went better than everyone expected, i.e. virtually no grammar. The teacher started with asking us what Greek we already knew and building or reinforcing from there. That is we had all heard and repeated words and phrases that we had questions about. Later the teacher said we would not be conjugating verbs, rather we would memorize and use common forms from everyday speech. Great!

We six students are a mixed bag; one has been living here for about 10 years, Karin and I for 6 seasons, three others just moved here this year but holidayed in Greece before. All of us past the age of easy learning. None of us able to speak a full sentence of Greek.

The hardest word to pronounce χτεσ (htes or chtes) meaning yesterday.

Yassis!

Gazoo

After rocks the most common collection on Paros are urchin shells. Everyone does it.

This photo adds the artist touch. Again by Yolanda.

(For you photography purists, this is a reduced pixel version.)

A few weeks ago Anita Miller, who will be conducting a Greek Experience Oil Painting Workshop on Paros in September 2006, wrote the following:

"The unparalleled beauty of this enchanting island offers painters a symphony of blues and golds to inspire their work."

Yes, if you are an olive oil fan or just a greekophile, check out this site.

Hey, how's this for keeping current? These photos were taken today.

Karin and I rode our mopeds up the hill to our friends, Eddy & Louise, of cooking school fame. From there we walked about a mile further to a cross planted above a small monastery.

It was a pleasant stroll past a few farms but the scenery was muted by the heavy autumn moisture. Still beautiful and relaxing.

Before we left I had mentioned to Eddy that I would like a beer upon our return. He was out of beer so he gave us ouzo. Well, ouzo must be served with something to snack on so he also had prepared egg salad on toast, sardines on toast and a beef & pasta dish that we didn't catch the Greek name of.

Not a typical island day; but close enough!

I saw this on another site and thought it was cool.

I understand the links will change so search for Einstein Blackboard Generator to make your own.

About 12 years ago when I first visited Ireland I was disappointed how modern the housing was because the guide books only showed the quaint thatched roof cottages.

So in the interest of enlightenment over sales copy I am showing one of our ordinary photos of our ordinary Aliki village festival--the mix of the traditional and the modern. My pictures of young people jumping over the large bonfire didn't turn out.

This is the festival of Aghios Ioannis (St. John) on 24 June when the May 1 wreaths are burned. Free food and wine insure a good time for all.

For several years the summer ferry schedules to the islands were reasonably predictable (although the official schedules are not published more than a few weeks ahead).

Last year, however, that began to change as the Greek fleet is aging and the current government is not as liberal with subsidies as the previous socialist government.

Another factor is changing ferry use elsewhere such as the Baltic and the UK to France routes.

So in 2005 there was a definite shortage of "economy" or deck seats during the high season. But plentiful first class tickets on the high speed ferries at nearly double the price. From what I have read this trend will continue as more standard ferries age and more high speed are moved to the Aegean from elsewhere.

This may hurt the student backpackers' budgets but most travelers seem to have more money than time, so they will be O.K. in their island hopping.

There are more particulars on our Greece page.

I am reading a collection of short stories about expatriate life in the Caribbean: Easy in the Islands by Bob Shacochis.

I was struck about the similarity of the following to my own situation:

. . . "down the glorious green lawn crazy with blossom, down, hot and sweaty, to the palm grove, the bamboo beach bar on its fringe, the lagoon dipping into the land like a blue pasture, Tillman walking with his hands in the pockets of his loose cotton pants, reciting a calypso and feeling, despite his troubles, elected, an aristocrat of the sensual latitudes, anointed to all the earthly privileges ordinary people dreamed about on their commuter trains fifty weeks a year. No matter that in a second-class Eden nothing was as unprofitable as the housing of its guests. Even loss seemed less discouraging in the daily flood of sun."

Thinking ahead I just checked on dates for Easter in 2006. Easter in most of the Western World will be 16 April 2006; Orthodox Easter will be 23 April 2006.

Traditionally Easter is the start of the season here. That will definately be the case this year. There is no school the week before and Athenian family members return to the island for Easter Week events including lamb barbeque on the big day.

There are more descriptions on our web site: http://ParosParadise.com


On a personal note: I finally ran out of execuses to start my winter exercise routine. So I did a few stretches this morning. Tomorrow Karin and I will start regular morning walks. You can see I start slow; I also build slow, but I usually stick with it. He affirms.

Karin is a morning person and took these photos from our balcony during sunrise last week--long before I arose. They are prize winners, if only we had a contest to enter.

Here it is November and many of the remaining shops, restaurants and bars are closing with their proprietors going back to Athens until next April or Orthodox Easter, whichever comes first.

Still, Paros and especially Parikia still has some bustle. I recently went through the commercial section about 11 A.M. and was quite impressed with all the activity of people going about their business.

Paros is truly a year around island. There are no large employers; I am guessing the school system is the largest as there are a lot of kids around. After that it is the rest of the government and utilities as large employers. The rest is small scale fishing and farming--or maybe construction. Everyone who lives here is concerned about all the new construction. You know the syndrome: Now that I am in, let's raise the drawbridge.

Anyway, we still have a good choice of stores, restaurants and bars and even the archeological Museum stays open through the winter. Come take a look at what has been found on Paros.

Learn more at our web site.