I have developed a long list of subjects to blog about but most require research and creativity--of which I am in short supply. So I will comment on this news just in from the Athens News Agency:

HANIA, 29/5/2006 (ANA)
Three Turks were led to the police station of Souda in Crete on Monday
following charges that one of them was taking photographs of Souda Bay
where there are military installations of NATO and of the Greek Navy and
where the taking of photographs is forbidden.
Found in possession of the three persons were a video camera and a camera
where there was material from the installations as well as photographs from
the city of Hania.
Of the three who were led to the police station, one was arrested but later
released on orders of the Hania Public Prosecutor after giving testimony.
The three Turks were members of a private crew who were conducting
maintenance work to the electronic systems of two ships, a Russian and
British vessel, who sailed into Souda Bay.

There but for the grace of God go I--don't tell anyone about the photo of the navy ship I posted awhile back. You may remember there were some British aircraft hobbyists jailed for a few weeks last year for taking photos of a Greece air base. It all seemed rather silly until two weeks ago when Turkish and Greek jet fighters collided and crashed less than 100 miles from our idyllic island.

I have read a lot of spy and other action adventure books. When reading newspapers I frequently see little news articles that sound like they came from one of the books I have read or more likely a novelist will incorporate into his next creation. The news clip above brings real life spying close to home.

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Early the other morning Karin decided to move my walking shoes away from the front door-- under one was a scorpion! I was still in bed so she was kind enough to squish it herself.









She wanted a photo of her conquest and while she had the camera out decided to capture her morning coffee.

So, it is a paradise for us but not for the scorpion.






Read more about our Paros Paradise on our web site.

Today is a red letter day for Karin and I; our first day of swimming for the season. Very refreshing and not too cold; it was less than 2 minutes of moving around before my body did not feel cold. That time difference is my main way of judging water temperature; typically between late June and late August it just a few seconds. Below is another method of judging.

I won't try to discuss actual air temperatures because we have been seeing conflicting information. It has turned suddenly hot and dry after a couple days of warm and humid. Of course the breezes keep one cool unless you happen to be in a wind-protected area. Today laying on the sand I quickly fried --it felt so good-- but I still got up and headed for the shade after just a few minutes.

If you are a child or do not want to see adult humor, please do not scroll down this page.

Romance and business are an unusual combination. I am looking to amalgamate the international success of My Big Fat Greek Wedding with the ideals of another Hollywood winner, the Wedding Planner while working at home on the beach.

The incomparable Greek island of Santorini has long been the site of magical weddings. There the high caldera rises straight up from the crystal clear Aegean to a height that makes the cruise ships look like toy boats on a pond. Add the Cycladic blue and white architecture, the moustachioed violin players and a donkey or two to produce a ceremony that will outshine anything in the glossy celebrity magazines—without paying for event management security.

The beauty and dramatic location, however, have a dark side—it is called church and state. There can be no Las Vegas style impulse here; the bureaucratic manoeuvres take weeks to complete. There is a long list of documents that must not only be obtained from your home town, they must be translated into Greek by an officially certified translator. Just one example is the Non-impediment Certificate issued by a Vital Statistics Officer. Can you see yourself explaining that to your local county clerk.

Aha, that is where entrepreneurialship comes into play. The Santorini wedding planners have put together a complete package from blank forms through food, drink and hotels up to and including sweeping the rice up after the procession. Of course the same thing can be done by a Greek speaking friend but a true professional will save you more money than you pay him or her in fees.

Other islands have much to offer as well; each has a distinctive character that will give each wedding a unique feeling. Paros is known as the all around island with something for everyone. You could get married on a windsurf board in the water or one of the 1,000 plus chapels nestled into nearly every nook and cranny of the coastline. Available is a simple civil ceremony or the traditional celebration that goes on for 3 days of eating, drinking and dancing. This includes a dressing of the wedding bed to insure a fertile marriage.

This article, however, is meant to be less about the joys of wedlock and more about forming a business partnership. From our art workshops we have plentiful experience in providing full service hospitality for groups. What we need is a fluent Greek speaker who also knows how to cajole church and state bureaucrats into doing their job of granting marriage licenses. On our small island that usually means you have to be related to the officials because most people here are cousins it seems. Of course I am obligated to follow that comment with the statement that Greece is a modern European Union country that provides equality for all under the law and that even the Orthodox church is making progress. The point being that you don’t have to be a criminal defence lawyer or use job scheduling software

So if you either want an idyllic Greek isle wedding or have the ability to make it happen for others, contact us. Consolidate student loans or refinance home loans whatever it takes to support yourself for a season in the sun; maybe together we can earn a living in a Paros paradise.

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I guess a blogger can never win when it comes to subject matter. Either there is nothing interesting going on to write about or there is so much going on that he has no time to write.

The latter has been my case this week. We have been hosting our annual Plein Air Oil Painting Workshop with artist Ron Johnson. I am responsible for keeping everybody happy and paying the expenses--stressful to say the least. This year we had fewer than normal students but more than met their expectations for both learning and enjoyment. That makes for a life well lived.

Forget your hurricane—what’s your chances of getting hit by one, anyway?

We in the Cycladic islands of Greece know that every summer, especially July and August (peak tourism season) we will suffer from the Meltemi.

These strong north winds have been known since ancient times. They are created by a low pressure area over what is now Turkey and a high pressure area over what is now Hungary and the Balkan countries. The winds are accentuated by the mountainous islands rising above the cool seas and typically reach speeds of 30 mph (18 kph) but not uncommonly up to 50 mph (35 kph) and classified as Severe Gales. The wind is warm and dry and brings cloudless days.

Sailors may like these high winds—as long as they are headed south—but those of us living on an island in their path dread them. Not so much for their strength as their persistence, sometimes lasting up to 10 days, usually 3 to 5 days. The constant howling and whistling through the trees and around the buildings becomes like a tooth ache that won’t go away. Brown dust pours in under the door and around any window gaps. You can’t go anywhere to escape; you lay on the beach and the sand blasts your body; you head into the sea and the choppy water sprays salt into your face. Can anything be worse than this, I ask you?

Also take pity on the poor gardener. In this country most plants grow well, fast and lush with plenty of moisture and warm sun. Then along comes the Meltemi and turns the leaves to brown flakes through the constant buffering by dry wind. I personally have spent an hour watering with a hosepipe in the morning and seen the plants all shriveled that afternoon. Who needs a hurricane to suffer disaster?

Of course our silver lining to these warm, cloudless days is the fact that the Meltemi only comes howling through once or twice a month so that the gentle breezes the rest of the time keep us cool and refreshed despite the constant sun. It’s called natural air conditioning--it's free.

I am beginning to see a common thread among the expatriate activities here on Paros. Each is answering the question, What ever in the world can I do to support my lifestyle on this fantastic island?

The latest endeavor that I have come across is truly unique. In fact the Paros Dance Academy claim to have the only open-air, floating parquet dance floor on a beach in Europe. Can anyone beat this copy line:
Latin Dancing is cool, sexy, sultry and wonderful to watch. Do you want to learn to move gracefully, yet enticingly? Bettina,Michael and Kay show you how.

You really need to see the 700 photos on their web site to get the full picture of Paros’ most popular wind-surfing beach, Golden Beach, as the setting for an elaborate interplay among the characters of this dance drama. There is Nikos, the local landlord and his family that operate the Louridis apartments and beach taverna, providing the traditional Greek hospitality. Then you have commercial photographer Kay Will and his dancer wife, Bettina from Germany. Add to that the dance coach Michael Honig who, partnered with Bettina, has won many dance competitions throughout Europe. They compete in the S-Class which is the premier league of ballroom dancing.

These people show enthusiasm for life; they have done a great job of wedding ballroom dancing to the casual Paros lifestyle. With other staff they provide a full range of dance classes and workshops from as little as one hour through multi-day intensive sessions. Of course there is a lot of free fun thrown in as you would expect on the carefree island beach. Anybody who likes to dance must drop in anytime June through October—for serious training call ahead.

For years I have used the phrase: Paros, the all around island with something for everyone. Each season the truth of this becomes more evident as each visitor ponders the possibilities of his or her talents and skills and their viability on a small island.

What would you like to contribute to the mix?

Read more at Paros Dance Academy and
Paros Hospitality

Chas asked about high season weather.
There is a very good chart on weather underground that gives monthly averages for High / Low / Precipitation / Cloud Cover

This is the link

There is even more about weather and life on Paros on our
full service web site!

A few posts back I mentioned a coastal tanker that anchored off our south point. One night we noticed another set of ship lights nearby and the next morning we had three navy ships outside. One in the far distance, one anchored quite a ways out and the third patrolling the beach with three people looking over the edge.

Was something happening or were they just on practice maneuvers? Unless we happen to see an English language news headline we will never know. There are frequent cases of illegal immigrants (people smuggling) being found at other islands but we have not heard of any near Paros.

The first photo was taken at a park that is a couple hundred meters from our house.

The second, like the majority of photos posted here, was taken from our veranda.

Today is time for the weather blog. This morning I was quite warm on my morning walk with not a cloud in the sky nor breath of breeze. Yesterday was the first day I wore a short sleeve shirt. Summer is very late this year; last year at this time I had been wearing shorts and sandals for more than a week. I am still in long trousers and shoes.

Forecasts are for highs of 65 F (18 C) and lows of 60 F (16 C).

I want to be hot!

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We do have a fair number of trade-offs for our Greek island lifestyle. One of these is the banking system. For the last several months and with no end in site we have been experiencing a series of bank employees strikes. I don't know what good they do because it is always just one day at a time and not more than one day per week so everybody just works harder the next working day. Supposedly the issues are about pension and separation rights but it is really about modernization and efficiency. The Greek banking system uses computers but they are just layered on top of ancient paper systems.

I know this from my own experience. If I deposit a non-Greece check (lodge a non-Greece cheque), in my Paros account, it takes five minutes of paperwork plus an automatic 25 business days before I have access to my funds. If I lodge a non-Ireland cheque in my Irish bank it is done with a few key strokes and I have instance access unless it is a large sum and then it is available within a few days when the cheque clears electronically. It is interesting too that bank account fees in Ireland are a few Euro monthly plus pennies per transaction while in Greece there are no monthly fees but each transaction costs several Euro.

This is largely explained by the following report released by Charlie McCreevy, the EU Minister for the Internal Market (who was Ireland's Finance Minister when we lived there) provided by the Athens News Agency in a February 2006 bulletin:

More than any other country in the Eurozone, Greeks still prefer to pay
bills in cash rather than using modern payment methods offered by banks,
McCreevy stated. One possible cause might be the high fees charged by Greek banks for these services, the
Commissioner said.
McCreevy's reply was based on statistical figures compiled by the European
Central Bank on the use of payments through banks - such as money
transfers, credit cards, checks and direct debit orders - according to
which Greece ranks lowest among Eurozone countries.
Specifically, the figures for 2003 shows that the average Finn makes 227
payments annually via banks, the average Frenchman 215, the average Swede
147 and the average Greek just 10. The Eurozone average is 139 such
transactions per year. This indicates that a massive majority of payments
in Greece are still made in cash.

McCreevy also presented figures showing that Greece was by far the most
expensive country in the Eurozone for banking services.
He said the Commission has submitted a proposed directive for the
harmonization of the legal framework for payments on a national level.
The main aim of the directive is to create a single market for goods
and services that will help make payments cheaper and faster through
greater competition.

Which brings us back to efficiency and the corresponding lay-off of employees and our continuing round of banker's holidays.

I just wrote the following to add to my web site. I don't have any non-copywrited photos so please go to
Webshots!
and search Milos for your graphic enhancements to this post.

Milos is the in the very southwest of the Cyclades and like at least two other islands claims to be the largest island of the group. Known as the “island of colours” it has maintained its charm by still being relatively remote—though during the summer there are several daily ferries from Piraeus. It is very time consuming, however, to include it in the same itinerary as Paros and most other popular Cyclades.

The colours come not only from the sea and buildings as other islands but from the rich and varied rock formations that dominate the views. Some say that the volcanic island is still releasing fumes from the not too deep magma. You can get the facts at the Mining Museum of Milos, a modern facility that puts the geologic structure as well as the history of the people in perspective. Unless you are strictly a beach bum, this museum is a must see.

The other activity that most people enjoy is a boat excursion around the island to get a sea level perspective of the colours and shapes of the landscape, as well as delightful coves that are only accessible by boat.

For more on Milos see the Milos Travel web site.

Kalo Mena! That's Greek for Happy New Month. It is common here to wish Happy this and Happy that especially anything new like a year, month, week, day, drink.

May Day is celebrated by gathering wildflowers and weaving them into a wreath to hang over your front door. Last year our neighbor had a particularly pretty wreath, but I think she cheated by using flowers from her garden.

We picked these statice flowers today at our favourite beach--Agri Irini.

Now I can look forward to what happens to the wreaths on June 23, St. John's Eve while you, dear reader, must wait in suspense until then.

A political aside: I find it interesting that May Day has purely pagan origins in the celebration of spring, but now has evolved into a labor holiday for promoting leftist ideals.


This ship anchored off our south point yesterday. This happens a few times per year but we never know why. In winter it could be shelter from a storm; now it may be for the National Holiday. Once one was there for a couple weeks and the coffee-shop scuttlebutt was that it was waiting parts for repair. These ships are pretty at night.