Well my life has been busy, but nothing to write in this blog about. So I apologize to regular readers; winter is supposed to be a slow time isn't it!

Yesterday we did have to bail out several inches of water from our basement storage room; February is a stormy month.

Coming back from the USA through Athens we missed an appearance by Bill Gates at a Microsoft Centre opening. It was interesting that the news of the Prime Minister meeting with Gates rated higher than foreign government dignitaries that were also meeting with the Prime Minister.

We were in town the same day as the funeral of Archbishop Christodoulos the head of the Greek Orthodox Church who died after a long battle with cancer. I followed the election of his successor to compare it with all the hoopla surrounding a Pope's election--no comparison. There has been, however, various news articles about various prelates jockeying for position. Last Thursday, one week after the funeral, the election was held, officiated by the government's Minister of Education and Religious Affairs. It is required to be an uninterrupted single session with a maximum of three votes. The first two votes require an absolute majority; the third a simple majority and in case of a tie the Archbishop is chosen by a draw. All the Metropolitans (Bishops) assemble for the vote; there were 74 of them and 45 voted for Metropolitan Ieronymos of Thebes and Livadia on the second vote. He was a scholar and teacher before becoming a priest.

There was no smoke from a chimney but they did light a lamp outside the cathedral and joyously rang all the bells.

P.S. There has been something wrong with my blog format since the last post. Sadly, no one reported it to me. When I figure it out I will correct it.