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My last day in Paros was perfect.  In the morning I went to the studio early and played my Holiday playlist as I unstapled and rolled up my canvases.  It was quiet, peaceful, and reflective.  Slowly everyone else arrived to start their shutdowns as well.  John arranged at the last minute a farewell luncheon in Lefkes, a mountain town that was the start of most of our hikes.  We sat in the Greek sun, drank wine, watched the Aegean and the mountains, ate saganaki, spinach fritters, greek salad, meatballs, and finished with yogurt drenched in greek honey.  Laughter, beauty, companionship and good food.  How bad can that be?  With my packing mostly under control I wandered to the harbor and sat at my favorite spot and had tea and watched this sunset.  But wait…there’s still more….

Continue reading “A perfect ending” →

Those three words were my mantra when I took the cookery class at Betty’s in Yorkshire – “that’s good Lisa, you’re almost done.”  Bee laughs at me in the studio because I look at a painting and say, “it’s almost done.”  Well, the calendar most definitely is saying to me, “You’re almost done.”  The paintings are drying to be rolled up and carried home.  The photo paper is all used up.  The cupboards are bare.  Christmas is approaching and the desire to nest with family and friends is looming larger and larger on the horizon.  Yup, I’m almost done. Continue reading “It’s almost done” →

Time seems to be winding down so quickly.  It’s that time when I have started to realize there are only so many days to do things one more time.  I’m finishing off the food in my cupboard.  The second bed is getting piled with stuff to fit into the suitcase.  We only have this week of classes left.  Wow.  Keeping all that in mind, I decided I wanted to spend time on the Aegean.  After all, that is something I can’t do in Asheville.  So with a sunny forecast I bought a round trip ferry ticket to Santorini yesterday.  3 hours of sitting in sun watching the islands go by and then sailing into the Caldera one last time.  How bad can that be?  It was perfect.  Coming home the sun was somewhat obstructed by clouds, but still produced a lovely  sunset viewed from the warmth of the lounge chair.  Great Sunday! Continue reading “Cruising for home” →

The last paragraph last week was about our weekly hike day.  Shortly after I wrote the blog, we headed to Lefkes in the center of the island and starting point for several of our hikes.  The end of the journey was to be a visit to the local olive mill press.  Vague descriptions such as “up and over Lefkes” “down through a valley” sounded quite pleasant.  Reality was totally different.  If you notice at the very top of the mountain there are 3 cell phone towers…guess who was level with them?!  2 1/2 hours straight up.  Then the promise that all was downhill from there.  Straight down a literal goat path.  I heard the bells around their frigging necks.  Then 10 minutes short of the promised land, my cheek met a local rock with a very resounding clunk.  10 miles of hiking and I end up at the clinic having a skull xray instead of sampling local olive oil.

Continue reading “Thanksgivings” →

It never pays to think you have outsmarted fate.  A strike by dock workers was scheduled for 48 hours from Monday 6 AM to Wednesday 6 AM.  I had all of our reservations set for Santorini made back in August for Wednesday and it was going to work perfectly.  Hah!  They extended the strike another 48 hours until Friday at 6 AM, stranding our plans as well as the plans of thousands of others.  All of a sudden we had a stay-cation in Paros.  This is the windmill overlooking the harbor which was one morning’s expedition – or excuse to have tea and pastries somewhere outside my apartment. Continue reading “Breaks and Strikes and plan B’s” →