METEORA

Made it to Kalanbaka, but not on the bus. This time I chose the train as a nice change. It  had bathrooms, a snack car and you could walk around a bit. It was about like our Amtrak.Kalanbaka is the larger town in area called Meteroa, famous for its unique rock formations.

Meteora is derived from the Greek meteoros, meaning suspended in air , and the English word  meteor is from the same root. Perhaps more interesting is that about 26 monestaries were built on these rock formations, primarily as bastions for the monks to escape the bloodshed as the Byzantine empire was collapsing and other peoples were moving in. These inaccessible fortresses allowed the monks to safely pursue their peaceful monastic lives.   The area has six or so surviving monasteries and is a UN World Heritage site.

However the monasteries of old is not really what you see today.  The monasteries have been modernized over the years.  Yes the Meteora is still wonderful but roads have been put in and steps have been carved in the rocks to allow visitors. The monks now use cable cars to get across the from the road to the monastery.  The restorations went overboard and really have been a rehab, much as you would take a Victorian house and modernize it.  I wanted to see monks and lots of them hauling up supplies with a donkey via a rope, or better still locking up the place to defend it from a bus load of tourists.  Some blood on a rock would have been nice.  Today there are only a few monks choosing to live on a big isolated rock visted by tourists.  I can't say I blame them.

I went to the more isolated monastery for great views of the other monasteries.  I could see four of the six and was on the fifth.  It was a moderate  isolated hike through a gorge and hike up to the rock.  I hiked up from the valley floor village where I am staying to the top of the rock where the monastery was built.  It was about the hikes I do blueberry picking.

 For the lazy and infirmed, the buses bring the tourists on the road who have to walk a path and climb 125 steps up.   I show  a couple of my pics but the area deserves many more.  And below are lots of them on two links for you to enjoy.  It is another side of Greece very different from the Acropolis and isles such as Santorini and Mykynos that we are used to seeing .

https://www.google.com/search?q=meteora+images&espv=210&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=6SdnUr_hIMO50QXlnIBg&ved=0CCsQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=656


These are Gabriele's photos of the Meteora.

http://www.lovethesepics.com/2011/02/mystical-magical-magnificent-monasteries-in-meteora-20-pics/

HOTEL AND FELLOW TRAVELER

The hotel was great and run by two savvy women.  Would stay here again.  Met up with Steve a fellow traveller who, although it is hard to believe, is more thrifty than I am.  He does couch surfing to cut down on hotel bills.  I had heard of it, but thought it was just for the young who don't care where they sleep.  He is about my age,   still smarting from a divorce but getting over it with a Russian girl friend who is younger than my children.  Got suggestions for the South of France.  He leads a travel group there yearly, but apparently this is not a couch surfing trip.


IZMIR REVISITED

Izmir, the coastal Turkish city from which I flew to Athens, is not particularly memorable.  However the taxi ride to the airport was. The shuttle bus was running late and four of us plus the driver, plus luggage fit into the taxi. We had three Turks, two Chinese women working in the Sudan, and me. The story of the Chines women is interesting. They are in the travel industry. The Chinese, I have heard, are investing heavily in Africa for both natural resources and construction projects. This brings Chinese to Africa. The Chines travel agents, work in the Sudan presumably arranging travel for the many Chinese in the Sudan. The Turkish man has lived and worked in Bangor, Maine; and South Africa. He was heading to Rome on business. We split the taxi and paid the same price as the shuttle bus and all have a more interesting memory of an otherwise bland airport trip.

A couple more days in Greece, then head to the Barcelona area.  Think I will stay put a bit longer in one place, probably Avignon, but could head down to Vallencia.

BACK IN ATHENS

This is what is left of Hadrian's Library in Athens.  I don't think I posted it, choosing to show you Turkish newly weds, but back in Antalya, Turkey, there was a Hadrian's Gate.    I also vaguely remember there is/was a Hadrian's wall in Britain built to protect Roman Engalnd and Wales from the Picts of Scotland.  In any event, apparently Hadrain was popular as  Martin Luther King and had lots of things with his  name.

I am back in Athens six months later.  The economy seems a bit better.  I went back to my favorite gyro place and wolfed down another one.  It was as good as I remember.  The cook said the potatoes (frech fries) cooked in the Corinth style make the difference.  I would have liked to have another for lunch tomorrow but I will be on my way.

I decided to by pass the Peloponese Peninsulas or the more touristy islands.  I did not want to see anymore piles of rock, at Mycene, Delphi, or the site of the first Olympics.  I want to see rocks that are still in some sort of shape to actually make  a building or parts there of.  Travelling 5,000 miles to  just imagine the building from its foundations doesn't cut it.  The islands would have been nice , but take more time to do them justice and things are starting to close down on the islands , although the weather is still very good.

I am going to do some hiking and see stuff that is still standing.  Tomorrow I take the train from Athens to Kalambuka in northen Greece to see spectacular monestaries,  and one nunnery.  I am not sure if the nunnery is originally a nunnery or a monestary now being used by nuns.  These places of meditation and worship were  built on high rocks for protection as the  Ottoman invasion of Greece unfolded.  They were instrumental in preserving Greek culture.

Below are some things I saw today:  a pretty church steeple near central Athens, the Nike (Victory gate), and the Acropolis.  It was nice to be back in Athens.

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BIRTHDAY BUS

Thanks to all of you for so many birthday emails and electronic cards.  I will see the mailed cards you sent, when I get home around Thansgiving, so it will be a birthday/Thanksgiving card.

For my birthday I treated myself to a Kamil Coc bus ride from Antalya to Izmir to catch my flight to Athens.  The steward on the bus remembered my birthday with a glazed birthday cookie.  Attending my surpise bus birthday party were about 40 other souls with whom I could not talk to, but seemed happy enough to be on my birthday bus.


BAD GIRL MANNEQUIN

I  saw this mannequin, appropriately wearing her head scarf but taking a hint from the Scandinavians and going topless.   The other mannequins look on disapprovingly.

 Leaving a topless mannequin in the window  is not a correct thing to do in Turkey.  But perhaps she is a rebellious "bad girl" mannequin.

This "bad girl" mannequin reminded me of my head scarf story from my last trip to Istanbul.    , I saw a young woman with a head scarf.  Wearing a head scarf connotes a certain sense of modesty.  However this young lady was also wearing a very, very tight blouse, and the jeans were tight also.  My sense was that it mattered little that she wore a head scarf, since she was a well-endowed woman, attention immediately went to her chest.  I thought that the head scarf would have been put to better use to cover her size "D" girls.  Do they make a scarf for the breasts, or is that what a burka is for???

HAPPY ANNIVERSARIES

Best wishes to Sherry and Mario and Anna and Dan.  I was reminded , in seeing  many brides during my Saturday walk in the park.  There were seeing  at least six different couples.  Here is a sampling, of looking into each other's eyes, the flyaway veil, and the bunny holding couple.  Is bunny holding at a wedding ceremony   a Turkish custom to suggest having many children, remembering the breed like rabbits expression???.

CHANGE OF PLANS

I had planned to visit Croatia, but this has not worked out.  It is difficult and/or expensive to get to Dubrovnik from Corfu (Greece); and the ferries from Bari and Brindisi in Italy may not be running to Dubrovnik, perhaps having shut down for the winter.  It is the rainy season in the Adriatic and it seems not enough people travel the route to keep it open.

I opted to fly to Athens.  Spend a few days in central and northern Greece , before flying out from Thessaloniki to Girona, Spain which is near Barcelona and the French border.

ANATOLIAN PLATEAU TO MEDITERRANEAN COAST

KONYA

Left Cappedocia (GOREME) just ahead of the wind and rain.  Bad to stay , especially if you were staying in cave.

 Stopped overnight to rest up and look around in Konya of Selcuk fame and near the the end of the long Silk Road route.  Lost of pics but here is a muslim cemetery with Mevlana's tomb/museum/mosque in the background.  He is the founder of an old regious sect, still active and also known as "whirling Dervishes".Atuturk reduced their power after the founding of the Turkish republic, but this religeion/sect had great influence with Selcuk Ottoman.

Traveling to Turkey's resort coast on the Mediterranean, I  selected Antalya, a city used by many civilizations. Passing theough the high plateau and mountains saw fall leaves on scrubby trees and melting snow from bus window.

 As an aside, on the Turkish buses, the boys sit with the boys and the girls with the girls.  Unrelated/unknown persons of the opposite sex may not sit with one another, although this may be waived for foreigners.  Married people, family members, ect may sit together.



Antalya is nice and Turkey's sunny coastline is headed to becoming like Spain's Costa Del Sol.  Met some Brits who bought a house near MArmaris on the last trip.

Here is the view of the old Roman harbor.

CIAO

YOUR OBITUARY PICTURE




 My sister passed away recently, and I was an unwilling participant into the obituary picture process.  As a result of this experience, I wanted to share with you a few thoughts about obituary pictures in general and my sister’s, Luisa, picture in particular.  Perhaps my thoughts will help you in selecting an obituary picture for a deceased relative; or, with some pre-planning, the one used for own demise.







Margaret died at 97 yet looks about 35 in her obituary photo

 



The few times I scan the obituaries, I am always drawn to pictures of a young looking person.  My immediate reaction is how sad, to be taken so young.  Too frequently, I discover the beloved departed was 97 and that the picture was actually taken well over 50 years ago.  I feel a little as if I was tricked. A clue is what they are wearing.  If they have a World War II uniform or look like you mother did in the 1950's , it is likely the deceased chose to be remembered as they were in another by-gone era.

Viv was pretty when she was young and is still pretty

 In my opinion, a  more contemporary image of a deceased family member seems more appropriate.  While you certainly don’t want to portray the deceased unfavorably by using a picture when a person is literally on his/her death bed; the obituary photograph should be one that most in the community would actually recognize as the deceased.  A professional photo is prefered.  

For my sister's passing, my nephews choose a young, pretty picture of their mother for her obituary.  Upon seeing her image and obituar, my opinion on this subject softened and perhaps even changed.  Luisa had an absolutely perfect obituary picture.  It is the Luisa I want to forever remember. The image brought back so many nice memories.  The kind, pretty, loving older sister that treated me to ice cream, took me to movies, and taught me life’s lessons.

A loved one is gone, and all we have are the memories.  It probably for the better to cherish the good ones and remember deceased loved ones as you want to.  I am very happy remembering the pretty older sister who indulged my selfish childhood desires, the loving mother who put her children ahead of her wants and needs, the wonderful cook who made the best pepper steak and meatballs ever, and, even later in life when in great pain and suffering, the older woman of strong Christian beliefs, courage and strength who accepted her illness with dignity and few complaints.  .

Next time I look at obituary photographs, I will be more accepting of the choices made.  Perhaps, the widower wanted to remember his deceased wife as the pretty young woman he fell in love with and married many years ago; just as I prefer to remember Luisa as the young pretty woman of my childhood. 

FOG’s WEIRD LIFE

Martyrs Needed

Early Christian Martyrs

Martyrs are often ordinary people that get caught up in a cause and usually end up giving up their lives.  Their sacrifice helps to advance a cause.  Religions, revolutions and most causes, both great and small, need martyrs.  For some martyrs it is a choice, and for others it just happens largely by chance—the right place, the wrong time.  

Walking back from an Asheville City Council meeting, an unwilling FOG almost became a martyr for his Five Points Asheville neighborhood.  FOG did not want to be a martyr and instead was perhaps spared so that he could share his story.

Asheville at dusk

FOG lives close to Asheville’s downtown and walks all time, driving perhaps once or twice a week.  While walking, he tries to be attentive, not use his cell phone, and gives vehicles the right of way since they are bigger.

On the night in question, he was walking back from an Asheville City Council meeting attended by members of his neighborhood association.  The near-death experienced happened at that really bad intersection of Maxwell, Monroe, and East Chestnut Streets. 

Sometimes you are windshield and sometimes you are the bug

FOG was walking on the west sidewalk of Maxwell Street and crossing Monroe at the corner.  He had his umbrella open since it was raining a bit, but fortunately had it held high and was being observant. He sees a vehicle traveling west on East Chestnut Street at what seemed a higher rate of speed than prudent, and thought surely, it would continue traveling on East Chestnut since it seemed to be going too fast to make a left turn. He started to cross Monroe, but the car did not continue on East Chestnut and instead the driver made a left turn to get on Monroe Street.  Since it close to 130 degree left turn from E. Chestnut to Monroe, and not the typical 90 degree left turn, a driver can make the turn going much faster. There was no left turn signal, but fortunately the driver sees FOG and hits the brakes.  It was just a bit to close for comfort.

FOG hurried home thinking how ironic it would be had he been run over returning from an Asheville City Council Meeting where the neighborhood association was promoting the need for better neighborhood pedestrian safety . He thought that he did not want to be like the Chicago girl who was shot back home in Chicago, just weeks after attending the President's Inauguration in Washington.  Her death was used to justify increased gun control legislation.  While FOG supports pedestrian safety, he is not ready to become a martyr for the cause.

Good Riddance and Boo!

Mr. FOG owns some rental properties.  One recent rental has produced a high maintenance tenant, who almost every month has some issue, problem, or concern.

With four months left of the lease, the tenants asked to speak to FOG in person, saying the matter was too delicate to discuss on the phone.  FOG thought this could be one of three things; the tenants could not pay the rent, wanted to move, or add another occupant to property.  FOG guessed right, but was completely blown away by the reason they wanted to move.  They wanted to move because the condo they are renting is supposedly haunted by FOG’s mother, who has been deceased for about 15 years. 

Lady Ghost on the Stairs

The tenants said that a clairvoyant came to the house saw the presence on a woman with long black hair who came to dinner table to smoke a cigarette and drink rum.  Also they noted her presence on the stairway; often feel a chill on the third step and noises.  The tenants knew that FOG’s mother had lived in the condo.  FOG took the news calmly and did not refute the haunting claim, but clarified that his mother did not have long hair, did not drink rum, did smoke cigarettes, and died peacefully in the hospital.  There is no reason for her spirit to be unsettled.  Also others have lived in the house after her death, including FOG, without any ghostly sightings.

Glad to be rid of them, FOG agreed to let the tenants leave before the end of their lease and refund their security deposit as long as the condo is returned in good condition.  However the lease specifically limits the number of occupants of the unit.  Since the woman with long black hair was a resident and not FOG’s mother; FOG may be entitled to back rent from the tenants for this additional occupant, who is presumably a spirit from the tenant’s family.  Hopefully this spirit will move with the high maintenance tenants, but  leave the rum.  She can take the cigarettes.

St. Valentine’s Day Tears Revisited

One BLOG reader opined that Mr. FOG should not waste his time on Ugly/Pretty cat and needed to get a real girl friend.  FOG considered her point of view and decided that if he could not keep a cat satisfied, a girl friend would be much harder too keep happy.  When he has successfully mastered cat relationships, he can then move on to human beings.

ST. VALENTINE'S DAY TEARS

It is always hard when we are rejected, and it’s not always in the love scene.  It could be on the job or at home.  Your ideas or feelings being dismissed or ignored by superiors, colleagues, or even you own family members.  However, being rejected by your girlfriend, boyfriend, spouse, or significant other, is especially hard.  In these relationships, you probably have given of yourself totally and rejection is very painful.  Wasn’t I man enough for her?  Wasn’t I pretty enough for him?  Being rejected cuts deep, down to your very soul and can have you questioning your self-worth.  A St. Valentine’s Day rejection, with everybody else in love, is the kiss of death.

You may be saying, not you Mr. FOG, this could not have happened to you; but yes.  And it happened again this Valentine’s Day 2013.  A time or two in the past, I have been the both the one doing the rejecting and the one being rejected.  Strangely, both are difficult experiences, but in different ways.  For sure being rejected is far worse, especially if you are too blind and don’t see it coming.

Typical responses, and usually depending on one’s ego and maturity, can range from lashing out at a former lover, to wallowing in self-pity.  “Well, I hope she rots in Hell is a common reaction”.  For some, revenge, real or imagined, can be very satisfying.  And still for others, perhaps a lot of crying and a little drinking is the way to go.  FOG generally goes for the last option with a bit of wishful revenge.

Seeking comfort, often with an old flame to prove that you still got it can be very good ego- booster, but there are perils.  If an old flame is not around, finding a substitute may do the trick.  Try going to a Dixie Diva dive bar like the one his Lordship and FOG saw in New Orleans.  You may find that special someone for the night in a dark, intimate, friendly little place just off Bourbon Street, where a gentleman can buy a lady a drink.  You drink, you talk, she listens and sympathizes and if the chemistry is right, maybe something more meaningful follows.  The liquor helps to make the decision easier.  Not to bested, a jilted woman, especially a mature one, may do something similar and prowl the bars like a hungry cougar looking for a younger man to prove that she still has what it takes.

Hattie a fun-loving 76 year old has been dating younger men
for 20 years.  I wonder what her husband says about this?

A sad country song that almost breaks your heart and some liquor, but not too much liquor, can help me ease the pain.  But mostly it takes time to make the hurt go away.  Here is the sad country song link I cried to when I was dumped in 1999.  Find your own booze, pour yourself a drink and listen to the song.  And if you are strong enough and ready to also remember the last time you were rejected in love, listen to my last break-up song, while I tell you the rest of my story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39UvGoHSHew    (Skip the advertisement)  "Tonight the Heartache's on Me" is a song by the Dixie Chicks, and the final single from their 1998 album Wide Open Spaces. It was released in May 1999.

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FOG had long suspected infidelity, unexplained absences, not knowing where she was, and her caresses, while still warm, were not as ardent or as frequent as before.  Mr. FOG rationalized; that the ardor of our love is maturing to something much better;  we are two free spirits, give her room, don’t try to hold on to her too much, since it may only drive her away, etc..

But it was a neighbor’s whisper that pushed FOG over the edge.  She had been seen by others leaving our house and going down the alley, toward the garage apartment that FOG could see from his yard.  At first, trusting FOG thought, it is fine, she takes the alley as a short-cut cut, perhaps she is just talking a long walk or visiting Candy on the next street over.  However the absences became longer and more frequent.  What do I do, thought FOG; confront the “alleged” jezebel, or just wait and see.  Not wanting to lose her, or perhaps not wanting to know the truth, FOG went with “wait and see” approach and said nothing for several weeks.

The day before Valentine’s Day 2013, FOG finally asked a neighbor, a long time resident of the neighborhood, about the strange man living in the garage apartment.  FOG had only seen him a time or two from a distance.  He was dressed all in black, in a Goth Johnny Cash look, and was practicing with a whip in the yard.  FOG, a man who does odd things himself, knows odd, and this whip thing is really odd.  According to the neighbor, the Johnny Cash wanna be, was on disability and was on drugs most of the time.  Why would she pick a man on disability, on drugs, living in a shoddy garage apartment, and likes to crack a whip for hours?  Does she have a Marquis de Sade fetish, I knew nothing about?  How does a man on disability pay for recreational drugs?.  Does a government funded disability pay that well that one can afford both drugs and living expenses?.  How can FOG get on disability? And if so, does FOG also get a free Obama phone—really a Clinton/Bush phone-- since the program originated in the late 1990's.  http://obamaphone.net/

So many unanswered questions.

Finally on Valentine’s Day , when it was obvious that my loved one was not coming home for our planned St. Valentine’s Day dinner; FOG, on a sudden impulse, decided to confront his allegedly unfaithful lover and her paramour.  He had to know the truth; and best to catch them in the act, so that there can be no more excuses or any more lies.  Just be a man about it and go over there unannounced.  He walked down the alley, and hesitated, but only for a moment before going up the stairs to the garage apartment.  He heard music, but fortunately nothing else.

A knock on the door, produced Marcus.  True, Marcus was younger by far, but he certainly was a not a “catch”, by any means.  Love is not only blind, but stupid as well.  What a waste of a life, thought FOG.  So young and living a life in drug stupor.  He had bad teeth, and was holding an oddly shaped plate with something that looked like marijuana, and a lot of it.  Perhaps it was medicinal, marijuana given his disability, but he did not look too disabled.  Could the bad teeth be a sign of crystal meth use, not just poor dental hygiene??  Could he be both a user and dealer of both marijuana and hard drugs and this is way he makes a living?

The conversation did not start off well.  FOG explained that his cat had not been home for several days and he wanted to make sure she was OK.  FOG calmly asked a simple and direct question “Have you seen my cat?”  A befuddled Marcus in a semi-drug induced daze at first pleaded ignorance to any cat; and then finally said Oh, yeah that tortoise shell colored cat.  How many cats does he have in this place thought FOG?  FOG calmly responded yes, she’s the one with my telephone number on her collar tag.  Marcus explained that he had seen both the collar tag and number but had not thought to call the number to make sure it was OK for him to keep the cat.  The cat, ignoring all of this seemed happy enough, sleeping comfortably in the messy living room that apparently has not been cleaned in months, and perhaps years.

FOG seeing that they might have a good thing going on, backtracked, saying that he only wanted the cat’s happiness and was making sure she was OK.  Apparently FOG’s cat has been shacking up, off and on, with Marcus for weeks.  At first, it was little short visits, and then finally she moves in for good, missing our special St. Valentine’s Day dinner.  It was hard, seeing her asleep in this strange house, but Mr. FOG accepted the rejection as gracefully as one could.  What could he do?  Take the cat home for their Valentines Day dinner just to have her sneak back to Marcus later?    He did not want to hold her prisoner.

Marcus said that the reason she came over, was the nice soft cat food he feeds her.  But FOG knew there was more to it.  The cat had not left FOG because this younger, supposedly disabled, drug addicted man was a better man or had the soft cat food.  Alone in life, he gave Ugly/Pretty cat what she needed, attention and love.    Perhaps also Ugly/Pretty Cat, now called Hashish, gives Marcus the unconditional love he also needs.  FOG travels and is gone a lot and the cat was searching for what she wanted the most.  Perhaps, it is better this way, at least for now.  Ugly/Pretty cat is happy, Marcus is content, and FOG has his booze, sad Country Western songs, and memories. 

Let FOG’s St. Valentine’s Day rejection be a lesson.  Give your loved ones what they need.  It is not about your sexual prowess or beauty.  While these are good things to have in your love arsenal, often it is about the affection and attention we give one another and the consistency with which it is shown.



Cat-nip Stupor

 Not a quitter, FOG will try to win Ugly/Pretty cat back this summer, by planting catnip in his garden.  If the cat wants drugs, FOG is willing to be her supplier.  Plus giving her affection and attention, of course