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FIRST GUEST POST: WRESTLING YOUR PESKY FINANCES INTO SUBMISSION IN THREE SIMPLE STEPS

7/20/2011

3 Comments

 
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Greetings!... no musings on my own behalf today, but rather a "guest" post written by a lady I hold in very high esteem for the simple reason that she has guts. Guts to get up, dust herself down and start all over again when the rug's been pulled from under her feet after all she had ever achieved came tumbling down... The proverbial  phoenix rises from the ashes.

A little while ago I subscribed to Sharon's weekly blog posts because she made an awful lot of sense to me and I thought to myself, this lady knows what she's talking about, let's see what she delivers.

(ps: I used the word "guest post" above in its loosest form, for Sharon had actually posted this in her own blog, but graciously allows her readers to share)

So it's my pleasure to introduce you to Sharon O'Day...
In this world of economic gloom and doom she might just prove the be the flickering light at the end of a dark tunnel.


We could  all do with some sensible financial advice, so let me just get on with it and give you her latest post.
After that... well, it's up to you!

Here we go:

+++ Quote +++

Finances, pesky finances.

Even those of us who seem to have our finances totally under control have bad days.  And those bad days may extend into weeks if we don’t nip it in the bud.  It usually comes from overwhelm.

As with any other part of our busy lives, we expected that computers and other new technologies would make life simpler and leave more time for plain ol’ living.

However, in the past we only had to check our checkbook balances and look at paper receipts to know what cash we had spent and what we had available.  Today it’s ATMs, online purchases from bank cards or Paypal, automatic deductions, phone-based text message contributions, debit cards, credit cards, gift cards, and so on.

And how do we keep track?  We have invoices and statements that are mailed to us.  Others are online.  Some, like Paypal, we have to go hunting for.  We might use online services like Mint.com or CommonSense or Quicken (to name but a few) to consolidate things.  Or we might try to do it all manually.

Now that’s just our current personal finances.  Not to mention any investments, IRAs, etc.

And that load might double if we own a business!

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed, unmotivated, and stretched too thin, you have the right to take off that Superwoman cape every so often.  Turn off the incessant chatter in your head.  Take a day or two where you give yourself permission not to keep rehashing what a mess your finances are in.  Breathe.

But not for too long.  Because the world didn’t take that day or two off with you.  Life moves on regardless.  And any backlog will just get worse.

Once back and focused, you do have a few choices of how to handle the situation.  Some are healthy and some are not.

1.    You could stick your head in the sand and totally ignore things.  Known as the Ostrich Method of Personal Finance, this one catches up with you eventually and by then the chaos is so great, you might find yourself facing bankruptcy.  Or at least your credit will be in shambles.  Not wise.

2.    You could just deal with the “screamers.”  (As in “He who screams loudest gets my money.”)  Those are the bills that have red letters on the outside of the envelopes.  Or the calls you’re getting from creditors … or collectors.  Again, your credit will be ruined and your nerves will be shot from the anxiety.  And eventually the whole thing will come toppling down on you.  Not smart.

3.    You could keep juggling things the best you can, trying to remember all you have to pay, what’s due when, what’s where, what’s siphoning off which account, what credit’s left on what credit card, and all the little expenditures you don’t even feel yourself making, called “bleeders.”  But not for long.  Eventually you’ll wear yourself out, or forget something that triggers a spiral of late charges, unpaid bills and worse.  Not good.

4.    Or you could take the time to give yourself every chance to succeed with your finances.  You could “wrestle” them into submission in three simple steps:

Step One:  Do a handwritten brain dump.
First, take a deep breath.  Then do a handwritten download of everything you can think of that needs to be done regarding your finances.  (No computers here!)  Unless you have a clear picture of what you’re dealing with, you will see your situation as worse than it is.  (Overwhelm will do that.)

Writing it all down on paper becomes a sort of cathartic brain dump.  That, in turn, frees up space in your head for you to be more creative in your solutions.  And it doesn’t matter if you hate writing and haven’t held a pencil in your hands in years.  It’s important to have the physical sensation of writing and visualizing what’s going on … in your own letters and numbers … for you to own where you are and feel the true impact of what you need to do.

Step Two:  Simplify, simplify, simplify your life.
Besides all the payments you have, you also have all sorts of open loops:  car insurance you keep saying you want to re-quote to lower your premium; rebate forms to send in; charges on your credit card statements that you don’t recognize; or doctors’ bills that didn’t go through the insurance company and you know you don’t owe that much.  These are soul-suckers.  So, unless you’re rich enough to tear them up and forget about them, make a list.  Cross off the ones you decide aren’t worth the effort.  For each one that stays on the list, gather the backup information, plus contact numbers, and pick a day when you promise yourself to clear them all up.  And do so.

Next, look at everything you can get rid of:  pay off credit cards with tiny balances and stop using them so you have one less statement to deal with; pick one debit card and lock all the rest away so they don’t get used; consolidate bank accounts that don’t have any justification other than your laziness to close them; get radical in paring back every financial tool you can live without.  But don’t overlook any impact such an action might have on your credit rating (for example, don’t shut down credit cards, just sideline them).

You’ll be amazed at how many things you can do without, with minimal inconvenience.  So many were just added over the years, without removing old ones.  And by lowering the number of financial tools, your finances are easier to get under control.

Step Three:  Systematize or delegate.
With far fewer financial tools to deal with, it’s easier to set up systems for what remains.  One thing that helps is to have all bills coming due at the same time, unless you’re paid twice monthly, on the 1st and 15th of the month.  In that case, you might want to split bills between the 5th and the 19th to be sure your deposits have cleared.  A simple call to a service provider will usually result in a changed due date, with a one-time prorated adjustment for the extra days covered.  At that point, all you need to do is schedule an appointment with yourself to pay bills twice a month.

If you have a friendly bookkeeper, you can delegate some of the tasks to that person.  But remember, you are only delegating the act of paying, not the responsibility.

Out of chaos, comes order.  And out of order comes clarity regarding the inflows and outflows of money.  Out of clarity comes a feeling of control … critical control that frees up time and energy to make more money, save more money, and release the financial genius you know down deep you are!

About Sharon:


Sharon O’Day is a money expert with a successful career in global finance and marketing, plus an MBA from the Wharton School. Today she specializes in helping entrepreneurial women over 50 remove the obstacles to making and saving money, and to becoming financially free. For more information on how to be “Over Fifty and Financially Free,” visit http://SharonODay.com

+++ Unquote +++

I hope you feel like I did, i.e, that Sharon was able to give you a clear picture of how to handle your finances. I for one learned that here... Thanks Sharon!

Take care folks, and don't let life get the better of you ~ so keep smiling!

And from me, smiles from a financially rather shaken, but very sunny Greece ~
Emm xx

3 Comments

MY VEGAN DILEMMA: TO HONEY OR NOT TO HONEY...

7/10/2011

1 Comment

 
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a busy bee collecting nectar
I've been wondering for some time now whether I was being untrue to myself for including honey in my dietary habits, which as many of you know are vegan. This morning I came across an article that broadened AND re-established my views on the matter.

At the risk of throwing the cat among the pigeons, I've come to the conclusion that for me honey is totally acceptable and not strictly speaking a pure animal product since it is in fact the result of the busy bees' hard work and a chemical process that takes place when the bees ingest the nectar from flowers and then subsequently regurgitate it in the form of honey. As far as I have been able to check, natural bee honey does not contain animal proteins which was THE most important factor for our conversion to veganism. Also, in my book beekeepers actually are some kind of Guardians of the Planet in so far that they provide a pretty safe environment for the bees to form much-needed colonies. I do admit that the question is obviously more complex than this, but I can live comfortably with the fact that honey will remain part of my food intake.

Without bees there would be no pollination. No pollination will invariably result in disappearing crops, and with a world population projected to reach 7.5 to 10.5 billion people by 2050, I somehow doubt Mother Earth will be able to feed her children if crops disappear, which they would do without pollination.

Apart from being my personal sugar substitute good quality honey has a variety of health benefits ranging from being an antimicrobial agent and antioxidant to boosting the body's immune system and keeping free radicals in check. (for additional info on the subject CLICK HERE).

Googling the question "Is Honey Vegan?" resulted in my finding an interesting article written on the subject ~ it highlighted several areas I hadn't even considered in my personal decision-making process...

Keith Akers of www.compassionatespirit.com touches a number of issues in the article that are closely linked to the entire Vegan question, and after reading it all I can say is as far as I'm concerned Honey Stays!

Here's an extract of the article in question for your information:
...
+++quote+++

Bees As Pollinators
There’s another significant issue concerning bees, and that is their role as pollinators. Domestically managed bee colonies have dropped by half since 1945. Feral honeybees have essentially disappeared in the United States.   The value of bee pollination for both humans and wildlife is hard to quantify but is probably immense.  One-third of U. S. crops depend on pollinators; some plants on the endangered species list are endangered precisely because they lack pollinators.  

Beekeepers now migrate from place to place in the country performing pollination services for farmers, which helps human food supply but masks the impact of the decline of honeybees on wild plants (and the animals which depend on the plants). Beekeepers may make just as much or more money from pollination services as from selling honey. One emerging practice among hobbyist beekeepers is "top bar" hives, which produce much less honey but also requires much less disturbance (and killing) of bees.

In any event, the use of bees as pollinators raises a significant problem for those objecting to honey on the grounds that bee-keeping kills insects. To be consistent, one would also need to object to all bee-keeping, and then how are we going to pollinate our crops, and how are wild plants on which wild animals depend going to be pollinated?

Of course, this is not to say that a consistent point of view attacking both honey and bee-keeping couldn’t be defended. It’s crop monocultures, bioinvasions, and pesticide use that have led to the decline of wild honeybees -- not vegans boycotting honey. But this raises a whole series of new issues which are not easily addressed. Does consistent veganism now involve opposition to crop monocultures, restrictions on travel to combat bioinvasions, and worldwide organic standards? If it doesn’t, then how are you going to pollinate your crops, and how are wild plants going to be pollinated? Wouldn’t an abolition of bee-keeping lead to many more deaths of animals and humans than the number of bees inadvertently killed in the practice of bee-keeping? We are getting further and further from the core issue of compassion to animals, and it isn’t even clear that abolishing bee-keeping would be increasing rather than decreasing the total amount of compassion in the world.

+++unquote+++


(CLICK HERE for the entire article)

I have taken the various points highlighted into consideration and confirm that I shall continue to indulge occasionally in the natural bee honey which we are fortunate enough to obtain directly from the beekeepers themselves, safe in the knowledge that it's a pure, healthy and very tasty treat indeed!

Sweet smiles,

Emm :))
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CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND ON WATER - OR MEET THE SOLARWAVE!

6/15/2011

1 Comment

 
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Some among you who have joined hands with me on FB (https://www.facebook.com/emmakayonline) will know that I spent last week down in the Athens suburb of Palio Faliro, the reason being that Son-No.-1 has moved there. 
What practically no-one knows though is that I had the delightful and enlightening experience of coming face to face with the future, or should I perhaps state more correctly, a rather futuristic Close Encounter of the Third Kind on water!
It all began rather harmlessly…

A long and tiring  600+km journey down and the physical work involved coupled with my no longer being a spring-chicken called for “time to take a break” as son-dear calls it, and so it was decided for me that we would all go to the Flisvos Marina in Faliro. I posted on my fb wall some pics of the marina, and more accurately of what “pleasure boats” lay moored there, but withheld on purpose what I would call my most impressive experience of that afternoon. An encounter that was worthy of a blog post…!

I like to believe that I am an environmentally conscious person, by far not perfect, but most definitely striving to do my best, being aware of the precarious state our Blue Planet Earth finds itself in.  We’re all guilty, some more guilty than others, for the current state of affairs here. I also firmly believe that we all have a collective duty to change things; we don’t own our planet, irrespective of the pieces of paper that may confirm us as being the owner of a plot of land or real estate. In my book I’d say that we should rather be called “care-takers” and as such carry the heavy burden of looking after what is a precious environment that should enable man to live a life in health and relative happiness for all future generations. I’m deeply saddened by the fact that man appears to be doing his utmost to destroy the very environment he needs to survive…

And so it was with sheer delight and most certainly with a high dose of wonder, that I found myself being rather puzzled when we came across a vessel which I had never even heard of, let alone seen. A vessel that somehow would fit better in a sci-fi setting than being tied up in a marina, right before my eyes.
The SolarWave…
Berthed alongside the quay of the marina, she lay in the shimmering waters of the harbour, and my first impression was something akin “Huh? That’s a weird boat,”(Heike, forgive me for calling her a “boat”… I realise she deserves much better!) “let’s take a closer look.”
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meet the SolarWave, Flisvos Marina, Faliro-GR (4June2011)
I’m an inquisitive person by nature, to the point that my curiosity regularly embarrasses members of my family, which doesn’t really bother me, to tell you the truth, and I decided to take a closer look. I could see a gent sitting on the rear deck, obviously doing some paperwork or so, a lady in a bright orange top who was cleaning the deck and a young dog, happily jumping on and off board… I’d never seen a vessel like this before and started to take photographs. The entire top part was covered in solar panels and upon closer inspection I detected a side panel that explained the finer details of the SolarWave. I was rather impressed, to tell you the truth, and when at some point I saw the Lady-of-the-Yacht (sounds better than Lady of the Manor, no…?) disembark and walk away with her dog toward the far end of the marina, I made up my mind to approach her upon her return. And I did exactly that… I simply stopped her and told her that if I didn’t speak to her now, I’d probably miss an opportunity of a lifetime and would regret it afterwards… She laughed and we sat down together on the high steps of the pier and started to chat. Heike, the Lady-of-the-Yacht then explained to me that their catamaran had been their home now for the best part of a year and that it was their intention to travel the world with it.  She and her partner Michael had come up with the idea of building a totally self-sufficient and green vessel after having spent some time in the Caribbean on a previous journey and different yacht, several years back, where they felt that something should be done about their producing all those terrible diesel fumes and causing so much pollution. Their dream came true through sheer hard work and vision, and the result is here for all to see: Meet the SolarWave…

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.. A totally self-sufficient Green Catamaran! (foto emmakay)
As it says on a side panel on the vessel, the SolarWave is the first and only yacht to be COMPLETELY (and this is the most important word here) self-sufficient in its energy production (solar-panels and wind energy) to run the ENTIRE vessel. It is really what you could call a totally GREEN yacht, and this includes an on-board desalination facility to make its own fresh water from sea water! All onboard cook, wash, clean – in short, do everything a normal household does, all with totally free energy! Makes you wonder really why we can’t all do more to promote the alternative forms of energy that Mother Nature provides us with…  I am just thinking about the super-yachts that I saw in the same marina where the SolarWave lay berthed, some of which burn over 1000 litres of diesel fuel per day… It’s in no way my intention to attack anyone, but learning things like this, makes me wonder what we are doing on and more to the point "to" our planet… :-(

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having a laugh with Heike on the pier, Flisvos Marina
I hereby invite you to take a closer look at SolarWave and check out their FB page https://www.facebook.com/pages/SolarWave-Solarkatamaran-ohne-Brennstoffe-um-die-Welt/ as well as their site http://www.solarwave.at/autark-um-die-welt-2.html.

I count myself fortunate to have been able to see the first fully Green Catamaran with my own eyes and bump into Heike and have a little chat with her. I take my hat off to her and Michael for setting all the wheels in motion to make their dream come true. They both deserve my full respect. And perhaps, who knows, we might see each other again aboard their dream vessel one day and join them on an excursion into our beautiful Greek waters…

Needless to say that meeting and talking to Heike, and seeing their SolarWave made my day!


As a bonus, I’m also including a YouTube clip  made on board the vessel of the SolarWave negotiating the narrow Corinth Canal, just the day after I had met up with Heike!


Hope you enjoyed all that... I certainly did!
As always,
with sunny smiles,
Emm :))

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THE TALE OF A CHOCOLATE CAKE...

5/6/2011

3 Comments

 
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Not just chocolate cake ~ but Sachertorte!
This post is dedicated to my special friends Pami Taylor and Joseph Stricklin…

I promised I’d put the recipe for a wonderful chocolate cake online, but I’ll give you slightly more than that– a little history into the origins of the world famous Sachertorte.

C’mon then, grab yourself a coffee or tea, put your feet up and make yourself comfortable, and let’s begin!
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The Original Sachertorte, as produced by the Hotel Sacher in Vienna (pic Hotel Sacher site)
The “Sachertorte”, as it is known worldwide, is undoubtedly one of Austria’s most famous desserts, if not THE most famous, and was created in 1832 by an apprentice chef in the service of the then Chancellor of Austria, Prince Clemens Lothar Wensel Metternich. As with many great inventions in the world, the birth of the Sachertorte – a very rich chocolate layered cake, generally served with unsweetened whipped cream- was actually the result of circumstance: On the day of its inception Prince Metternich’s head chef was unexpectedly taken ill, and it befell 16-year old apprentice Franz Sacher to come up with an almost instant solution to the dessert requirements for a grand dinner party the Prince was having that night. Rumour has it that young Franz was told “Let there be no shame on me tonight!”

I guess Franz Sacher must have performed well enough to have pleased the palates of his master and important guests for he obviously survived  his ordeal, but his creation -the Sachertorte- did not really make international acclaim until many years later, and then only after some legal issues over the name had been sorted out.

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Chocolate heaven 'n whipped cream...
It was Franz Sacher’s eldest son Eduard who continued in his father’s footsteps and perfected the “Original Sachertorte” recipe to its current status. However, there exists another official version of the Sachertorte  at the famous Viennese Royal & Imperial Bakery and Chocolatier “Demel”, where Eduard Sacher had undergone his own training and where he’d perfected the family recipe, later claimed by Demel to be their own and fought over when the famous Vienna Hotel Sacher began selling Original Sachertorten in the 1930s. Thus were laid the foundations for a long legal battle that would erupt in 1938 between Eduard Sacher Junior, who was named after his father, and the Demel house, which ultimately resulted in an out-of court settlement in 1963 after which both parties were officially allowed to carry the name Sachertorte.  And so, while the Original Sachertorte name was awarded to the Hotel Sacher, Cafe Demel, with its own Eduard-Sacher-Torte  was henceforth also officially allowed to offer its own version of this culinary delight.

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Equally inviting: a Demel Sachertorte (downloaded from Demel site)
Typically the recipes of the Sachertorte are treated as closely-guarded state secrets. It is claimed that the main component is determined not so much by the ingredients themselves, but rather the qualities of chocolates used in the icing, which are said to be 3 special types of chocolate, produced solely for this purpose by different manufacturers in Belgium and Germany.  

The cake is made up of two layers of chocolate sponge cake in between which rests a thin layer of apricot preserve. The entire cake is covered with rich dark chocolate icing on the top and sides. Because it is considered to be rather dry to be eaten like that, it is served with unsweetened whipped cream.

Hotel Sacher’s Original Sachertorte and Demel’s production differ mostly in the way they treat the different layers of preserve, each house jealously protecting their treasured formula. 


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So, if you’d like to treat yourself to the “real” thing, I can only suggest you look into a visit to the wonderful city of Vienna at some point where you’ll be able to sample the cake both at the Sacher Hotel and at Demel’s Patisserie and make up your mind yourself as to which one you prefer…
It might just be an unforgettable experience, who knows!

There are many different versions of the “unofficial” Sachertorte, for this exercise though, let me share the recipe I received from a friend of mine, who is a great chef when it comes down to baking and producing sweet temptations… an area in which I display a distinct lack of the necessary skills!


Knowing the cake's international name and reputation, I'm not surprised to find that there are several  cafés and coffeeshops dotted all over the globe offering Sachertorte, with Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia probably being the most unexpected! However, what did really make my eyebrows rise is the fact that there is even an National Sachertorte Day; it's on 5 December... Fancy that!

Click here and you will be taken to my virtual kitchen library where I’ve displayed my friend's recipe, and who knows, with a little patience and a lot of determination you too could become an expert Sachertorte baker!


For those who'd rather give the self-baked experience a miss, there's always the possibility of ordering the cake directly online from either the Sacher Hotel or the Demel bakery in Vienna.


Hope you enjoyed all that!

Chocolate covered Smiles,

Emm xx

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sightseeing in Vienna, Austria
3 Comments

APRIL has nearly gone... only hours left!

4/30/2011

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I suddenly realized that a month has gone by without me posting a single thing in my blog... shame on me.What is my excuse?
None other than too much on my plate, I'd say.
I'm also in dire need of focus ~ too many things going on at the same time, both on the private horizon and the work related one...

It's been a month of travel and being gone ~ we spent a prolonged break in Sofia; it had not been planned that way, but we needed to extend our stay because my better half required some TL&C from our dentist friend Dr Bee... she works miracles!

And then Easter ~ the most important religious celebration of the year on the Greek Orthodox calendar was upon us; we had barely unpacked and sorted out all our luggage from our Bulgarian visit when we were asked to join our youngest son and his fiancee to spend the Easter weekend with them. On Easter Sunday we all travelled together to our future daughter-in-law's maternal grandparents' village not too far from the Skopjan border where we were treated to the full Greek program in the true spirit of family celebrations on this very special day. The Easter Feast stands for so much in Greece, but first and foremost it stands for bringing the family together and celebrating a New Beginning ... We were spoilt by the weather gods who made sure the sun shone almost all day long, while "yia-yia and papou" (nana and grandad) had made sure that all of us, some 14-18 people were treated like royals with food and drink in abundance.

Talking about royals: Friday 29 April was a day mostly spent in the front row seats at the Royal Wedding of the Decade event ~ Prince William and Kate finally tied the knot, and we joined the royal party from within our living room, eyes glued firmly on the "box".  I have come to realise that not everyone shares my ~ our ~ enthusiasm with this event, and don't take me wrong: I fully respect people's personal views on the subject, but as far as we were concerned it was a day to bask in the what the Brits do best under those circumstances: put on a jolly good show! This is neither the place nor the time to discuss the rights or wrongs of it all ~ as far as we were concerned it was a huge success and we both wish the Happy Couple a fruitful and happy life together. End of subject...

And that in a nutshell brings me here to these last few hours of the month of April... One third of the year 2011 nearly over!
I can only shake my head in disbelief - tempus does indeed fugit!

Tomorrow is another day... as we like to say. Indeed it is and will be yet another special day here in Greece:
May Day celebrations for all...
And we're off again to join friends, helping to make it a special day indeed! On a sidenote: to mark this special day the Greek railways have decided to go on strike... it's never-ending really!

Still, let me wish you a wonderful month ahead... with love, peace and prosperity ~ as our youngest son signs off when he phones us!

As ever, with happy smiles from me...
Emm xx


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TA SARANDA PALIKARIA - or why all Greece celebrates on 25th March!

3/28/2011

10 Comments

 
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Flying the 'Galanolefki', the Greek Flag on Greece's 25th March National Day...(foto emmakay)
A couple of days ago, on Friday, 25th of March, one of the two Greek National Holidays – a day perhaps more of commemoration than celebration - hubs and I spent a wonderful and most educational day out.

We had decided to join all the Greek families who had come out dressed to the nines in their Sunday best to celebrate and watch the youths parade that was taking place in Asprovalta. On this day in early spring parades are held throughout the country, and we had briefly considered going to Serres or even to Thessaloniki to watch. Our eldest son had wondered whether we’d like to come and watch with him the parade on the beautiful new promenade along Thessaloniki’s seafront. We briefly toyed with the idea but then discarded it simply because neither of us is particularly fond of crowds or busy roads, and we knew from many years experience that on this day the cities as well as larger towns would be absolutely packed. We felt it would be more practical and convenient to stay in the local area; not too crowded, ample parking space and I would have a much better chance at composing a decent photographic account of what these celebrations all entailed.

In fact, talking photographs here, when we had a major power cut last Wednesday, two days before the actual Parade Day, we decided to  make it a day out and go to the WiFi cafe in Vrasna which neighbours Asprovalta, only to find that they too were the victim of “no electricity” (new pylons were being installed in the area!). What had started as a-day-gone-wrong actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  As we moved onto the beach road that leads into Vrasna, we saw dozens of youngsters and children milling around in groups on the road. I told hubs I thought they were actually there for the dress rehearsal of Friday’s Parade.... As it turned out, I was right.  And so, I’m probably one of the few people in Greece who has ever recorded the rehearsal of the parade...! Lucky us -what a fun-packed experience that was... as you can see from the pictures!



(just hover your cursor over the image below and click Play to start the picture stream)
Now back to 25th March:

We’d agreed to make it an entire day out in view of the fact that the weather gods were smiling upon us here and had been spoiling us with unadulterated sunshine for the last couple of days! The first really warm sunny days of the year! We’d called Kostas, our friendly baker, in advance and asked him whether he could prepare our vegan leek and spinach pies by 9:30am so that we could pick those up early and then have a picnic somewhere by the sea later during the early afternoon. That way neither of us would have to stand in the kitchen to cater for our lunch requirements – not that we mind doing so, but it was a holiday after all, and a little treat is always much appreciated!

Before relaying the account of the day, I’d like to give you some background information on what 25th March is all about.
PictureBishop Germanos of old Patras blessing the Greek banner
We knew that the day’s celebrations centred on Greece finally standing up against the 400 year yoke of Ottoman rule they had been brutally subjected to. A dark period in Hellenic history during which thousands and thousands of Greek men, women and children had been killed and tortured for acts as simple as teaching their children about  Greek ways, language, culture and history.  At the same time it was also an era during which the Greek Orthodox Church proved itself as a saviour to many in that it helped retain many people’s sense of identity by setting up what became known as “hidden schools”, the “cripha scholeia”. These surely were some of the darkest years in the history of Greece.

The uprising that ensued after the Forty Brave “Palikaria” took on the Turkish settlement in Tripolis lasted for eight years, until 1829, when the then Sultan, Mahmud the Second, who was facing Russian troops at the gates of Constantinople, could do little more than accept the Greek independence. This Independence was sealed by the Treaty of Adrianople.

I had in fact prepared a paper with some information, but while browsing online to see if I could find a more “narrated” story I came across the following article, written by John Kass, which featured in the online version of the Chicago Tribune. After reading it, I thought there was no way I could have explained things as well as he did and that’s why I’m sharing it here with you:

In John’s words:
+++
The old song, one of my favorites, doesn't have to tell you it was cold in the mountains of Greece in early spring, when those 40 brave young men, the 40 Palikaria from Levadia, were walking.

Levadia is a small town in central Greece, not far from the Oracle of Delphi. The 40 Palikaria had a march of several days ahead of them.

It was a death march, of sorts. They were walking south to the Ottoman Turks' fortress stronghold of Tripolis, which is near my own family's village of Rizes.


(Note: these are translated lines from the much-loved Greek folklore song Ta Saranda Palikaria, 40 Brave Youths)

            They met an old man. An old man on the road.
            Bless you 'yero'! Bless you old man!
            He answered them, 'Welcome, my young braves!
            Where are you going? Brave youths, where do you go?'
            We go to trample on great Tripolitsa! Come with us!

Picturethe traditional foustanella
They had long knives in their belts and long guns on their shoulders. They had long hair, and mustaches. In the formal depictions of their march, in the paintings, they are often dressed in the fancy white kilts, the foustanella. Each kilt has 400 pleats. And each pleat represents a year of Greek slavery and occupation under the Turkish Ottoman Empire.

It was March 25, 1821.

...
And today, March 25, is Greek Independence Day.

If you know someone who is Greek or of Greek descent, someone with strong ties to the old country you might ask about the song of the 40 Palikaria from Levadia. Phonetically, you'd call it "Saranda Palikaria" (Sah-RAN-da Pa-lee-KAR-ia), The 40 Brave Youths. And when you ask about the Saranda Palikaria, watch for their reaction.

Greek Independence Day isn't a day of great profit for the beer companies. The politicians pay homage to it — they want those campaign checks coming — but it isn't a major holiday in America. You won't feel as if you've sinned if you don't wear blue.

There are a few versions of "Saranda Palikaria." It is a song of pride, a song that hints at pain to come. I'm sorry I can't sing it for you, but I can tell you that it is a song of clarinets, a mountain song best sung by harsh, guttural male voices, voices with smoke in them. And when we dance it in a circle, we dance it with our backs straight.

There's a story behind the song that's not usually shared by immigrants and the children of immigrants in a new land.

At the time of the 40 Palikaria, there were atrocities on all sides. As I write this, I want you to know that I feel no animosity toward the Turkish people of today. But either you tell a story or you don't, and today is March 25, the day that this story should be told.

The fight back then was between neighbors, although one neighbor was dominant, the powerful Muslim neighbor holding his hand out to the subservient Christian for the hand to be kissed.

PictureSiege of Constantinople, by Jean Chartier
                    (note: image from Wikipedia added by emmakay)

It began in 1453 with the fall of Constantinople, when the Turkish sultan rode his horse into the great church of Christendom, Agia Sophia. He rode his horse right up onto the altar, to demonstrate how things would be from then on.

The relationship stretched four centuries, with generations upon generations of human beings becoming used to each other's rhythms and rituals and holidays and feasts. And then they took out the knives.

Then, like now, March is still a cold month in Greece and the mountain rivers were swollen. The roads were wet as the brave youths walked south into the Peloponnesus.

In every village on March 25, there was much activity. The Greek Orthodox churches would have just completed the morning liturgies celebrating the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, the day upon which she is told by the angels of the child she will bear.

The sultan let the Greeks pray in their churches, but the Ottomans didn't let the Greeks go to school. The sultan knew that the best way to control them was to keep them illiterate. So the Greeks went to school at night, sneaking along mountain paths to find school in mountain caves, to be taught by the priests to read and write.

Control was manifested in other ways. If a Greek woman was groped or worse by a Turkish soldier, her relatives had no choice but to thank him for the compliment or be still.

Another way to keep control was to take the firstborn son of each Greek family and raise it in the sultan's army. These firstborn Greeks were enrolled in the sultan's elite special forces, the Janissaries, and they were used to hammer their own people.

Picture
(note: Image from Wikigallery added by emmakay)

But after 400 years, that control was finally breaking.

As the 40 Palikaria were walking on the road, the people of the land were in prayer, but they were also reaching for their knives.

            Come with us old man!
            Brave youths, I'm too old.
            But take my youngest son.
            He'll take my place.
            He can run like a rabbit.
            He can soar like a partridge.



These weren't merely abstract or mythic figures in paintings and song. For many of us, they were our great-great-grandfathers, our blood.

And today is the day we remember and honor them.


(John Kass) (Chicago Tribune – online version)

There are many versions of the traditional song “Saranda Palikaria” (Forty brave young men) – the forty valiant young men who on 25 March 1821 so bravely set out from Levadia to capture Tripolis; here’s is a version I’ve chosen to share because the clip tells the story not only in lyrics but also in pictures...  Sit back and soak up this bit of truly Greek history...
This then was some background to the country's national festivities today.

And thus it came that on this glorious sunny 25th of March 2011 hubs and I were standing among all those people who’d come to watch their own children, or friends’ children, march along the beach road in Asprovalta, joined by  anyone with name or rank within the hierarchy of local officialdom and church representatives to commemorate together one of the two most special days of Greek national celebrations.

Standing there, soaking it all in through the eye of the lens, I can only add that it was quite a moving experience to see those happy, smiling faces of the children, many of whom were dressed in traditional costumes, and their proud parents beaming and clapping as their offspring paraded past them. 
PictureBakaliaros me skordalia ... (photo downloaded)

Less than an hour after the first people started showing up on the empty beach road, the show was over... and calm and normality returned. The local tavernas and cafes would be full with people happily chatting and rejoicing in the good weather - it had been a good parade, and it was now time to enjoy one another's company  and dig into some tasty traditional 25th of March food: fried cod with garlic mashed potatoes - locally known as Bakaliaros Skordalia...
Allas!... not for us... we had our vegan pies to look forward to...

Reflecting back on Friday, I can truly say that it had been a day when the Greek flags were being waved with pride throughout the country, and before signing off for today, one last bit of information: Did you know that the Greek flag, the "Galanolefki" has in fact not changed since that uprise against Ottoman rule in 1821? We for one didn’t know. The colour of the flag is cerulean blue with white stripes and a white cross in the upper left hand corner, roughly covering a quarter of its size. The cross represents the role of the Greek Orthodox Church in the formation of the Hellenic Nation. The blue and white stripes are a link to the sea - the relentless waves of the Aegean - with white standing for peace and honesty as well as the white colour of the foam on the waves in the sea, while the blue symbolizes vigilance, truth and loyalty, perseverance and justice, and the deep blue of the Greek sea. Legend has it that Aphrodite, the mythological goddess of beauty emerged from those waves. The nine stripes of the flag symbolize the 9 syllables of the phrase "Freedom or Death" - "Eleutheria H Thanatos" (E-lef-the-ri-a   i   Tha-na-tos). This was the motto used during the years of the Hellenic Revolution against the Ottoman Empire.


Bottom line,  that is what 25 March is all about – the struggle of a nation to retain its most prized possession: its Freedom and national identity.

I think the pictures hereafter will tell you more about our day than I could possibly add with mere words...

Enjoy and perhaps reflect on the fact that history more often than not has gruesome tales to remind us of what we are today... in theory they should serve as a lesson!

Xronia polla, Ellada! May your gods be kind to you...

From me, as always

With smiles,

Emm xx

(just hover your cursor over the image below and click Play to start the picture stream)

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... OF HONEY BEES AND ALMOND TREES...

3/26/2011

1 Comment

 
Picture
... inside an almond orchard, Kavala Prefecture (fofo: emmakay)
Even though I'm right in the middle of drafting a post on the Greek National Day, celebrated on 25th March with loads of wonderful pictures, I'm interjecting this post simply because "it had to be done"...
You might ask "Why did it have to be done...?"
Quite simple, really.
The weather...

We are currently blessed with the most glorious Spring weather one could wish for.
Temperatures climbing toward 20C, clear blue skies, birds twittering loudly in the back yard... and the almond trees in full blossom!  I'd sworn that I would not miss the "blooming" almond trees this year, come hell or high water! As well as living in "Olive Land" the area here is also known for its almonds. They're delicious and we're literally surrounded by thousands of almond trees now all in full bloom...

And so this morning, while I was plodding on with the photo editing job on the 700 odd pictures I took yesterday, hubs popped in and advised me that if I didn't get my butt out there, I would definitely miss the almond blossoms again! Clouds were actually gathering toward the east and I really wanted the full sunny skies, so I had better hurry...

In addition to this, on our drive out yesterday we had noticed that many of the orchards with almond trees also had beehives in them. I'm mad about bees, totally raving mad... I love them to bits and I am totally convinced that if we don't start doing anything about saving them, we are digging ourselves a hole we might never be able to climb out of... Honey bee colonies all over the world are in sharp decline, the major culprit being excessive use of pesticides on crops. The bees are being chemically poisoned.... I vowed many years ago I would do all in my power to help preserve them.

Bees are often mistaken for wasps and therefore mercilessly killed... just in case somebody might get stung. It pains me to see this and I always take time to patiently explain the difference between bees and wasps (not that I'm in favour of killing wasps either, mind you!)


However, this blog post is not about telling bees apart from wasps, but it's about me sharing with you the results of today's photo shoot into the almond orchards... And at the end there's a lovely and extremely uplifting video clip which was sent to me in a Facebook post by my good friend Deb Bell... Thanks Deb... you made my heart sing!

A Day of Honey Bees and Almond Trees - simply A Day in Paradise...!



Picture
A busy bee collecting nectar, polinating the flowers! (foto: emmakay)
                                                                                                The Swarm of Bees  (by: Elsa Gorham Baker)

One little honeybee by my window flew;
Soon came another - then there were two.
Two happy honeybees in the apple tree;
One more bee came buzzing up - then there were three.
Three busy honeybees starting to explore
Another bee came to help - then there were four.
Four laden honeybees flying to the hive;
They were joined by one more bee - then there were five.
Five tired honeybees with the others mix;
Now there's a swarm of them - a hundred times six.



Almond tree in full blossom

Picture
As far as the eye could see, a sea of tender pinkish white blossoms with bees happily buzzing from one to 'nother... (foto emmakay)
 


Almond Blossom

Blossom of the almond trees,
April's gift to April's bees,
Birthday ornament of Spring,
Flora's fairest daughterling;
Coming when no flowerets dare
Trust the cruel outer air;
When the royal kingcup bold
Dares not don his coat of gold;
And the sturdy black-thorn spray
Keeps his silver for the May; -
Coming when no flowerets would,
Save thy lowly sisterhood,
Early violets; blue and white,
Dying for their love of light; -
Almond blossom, sent to teach us
That the spring days soon will reach us,
Lest, with longing over-tried,
We die, as the violets died; -
Blossom, clouding all the tree
With thy crimson broidery,
Long before a leaf of green
On the bravest bough is seen; -
Ah! when winter winds are swinging
All thy red bells into ringing,
With a bee in every bell,
Almond bloom, we greet thee well.


(by Edwin Arnold 1832-1904)

Where Lady Spring has been making her entry rather cautiously over the last few weeks, these last couple of days we were all treated to her full program: nature has woken up everywhere: birds twittering and darting around, building nests - I even spied a couple of magpies that were putting the finishing touches to the home-to-be for their offspring, whizzing past me with twigs in their beaks... When I walked into a second almond orchard where I'd seen the rows of beehives, I spotted my first poppies of the season... I was also surprised by a couple of large crickets that jumped up and made me jump in turn as I was walking between the flowering trees. The air was fresh and laden with promises to come... It certainly put a new spring in my steps...

Here are some of the pictures I took this morning - I hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking them!


And remember to scroll down to that special video clip... it will brighten your day!

And now to the promised Video Clip... some good news!


That's it then for today... at least here on the blog, that is...
I'm still wading through roughly one hundred pics I took yesterday's before I can call it a day today... And we've got one hour less sleep! Ouch...

Still... night-night from this part of the world!
and
Smiles, as always...
Emm xx
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It's official: I missed the first day of Spring!

3/21/2011

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Spring is in the air....At least here!
Picture
Spring Blossoms - Kavala, March 2011 (Foto: emmakay)
Oh dear...
I've done it now..
I've actually managed to miss it.....
How on earth could I possibly miss the First Day of Spring....?!?
All day long yesterday I kept thinking - tomorrow's the first Day of Spring - great!
Secretly rubbing my hands together... it would be official then: Winter would be banished, door closed! Wham!
Yet, in spite of all the subtle pointers around me... even people wishing me a Happy Spring Day AND me responding to it, my grey matter remained in fog: I missed it... !
I was so much wrapped up in my own little world, that I forgot to do what comes more or less as second nature to me: check facts before opening big mouth...

So here - a day late - are some interesting tidbits about Lady Spring:

In the northern hemisphere - up here, where we live - the "vernal equinox" or Spring equinox for 2011 occurred on 20th March at 23:21 GMT/UTC (Greenwich Mean Time, also known as Universal Time Coordinate). So I missed it by less than 12 hours!  Vernal equinox is derived from Latin: "ver" meaning Spring, while "equinox" refers to "equal night", and relates to the time when the sun crosses the equator, moving northward.

At the equinox, day and night all over the world are almost equally long. 'Almost' because there is a slight difference in that the further you move away from the equator, the longer the day becomes while at the same time, the sun will take longer to rise and set in these locations. As the sun moves in a horizontal direction this also influences the time of rising and setting: it will take longer the farther away from the equator.

Only twice a year would you be able to see the sun pass directly overhead if you were positioned on the equator at the moment of the vernal or autumnal equinox.

The sun rises due east and sets due west only on two occassions during the year: when Spring and Autumn equinox take place!

Not taking into account the recent disastrous events in Japan that are said to have altered Mother Earth's axis, during Spring this axis is tilted toward the sun, thus increasing daylight hours, bringing along warmer weather, encouraging Mother Nature to bring forth new life. The opposite happens at the autumnal equinox.

And then there is a persistent myth - isn't there always - that only at the vernal equinox it is possible to stand a raw egg on its end. And there is of course an equally persistent rebuttal stating that it's impossible at any time to manage that feat! Well, neither is entirely correct:, or incorrect for that matter:  with a fair amount of patience it is actually feasible to balance a raw egg on its end at ANY time of the year... Spring equinox does not interfere one bit!


I thought this might be the right place to help you get those Spring juices flowing...
My beloved husband came up with a brilliant idea of offering to you, my friends, HIS Spring Gift:
the blessed voice of  Sir Harry Secombe in 1963  with
"If I ruled the World, Every day would be the First Day of Spring...." 
Sit back a few moments and enjoy the tunes, they're truly wonderful! ...then read on...

Picture
The Zodiac Sign of Aries (http://www.cainer.com/)

From an astrological point, the Sun, Mercury, Jupiter and Uranus have all moved into the zodiac sign of Aries, otherwise known as Ostara who is the pagan goddess of spring and fertility signifying the time of the year when new life will be emerging. 


For the nature lovers among us, another good way to determine spring is by watching and tracking migratory animals (fish, bats, birds, butterflies...) These have an innate biological clock necessary for survival by means of eating, waking/sleeping, blooming, migrating, mating and more.


I'd always believed Spring officially started on 21st March - how wrong could I be !
Checking the Seasons Calculator for the period 2000 - 2049 I discovered that Spring equinox only features twice, and we already had that in 2003 and 2007!

What I did not know is that contrary to general assumption (remember never to "assume" because it makes an ASS of U and ME!) whereby Spring starts on either 20 OR 21 March, those assuming will be proven wrong in 2044 and 2048 when the equinox occurs on 19 March!
Hmm, wonder whether we'll still be around to witness that...?
Fingers crossed and hope for the best!

Before signing off, let me remind you that during the equinoctial months we celebrate the change over to a new season, i.e. Spring and Autumn (Fall) another change takes place: in less than a week's time we shall be altering our clocks to adjust them to or from Daylight Saving Time... If you're anything like me, I always have to think what way the clocks will be going. Here's a little trick to help you remember:


SPRING FORWARD  -  FALL BACK

in other words, if Brussels doesn't take a last-minute decision to change the number of hours involved (there have been rumours of introducing a TWO hour change, instead of ONE) our clocks here in the whole of the European Union and associate countries (including Russia) will be reset to operate on Daylight Saving (or Summer) Time and this will take place on Sunday, 27 March 2011, at 01:00:00 when they are turned forward 1 hour to Sunday, 27 March 2011, 02:00:00 Local Daylight time instead.
On a side note: in the USA, Canada and Mexico  this already happened on 13th March!

And last but not least: Since yesterday - or more precisely some 12 hours ago at the time of writing this note - marked the first day of Spring here means that it also marked the first day of Autumn or Fall in the southern hemisphere:

So, Happy Autumn to all our friends Down Under, wherever you may be...!
Picture
Autumnal leaves, Boyana, Bulgaria (foto: emmakay -Oct 2010)
and ...
Spring smiles from
Emm xx
Picture
A panoramic composition of the blossoms featured above... (foto: emmakay)
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The Story of Six Boys and Thirteen Hands...

3/20/2011

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I'd like to share here with you a story I received via email from one of my good friends in the States...
While checking out the origins of the story, I stumbled across information that made me withdraw the original posting which copied the email story my friend had sent to me because it contained what I would call a "doctored" version of facts and I have instead replaced it with the account that follows hereafter.

When I read this story, I became rather emotional - especially in the light of the very recent calamities in Japan, less than 10 days ago... So many lives lost, not to conflict or war, but to Mother Nature flexing her muscles and subjecting thousands upon thousands of Japanese people to her wrath while all the world can do is watch helplessly in horror...

In these days of conflict and turmoil across our planet Earth, the story serves as a stark reminder of what the real cost of war or its euphemism conflict is - a cost that can never be measured in monetary terms, for what price does one put on a life?

Here follows the story of SIx Boys and Thirteen Hands ...

++ quote ++

The Boys of Iwo Jima 
(From the book: Heart Touchers “Life-Changing Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter)
by Michael T. Powers


Each year my video production company is hired to go to Washington, D.C. with the eighth grade class from Clinton, Wisconsin where I grew up, to videotape their trip. I greatly enjoy visiting our nation’s capitol, and each year I take some special memories back with me. This fall’s trip was especially memorable.

On the last night of our trip, we stopped at the Iwo Jima memorial. This memorial is the largest bronze statue in the world and depicts one of the most famous photographs in history — that of the six brave men raising the American flag at the top of Mount Surabachi on the Island of Iwo Jima, Japan during WW II. Over one hundred students and chaperones piled off the buses and headed towards the memorial. I noticed a solitary figure at the base of the statue, and as I got closer he asked, “What’s your name and where are you guys from?

I told him that my name was Michael Powers and that we were from Clinton, Wisconsin.

“Hey, I’m a Cheesehead, too! Come gather around Cheeseheads, and I will tell you a story.”


Picture
The photograph of the 6 soldiers raising the flag in Iwo Jima (Source: http://www.iwojima.com/statue/index.htm)


James Bradley just happened to be in Washington, D.C. to speak at the memorial the following day. He was there that night to say good-night to his dad, who had previously passed away, but whose image is part of the statue. He was just about to leave when he saw the buses pull up. I videotaped him as he spoke to us, and received his permission to share what he said from my videotape. It is one thing to tour the incredible monuments filled with history in Washington, D.C. but it is quite another to get the kind of
insight we received that night. When all had gathered around he reverently began to speak. Here are his words from that night:

“My name is James Bradley and I’m from Antigo, Wisconsin. My dad is on that statue, and I just wrote a book called Flags of Our Fathers which is #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list right now. It is the story of the six boys you see behind me. Six boys raised the flag. The first guy putting the pole in the ground is Harlon Block. Harlon was an all-state football player. He enlisted in the Marine Corps with all the senior members of his football team. They were off to play another type of game, a game called “War.” But it didn’t turn out to be a game.

Harlon, at the age of twenty-one, died with his intestines in his hands.
I don’t say that to gross you out; I say that because there are generals who stand in front of this statue and talk about the glory of war. You guys need to know that most of the boys in Iwo Jima were seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen years old.

(He pointed to the statue)

You see this next guy? That’s Rene Gagnon from New Hampshire. If you took Rene’s helmet off at the moment this photo was taken, and looked in the webbing of that helmet, you would find a photograph. A photograph of his girlfriend. Rene put that in there for protection, because he was scared. He was eighteen years old. Boys won the battle of Iwo Jima. Boys. Not old men.

The next guy here, the third guy in this tableau, was Sergeant Mike Strank. Mike is my hero. He was the hero of all these guys. They called him the “old man” because he was so old. He was already twenty-four.
When Mike would motivate his boys in training camp, he didn’t say, “Let’s go kill the enemy” or “Let’s die for our country.” He knew he was talking to little boys. Instead he would say, “You do what I say, and I’ll get you home to your mothers.”

The last guy on this side of the statue is Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian from Arizona. Ira Hayes walked off Iwo Jima. He went into the White House with my dad. President Truman told him, “You’re a hero.” He told reporters, “How can I feel like a hero when 250 of my buddies hit the island with me and only twenty-seven of us walked off alive?”

So you take your class at school. 250 of you spending a year together having fun, doing everything together. Then all 250 of you hit the beach, but only twenty-seven of your classmates walk off alive. That was Ira Hayes. He had images of horror in his mind. Ira Hayes died dead drunk, face down at the age of thirty-two, ten years after this picture was taken.

The next guy, going around the statue, is Franklin Sousley from Hilltop, Kentucky, a fun-lovin’ hillbilly boy. His best friend, who is now 70, told me, “Yeah, you know, we took two cows up on the porch of the Hilltop General Store. Then we strung wire across the stairs so the cows couldn’t get down. Then we fed them Epson salts. Those cows crapped all night.”

Yes, he was a fun-lovin’ hillbilly boy. Franklin died on Iwo Jima at the age of nineteen. When the telegram came to tell his mother that he was dead, it went to the Hilltop General Store. A barefoot boy ran that telegram up to his mother’s farm. The neighbors could hear her scream all night and into  the morning. The neighbors lived a quarter of a mile away.

The next guy, as we continue to go around the statue, is my dad, John  Bradley from Antigo, Wisconsin, where I was raised. My dad lived until 1994, but he would never give interviews. When Walter Kronkite’s producers, or the New York Times would call, we were trained as little kids to say, “No, I’m sorry sir, my dad’s not here. He is in Canada fishing. No, there is no phone there, sir. No, we don’t know when he is coming back.”

My dad never fished or even went to Canada. Usually he was sitting right there at the table eating his Campbell’s soup, but we had to tell the press that he was out fishing. He didn’t want to talk to the press. You see, my dad didn’t see himself as a hero. Everyone thinks these guys are heroes, ’cause they are in a photo and a monument. My dad knew better.


He was a medic. John Bradley from Wisconsin was a caregiver. In Iwo Jima he probably held over 200 boys as they died, and when boys died in Iwo Jima, they writhed and screamed in pain.

When I was a little boy, my third grade teacher told me that my dad was a hero. When I went home and told my dad that, he looked at me and said, “I want you always to remember that the heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who did not come back. DID NOT come back.”

So that’s the story about six nice young boys. Three died on Iwo Jima, and three came back as national heroes. Overall, 7000 boys died on Iwo Jima in the worst battle in the history of the Marine Corps. My voice is giving out, so I will end here. Thank you for your time.”

Suddenly the monument wasn’t just a big old piece of metal with a flag sticking out of the top. It came to life before our eyes with the heartfelt words of a son who did indeed have a father who was a hero. Maybe not a hero in his own eyes, but a hero nonetheless.


Michael T. Powers, the founder of HeartTouchers.com and Heart4Teens.com, is
the youth minister at Faith Community Church in Janesville, Wisconsin. He is
happily married to his high school sweetheart Kristi and proud father of
three young rambunctious boys.

He is also an author with stories in 29 inspirational books including many
in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and his own entitled: Heart Touchers
“Life-Changing Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter.”


++ end of quote++

From January 2007 onwards, emails started to circulate around the internet featuring this story with an added "bonus":  some clever cloggs had added the following postscript to the piece:

++PS : One thing I learned while on tour with my 8th grade students in DC that is not mentioned here is that if you look at the statue very closely and count the number of "hands" raising the flag, there are 13. When the man who made the statue was asked why there were 13, he simply said the 13th hand was the hand of God. ++

It should be stated clearly here that the sculpture does NOT feature a thirteenth hand - there  really are only twelve. Nevertheless, this rumour about the 13th hand has been doing the rounds for years, spread both on the Internet and by lay tour guides ready to add that little "special" to a story...

In the words of the sculptor Felix de Weldon himself:

"Thirteen hands? Who needed 13 hands? Twelve were enough."

... Twelve hands or Thirteen hands... what really matters is the "human" factor in this account... along with my underlying wish and hope that one day we will know and live with Peace on Earth for Mankind...

As always,
Smiles,
Emm xx

"Uncommon Valor Was a Common Virtue."
Tribute by Admiral Chester Nimitz to the fighting men on Iwo Jima.
Picture
The Iwo Jima military memorial statue, outside Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, United States.
For further information on the erection of the Memorial, please visit
http://www.iwojima.com/statue/index.htm
2 Comments

Kali Sarakosti – Happy Fasting! And It’s Kite Flying Day... !

3/7/2011

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Picture
Picture banner above: Lagana, olives, prawns, octopus, calamari, halva...

KALI SARAKOSTI!
PictureFresh 'lagana' with sesame or chopped olives. Yumm (foto emmakay)
I got up this morning really early just to get to the bakery down in the village by the sea. I went to pick up my “Lagana”, the sesame bread that is baked only today, this special day that marks the beginning of the Orthodox Lent.

Today the whole country celebrates the religious public holiday of Clean Monday (Greek: Καθαρά Δευτέρα – Kathara Deftera), and is the start of what we call “the Clean Week” here in Greece. This is the first week of the seven weeks before Easter, and by tradition the forty-plus days of fasting that the Orthodox believers will subject themselves to. Greek Cyprus too celebrates this day with a public holiday and similar traditions.

Clean Monday, loosely translated into Ash Monday or Pure Monday, is based on the religious practice of shedding sinful behaviour and abstaining from what is called non-fasting foods. Last night a special service took place in the churches during which those present will have bowed down before each other and asked each other for forgiveness. In accordance with religious tradition this will allow them to start Lent with a clean conscience, with forgiveness and with renewed Christian love. Much needed in these days of tremendous internal upheaval here in Greece... The purpose of fasting is to cleanse the body as well as the spirit in preparation for Easter, which is the most sacred of all religious traditions in the Greek Orthodox faith.

The theme of Clean Monday is based on the Scriptures  (Isaiah 1:1-20):
Wash yourselves and ye shall be clean; put away the wicked ways from your souls before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well. Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, consider the fatherless, and plead for the widow. Come then, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow; and though they be red like crimson, I will make them white as wool (v. 16-18).

(On a side note: Remarkable here is the fact that the symbolic colours of red and white are also reflected in the traditional Martenitsi (see my post on 1 March - Chestita Baba Marta) which are handed out in Greece’s northern neighbour Bulgaria as symbols marking the beginning of Spring, although I have not come across any reference material that would actually link the latter to the Scriptures.)


Back to Greece, though.
It is also customary during this week to carry out what is known as Spring Cleaning, and it is a widespread tradition that all houses and dwellings in general receive a thorough going-through during this week. In the villages where traditions are upheld even more strictly, you’ll find people whitewashing or painting the walls of their houses, while inside the house it’s the time that cupboards, wardrobes and drawers are cleaned and freshened up.

Yesterday, Sunday was the last day of Carnival, the last day that in many  traditional Greek Orthodox families people will have eaten meat or any animal by-product. Instead, it’s customary to revert to Lent food.

PictureKites high up the sky! (foto courtesy of Frosso!)
Today – weather permitting – most families will have taken to the hills and the fields or the villages near the towns, and if the weather permits, be armed with massive picnics. I have to say that at this very moment it does not look like that’s going to be the case here, so it’s keep fingers crossed!  The idea is to spend the day together with family and friends and enjoy the trip out, and if there are younger children let them fly the traditional Clean Monday kites. In the past, when the weather gods have smiled upon us, we have witnessed the skies full of bright and colourful long-tailed kites hovering in the air. A beautiful and refreshing sight! The kids simply love it. I have tried to research the history related to the origins of the kite-flying but have been unable to come up with anything... Pity, it’s something that really bugs me!

PictureSeafood galore (foto downloaded)
After the dark and cold winter months it’s in general the first time of the year we see the “townies” come down to their summer homes by the sea and let their children enjoy a day of fun and tradition. People gather and dance and eat and drink all day long. Tavernas are bursting full  (although I doubt that will be the case in today’s difficult economic times), traditional music blaring out loud,  while catering to the special needs of the day: plates piled high with taramosalata (pink or white fish roe), skordalia (a delicious garlic dip made with either bread or potato puree), fava bean dip,  marouli (shredded green lettuce salad), olives, gigantes plaki (oven-baked broad beans in a tomato sauce), kalamari, chtapodi (marinated or grilled octopus), sarmadakia (vine leaves stuffed with rice), horta (boiled mixed wild greens with lemon and olive oil), lachanosalata (Greek-style coleslaw with lemon and olive oil)... all served with the typical ‘lagana’ bread, and washed down with ample ouzo, tsipouro, wine, beer...(police have been instructed to be especially vigilant and there will be increased road checks – these special celebration days unfortunately have the tendency to result in numerous horrific road accidents...).

PictureThe soft halva... heaven on a plate!

To finish the meal in style, dessert is halva, either the soft semolina-like pudding with cinnamon and almonds or the harder Makedoniko variety, made from tahini and which tastes delicious with some sprinkles of lemon and cinnamon! It also comes with cocoa or almonds... I can never decide which of the two very different varieties I prefer more... they're both absolutely yummy!

Food during lent excludes anything that involves “animals with blood” – or so I was told, when first introduced to this practice many years ago. What is allowed are mussels, cuttlefish, calamari, octopus, oysters, shrimps, and even snails! All other animal meat and by-products are on the no-no list, and this includes poultry and game as well as milk, cheese and eggs. Fish and seafood with backbones are also on the no-no list while even olive oil, olives and wine are restricted. For those who follow the strict religious fast even the number of meals per day is limited. However, nowadays most people don’t follow this harsh regime of fasting, and the younger ones will only revert to some kind of fast during the last week before Easter. Also, people who cannot fast for health reasons and the old and infirm are exempt.
PictureKira Sarakosti - Lady Lent

Another traditional curiosity related to this special period on the Greek religious calendar is Lady Lent, a figure who is an important part of the seven weeks of lent: Kira Sarakosti, her Greek name, is a small figure baked of bread dough which features something really unusual: she has seven legs and her hands are folded as if in prayer. Lady Lent’s seven legs each represent one week of the fasting period. There is a cross on her forehead, and she has no mouth, indicating that she can’t eat because she is fasting. In modern Greek households the actual act of baking this figure has started to disappear, instead being replaced by children cutting the woman figure from cardboard. It is customary to place Kira Sarakosti near the icon centre which every Greek home has, and each Sunday in Lent that passes, one of her legs will be removed. In other words, Lady Lent serves like some kind of calendar for the countdown to Pascha – the Greek Easter, and undoubtedly the biggest family feast of the religious year. Lady Lent will lose her last leg on the Saturday before Easter...

As is often the case with traditional celebrations, these festivities can take on different activities in different parts of the country. A clear example of this takes place in a small town north of Larissa in Central Greece, called Tyrnavos. The locals from the region gather in the small church of the Prophet Elias to make the traditional “bourani” soup, which is a vegetable soup made from spinach, stinging nettles and vinegar, all boiled for hours on end. During the preparation of this bourani, people tease each other with phallic objects and indecent language is at the order of the day.... Read more about this not so Clean, but rather Dirty Monday, in a rather funny story by a lady called Theodora Tongas at  http://www.odyssey.gr/default.asp?entryid=2949&pageid=4&tablepageid=50&langid=2
Another traditional annual Kathari Deftera event takes place in the village of Galaxidi, a popular fishing village on the Corinthian Gulf, not far from Delphi. Here too, Clean Monday turns out to be anything but clean. During the Carnival period preceding today, every night fires are lit and the festive events reach a high point on this first day of Lent. When the carnival float parade finishes, people gather together to have lunch, either at home or in the fields around the village. After lunch they all congregate on the central marketplace, the plateia, armed with bags full of flour and ash and engage in a veritable battle of emptying these bags all over each other. Unsuspecting passersby are not exempt from this traditional onslaught! You can see a short YouTube clip of the happenings here...

We shall be returning to our village down by the sea later on in the hope that the weather gods show some mercy, allowing me to take some pictures of kites high in the sky as well as capturing some of the locals and visitors enjoying a good time together, casting aside the harsh realities of life at the moment...

Let me sign off for today in the hope that we can all find that forgiveness in our hearts that would allow us to have not only a Clean Monday, but as much of a Clean Year as is humanly possible...

Καλή Σαρακοστή!   (pronounce ka-lee sarakos-tee!)  Happy Lent to all of you...

Smiles
Emm
xx
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    Greetings,
    I'm Emma, better known as Emm among those who know me well enough. I am a Daughter of Mother Earth, and in my little family we are all blessed with what I call "The Globetrotter Gene". We have spent more than three decades roaming the planet until a few years ago we decided to set up camp in the Balkans, and since then we call home where we put our feet under a table in either Greece or her northern neighbour, Bulgaria. 
    I welcome you to Emma's Blog - it was created with a view to sharing happenings and thoughts related to our journey through life. I thank you for stopping by and hope you are enjoying the ride ... Feel free to share the experience!...
    Emm

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