Heading East

this morning in just about an hour. Will be back late Sunday or early Monday. Hoping the car is up to the trip (there's no reason it shouldn't be, it just sounds a little creaky to me lately).

The Health Care Debate

My plan:

Legalize marijuana. The cost savings alone from the clearing out of the judicial system and a draw down in our "troops" abroad in the "war on drugs" would probably pay for a low cost, bare-bones government funded option. Add a sin tax on top of it, and it could probably fund a pretty decent program. Domestic production would stimulate the economy and create jobs, and keeping with agricultural tradition, we'd allow imports but impose a hefty tariff, which would also be directed towards the government option.

I think we'd also see a drop in a lot of the prescription drug costs, because who needs Prozac if you can just get stoned?

The morning started out with some unusual but predicted rain. My landlord came over one day last week to check out the roof in anticipation of the event. This is a picture of it taken while driving back from my language lesson in Chania this morning.





But the afternoon cleared up and brought some beautiful, refreshing late summer/early autumn weather. I went for yet another walk up into the hills behind my house...hopefully I haven't repeated too many shots from previous posts here. While some of the terrain was familiar, I wandered off on some paths through some olive fields that I'm pretty sure I haven't been on yet.





















I'm about 99% sure that this is my village viewed from above.








I came across this little church pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It was very quiet and peaceful, and one might imagine that no one ever came here except for the meticulous nature of the grounds.














I'm not sure about this...but the word for Friday in Greek is Παρασκευη (Paraskevi)...so I guess this is the church of St. Friday?? Never heard of him, but I LIKE him!! If I ever go back to church again, this will be it.























I wonder who lives here?? Looks about big enough for a fox.








I'll admit...this creeped me out a bit. Amidst all the natural beauty, coming across this made me think of some crazed killer in a bad teenage horror flick for some reason.






I think I may have already posted a picture of this church, but I really liked the way it looked in the late afternoon light.








Mangy, scruffy pup. He seemed to want me to pet him, but I was afraid he might bite me so I just spoke nicely to him and complimented him on what a sweet dog he was.

I managed to drag my lazy butt out of bed at 6:47am this morning in order to take a walk to the beach. I haven't been up and out of the house before 9 or 10am in a long while, and I wanted to experience the walk in the morning while it was still cool and the light was still soft, versus my usual afternoon visit. I even managed to carry my cup of coffee with me the entire way without spilling:-) Here are just some pictures from the walk:

I'll Call Him Ralph

The dog across the street is SO old, and makes SUCH a racket when he groans, howls, moans and otherwise carries on. But he is so sweet with the little kittens that also hang out at his house, and I snapped a couple of shots of him with one of them this afternoon. He's always grooming them, playing with them, and just hanging out with them.

I suppose I should attempt to say more to my neighbors than "yia sas", and maybe try to find out what their dog's real names are. There's another dog next door to me who I call Leroy, because he's brown and he hangs out in an oil barrel when it's hot, and he makes me think of the song "Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown". Today, Leroy was out front with the man of the house, and I stopped and said hello to the both of them and actually petted Leroy for the first time (he usually barks ferociously at anyone who walks by). Neither seemed to mind when I called him Leroy, so maybe I'll just stick with their American names for now.

Rock Market Closes Up

The KBIA (Kyrstyn's Beachcombing Igneous Average) gained 12 pebbles today to close at 57 in light trade-winds.

Apartment Hunting

After meeting with Elenie at her apartment in Chania for my Greek lesson, I drove into the city center to wander around and see if there were any "room for rent" signs that might lead to something suitable for me. Driving downtown is always a stressful event for me, as I'm in constant fear that I'm going to take out someone on a scooter or turn the wrong way down a one-way street, but I was rewarded eventually by finding a great parking space near the naval museum and the harbor.


I came across a sign on the door in the center of this picture that advertised a harbor view apartment and listed a phone number. Upon speaking with the guy on the other end of the line, I found out quickly that I couldn't afford this place (850 euros per month) but he said he had another apartment near the synagogue in the Jewish quarter, and that he'd send someone over to take me to see it. I thought sure..why not? I've never lived in any "ethnic quarter" before, could be cool!


I was actually just trying to take a picture of the street that I WOULD have maybe lived on if I could have afforded it, when the woman who came to take me to the other apartment appeared around the corner.



She took me to this place, which I could afford (450 euros). And there were things that I definitely liked about it. It is three levels...kitchenette and bathroom on the first floor, sitting area with TV on the second, and the bedroom on the third level, all connected by a very cute, wooden spiral staircase. However, it was DARK inside. And there are no screens on the windows, so if I were to open all of them to let in enough light to keep me from sliding into deep and total depression, my cats would surely make a run for it through one of them. Also, I didn't notice any laundry facilities and there is no internet. I was told that they could have that installed for me, but when I take into account the cave-like interior, I just don't feel it's right for me. Oh well, no biggie...it was the first place I looked at, carry on.

I stopped here to have lunch...rabbit in a white wine sauce with potatoes.

While still at Elenie's place, she went over the classified ad section with me. We circled some apartments that looked like they might be appropriate for me, and once I was back home this evening I gathered up my courage and my opening line in what I hoped would be understandable Greek, and called the first one. I don't recall exactly how the exchange went, but I heard "Oxi" which means no, and the words that Elenie showed me mean "no foreigners" and I said "Efharisto" and hung up. When Elenie originally showed me that phrase, she said that she thought they were primarily referring to Albanians "and the like". She thought that an American might be OK, I'd just have to ask and see. Well, apparently not in this case. Or who knows...maybe I mentioned that I had two cats and she was telling me that they didn't take foreign cats...I don't know.

Anyway, I'll call some more numbers from the listings over the next few days and we'll see what happens. I've still got some time, and if all else fails, I suppose I wouldn't exactly mind seeing my nephew Ben at Christmas:-)