Blogging Resumption: re Greece (and other things)

   On our Greece trek I only carried a smart phone which is no way to blog.  Therefore, I suspended blogging until now that I'm back at my desktop.  So I will be blogging in my typical, random fashion about our Greek experiences.

I found this in today's Writer's Almanac so, with it's connection to Greece thought I'd reprint it.

Today is the beginning of the Dog Days of summer, 40 days of especially hot and humid weather with little rainfall, according to the Farmers' Almanac. The name came from the ancient Greeks. They believed that Sirius, the "dog star," which rose with the sun at that time, was adding to the sun's heat. They also believed that the weather made dogs go mad. The Romans tried to appease Sirius by sacrificing a brown dog at the start of the Dog Days. For the Egyptians, the arrival of Dog Days marked the beginning of the Nile's flooding season, as well as their New Year celebrations.

"Dog Days" has been adopted by the stock market, because the markets tend to be slow and sluggish; it's also come to mean any period of stagnation or inactivity.

The Corinth Canal begun by Nero with 6000 Jewish slaves and completed by the French at the end of the 19th century.  It connects the Ionian and Aegean Seas  through the Corinth Isthmus.  Cut  through solid rock 4 miles long, 30 yards wide and the sides are 10 yards high.