Harvest news

       Soybean harvest is complete.  There is some corn left in the field. Driving by the local grain elevator this afternoon I saw six semi-trucks in line to unload corn. Soybeans go directly to the soybean processing plant in Volga, ten miles away. The dry weather has dried the corn to make it safe for storage so artificial bin drying is not necessary. That saves both time and money. It also means that the corn is in better condition because bin drying negatively affects the quality of the corn.      

    It was a bit of a surprise to see trucks unloading at the elevator. Much corn has been piled on the ground so I assumed the elevator bins were full. Sinai boasts one of the few free standing elevators, because most have merged and consolidated. 

Takk for alt,

Al

                            The corn is piled on the field where I played football and baseball.

Birds

   Two egrets were sitting by my frozen pond contemplating their next move. Two bald eagles were on the shoulder of the highway consuming roadkill. Pheasants......

    In three days of hunting this fall I've seen more pheasants than I saw in total all last season. Over the summer farmers were reporting seeing many pheasant broods. This is a bit of a mystery. The difficult winter would lead to suspected reduction in numbers. Yet, here they are! Seeing them makes me glad!

Takk for alt,

Al

                    Mountain sunset on Crete.

Lincoln and Bonhoeffer

      

   Reading And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle, Jon Meacham, this quote reminded me of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. "'The true role, in determining to embrace, or reject anything, is not whether it have any evil in it; but whether it have more of evil, than of good"' Lincoln had told the house. P. 112

"God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious. The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realised by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law … acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together. When things do not go his way … he becomes, first an accuser of his brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, pp27-28)

    Bonhoeffer, February 4, 1906-April 9, 1945, wrote Life Together while leading an underground seminary in Nazi Germany during the 1930s. He was executed for his involvement for a plot against Hitler.

    Simply put "The perfect is the enemy of the good."

Takk for alt,

Al

                          Snails on the menu.

                              Restaurant menu.

Hunting Season

     Kaia was happy to be rescued from doggy camp, a.k.a. kennel. South Dakota pheasant season opened without me while I was enjoying the good life in Greece. Not to worry, because the season runs until the last day of January. During the COVID quarantine of 2020-21, I hunted 90 days. That's not likely to be repeated but hunt we will.

    So, we took our first hunt today. What could be better than I nice outdoor walk with a happy dog? Though we didn't see a pheasant, only some stratospherically high flying geese, not seeing any pheasants has an upside. What might that upside be? I haven't missed a shot this season.  😀 There are plenty of days to follow.  Things to ponder: Does Kaia experience disappointment that there were no birds to flush? She certainly displays no lack of enthusiasm. Now she sleeps peacefully by my side.

Takk for alt,

Al

      Our lovely Greek group, for some reason I'm always sent to the back of the room group.

       The picture was taken at this winery. Their wines, excellent, may not be available in the U.S. There was moment of confusion when I asked Anna if gai was a Greek word,,,"No". Then it dawned on me that I was in the wrong language. "Gai" is "chicken" in Thai. 😄 Kow pat gai = rice fried chicken.

Little House on the Prairie

       Going from Santorini to The Little House was going from summer to winter in a couple of days. Santorini was about 80 degrees and it was 28 when I reached The House. The two pictures below illustrate the change.

Takk for alt,

Al

OFH

    Made it to the OFH, laundry done, folded and put away. More later!

Takk for alt,

Al

A Santorini pic! 

Suspended

   Blogging is now suspended as I travel home.

Takk for alt,

Al

Mystery Solved

 

Flowing Water

      On the drive from Chania to Zoros we stopped in the village of Spili, famous for the water flowing out of the mountain. Cold and pure the water is bottled and sold all over Greece and beyond. This feature has made the town a tourist attraction. Shops displayed beautiful handcrafter linens. There was a time I would have purchased some for Joanne to use as gifts.

Takk for alt,

Al

Wedding Cake

     While we were in the restaurant in Zoros a local baker came by to show us the wedding cake she'd baked for a wedding the next day. The cake was actually bread and she allowed us to smell it. It smelled delicious and was such a work of art that it seemed that it should be premantly preserved and not consumed. The pictures below testify to the artistry.

Takk for alt,

Al

                                    The wedding "cake".

                        The baker holding her wedding "cake".

Misc....

       House in Greece are either white or beige with 90%? white. Houses on distant hillsides when clustered together look like snow. Almost all of the houses on Santorini are white, usually with blue roofs.

    Yesterday's boat ride skirted the cliffs that define island edges. Both the islands of Crete and Santorini seem like huge piles of rock.

    

Takk for alt,

Al

               Not snow but clustered houses in the distance.

                           Typical shoreline of Santorini.

Santorini yet

      We began our exploration of the day at a museum with archeological artifacts from the island dating as far back as the 17th century BC. Now that's old!  A brief walk in the shopping streets, crowded with passengers from three cruise ships anchored in the harbor, was enough for me. Incidentally, the harbor is a caldera and there's an active volcano on the island...just smokes a little now. Santorini, with a permanent resident population of 15,500, hosts a million tourists a year.

     While several of our group braved an alpine like climb over rocks and cliffs to reach a beach I moved leisurely on a water taxi. The water taxi was nothing like the crowded ones on the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok. Those stopped very briefly and would be passengers had to board quickly. Once I observed a family of four tourists. Father and son stepped quickly aboard while mother and daughter hesitated and were left behind.  The Santorini taxi ran between beaches and our group could have avoided the alpine like hike by taking the taxi, they did take the taxi on their return.

    We had dinner, heavily laden with seafood, on the waterfront. Then we were bused to a western peak to watch the sunset for which Santorini is famous.

Takk for alt,

Al

                                Interested in history Google this.

                less crowded part of the walking/shopping district.

                                        Water taxi

                                           Dinner venue

Vignettes

      Anna, our tour leader, thinks that I'm the old guest to stay at the farm! 😀 Of course I am older than dirt. Knowing my age, the farmer and his family spoiled me. I could get used to that. Transportation to and from the farm was most often in a pick-up truck. While the rest of our group rode in the open box I was seated in the cab riding shotgun to the driver.

     At cooking class in the restaurant in town the group the group lined up standing on either side of long tables. ViVi, resauranter and teacher, placed a chair at the head of the table and told me to sit. Then she announced to the group "Al is president!"

     One evening we were scheduled to visit the village's resident, master instrument maker  (same age as I). We were trucked to town. In town we offloaded and prepared to walk uphill to the instrument shop. ViVi said to me "Come" and she seated me in her tiny Fiat to ride to the destination. After visiting the artist she again put me in her car and led the group on a winding tour of old town on the way to her restaurant.

    At a noon feast in her restaurant a tourist couple came looking for lunch. ViVi informed them she was closed for out special event. Our group, almost finished with our meal, invited them to join us. Soon a table was joined to our long one and they feasted on our surplus food. ViVi refused their offer of payment. A good time was had by all.

Takk for alt,

Al

Transportation to and from the farm, farmer Matthaeus (sp?) standing.  I rode in the cab 😁.

                     Cooking school, over which I presided!

Instrument maker with a flute he made and played with circular breathing.

                  Some of the instruments he made last winter.

This instrument,(lute?), was constructed from 15,000 pieces. 

Santorini

 

                         Borrowed picture.

Santorini

       We're back online after several days farm stay near Zoros, Crete. Seven years ago we stayed at a hotel in town and were trucked to town, this time we stayed at the farm and trucked to town. In the intervene years Mathias, the farm has built lodging at the farm.

     All except I stayed in a traditionally built structure of stone and timber. In an effort to remain traditional lighting in the building is with candles and kerosene lanterns. There are electrical outlets and low lightening for the stairs.

    A safari style tent was my lodging and the same lighting as the building pertained. It offered a spectacular view of the mountain and great star gazing. It was more attractive in daylight than in dark. Darkness made navigating the compound tricky. Three blankets and a quilt kept me warm at night.

    A bus picked us up at 5:00 am for the ride to the ferry. A fast ferry took us, in just less than two hours to Santorini. This is the final stop on our tour.

Takk for alt,

Al

                  The bunkhouse at the farm where the others stayed.

                               The view from my tent compound.

                           The bed in the tent.

Silence

    Today we will move to a farm that has no WIFI. That means this blog will rest for up to three days. Use the time you would have spent reading it to do something useful for once.

Takk for alt,

Al

                Lighthouse, Chania with a cruise ship behind.

                                     Monastery at Meteora.                  

Vignette

      There's a souvenir shop on the walking street near my hotel. Display racks extended out unto the sidewalk. Customers take something of the rack, walk the long, narrow shop to the back where the clerk sits behind a computer facing away from the shop. There the customer pays the clerk who remains seated behind a low wall while shoppers peruse the merchandise. Shoplifting is apparently not an issue.

    So is life on Crete.

Takk for alt,

Al

                 Walking street by the harbor.

Beach Day, Part 2

        Flexibility is the key to travel with Anna.  When we flew from Thessaloniki to Crete dinner was on Crete at 8:00. At the beach a ham and cheese sandwich in a local shop called to me. It was so good an hour later I had a second thinking it's a long time until 8:00. Back on the bus after the beach as we headed back to Chania we stopped at a village for dinner...4:00! At least I wasn't tempted to overeat at the feast that followed. 😋

      After dinner, as we motored back, we took a side trip to see a tree. What's so special about a tree that would bring some twisting mountainous roads and a few miles? Well, this tree is between 3000 and 5000 years old! The precise date cannot be determined because the core has disintegrated so usual dating methods don't work. Appropriately for Greece it is an olive tree!

Takk for alt,

Al

                              Dinner at 4:00.

           Antique wine press which was powered by a donkey.

                                Two ancients!

                Atractor awaiting restoration.

Beach Day

     To reach the beach on the Libyan Sea we needed to transverse the mountain ridge that runs the length of Crete. Perhaps it was well that we left the 42 passenger bus in Thessalonica. Here we were met by a more svelte 22 passenger Mercedes. Multitudinous hairpin turns, no guard rails and a thousand foot drop inches from the bus tires made some queasy. Several places required pauses while waiting for vehicles to pass. I quipped that Sue's step monitor should be calibrated to count turns in the road. 

    The Libyan Sea beach was beautiful but crowded. Fine sand and shallow waters invited waders. 2500 steps to the beach from parking was easier going down than back. Temperatures in the low 80s, full sun and a light breeze defined perfect weather.  

Takk for alt,

Al

.                                              The Libyan Sea.

 

               The gorge along which we drove.

Relocated

       Having completed our visit to Thessalonica we repaired to the airport about noon. The 2:00 flight took us to Athens for a couple hour layover. Then we flew to Chania on the Island of Crete. Travel took most of the day. We didn't get to dinner until 8:00 and dinner always lasts at least two hours. That brought me up to my bedtime and not enough energy left to blog. We're spending three nights in Chania which means not having to pack and move so soon.  At first glance Chania doesn't look as prosperous as Thessalonica.

    Takk for alt,

    Al,

 Because these were local flights jet wings were not available to either we were bused to the planc or we walked the tarmac.  That's the planc that took us to Athens.

Ya then...

 

Thessalonica

      For two days we've been exploring the sights of Thessalonica. (Read First and Second Thessalonians.) It's a modern city about the size of Minneapolis. While in Athens it seemed a city of outdoor cafes, which it is, but after seeing Volos and Thessalonica it's clear that this a country of such venues. Often they are side by side, sometimes several in a row. "Doesn't anyone eat at home?" I wondered. When viewing row upon row of apartment buildings it makes sense that residents would welcome an opportunity to be outdoors. Then, given the balmy climate, such dinning is practical for much of the year.

    Thessalonica has a huge plaza bordered by walking streets. Never have I seen so many persons in such a space as there were Saturday night. Restaurants were busy and crowds were on foot moving about. The plaza stretches down to the water front.

    A bus tour took us through a small opening in the castle wall and on up higher. While called a castle it is also the remnants of  a defensive wall which enclosed much of the old city. Our dinner was high above the city with expansive views of the city and harbor. As always we feasted, though there were fewer dishes last night which came as a relief to the group.

Takk for alt,

Al

                                Anna speaking to the group.

             The plaza on Sunday night.

The view from our dinner venue.

The castle wall illuminated at night viewed from my seat at dinner.

King Philip II, Macedonia

        From the winery we drove to the village of Vergina where King Phillip II of Macedonia is buried. His tomb was covered by a huge tumulus, mound of dirt. It was pillaged by grave robbers, some of whom died in the process. Much remained undiscovered and now has been excavated and protected with a huge vault underground. Philip's son, Alexander the Great, showed his father great respect with the tombs and protective tumulus. Approaching the tombs there is a huge mound with a walk leading to the entrance of the vault. Inside one can view the tombs and artifacts found, which are displayed in glass cases. The interpretive materials are comprehensive. There is also a helpful movie on continuous loop with English subtitles. 

     King Philip II was a very effective king bringing Macedonia to prominence through his reign. You probably remember the history of his son, Alexander the Great. Even so you may want to refresh your memory by Googling both Philip and Alexander.

Takk for alt,

Al

  The burial mound of King Philip II, of Macedonia.

Oenophile's delight.

 oenophile

Oenophiles are also known as wine aficionados or connoisseurs. They are people who appreciate or collect wine, particularly grape wines from certain regions, varietal types, or methods of manufacture.

     Having followed Anna around Greece before, 2016, i've visited several wineries, this was the best yet. Once we found and the dead tractor was moved it was delight. (See the name and town in the previous blog.) Sampling three whites and three reds, they were all excellent. In fact one of the reds was named world's best in it's class.

     While we were touring the facility we were shown sparkling wines in bottles. One of our group asked for a sample which was provided. This is for mass consumption and may be a money maker. However, after samping the world class wines served previously it did not compare well.

     Wine harvest is in August so there was no activity except in the huge oak casks and large stainless steel tanks where the wines are aging. The winery has 30 acres of grapevines, the oldest of which is 25 years. The town of Tyrnavos is located in the foothills of Mt. Olympus, not far from the Mediterranean Sea.

Takk for alt,

Al

Your assignment is to Google King Philip II of Macedonia. 

                           Wine tasters.

                     The proprietor by the sparking wine.