'Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas,
And all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a mouse.

Three pairs of Santa boots??

This is not Crete!

Katie, Lee, Jeff, Aaron, Lena, and Andi having fun in Leavenworth WA.  Merry Christmas.  Peace and Love be with you all!

Cretan Christmas Cookies

This holiday season we have had plenty of opportunities to sample these two varieties of traditional Greek Christmas cookies.

Our Greek is still shaky, so we don't know the names of them, but one is roundish, a little dry, with nuts on the inside, and sugar on the outside; the other is oblong, moist, with honey on the inside, and nuts on the outside; and both are νόστιμο! (tasty!) Just right with coffee while listening to the monks chant on the radio.

Some of the Swadley St. Gang

We had perfect weather for a visit from Julie and Patty in late November.  Patty lived next door to us on Swadley St. in Denver. We had lots of reminiscing to do as we made new memories together. The weather held out until December 3, the day Julie left. We had what I can best describe as a rain blizzard. Here are a some pictures form our excursions around the island.

The statues of the priest and the soldier commemorate an event in WWII when the monks at the Previli Monastery helped the soldiers escape from the German soldiers that had invaded Crete. The church is built into a cave in the canyon. There are many churches built into caves. This one is especially nice.

ΠΡΟΣΟΧΗ ΣΚΥΛΟΣ

There are a lot of dogs in Stavros and also a lot of ΠΡΟΣΟΧΗ ΣΚΥΛΟΣ (Beware of the Dog) signs. You can debate if there are more dogs than signs, more signs than dogs, or more dogs to beware of than there are signs warning you to be wary; but there is no debate that there are a wonderful variety of signs and some doggone creative dog owners.

Between Then and Now, Some odds and ends

These are some pictures from around Akrotiri. Akrotiri is the area where we live. There is a picture of the three ladies going to town, some of the Agia Triada Monastery, some nice views of Chania and the sunset from our house.