Need a Turtle Neck; Saw a Big Turtle in Greece One Day Later

There is something about a guy that retires and keeps working

because he enjoys it.  That is me.  I took a Selfie using one of those

"big eye space mirrors" and it made my neck look much worse than

it actually is.  (OK, I may be ssttrreecchhttiinngg the truth here...)

After looking at the picture, I decided that I should maybe

 consider adding turtle necks to my work attire.

Lo and Behold, one day later and I see this big ass turtle crossing the

highway.  I pulled over and took his picture after opening my car door.

For perspective of his size, note the yellow line marking the "no turtle

passing zone."  Maybe this sighting is an omen.  Maybe I do need

to start looking for old man turtleneck sweaters!

Sunday - Day Off in Domvraina, Greece

Had a day off - drove up the Mountain and through several villages.

In this picture, Domvraina and Thisvi are to the left and the CPW

Plant is to the right of the Church.  The sea is in the background.

Another view of the same memorial - typically placed by families
on the roadside where a loved one was killed.  The mountain
roads are very treacherous... unfortunately there are many memorials.

Half way up the mountain, there is a several acre - cement walled - 

compound that is very interesting to me.  Apparently, it was

built by a older Greek man that died some time ago.

He planted olive trees in the compound, he has several

garages, everything is stone or concrete walls or buildings.

I should like to go in and walk around the compound,

instead of just wandering 1/2 way around it on top of the walls.

Nick has found the surviving Family whose Father built the
olive tree/vineyard compound.  It would make a great housing
site if one was interested in living off-the-grid.

The memorial in front of the property.  Obviously some-
one kicked-the-bucket nearby at some time in the past.

Niagara Falls, Canada as Noted from Domvraina, Greece

I am living in a rental house in the middle of a village in Greece

by the name of Domvraina.  The owner of the "family" house is my age and

lives in Athens where her daughter's and grandkid's live.

  

("The Village is boring" would summarize her thoughts I think.)

At any rate, she has a cupboard of "special glasses" that her Mother kept

separate.  I looked into that cupboard to see if I could find a wine glass 

for my 3-Buck Chuck.    No... guess Grandma did not inbibe.

At any rate, clear in the back of the "special glasses" are these expresso

cups...  Small world as we just had good friends from Canadia visit.

Who know when/where she got them but she obviously treasured them.

(She has 6 of them and they make like a taster tray for my 3-Buck Chuck.)

No Name Wine - Only in Greece My Friend

The economy is perhaps a bit shakier in Greece than

America.  Perhaps that is why you can buy "No Name Wine"

in the grocery down the street.  It actually has a locked lid but

the bottle resembles the most popular bottled water bottle.

(Without the wrapper of course.)

Well, thats why it is called "No Name Wine"!
(For those who need a price... call it 3-euro chuck.)

It's not a bad wine.  I tried it with my freshly boiled eggs

after getting home at midnight.  Ya Gotta Love It and I Do!

Missing the 3-Nuts! And of course: Panamania!

Papa missing the 3-Nuts in DC and of course the 4th nut in BNA!

Amaya, Papa hid this money 2-1/2 years ago and no one has 

found it yet.  Isn't that cool??!!!!!!

Sunset at BWI - Fly All Nite & All Day - Sunset at ATH

Caught the Baltimore Airport sunset on Friday Nite.  Flew all night

to London, spent most of the day before arriving and catching the

Saturday Nite sunset driving through Athens on my way to

Domvraina.  Tired... going to bed now.

My Animal's Life in Papa's Workshop

Papa doesn't let any real animals in his workshop.  So we bring all

of our animal toys down when he is home.  This is a picture of

a few of them.  Addy and I like to play in his workshop.  He

made a 3-story treehouse in the cabinets for us.  The top

floor has a secret passage.  Addy cannot climb in 

there yet because she is too short.

Directed by Amaya Jean Cleveland

"Its Official" says Papa, "My Grand Boy is a Crawler!"

Granted, not sure what the Webster says about
crawling, but this is good enough for me.  

Observed first time today!

A Trip to the Kusadasi Ruins in Turkey

Papa Didn't Know...

Papa didn't know that he has four different Horses living in

his workshop:  According to Addy, there is a Unicorn, a 

Regular Horse and a Pegasus.  (She has an Alicorn too
but cannot find it down here in her Papa workshop horse
me·nag·er·ie.  Yes, I had to look up the spelling.)

She says to be careful not to make the Unicorn mad because

she has magic and could wish you to "kick the bucket." 

She says a Regular Horse doesn't have any magic and 

neither does a Pegasus.  However, the Alicorn that

she cannot find has magic too so be careful.

Papa learned some good Horse stuff today.  Papa
is gonna quit "horsin around."

We Do

On one of my trips to Camrose, Alberta, Canada, I stopped at

a small airport nearby and saw this sign on one of the hangars.

I can relate to it coming from the quality engineering world...

We do precision guesswork based on vague assumptions,

unreliable data of dubious accuracy provided by persons

of questionable intellectual capacity.

Now what would you like done?

Our Visit to Pamukkale, Turkey

Nana's Favorite Budapest Beer: Sokol

Who says Nana doesn't drink beer?!

I was cleaning out my pictures (I have 35,657 of them) and
noticed that these pictures were not yet published.  These were
taken on our first trip to Budapest in October of 2013.

Four Corners, USA

Enjoying the Florida Sunset

Meg sent this picture that she took in Florida awhile ago.

I really like it so I am putting it in my blog.

Whirling Dervish Museum in Istanbul, Turkey

We took a spontaneous tour of the Whirling Dervish Museum since

it was free based on our Istanbul Museum Pass.  It was quite interesting.

Certainly the history is complex and the local believers are quite proud.

We did not go to the Sunday performance which was quite expensive.

(Obviously priced for tourists as the local do not have the money.)

The beautiful Whirling Dervish dance floor.  The tourist/attendees

sit in the chairs surrounding the stage.  It appeared to be quite a

unique and interesting dance.

An image of a ancient Wirling Dervish is a building 

like one that we visited.

Two Story Museum with a very high, ornate cupola in the middle.

Whirling Dervish Art from the 1500's.

Whirling Dervish Cemetery just outside the Museum.  Only the upper

echelon of the Dervishes were allowed to be buried here due to the small

amount of land in the middle of Istanbul.

Amaya's 7th Birthday at the Great Wolf Lodge

We were all able to drive down to the Great Wolf Lodge for Amaya's

Birthday.  Panama was able to join us as well.  It was a great time!

The Istanbul Grand Bazaar - It is a Crazy Place!

Carol in front of one of the Grand Bazaar entrances.

One of my favorite stairways of all time!  We passed it many

times as we went downtown, which we did many times.

Trying to buy the "right" pillowcases.  We finally found the

correct price for them which was a long ways from the starting price. 

Craziness and it was not even very crowded on this day. 

Patience, patience, practicing patience...

Doug and Carol in Istanbul, Turkey

It is a well known family fact that Papa takes the worst pictures ever.

It he is smiling, he generally has his eyes closed.  If he has eyes open,

he usually has his mouth closed.  Well, I found one with not both!

As I recall, we were waiting for the boat that was to take us

up river toward the Black Sea.  It was a nice day and at the up
river end of the cruise, we stopped at a small port with

a historic castle.  I remember buying some potato

chips at the local market for the ride back.
Hooray for good memories.

Flowbee Haircut & Pompadoo Loving Stylist

Years ago I bought a Flowbee to simplify my haircut needs.

Carol, my economical stylist, never took to it much.

So today, Amaya gave me a Flowbee style cut with a sort of

pompadoo finish comb.

I say I look rather stylish.  Nana is not saying much.

I think that she is jealous that I found a new stylist.