all that's past is prologue...

Though we're not exactly religious, it's Easter tomorrow, so we did Small Project SATURDAY instead of SUNDAY. The focus was on the dining room: Where we set the puzzle table back up: Where I got some new chairs off FB Marketplace to replace the rickety old ones: They're  little low though, so they needed new cushions. I *finally* repainted the ceiling where we had had to repair it when the billeting Fringe artist massively destroys our toilet a couple of years ago and destroyed the dining room plaster. Before: After: Patrick touched top the living room ceiling too, where some stray 18th birthday party decorations had marked. Before: After: I fed the orchids and cleaned up the woodwork, surfaces, and floors throughout (plus dose wall and art dusting). And I used some prints I had to make some new light switch covers (though the placement on the Ingres is not ideal). It's all small progress, but the house feels clean and bright and nice, so I'll take it!

We both had a lot of things going on today, so chose to divide and conquer for our Small Project Sunday. Patrick fixed the windshield wipers on Dusty the Truck, adding a new skill to his arsenal. I cleaned up the back yard — well, at least the seating area. While the difference might not look like much, it does make it a lot nicer out there for hanging out outside, including cleaning up an entire winter's full of dog poop from the yard. It's a little early still to clean out the beds, with pollinators still asleep in plant stems and such. My seeds in my little greenhouses have not sprouted yet either.

(So I'm a little behind, but in general I have been impressed by how I have kept up) We woke up Wednesday and walked over for some coffee while we tried to suss what to do with our Greek Independence Day (note — the place where we got coffee may be like Brigadoon, it was busy that day and then I never saw it open again!) Once Beatrix was up we went over to Little Kook , which is a place that defies description. I have about a million pictures, but I think these few give the sense. And the food was surprisingly good! We then walked around looking at street art and to the National Garden, enjoying the sun.  By that time, though, Beatrix was near-dead from all the walking, so we ended up at Hoo Cut and Coleur Locale again. Not a bad way to end the day! Thursday, we started the day with loukades at a cafe close to the apartment.  We walked back and forth multiple times before sussing that the temporarily relocated entrance to the Agora was now right by the cafe (oops). The Agora, ...

Yesterday and today were travel days. We said goodbye to Skiathos, which has my heart.  One last view from the balcony, walking down the port street seeing them put up the bunting for Greek Independence Day. Discovered Liberte Books and had a fascinating conversation with the owner, Vassilos. What an amazing place! One last walk down Megali Ammos Beach, our favorite. And lunch at Dough Hook. The entire area reminds me so much of much of Amelia Island! Another coffee while waiting for the ferry. Then, an absolutely HAIR-RAISING drive straight up the mountain to our incredible inn in Portaria. In the wildest of coincidences, Portaria turns out to be the ancestral home of our friend Andy's family, so we snapped a picture of his home and had an incredible meal at the restaurant he recommended. We meant to do the Centaur's Path hike this morning, but it was too rainy, so after breakfast we headed back to Athens. I was nervous about our AirBnB, but it turned out to be amazing, in a r...