Roadbenders

My view Originally uploaded by briannaorg. A few of us got together tonight to paint four fast paintings of thirty minutes each. This week’s subject was pastries (my favourite subject!) and the results were marvelous. You can see images at Flickr.

The power is out in my apartment – it could be the fuse, or an act of fate, but I spent a lot of time in the warm computer lounge today, when I wasn’t walking around shooting photos with my Holga. I was in the lounge when Maria texted me about dinner – did I
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Ancient wall, flowers Originally uploaded by briannaorg. Today, we walked half the island with John. We started in Aspro Xorio, a tiny village between Aliki and Drios, and climbed into the hills among the wildflowers, taking the old Byzantine road into the mountain. We stopped at a stream for awhile and lay in the sun,
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Agios Yannis….something. Originally uploaded by briannaorg. Yesterday morning, the new students found a skull near the Cave of the Nymphs. I bluffed that it was a goat skull, knowing that I had seen it last term during one of my solitary trips down to the chapel in the rocks, but the girls looked closer and
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Geraniums Originally uploaded by briannaorg. Scanned and uploaded more negatives that I developed yesterday in the darkroom. They have not been touched up or modified, so they are kind of scratchy or bent or all the other things that any negatives of mine who survive the loading end up being. At the end of the
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Lunch Originally uploaded by briannaorg. Saturday started late, after a night out on the town for St. Patrick’s Day. That is not a big Greek holiday, so we largely had the bars to ourselves. We started off with wee Irish car bombs at Karen’s, and ended up at Rengas for some traditional Greek music and
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Earth palette still life Originally uploaded by briannaorg. A few photos up at Flickr of what’s happening in my painting studio.

There were two things I wanted to write about – the concert on Sunday and a late night drink with Kathryn at Pirate, where we got tipsy on Samos and stopped at a dark chapel on the way home. The next morning, there was a coffin lid exhibited outside that chapel and the bells rung
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Courtyard Vines Originally uploaded by briannaorg. It stormed on the island all weekend, vicious winds driving the rain into the cracks in the plaster. The wind was from the south, and warm, so I wore flipflops in the flooded streets. The Wellington-clad locals stared. Sunday, I did not rise at six, or rather, when I
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Here’s a little legend to some basic Greek that comes in handy on the island: Kalimera/kalispera – Good morning, good evening To be polite to anyone older than you or whom you don’t know very well, say “Kalimera sas” or “yia sas”. Little old ladies love this. Singnomi – Sorry/excuse me. This is important to
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At exactly twilight I was restless and looking toward the evening, wondering what to do with it. For some reason I decided, firmly, that dinner tonight would be comprised of rice pudding. I don’t know why humans fixate on these things; we just do. Neither souvlaki nor revithia or even spanakopita would do, so I
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This little island is chilly this time of year. Even though the sun is bright and high and clear, the marble is cold and the breezes from the sea slice through you with damp clarity. I sleep under rough wool blankets, my space heater located as close to my bed as the cord will reach.
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It is stormy and wild on the island tonight. Everyone just left my flat, after we stuffed ourselves on revithia and xorta and Pook’s magnificent eggplant pilaf. And cheap red wine. It’s been a cozy-up kind of day, I woke up early and headed to the computer lab for some early phone calls and then
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It is the end of Carnival week on Paros, tomorrow is Clean Monday. The shops are closed, and the people strolling the streets casually are sometimes in costume, sometimes tarted up a bit with paint and feathers. There was live music today in one of the cafes out on the paralia seafront. I opted out
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I’ve uploaded a whole slough of photos to my Flickr account, including photos of my apartment (all for you, Jenn) and many photos from our hike yesterday. It was beautiful. I was a diligent photographer up until the point when John suggested that we stop at Flora’s for lunch, then I put my camera away
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Our first school meeting was yesterday morning, all the students lined up in chairs in a circle. I was late, of course, but Maria was too! We were late together, having gotten coffee and milopita for ourselves and John. It helps to be bringing the director breakfast, if you’re going to walk in late to
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My first full day on Paros, and already my rhythms feel right again. I rose at seven am, made a cup of tea and entered the day slowly. John and I went out for coffee, then I walked out onto the waterfront and sat on the rocks for a bit while I waited for the
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I am on Paros. Let me say that again, it makes me so happy. I have arrived on Paros, intact and entire and it was so beautiful today it felt like a dream. Kathryn and I hopped on the little prop plane (highlight: flight attendant miming through the safety instructions with a life vest around
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