Giving Names and Boxing Out The Devil

so, eleftheria and i spent a good bit of our weekend in and around churches and monasteries as we attended vaftisis (orthodox christening) on both saturday and sunday.

yianni was the god father (nono) for dimitri's baby, angelos. since yianni moved to germany about 3 years ago and i have had very little contact with him over the years so it was really great to see him, he was a good friend when he lived here.

angelos cried for the majority of the ceremony, but a brief flight settled him down after his christening.

the ceremony was very nice.  there was a bunch of support from school which was really cool.

the second vaftisi, on sunday, was a bit further away, near lake kilkis in northern greece.  i would like to go back because of the wildlife, the first i have really seen in greece other than in the sea.  there were birds everywhere, and while this is not a wild animal, i was about 5 seconds from scooping her up and stealing her from the monestery.

this one was for a set of twins (one of which is pictured here with her father), despoina and dimitra.  Their parents worked with eleftheria in the office where she had been employed most recently

the monestery was super old and really fun to see; however, with all the people it was hard to get clean shots, so i took these picks of the cross beams in the ceiling, and a plaque that was laid into the structure next to the enterance.

after dinner niko, dora, eleftheria and i all when up on the hillside for a coffee. it was a wonderful spot.  we sat under a huge oak and talked about things in the past, present and future.  niko and i have a lot in common; both similar life goals and outlooks, it was fun to see him (he works in london), and to put some things in perspective.