Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Holy Crap We Finished Something

this project actually started a number of weeks ago, nearly a month, when we finally found wood (we had to special order it) and eleftheria started the process of applying 1 coat of primer, 3 coats of what we thought was the correct type of paint, and finally a final coat of what turned out to be the correct type of paint.

that is where the project stalled. i was working and doing my masters, eleftheria was working and then taking care of artemis in the evenings, and the last thing that i wanted to do with any down-time was work some more, i just wanted to sleep, eat or veg. i am so envious of how adam and keith seem to have endless energy; their schedules make the day look so long and productive.

anyways, within two days of finishing my masters it is finished below chronicles the final product, and as soon as it stops raining, we'll pick up some more sand, and i'll get some shots of artemis playing.

 the wood came "plained", but we still found the need to do our own work
 artemis helped all the way through the process
 tricks
i don't know where my pics of eleftheria painting are, but let it stand that she painted for days, work that i could never do.
had to clear the land, artemis surveyed for me.
 is it level
this stuff never really worked for mom and dad, but, we'll see.
we bought some sand, but not nearly enough, still it is a start, we'll head to the beach this weekend
working at night of course.
 found a little friend

 we found the design online and made a few of our own mods, worked well don't you think?


the colors look a bit like a british world war II spitfire, but whatever, looks pretty

it was a great project, next up is her little house, and picnic table for the yard. should be fun.

so, to cap off this nice structured little post, i thought that i would throw my two cents into the ring around of the current greek crisis, more for my memory than any real need or want to communicate knowledge.

first of all it must be said that things are not good, not catastrophic, but not good. the biggest impact on us so far is that we cannot transfer money out of the country, which many already have done. i don't worry about losing money, rather i have a credit card and loans to pay, thus getting money to the states is critical, to be honest the damage has already been done to the poor and lower middle class, it can of course get worse, but no money is no money, and the government's social systems are already bunk so. . . the wealthy are simply inconvenienced by not being able to access all of their money, and the hardest hit are of course the small businesses that cannot buy the supplies that they need to do their work.

the school seems to be withstanding okay. if greece stays in the euro, it is likely that nothing will really change. if it drops out, the window for foreign investment (other countries buying every bit of greek industry and land that exists) opens up and we stand to gain a good deal of international clientele, or it could just be a big poop storm, and well, you know what poop storms do.

in a nut-shell the eu is arguing economics, flexing its muscles, and prostrating as they try to hold on to the strings of the shared currency. greece is arguing social politics, flying by the seat of their pants without a plan, and being politically irresponsible. the media is, as usual, fanning the flames of ignorance, muddling the facts, and scaring the general population. russia and the u.s. are looking at geo-political gains, turkey offered to pay the first debt installment as a gesture of good will (1.8 billion), and an english guy set up a kick-starter to raise money. while all of this goes on, everything devolves.

finally 4, at least in my opinion, facts:

  1. greece will stay in the euro
  2. the new economic program will be far more difficult than the one that the greek government just let expire.
  3. there will be a new greek government
  4. the new program will not work any better than the others, because the problems in greece are not economic in nature, and that is all the eu can control, and greece seems to be unwilling or unable to make the necessary changes.  
we'll have to wait and see how it all plays out, maybe i don't know anything.



Sunday, June 28, 2015

Sunday, May 17, 2015

A Quick Wedding and May Day

Eleftheria's cousin had a wedding/christening last weekend, so we dressed up and headed out for the occasion. the highlight, for me at least, artemis dancing with her grandmother.
the next day was a festival at the american farm school (not very american but very much a farm school), who hosted "may day". basically it was a big publicity geared open house, boy did it work. Artemis had a wonderful time on the playground and trying out the tractors.

you have some competition sarah. as soon as she can reach the pedals.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Keith and I are Different Busy

this will be my first weekend in my house since before Adam's visit.
"dad, seriously? directions?"
rooftop view of Bucharest. a wonderful mixture of early 20th century  eclecticism (yes that is a real movement in architecture, but it does sound like a cop-out for someone who has trouble making decisions), mid century communism, and modern design elements. 
Bucharest. as in every city in eastern Europe, the main downtown of Bucharest is being renovated. this is a new bookstore inside of an old building. the entire inside has been redone. 
Bucharest.
Bucharest.  it is definitely an old city. there is charm, but there is also a lot of grey and brown and rust.
Bucharest.  charm.
Bucharest. the kids. there are numerous city parks in the city; though it rained on our day out, we made the best of it. the green in the midst of city was very impressive. 
Bucharest. wiring insanity.
Bucharest. this is an old fire tower outside the city. super cool building.
Bucharest. very tight stairwell for servants in a big palace.
Bucharest. lion statures make everything more official.
Cambridge. they go punting. a lot.
Cambridge. queens college.
London. st. pauls cathedral
London. almost all the girls (the 4th is on my back at this point).
London. on the millennium bridge

London.  Dina and Brian. a quiet but fun evening.
London.  Artemis really wanted this boy to play with her. eventually he went and hid in the corner of the room under a table.

London.  tired. also. the best way to move Artemis through the airport without a stroller or carrier. 


Thursday, April 23, 2015

Not Stealing Photos

 so, i do not want to steal any of adam's photos; i hardly took any the entire time he was here. but picasa does this great thing where it assumes that you neither have the time nor the know-how to edit your pics. for me both of these assumptions are true. these are the only pics of adams that i will post, i will let him post the rest, and add my stories in his comments.

so, picasa will stitch your pictures together into a panoramic shot. this is from our brief visit to meteora.
 our volley ball circle at easter in silata. nice stop motion
and finally a picture frame ready set of artemis in all of her cute glory

thank you adam for such a wonderful visit, it was so wonderful to get to spend so much time together. hopefully we will get to hang out again someday.

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