Cautiously Optimistic

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Thank you again for all your prayers for Kostas. Please do not stop yet. He seems to be making progress, but very slowly. So slowly, it's cause for a bit of concern. His age may have something to do with it, as well as his diabetes, as well as the length of the operation; we don't know. We are still very much hoping for a FULL recovery.

The surgery was Monday; it was last night (Wednesday) or this morning (it's not clear which) when he was finally taken off the ventilator. He still doesn't talk much and seems rather out of it. Whether that is from medication or not we don't know.

Tuesday he was asleep during his (very brief) visiting hours, so remained unaware of any visitors. Yesterday he laughed when he saw Demetrios. When Mena appeared, he was so overcome with emotion that tears formed in his eyes. Of course that gave an opening to Demetrios, who with that impish look of his, said, "Now tell me, Mena, how do you explain this? He laughs when he sees me, but when he sees you, he cries!

She just smiled.

The holiday weekend approaches. Greek flags are sprouting up all around the city; this morning we put out ours, the one Christos bought us two years ago. I suppose we shall go to the Church of St. Demetrios tomorrow. (See above photo and click on link for more info.) Other than that, our only plan is to have Mena and Christos here for an evening meal of lamb, oven-roasted potatoes, Greek-style green beans, salad, dessert. We are inviting Christos' son Phideas, too, if we wants to come and doesn't have any conflicting plans. It's his name day, too, as his middle name is Demetrios.

Last night, on our way home, we encountered the Cat Man again, a person we had met on a previous trip to Greece. He tends to all the cats in his neighborhood. He knows them by name and they come when he calls them. We wanted particularly to inquire about a certain cat we had met before.

Flashback: we are walking home from church when we encounter several cats on the sidewalk. We stop to admire them, when a man's voice from behind us calls out, "Come Phyrer!" and a black-and-white tomcat obeys. Demetrios, hearing the name, bursts out laughing.

"What's so funny?" I ask.

"The name!"

"Why?"

"Look at him!" Okay...he's a tuxedo cat, black with white paws, white tipped tail, black moustache. Small, box-like moustache. Then it clicks. Not Phyrer, but Führer!

We asked where Führer is. Is he still alive?

He is, the man told us, "And he's around here somewhere. You'll see him sooner or later."

Turns out the man is a doctor, an anesthesiologist, retired.

We spent half an hour hearing stories about the amusing habits of about nine different cats who were approaching us, smelling the food he had in his hand.

Ho obviously loves his cats. I don't know why he doesn't have them sterlized. It only costs 20 Euros for a male, 30 for a female. He himself told me two years ago that every November, a British volunteer group comes here and "fixes" as many cats as it can find, at no charge.

I'm going to try to get in touch with them this year, and get out there with my cat trap! That, after all, is what it's for.

Military jets screaming overhead yesterday and this morning. I suppose they are practicing for the parade Sunday, when they will make several passes over the parade route, to the ecstatic cheering of the crowd.