Bright Monday (Or, Are We Having Fun Yet? Nope.

April 20, 2009

This morning, for the first time since arriving in Greece, I woke up early. In fact, it was before 7:30, in time to see a raven leave his roost in our tree and head out for the day’s scavenging. (Shouldn’t ravens be tending to nests of little ravenakis and ravenoulas about now?)

It was the most peaceful morning I’ve ever experienced around here. That’s because it’s the day after Pascha, and virtually everything is closed. Almost nobody is going to work. There are no motorcycles and very few cars moving.

We did find a bougatsa place open near us and we had breakfast there, hot crème pastries. I had my usual black cherry juice with them.

The plan was for Kostas and Mena and Demetrios and I to go to Petrokerassa again, that mountaintop village where we went several days ago to see the wood from the True Cross. Rena and Theodosius were going to be there; it is their village and they spend vacations and summers there.

I just felt too sick to go. But I made the rest of them go anyway, even though Mena was for changing the day. So Demetrios and Christos went to Nea Syllata, and from there to Petrokerassa. The people I most regret not seeing are Rena and Theodosios’ grandchildren, Spiros of the enormous, blue eyes, and his new (9-month-old) sister, as yet unbaptized, hence nameless. Demetrios says she has the same huge, blue eyes as Spiros, and is the laughingest child he has ever known. She is to be baptized in June, in Kastoria, and we will be invited.

I slept three hours in the afternoon, and spent the rest of the time knitting and doing Sudoku and watching a little television, an American nature show with Greek subtitles.

In the evening I had a bad scare when I heard Daniel was in the hospital with meningitis, severe. He is Barbara’s husband and the father of Madison and Elizabeth. I was already calculating how to change my plane ticket around when further word came: Daniel is home from the hospital, and it’s “only” viral meningitis; he will be fine in several days to several weeks. Thank heaven.

The Drunken Duck, the bar next to us, was open today, but it must have closed early, because it’s now midnight and I haven’t heard a peep out of the place in at least a couple of hours. Going to bed myself, now.