Birthday

Demetrios bought me crutches, and I am practising with them.  In a way they are easier than the rolling chair, but in another way they aren't, perhaps because I am not yet adroit with them.

Friends who see me scoot around on my little rolling chair are appalled.  Ianna crosses herself.  Thomai wails, and when I told her of my plan to go across the street to visit Lorraine, the Englishwoman who owns the Mini-Mart, Thomai turned to Demetrios and said, "Don't encourage this in her; oh, please don't encourage it!" I feel very at ease getting around this way; it  apparently looks more dangerous than it is.  Katya and Tassos, who are Ianna's sister and brother-in-law, repeatedly begged Demetrios and me to get crutches and use them instead.  So, I have crutches.  They are an alternative, not a replacement.

Demetrios also sneaked out of the house for half an hour while I thought he was napping, and came back with this.

Then we went, by cab, to Aristotle Plaza, where I rolled into the nearest place to sit outdoors and have some refreshment and enjoy the view of the harbor and do some peolple-watching.  The place turned out to be Starbuck's.  So, the best spot (nearest the sea) on the main plaza of Thessaloniki is no longer Greek-owned.  A multinational corporation has it instead.  Signs of the times.

Anyway, we sat there an hour and a half enjoying the cool evening air and the surroundings.  As it was a wi-fi hotspot, I tried to Facetime my family, but was unable to reach anyone, much to my disappointment.  I forgot to take pictures while there, but as Demetrios seems eager for us to go back there from time to time, I'll have other chances.

Oh, and my other birthday present from Demetrios was a Greek SIM card, to provide Internet access from home, finally.

Best gift of all:  Facetime with some of my family!  They were able to reach me later.

To occupy my time, I'm reading The Brothers Karamazov.  I'm on that most famous chapter, that ferocious indictment, entitled,  "The Grand Inquisitor".  It's the one you study in high school and/or college if you don't read the rest of the book (and you don't).  I wonder how Catholics think and feel when they read it.  When that's finished, War and Peace waits me, already downloaded. (I keep thinking of an Englishman's wisecrack when he said something - I don't remember what - was 'more depressing than a Russian novel.' !!  So, as I do not need depressing just now, I have also downloaded some P.G. Wodehouse, one of my favorite humorists.

In the knitting department, I have been working on a design of my own and am using it in a scarf for my friend Anastasia.  Here is how it will look when blocked.