Sounds Right: Griniazee

August 8, 2014August 8, 2014 / wrightsolution / 2 Comments

Daily Prompt: This is clearly subjective, but some words really sound like the thing they describe (personal favorites: puffin; bulbous; fidgeting). Do you have an example of such a word (or, alternatively, of a word that sounds like the exact opposite of what it refers to)? What do you think creates this effect?

Griniazee (γκρινιάζei) Greek word meaning to moan, complain, gripe, whine

In the supermarket, little Dimitri wants to buy something his mom won’t give him. He has a melt down right there and then. He’s frustrated mom makes an angled chopping motion with her hand, and steps back looking at him incredulously. She stamps her foot back, and yells, “Mi Grinaizee, Dimitri!” (Don’t whine, Dimitri).

“Den Grinaizo!” (I’m not whining…), he complains back, sounding more whiny then ever.

How can a word which starts with “grin” sound so whiny? Yet it does. At least to me. I think its the way its delivered with a long frustrated “yaaa zeee”. So moany!

Whitewashing (the truth)

August 4, 2014 / wrightsolution / 3 Comments

Waving at dad while he worked at the whitewash. (Ha ha…little did he know that in a few years he would have to take care of the wall too….)

Our long, white wall is a big feature of our property. Literally, and figuratively. And it’s old. If you look carefully you can see layers of wall that have increased its height over the years. I’m guessing the bottom part is as old as the house – that’s about 150 years. If you whitewashed the wall every year, that would be 150 layers of whitewash that would annually have brightened it, and then faded, and peeled off years later in crumbling strips. Last week we decided it was time to freshen things up again:

If you have never whitewashed before, but have experience painting, you might be tempted to treat whitewash like paint. Its not. It behaves very differently. The mixture of lime and water is very thin, and a special round brush is used to hold as much of the liquid as possible as you attempt to place it on the wall. And you do “place” it…you don’t paint it on. It takes a slow light touch of the brush to the wall, with minimal flicking and spreading. It can take a long time to whitewash rugged textures like stone walls. Even if you are slow and careful, you always come away sprayed with the stuff. And, as it goes on translucent and dries to a white colour, it can be hard to spot your mistakes until it is too late.

….and the legs. (These legs look like they belong to two different people, don’t they?!)

Oops…a little on the face..

A few hours of systematic whitewashing…

..and this…..

….turns into this! (At least until next year!)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Zig Zag

August 3, 2014 / wrightsolution / 16 Comments

Late afternoon light creates zig zag shadows for this week’s photo challenge at the abandoned monastery of Panagia Elona, Spetses.

A Word A Week Photo Challenge – Transport

July 31, 2014July 31, 2014 / wrightsolution / 2 Comments

As this blog (and its owner) continues to take a much needed hiatus from all things Nepali, I thought I’d focus on Greek transportation for this week’s challenge. In particular the local ferry, which is a much needed lifeline between our island and the mainland, carrying produce, meat and dairy in refrigerated trucks as well as building supplies, gasoline– – you name it — to the local economy.

And so 6-8 times a day, its a game of “everybody off, everybody on” as the ferry disembarks and reloads on each side. Full trucks come onto the island, and empty trucks leave. Then there’s the motorbikes, three-wheelers, miscellaneous freight and pedestrians that travel back and forth too. I tried to capture a little of the chaos on the dock:

The motorcycles are made to wait for the trucks to unload….

….but once they’re on, its a free-for-all as the bikes and pedestrians head up the ramp.

…then on comes the next load.

Of course, it would be so much more civilized if they didn’t let drivers park on the dock. I couldn’t take this picture until they had let me embark. By then all the trucks had left, so it doesn’t look so chaotic. A few minutes before it was a madhouse of badly maneuvering trucks, parked cars, and jostling motorbikes.

And then for the umpteenth time, the ramp goes up and the ferry heads back across. Suddenly everything is calm and picturesque again. (Almost) like all the chaos never happened.

Sometimes it feels like this guy has the best job in the world.

Summer Lovin’

July 30, 2014October 13, 2014 / wrightsolution / 1 Comment

For other posts on people flippin’ out about summer, see here.

Cactus Flower

July 29, 2014July 30, 2014 / wrightsolution / 2 Comments

When we saw two rapidly growing asparagus-like sprouts protruding from one of our faithful old cacti, we knew it was going to flower. During the last week, every morning the shoots grew at least one inch longer. We’d never seen this plant bloom before so it was kind of exciting to watch. Last night, at midnight, Latham called us into the garden to show us that the flowers were in bloom. I didn’t know flowers bloomed at night! By morning, one of the flowers was already past its best. This afternoon they are fading fast. Rare, briefly-lived flowers, caught on film. Aren’t they pretty?!

The Church of the Panagia Daskalakis

July 26, 2014 / wrightsolution / Leave a comment

Panayia Daskalakis is one of our favourite hiking destinations. We’ve been hiking up to it from our house for the best part of the last twenty years. We have carried Latham up in a baby backpack, explored as a group of moms and toddlers and, once school started, we’ve continued to visited each summer when we return. Every year we take family or friends up to enjoy a morning breakfast picnic of still warm croissants or tiropetas from the bakery. We sit at the church a while to take in the view before we continue on our hike. This year it was just the three of us.

The property belonged to the Greek industrialist, Dimitris Daskalakis. The church is kept in excellent condition and painted every year before an annual festival.

Its built in seating is the best picnic spot, with beautiful views across the harbour.

Daskalakis built a large waterfront textile factory on the island in the 1920s, which created jobs for the Spetsiots until it closed after the second world war. Daskalakis died in 1939 just as war broke out again and is buried here at the church.

Dimitrios Daskalakis, Industrialist 29-9-1939

Unlike the church, his adjacent home is in ruins. When we first visited about 18 years ago, the roof was still in place, covering the kitchen, and kitchen tiles were still on the floor. The living/sleeping area had half a roof. Now both are long collapsed.

This year, after a very long time, I was finally able to step inside the ruin. For a long time the floor has been too precarious to walk on, but now the beams and tiles have rotten down and the ground is solid again. A pine tree inside stands as testament to how much time has passed without a roof.

There’s still a communal bench strung between two trees, but it has gotten very rickety with time. The kids would always climb on top of it and have their photos taken. I think its much too frail now to take their weight.

A little reminder of earlier visits

This was the kitchen.

….and an upstairs closet

I’m sure the church will continue to be preserved and the house will continue to crumble. We plan on continuing to keep track of its progress ;o)

A Word a Week Photo Challenge: Red

July 24, 2014 / wrightsolution / 2 Comments

“Red” is a hard colour to feature on a Greek island! Blues and greens rule here. So I struggled…and then I remember a few things…

Spot the Greek Kitty!

July 23, 2014 / wrightsolution / 5 Comments

Because there aren’t enough cute kitten pictures on the internet, and no one has ever before thought of putting together a collection of Greek cat pictures, here is my collection of cute kitty pictures from yesterday evenings walk. The little rascals were great at camouflage. How many can you spot?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Containers

July 22, 2014 / wrightsolution / 2 Comments

For this week’s photo challenge, these beautiful old buildings are traditional stone water storage tanks — or sternas — water containers that are still in use today.