Wonderful and not so Wonderful

Last night we rented a car early. As you may recall, our weekend starts Saturday night at 6, but this week we decided to pick up the car on Friday. After dinner, we all headed out to the beach at Chipos, on the edge of the island closest to Turkey. It was amazing -- the water is full of phosphorescent algae, like little shining stars around your arms and legs when you swim. Before the moon rose, the stars were so clear that you could see the cloudiness of the Milky Way. Stunning. Genevieve made up constellation stories for us and I successfully drove our car around a herd of goats sleeping in the road -- it was a great night.

This morning, however, my computer power cord died. I feel bereft! That computer is my phone, my TV, my workday tool, the repository of my papers... I will stop short of saying my best friend. But I do love my little Toshiba. Hopefully a new power cord next week will do the trick. Wish me luck!

Stars and Lamps

I don’t have much to report for myself today. Yesterday evening we were treated to a lecture on the constellations by the conservation professor. It was fun to lean back on the columns at the site and peer at the same stars and constellations the Greeks used to achieve their phenomenal navigation at sea. (Side note: those clever Greeks managed to circumnavigate Africa in about 600 BC. I’m very impressed – especially since the constellations are not the same in the Southern Hemisphere. I really wonder how they managed that?) It was very interesting. On the other hand, the last time I gazed at the stars in Greece I was 18 and sitting on a beach with a cute boy and a bottle of wine chilling at the edge of the surf. The electricity went out on the island and the three islands surrounding it, so I was able to see the Milky Way for the very first time. “Turning to my companion, this East Coast girl said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could see this in our own country?” The cute boy from Illinois replied, “Um,. Yeah. About that. We can.”

Doh.

Anyway, with 12 other people, this was considerably less dreamy, but it was fun. You can’t take photos of stars, though, so here’s a nice photo of a lamp. One is molded, one is wheelmade. Any guesses? You too can be an ancient Greek pottery expert…