Sunset Walks

The sunsets come earlier this time of the year. No more sunset apertifs. Just sunset walks. We walk past Pandrossos and sit on the wall. And stay even after the sun goes down. There’s the sky that glows and the water that shimmers and shimmies.

No two sunsets are ever the same. Like people…nuances make us all unique.

I love to watch the ferries come in with all the lights on. The contrast of light and dark makes me shiver inside. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. All I know is that they make me “feel therefore I am”.

The two of us sit together just looking at the sea and the sunset painted sky. Although wordless, just being there together is a dialogue. All I want is that “Be here now” will last forever.

Was it Nikos Kazantzakis who, in Zorba the Greek, wrote about living the moment? How, for example, when drinking a cup of coffee, you must simply drink the coffee and basta? No wandering thoughts, no selfies, no divorcing yourself from the moment you are experiencing. Just “Be here now”. “Ouch” I say to myself. How much of my life have I wasted trying to be there when being here was the place to be? How much of my life have I wasted trying to look out of someone else’s window instead of my own?

Tonight I have no answers, just questions.

Kalinikta.

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Balcony Vineyard

Grapevines are so magical. They give you shade and food and beauty. And wine. For many years I lived in Tuscany where I was told grapes needed to be planted in the earth and not in a pot if you expected any fruit. We don’t have any land but I wanted a grapevine so badly that I had a hole made in our concrete covered parking space just to plant a vine in the earth. And now, after several years, we have this, a balcony vineyard.

Due to COVID-19, we were unable to come in the spring and when we finally arrived in the latter part of August, we found our vine loaded with fruit…more than we were able to eat. So some clusters were given away to neighbors and some I sundried on the roof to make raisins as the grapes are seedless. One night it rained (it takes days for them to dry out) and the grapes got wet so I finished drying them in the oven and it worked out quite well.

When we arrived on Paros, our neighbor gave us a jar of grape spoon sweets (stafyli gliko) that she’d made. Normally spoon sweets are used as a topping for yogurt. I found a recipe to try HERE. And because we have so many grapes, I’ve tried finding different ways of using them such as making smoothies with grapes and figs (from our neighbors). Delicious!

Even though it’s not the right month to prune, I started trimming what I could because grapes were falling everywhere. I will take a few cuttings to Rome to plant on my balcony. From THIS link, it seems as if grapes can be grown in pots but, obviously, produce only a cluster or two of grapes.

Our neighbor makes his own wine. To make sweet wine, the grapes are left out in the sun for ten days. See THIS for more info.

Seedless green grapes are good for your health. The antioxidants in them absorb the bad and increase the good cholesterol. The potassium in them helps lower blood-pressure and the skins are anti-inflammatory meaning they help fight cancer. Grapes contain calcium, magnesium as well as many other essential minerals. And the melatonin in grapes helps fight insomnia. (I am not a doctor and can only retell info I’ve read.)

Grape related recipes: How to Roast Grapes (And What to Do With Them) + 18 Unconventional Grape Recipes + 5 MINUTE GRAPE SORBET + Grape Salsa + Fresh Red Grape Cake + Grape Salad

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Posted in Ecofeminism, Lifestyle, Paros, Plants & Gardening, Recipes & Food | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Wallflowers

Parikia, Paros

Art tells a story. The story here is about a white wall that someone felt the need to cover with flowers. The story here is about that someone and the reason why they painted these flowers. Maybe it was because art is a transcendental experience and helps you go beyond the mechanics of sheer existence.

Art is a dialogue between maker and viewer. And dialogue helps to keep us connected. But sometimes the eyes just need to listen when the artist is speaking.

Everyone has a story to tell just waiting to be heard.

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Lacrimoso

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Pietà

After her son’s crucifixion, the grieving Mary sorrowfully cradled her son. Her mourning was a common theme in religious art known as “Pietà”. The most famous “Pietà” is Michelangelo’s statue in St. Peter’s Basilica.

For all those self-declared Christians who witnessed the abduction of children from their mothers by ICE only to be locked in cages, I ask: What would Mary have said? What Jesus would have said is written in the Bible:

“But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matthew 18:6

The children mentioned above came from Christian South American countries. It would appear that soon the sea floor will be covered with millstones.

This Republican administration claims severe measures were taken against immigrants because “they’re taking our manufacturing jobs, they’re taking our money”. So how does the head of this administration justify having products with the family name being manufactured in places like China and Indonesia?

And I am still waiting for those who call themselves “Pro-Life” to justify their lack of outrage.

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Sources: Migrant children in the US: The bigger picture explained (BBC) +  HUNGER IN AMERICA, ESPECIALLY FOR CHILDREN, HAS “SKYROCKETED” DURING COVID-19, DATA SHOWS …the most recent Census data from the end of August of this year showed that 10 percent of households said they sometimes or often did not have enough to eat within the past seven days. Levels of food insecurity in Black and Latino households are significantly higher, at 19 percent and 17 percent, respectively, compared to 7 percent in white households + Pietà in art + Timeline of events related to migrant children’s detention centers in the United States + The president and his daughter largely manufacture Trump-branded products in countries like China, Indonesia, Turkey and Canada + Death sentence for abortion? The hypocrisy of US ‘pro-lifers’ is plain to see + Have mercy on us all. + #WhereAreTheChildren showcases the power and the pitfalls of social media

UPDATE: ‘We Need to Take Away Children,’ No Matter How Young, Justice Dept. Officials Said

another unwanted update: Trump’s Border Patrol bragged they saved a mother in labor. Then they took her baby away

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