United Kingdom going to the dogs, here here!

A week ago, some 22,000 dogs arrived to show off their beauty at Crufts. Another 6,000 arrived to show off their brains and brawn. Well, that is sort of clicheish, so they were there to perform!!!

What an experience! Thank goodness Animal Rights organizations were almost non existant. Somehow the British press is focusing on a breeder or two who is abusing the public with badly bred and misrepresented puppies. Happy and healthy dogs was the theme and it worked.

I spent the day in front of the English Springer Spaniel rings. What a wonderful day! 182 dogs were entered. I think the actual number showing was a bit less. But imagine that many in breed rings! What a day!

What is wonderful, if you are familiar with ESS, is that these dogs here in GB or UK have ticking (spots) and some have full tails.

Moving On

Sometimes life drops lemons in your lap. It seems in the past two and a half years many lemons have landed in my lap. These lemons, both real and figurative, have been made into lemonade. The lemonade from fresh lemons from the lovely Greek countryside is just so wonderful!
I bought a press and we make lemonade, just not as frequently as I would like.

The figurative parcel of this little post is making better things of the bad things that land in your lap. It could be being alone, having an unhappy someone with you whereever you are, losing a job, or having a child move on to better things. We pick ourselves up and move on. Sometimes, it takes a lot longer than we think... sometimes months.

Lately my lemons have piled up. Now I need to make a lot of lemonade. The time is flying and soon, about 6 months we will move on. But for now, lemonade city this is! So now to lists of all of the really neat things I need to do before we move on. The lemonade will be a great memory aide to the wonderful times we have had here.

Madonna in Athens living the myth

From the rooftop last night we watched the Olympic Colliseum bathed in light. The sound was wafts of roaring crowds and wafts of music, faintly indentifying " the Dream" and
But Madonna tickets sold out within hours and we heard of tickets being sold for up to 2000 euros on the street. Guys, that is 3000 US dollars. Hello?

We watched as the noise and the glare in the night sky rocked Athens... no earthquake, just the
fervent adoration of fans and a living myth....

Graduation

My greatest accomplishment, my daughters. I am so proud of them! This is from our anniversary, which was also our daughters graduating from high school and middle school. What a day!!

The first post

Somehow I always meant to write and take photos and really experience this post. When I am in any land, I get swept up in the essence but keep thinking somehow I am missing it. When I leave, I know I have been there, sucking up the little things which help me to remember the sights and sounds, the essence of the place. Somehow in day to day living we wonder if we ever were anywhere. Looking back now on 20 years this month of foreign service life, as a spouse, I could never have dreamed of the experiences, and in a way, some of what I expected, never happened. So, with 11 months left here in Greece... I set to see what I can, document what I did and maybe write a little myth to remember the journey.