Short and so very sweet.

Today was a difficult day as both Tina and I left our dad to head back to our respective homes. Our trips were short ones because we were meant to snatch him up and take him home with us. After the doctor said he should stay put for awhile, we had already had our flights booked, but decided to go see him anyway.

We are both so glad we did and look forward to when he is a little stronger and able to come back to North America to be closer to us.

Love this picture.

After a very emotional goodbye, Tina and I took a taxi through the windy and horrible trek to Kalamata, and then on to Athens.

Upon arrival at the Athens airport we went directly to the lineup for the PCR test. The line wasn’t crazy king, but it moved at an utter snails pace. We arrived in line at 12:30pm and didn’t get our tests taken until around 1:30. When it was finally our turn to check in, the lady said: ‘you will be cutting it close’ in terms of getting our results. The website says: same day results, but can be up to 24 hours. Technically we would need the results by around 11am so now we were nervous. Nervous to the point where we almost took at taxi into Athens to get another test at the local Hospital. After much deliberation, we decided to roll the dice a little bit and see how it goes.

After wasting 20€ on a trip to the strangest ‘outlet mall’ either of us had ever seen, we ate some dinner and went back to the hotel to rest and wait for our results.

At approximately 8pm we both had our negative test in hand and are now set to fly home tomorrow.

We already miss the gentle sound of the sea against the rocks outside the window, and of course, the view.

Moonrise over the mountain

Mostly we will miss this guy.

Check this out! 🐟 🐛

Today dad gave his caretaker a day off to spend in Kalamata with her friend so Tina and I were on the job.

Dad wanted to head down to the cafe to hang with his buddies so off we went. It’s soooooo nice to see him laughing and chatting with his buddies like he used to. It brings me such comfort seeing him where he feels most comfortable.

I’m not sure what they are talking about, but it’s always with conviction.

😎

I can only take so much Greek talk, and with the port full of interesting sea creatures, it was only minutes before I had to explore. However, before I set out on my expedition, a fisherman pulled up with his lot.

🇬🇷 🐟

Check this out!

🐚 🦀

When I was a kid dad used to make me a fishing line with a little hook and my bait was bread with feta cheese mashed up to make a sort of dough. I would fish for hours from here and give my haul to the stray cats.

One day I had a particularly good day and one guy said to my dad: that little boy sure is a good fisherman. The man was referring to me and my dad’s response was: you’re right, but that is my daughter. 😁

I thought it was funny that all these years later, dads two middle aged daughters are just as interested in doing the same things. Crawling around the boats and fishing sea life out of the water.

🦀

After several hours of lazing around, we went to Stoupa for lunch. Stoupa is a village about 3km’s away. It is a little bigger with more shops and a sandy beach. We had a great spot that overlooked the sea.

Enjoying the view.

It was good to see dad with his appetite back.

Now that’s a chop!!

Later on, it was back to the cafe to hang. Suddenly Tina started freaking out that something was in her hair. After a few violent flips of her hair and some flailing about, this little guy popped out.

Cute little thing.

Tomorrow is our last day in the village. We need to get back to Athens and prepare for our trip back. It will be tough to leave dad, but we have comfort in knowing he has excellent care for the next while until he’s strong enough to head back to Canada.

Happy❤️

I slept like crap last night. Woke up about 3am and couldn’t really get back to sleep. My schedule and circadian rhythm is quite a bit off, not to mention I haven’t 💩 since I’ve arrived, but I have no schedule and there are no rules about level of lazy here, so it’s fine.

We chilled with dad on the balcony for awhile until we got hot enough to want to head to gnospi for a swim.

Other than his glasses being bent to shit, and askew, he’s doing well. Tshirt cred 👍🏼

We are middle aged. Not great at the selfie thing.

Nice flat rock. No messy sand. My lovely feet.

The water was a little cooler than the day before according to Tina, but refreshing. It was nice to relax in the warm shade for a bit before we headed back for lunch.

Because I felt a bit crap, a nap was in order…also, because it’s a thing here. When we used to come here as kids, we absolutely HATED the afternoon sleep routine. My sister and I would be told to sleep while the whole village shut down for a nap. As kids, of course, it was the LAST thing we wanted to do. I remember we would be fooling around trying to find things to do to pass the time. One time, my sister caught a chee-chee-ka (cicadas), tied a string around its head, attached a little sign around its neck that said: ‘Hi there’. Hahaha only Tina would think of doing something like that. She then flung it over the balcony hoping to greet any passers by.

Now, however, the nap is greatly enjoyed. I am not sure if 3 hours of slumber still can be considered a nap, but that’s what it turned into.

Dad decided to head out for a little jaunt and a visit at the cafe around the corner.

❤️

Every month when there is a full moon, they have a little fireworks celebration.

🎆

It was another day in paradise. The best thing is that dad is doing better every day. His legs felt stronger and was able to walk all the way to where we went without fatigue.

It’s obvious he is a well liked guy as everyone greets him with a smile as he walks along. The cutest thing is how he stops and talks to all the kids along the way. He has something to say to all of them. Throughout our lives, I’ve always regretted not being able to speak Greek, but watching him interact with those kids, and hearing their little responses is priceless. I would love to know what the little exchange translates to. Very heartwarming and sweet.

He’s one of the good ones for sure ❤️

Today, I felt it.

I crawled my way out of bed around 8am and saw my dad. After a big hug, we spend the next few hours relaxing, chatting, and sharing this view.

There used to be an iconic fig tree front and center, it is sad to see it gone, but admittedly it’s absence has dramatically improved the view from our balcony.

My dad is doing quite well considering, only two months ago, he was on deaths door. He moves a little slower as his legs have been weakened from being in a Hosptial bed for 4 weeks, but he’s better every day.

Once he turned in for a nap, my sister and I headed for a walk around the village.

Just a random road lined with a pretty stone fence.

Although these look kind of like upside down Lily’s, apparently they are called the devil horn something or other and are extremely poisonous.

Beautiful turquoise water.

After a delicious lunch a nap was in order. I was expecting an hour or so, but 3 hours later I still felt like a bit of a 🧟‍♀️ Nonetheless, I picked myself up and got ready for an outing with my dad, his helper, and my sister.

Dinner was great, a nice walk, and before you know it, it’s midnight.

Tomorrow, beach day.

Long and winding road.

I made it, safe and sound. I arrived at the house around 2:30am. Dad made sure to leave every light on for me and I was able to sneak in quietly and flop myself on the bed to recover from the car sickness I had from the last hour of the 3 hour drive to the village.

The first two hours of the drive is pretty basic freeway driving. I had a guy from the village pick me up and we left without any delay.

The last hour of the trip looks harmless enough, but believe me, it’s hell on wheels. After nearly 20 hours of traveling, the last thing anyone wants is a winding, twisting, slow and go car ride.

This is what the road felt like.

Tina and I stayed up talking a bit before I was finally able to catch some 💤‘s. The sound of the waves on the rocks was very relaxing, but the lack of breeze and still, hot air made sleeping a bit of a challenge. When you’re used to cuddling up under the covers in a 65°F room, 80° is a bit much.

Tonight, the air conditioner is making itself known!

Screaming kids and little sandwiches.

I made it to London. I feel like I’ve been through it a bit, but the little sandwiches in this lounge are helping.

I sat in my seat and realized shortly I was surrounded by kids. Great. They ranged in age from 5-9 or so. The little one was already complaining about something before we even took off. Ah well, maybe they will settle down before long.

Just when I thought I had some bad luck, I look beside me and there is a mother with about an 18 month old. The little guy was cute as could be, but wasn’t the least bit happy about anything. He was squirming and moaning and whining and crying. That poor mother was all alone and had her hands full with that little blondie.

I couldn’t help but to be impressed with that kids endurance and king capacity because he managed to scream through about 90% of the 10 hour flight 😫.

Now here I sit in London waiting for my connection. The travel aspect has been fine. No glitches so far. I expect to arrive in the village at about 3am Athens time. I’ve been instructed by dad to slip in the back door and snuggle up in the room with my sis.

Let’s try this again…🇬🇷

Here I am, sitting in at LAX looking for board a flight to Greece to finally go see my dad…

With travel being so difficult, and Dad telling us he has been getting better every day, it was a trip that was easy to put off. After my fiasco last month, it was not at the top of my list of desires to travel abroad in the current world climate. Nonetheless, my sister and I decided to bite the bullet and get a look at him for ourselves.

Tina arrived in Greece on the 18th of June, and much to everyone’s relief, he IS actually doing very well. He’s moving around well and feeling pretty good. As one might expect, he’s lost some weight and a bit weak from being in the Hosptial and laid up for a month., but overall he’s doing great.

Dad and his ‘helper’. She caters to his every need.

My flight leaves from LAX in a couple of hours so my trip began as a carbon copy of the one a month ago. The difference this time was where (and how much) that COVID test was. There is a pop up clinic right because the Palm Springs airport that you can play $400…yes $400 and get a handy dandy PCR test in under 30 minutes.

I’m sure it’s all very scientific. I mean, how could a couple of pop up tents and a tiny mobile trailer in the middle of a parking lot not be?

Regardless, this is the world we are living in, and I wanted to make sure I had valid results this time. Sure enough, within 30 minutes I had my NEGATIVE results and was set to head to LAX the next day.

Today I got myself sorted, kissed my boys, and headed to LAX. Check in was smooth, however, if I said there wasn’t a shade of anxiety creeping up, I’d be lying.

Everything is in place and here I sit, waiting for my flight to board. Off to Heathrow and then into Athens. It will be a super quick trip for me, but it will be good to finally see my dad and my sister. It’s been far too long since I’ve seen both of them.