last day in Apollonas: Lilly at the beach

Lilly walking and playing at the beach, here in Apollonas, on Naxos, in the Greek Cycladic islands, before we move on tomorrow, first a night in Athens, then one by the airport in Oslo, then over to Northfield, Minnesota where we'll spend this fall after a wonderful summer here in Greece.

As you'll see in this little video, Lilly has thoroughly enjoyed herself here in Greece, talking, walking, interacting with others (her favorite words are "Hei!" (hi) and "Jasso" (Greek for hi), "ha det" (bye) and "bye" (ha det). And BÆÆ to the goats. She'll miss the goats, Dick the dog, the people and children around here. But there will be others to play with in the US. And after that in Norway. And after that...

I feel we have three homes now.

I'll miss Christina, our host, and her family.



Here we all are: Christina, Lilly, and I, this past Thursday, in the village of Kouronos, at a church, celebrating Saint Fanourios. He is the saint that reveals all things that are lost and that people pray for to have returned, be it good health, a job; it can be big or small. He, with his generosity in helping to have such things found, revealed, is celebrated every year on August 27. Everybody bakes a special cake, a Fanouropita, which is brought to church in gratitude. Christina brought a cake baked by her mother-in-law, Flora. All the cakes are blessed by the priest and then everyone shares everybody's cake, after service. I returned home with heaps of cake.

After that, we went to the village of Argokiliotissa, where there is a church for the Virgin Mary, with a natural cave that climbs up, through the mountain, up to a beautiful scenic view of the ocean and the islands beyond. We went there, and, as in all the churches I've been to with Christina, she insists we light a candle for Lilly. So sweet.



We ended that morning with a visit to Christina's husband's uncle in the village of Atsipapi nearby where we had some of the cake they had made for Saint Fanourios, and some home made cherry juice. Lilly got a kick out of chasing their cat and kittens, and visiting with their donkey.