WALL-E stands for “Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class”.  I carved this one.  Not my best effort but it worked.

Kat did her first layered pumpkin.  She did a really good job.

EVE is short for “Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator.

Here’s the poster from the movie.

I’ll get to Santorini soon.

I did place an order for draperies this weekend.  I needed to replace the homemade tab curtains & Walmart special curtain rods.  We really needed to update them to match the new kitchen.  They will be fine in Brian’s bachelor pad.

Here’s the fabric I chose:

I saw this already made up in the store and immediately liked it.  The background is taupe which I had already as tab curtains.  I liked the red accent and the leaf motif.  The red is a little brighter than it looks in the photo.  I think the fluorescent store lights make it look different.

I did take one panel home to check it out before making the big order.  Everyone liked it so I went back and signed on the bottom line.

The new drapes will be pinch-pleated on a new rod.  They will open & close smoothly which will be nice.  We will now have matching dining & living room window coverings.

As usual I picked something that was not on sale and did not offer a discount of any kind.  I debated whether I should pay full price or not.  I have never bought custom drapes and probably won’t need to for a very long time.  I decided to go ahead with it.

So much for not spending a bunch this month…

Here are a few pictures of the main points of interest in Athens that we visited.

The old Olympic stadium in Athens is also known as the Panathinaiko or Kallimarmaron stadium.  It is beautiful. It is made of marble.  Take a look at the seats/steps.  They are all marble.  It is in very good condition but they do not allow you to walk in/on it.

The Temple of Zeus was very interesting.  Our guide was informative but I now remember very little of what he said.   It’s so easy to research and retrieve that information now that I don’t need to store it in my brain.  In the distance you can see the Acropolis.

The Acropolis is the thing I most heard about before coming to Greece.  The Parthenon is the temple that sits atop it.  I didn’t know much about it but I recognized it immediately whenever I saw photographs of it.  It is amazing to me that it is right in the center of the city.  It just sits up there surrounded by everything.  They are working to preserve it.  It is mind boggling to stand beside something so old and treasured.

There is an amphitheater at the Acropolis called the Odeon of Herodes Atticus that is still used for concerts.  You can see in the background of the picture that the city is very dense.  There are so many buildings and very little trees.  When you walk around the acropolis there are trees.  It is too bad they didn’t preserve some of them in the city as well.

There are many other points of interest in Athens but we were only there for a couple of days.

It’s been 2 summers since Kathryn last swam in our pool.  Oh she’s been in up to her waist or her knees a couple of times attempting to make it all the way in.  She always backs out and claims it is too cold.  She is tiny and doesn’t have a layer to keep her warm.

Now the water is staying at a warm temperature just in time as the summer sun finally arrives in Ottawa.  She actually went in today by herself.

You can’t imagine how good it feels to reach down to the jet of water coming into the pool and feel the heat!  I keep saying “I love free heat”.  Dave reminds me that it isn’t free, we did pay a lot for the solar panels.  That is true but from here forward there is no added expense. 

I love free heat.

Carla trained hard for this (she has the 6 pack abs to prove it).  I know all the mornings she got up early to go and swim before work.  She ran with me at lunch time.  She paddled on the river after work.  She and her friend Shelley got together often to work out.  She is a very determined lady.

It paid off.  Carla won 6 medals!  2 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze.  The team came in 2nd in the pool events, 2nd in the beach events and won 1st overall.  What an achievement.

Rescue 2010 is in London England.  I think Carla is planning on going to Ireland after that.  I wonder if I’ll have to step in at the last minute for that leg of the trip?  Probably not.

My car has been fixed.  Dave brought it in while I was away.  It’s a relief to not see the reminder of that.   They got a rental for the 2 days it was in being repaired.  They put 25 KM on the rental.  HA HA HA HA

The solar heating is almost completely done.  They still have some things to tidy up.  The electrical wiring has been done so we now have a light in the shed and an outdoor plug.  The solar heating is working.  Even today it is heating it up.  It seems to get warm enough when the sun peeks out every now and then.  I love getting free heat!  I just wish the weather was more conducive to swimming.

The kitchen hasn’t changed.  We are still waiting for 3 upper doors.  One should be in next week.  The other 2 are on order.

The granite is in and will be installed on Thursday next week.

Our patio door blinds have arrived.  Dave will need to install those.

Dave has taken down most of the old metal shelves in the garage and given them away.  He has installed our old kitchen cabinets.  They are much better and will provide better storage for everything.  He is sorting through all of his tools, nails, nuts and bolts.  Now everything is arranged.  He still has a bit to do but it is already looking much tidier.

So there is still lots to do.  The closet has to be done.  The baseboards and quarter round need to be installed.   The taps will need to be installed after the granite.  We need to buy light fixtures for the kitchen and dining room (not to mention new furniture at some point).

Oh well, eventually we’ll get there.

At 3:00 AM (8:00 PM Ottawa time) I wake up for the last time.  I lie in bed waiting for 4:00 to arrive.  Finally at 3:50 I get up and head to the airport.  Carla briefly wakes then goes back to sleep.

The airport is busy.  I checkin and head to my gate.  My flight is on time and uneventful.  I arrive in Frankfurt 3 hours later.  I have a 5-6 hour wait for my flight to Ottawa.

I walk around the airport but after an hour there isn’t much else to do.  I buy “The Appeal”, the latest John Grisham book and head to the food court.  I find a flight attendant in a little corner sitting by herself reading.  I join her and pull out my book.

I spend the next few hours reading and trying to ignore the airport noises around me.  There is no quiet space in a busy airport.  I try to go to my gate early but they turn me away.

An hour before my departure time I head to my gate.  I go through security then continue on.  As I get closer I have to go through another security entrance.  (?)

The flight is to leave at 2:15 (7:15 AM Ottawa time).  They call for boarding to start.  Again we are being put on a bus that will take us out to the tarmac where we will board a plane.  I let the first bus go.  There is still a long lineup so I wait.  Carla hasn’t arrived yet.  I decide I’ll wait until the last minute to get on the bus hoping she arrives in time.

I keep reading my book and glancing up every once in a while.  Finally I see her!  She made it.  We get seats together on the plane.

It’s a 7-8 hour flight.  I finish my book.  We both watch movies and TV sitcoms.  We are given a meal, a couple of snacks and a few glasses of wine.  We arrive in Ottawa a little early.

We go through customs and wait for our luggage.  Mine arrives but Carla’s does not.  Her connection was too tight.  She will get her bags tomorrow.

And just like that it’s over.  Carla’s Dad is there to pick her up.  Dave is there for me.  We say our goodbyes.   I’m exhausted.  I’ve been up for about 20 hours now with only bits of sleep before that.  Tomorrow is going to be tough.

Wow, I’ve been to Greece.

We both pick up a few things.  I finally find what I was looking for.  I buy a sleeveless shirt for myself with the Greek pattern along the bottom.  I pick up some t-shirts and baseball caps for the boys.

We have lunch back at our hotel and spend an hour or so at the pool cooling off.  It’s a small indoor pool with a very small outdoor patio.  We manage to take in some sun before we leave.  We keep checking the web and it seems like it’s going to be cloudy and raining when we get back to Ottawa.

We head to the airport for our flight to Athens.  The airport is crowded and people are smoking everywhere.  The air is thick.  There are no smoking signs but no one seems to pay attention.  Finally our flight is ready and we head to Athens.

We are staying at the Sofitel next to the Athens airport.  We are pleseantly surprised by the hotel.  It is the nicest hotel we’ve stayed in.  Too bad we only have a few hours there and can’t take advantage of most of it.

We have dinner at the hotel restaurant and head to bed.  It’s going to be an early day.  I have to get up at 4:00 AM.