August 27, 2023

Apple Blossom Festival

Well, this is a bit awkward…. Completed missed this opportunity to yapp about a wonderful experience. H’mmm, “old-timers” disease perhaps? Well, we’ll leave that discussion for another day. As part of my retirement celebration, the kids and I decided to visit the Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester, VA. It’s kind of an odd thing, as this is held at the same time as the Wine Festival in Winchester. The difference is the Apple Blossom Festival is free to enter while the Wine Festival is a paid entry. It made for an interesting situation getting around in Winchester, and it definitely wasn’t an ideal situation. Hopefully the Winchester folks can see…

June 18, 2023

Happy Father’s Day

Happy Fathers Day out there to all “fathers and father like figures” out there. LOL. I saw that phrase in the media recently and had to chuckle. Sign of the times I suppose. Looking back in the photo archive for Father’s Day entries, I found a particularly memorable Father’s Day where Meghan and I hopped into Agnes (her Mini Convertible), put the top down and did a complete run down Skyline Drive. For those who don’t know, Skyline Drive runs 105 miles north and south along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park and is the only public road through the Park. We are no newcomers…

October 30, 2022

Spetsas

Today’s post will wrap up the Great Greek Tour of 2022. Much “greater” than expected, but I’m glad I went, and am wiser as a result. So there you go. I’m pretty certain Pam got tired of seeing me moping around like a dog without a home. So she proposed a trip to the Greek island of Spetsas. Available via a short ferry ride, it was a nice place off season. She indicated that during the “tourist” season Spetsas is very busy, very crowded and far less pleasurable to visit. We were there for most of the day and I took a lot of pictures on Spetsas. It’s very scenic….

October 23, 2022

waiting

So after the tumultuous series of events in Athens, there was nothing left to do but press onward. Digging in, what I found was conflicting and not completely clear on the path forward. The one thing that I found was that a “Letter of Recovery” from a doctor was required to board a flight back to the states. My flights had been changed to Wednesday the 30th, so there was nothing more to it than obsess over the situation. That’s one of the things I excel at, obsessing over things not in my control. Always been that way, not any better nowadays although I am better at not getting into…

September 18, 2022

Hop On….. Hop Off

Sung to the tune of Clap On …. Clap off…. If you are younger than about 50 you are looking at me like I’ve grown horns. What in the world are you talking about, idiot? For those curious, it was a commercial from the 1970’s where they were advertising a remote switch for your TV that activated when you clapped your hands. Simpler times, right? Anywho, today’s diatribe is about the Athens Hop-On, Hop Off (HoHo) bus. After Emilio and I finished our most excellent lunch and he departed for Kranidi, I walked over to the HoHo stop, paid my fee’s and then hopped on, of course. What else would…

September 11, 2022

Agora

After the Acropolis, Emilio and I set off in search of the Agora of Athens. We wandered around a bit, mostly as Emilio didn’t know exactly where it was and I think Agora is pronounced very differently in Greek than in the pseudo-English we were using as all we got in response to our queries as to it’s location were quizzical looks. Finally, we found someone who spoke better English than our pathetic Greek and pointed us in the right direction. It’s a beautiful place with lovely grounds, but Emilio wanted me to see the antiquities in the museum. After paying our entrance fees, and or course wearing our masks,…