We had a great day today hanging out at the old harbor in Chania. I had heard that the RAF Red Arrows were going to be in town flying as part of the weekend’s Battle of Crete festivities. So, I got the crew up early this morning so we could head downtown and make sure to find a place to park. We wandered around the harbor for about an hour before the show started, but it is always so beautiful down there – and really, even more so in the morning when it is a LOT less crowded. After the show, we wandered some of the old streets of Chania – definitely the kind of thing you picture when you think of Greece. Well, enjoy the photos!
Well, I have finally started seminary. I honestly never thought I’d be doing that, but here I am. If anybody is interested in keeping up with how that goes, check out my new blog (shameless plug, yeah I know) at seekersjourney.com.
Following where I left off at the first post, we finished up at the museum and headed back to the hotel to wait for Harry to arrive. Once he got in (after going through the exact same fiasco we did with the train!), we walked up the street and hopped on the metro headed towards the Parthenon. Now, generally when people think of Greece, they either think of one of two things – the island of Santorini with it’s white washed buildings with blue roofs and doors (hopefully we’ll get there this summer) or they think of the Parthenon. After all, the Parthenon is something most, if not all of us learned a little about in school. So getting back to our adventure, it was pretty exciting to be on a metro in Athens heading down to the Parthenon!
A couple of weeks ago, we took a 4 day trip to the Greek mainland with our friends Harry and Kristie Hansen. On Friday morning, Ginger, the boys and I flew up to Athens and hopped on a train to take us downtown to our hotel. The lady at the ticket counter explained something about getting off at one point and transferring to another train. I wasn’t too sure of what she said (very thick accent), but we headed off to the platform anyways.
After about 8 stops, I just knew that the next stop was going to be the one we needed to get off at and transfer trains. So, the stop comes up and… we keep on going. The train doesn’t stop because the stop I wanted to get off at was currently being built. Oh well – off to the next stop! We get off at the next stop and waited for about 30 minutes for the next train to come in on the other side and hoping that was the train we needed to get on, we hopped aboard. We knew we needed to get to the “Larissa Station”, but that was about it. The train went deeper and deeper into Athens and we really had no idea if we were on the right train or not, but since none of us was interested in hopping off a moving train, we stayed on and enjoyed the ride. When the train finally stopped, we looked out at the train station and didn’t see any signs other than “Athens”. We decided it was a good time to get off and get our bearings.
We crossed the tracks and went into the train station. After looking around a little bit, I finally found a sign for Information and quickly headed in that direction. I asked the guy how to get to the Larissa Station and he gave me a strange look and said I was standing in it. Okay, so I definitely felt like the dumb tourist, but we were where we wanted to be so I got over that quickly.
All right, so you’re probably wondering what a Photoblog is anyways. I’ve basically set up a separate site where I can post the photos I’ve taken that I like the best. I wanted to have something completely separate from this blog so that the photos could just speak for themselves. Well, that’s the idea anyways. Besides, I’m a geek and I like to play with new stuff!
For those interested in checking it out, here’s the link: www.thebarkersworld.com/photoblog. You can also get there by clicking the link titled “Matt’s Photoblog” at the top of this page.
I’ve already posted my first photo so go check it out! I’m hoping to add at least one a week (hopefully more), but we’ll see how it goes.
Yep, that’s right – I couldn’t be prouder! Tristan came home today playing “Mary had a Little Lamb” on his recorder. Pretty cool, but we all learned that in school, right? What made me really proud was HOW he played it. Nothing better than listening to your son play the recorder through his nose!
I’ve been looking for a way to share recipes for some time now and finally think I’ve got it figured out. So, here’s my first recipe that I think you all will love. I have made this a few times now and it has been a hit every time.
And it all happened right here on the beautiful island of Crete. A couple of weeks ago, some friends of ours were taking out the trash (in the rain no less!) when they heard a noise coming from under some palm fronds by the dumpster. They looked around and found 2 baby puppies, still with their umbilical cords and wet from birth. Unfortunately, newborn puppies are often left by dumpsters here, but that’s another story… Fortunately, for these two cuties, someone rescued them!
Last week at our Wednesday night church service, they brought the puppies in with them looking for a sucker, uh… I mean volunteer, to take the puppies from them until they were big enough to give to the folks that wanted them. Our friends, in the meantime, were heading back to the states and the husband works all day so couldn’t be around to feed the puppies all day. So, you can see where this story is heading, right?
The next night, we picked up the puppies and brought them home with us. That’s when our little adventure began! I get the night shift with the pups, usually feeding them around 9 and 12 (and sometimes 3 if they don’t sleep through), then the early morning shift, and Ginger gets the day shift. The first morning I was up with them, I was feeding the puppies just like I had done the night before. I fed the little one (who cries the loudest and the longest) first, then fed the bigger girl. Tristan came in the room just after I had finished feeding her. It was then that I realized the puppy was not moving and just didn’t look right. I picked her up and she was completely limp – no breathing, no little puppy heartbeat, NOTHING!
Great, I have the puppies for one day and I kill one! I couldn’t let that happen without a fight – especially with Tristan sitting there in front of me, starting to look a little teary eyed. I grabbed the little puppy, pushed a few times on her chest, then stuck my mouth over her mouth and nose and gave her some air. After a few repetitions of this, she started to spit up some milk – then more and more milk. But, thanks to God granting me a miracle, she started breathing again and moving around. WHEW!!! Fortunately, she has been fine ever since!
Afterward, I did some research on the Internet and found out that I had probably fed her too much – I think the extra went into her lungs. I was under the impression that they would be like people babies and quit eating when they were full. Guess not! I won’t be making that mistake again. And Joanne, if you’re reading this – the girls are fine… now!
