I’m sad to announce that Mike Bertch has passed. His funeral won’t be until the 17th.

Cunningham Manor

We attended an extravagant event this week. Somehow we got on the “high roller” list for Baltimore’s Ruth’s House. We were invited to an evening at Cunningham Manor. This house looks like a restored English manor house. Actually, it’s 15 years old. The owner it is David Smith. He also owns Sinclair Media, which is a large collection of TV stations and media outlets. Most of the TV stations are in the FOX network. One of David’s children is into gardens. They flew a garden designer in from England. Today, they have two full-time gardeners to maintain the grounds. They built the house on a farm (~ 200 acres) off of Falls Road. The other houses in the area are a mix of ages and styles, but they are almost all middle-class.

We arrived to valet parking. After walking around and giving the public part of the house a good gawk, we stopped at the buffet. It was straight out of Gourmet Magazine. The roast beef was thick-cut and perfectly cooked. There were also huge prawns, crab cakes, crab dip, and lamb chops. There were about 10 different fancy desserts. The chocolate covered strawberries used dark and white chocolate to make it look like the strawberries were wearing a tux. In addition, waiters walked around with almost a dozen different hors d’oeuvres (including lobster, of course). They had the only open bar I’ve ever seen that didn’t have a tip jar. And the wine was really good. After the speech, the Smiths gave House of Ruth $75,000. The executive director is really good at looking overwhelmed. There was no way we belonged in this event. But we had a fabulous time. And we’re not going to ask to be taken off the “high rollers” list.

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the condo wants us to improve the drainage of the sump pump and rain gutters behind our house. Everybody was asking who owns the land behind our house. I called CA (Columbia Association), and said the words “Open Space Land” (which was a pure guess on my part). It was a bulls-eye hit. Early in the process, we were told that open space land had to be kept in a wild condition and couldn’t be mowed. But things got better after that. The condo has a landscaping easement on the land. Nobody has found the actual copy of the easement, so we’re still not sure what rights we have. But it’s pretty certain we can mow. The people at CA are open, friendly, and professional. I think I have our property manager convinced that the condo should make a deal with CA, instead of each unit owner trying to do something slightly different. I figure this issue will take years to straighten out, which is fine with me.

Here’s my panic of the week. We bought an E-car, which entitles us to a $7500 federal tax credit. We arranged for our income to be enough to generate a $7500 tax bill, which nets out to $0 owed. Under these conditions, we didn’t have to file quarterly taxes. Now Trump’s proposed tax bill will eliminate the credit. For our travels next year, we will volunteer at a national park and visit France. Or maybe we’ll get free room and board, courtesy of the federal government penal system. What a bother first world problems are!

Danita and I are looking forward to our trip to Cricket Creek, MA next week. We’ll be visiting with Ryn and seeing how cheese is made. It should be a lot of fun.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Prize Basket

It was quite an exciting weekend here in Columbia. We started with a Yoga class Saturday morning. Our objective was to meet a new instructor. Unfortunately, they had a substitute — an instructor we had already met and don’t particularly like. Immediately after that I took my bike ride. I got home just in time to get ready for 4:30 mass, after which we had neighborhood bull and oyster roast Saturday night. There was lots of food and lots of people.

Rebecca, Lynne, Pete, Mark, Ed, Addie, Susanne

You might think Saturday was pretty full, but we actually had even more than that. When we went to the Senior Expo, Danita and I stopped at several booths for a chance to win a prize, or spin a prize wheel, or whatever. I got a nifty pocket flashlight and a T-shirt. Danita got a water bottle. Saturday, one of the audiologists called. I was telling them we weren’t interested when they interrupted me and shouted “Don’t hang up, don’t hang up”. They were trying to tell me Danita won the basket. It was a good one, filled with crackers and snacks that we used Sunday.

Lynne, Pete, Rebecca, Addie, Ed, Danita

Sunday was the fifth Sunday of the month. We like going to Miss Shirley’s for breakfast because the food is very good. We dislike it because it’s a long-ish drive (to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor) and because it’s expensive. So we go there only on 5th Sundays. We both had a great breakfast. It was raining pretty heavily, so the parking garage and elevated walkway came in quite handy.

Lynne, Bud, Mark

Sunday evening we had our fall sour beef dinner. It covers a family dinner, Oktoberfest, and Bud’s birthday.

That’s all for this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Getting the bad news out of the way first … Mike Bertch is doing worse. Most of the time, he is too weak to swallow. Our Circle group plans to have a lunch at Mike’s hospice Tuesday. They might have to roll Mike’s bed into the room we’ll be using because he is sometimes too weak to use a wheelchair. A couple of Mike’s friends visited Mike last week with a bottle of Jameson whiskey. They found Mike couldn’t swallow, so they used a pad to put some on his lips.

I’m feeling like I’m back to normal life. The sump alarm appears to be working. I’ll give it a full test next time it rains. I did this alarm with a technology called Smart Home. I’m using a hub from Samsung. It takes a while to figure out, but it’s incredibly flexible. What surprises me is how dependent this technology is on the cloud. The idea is simple. If the float switch indicates the sump is full, send a notification to my tablet and an Email to me. Perfect operation requires my WiFi is working, the Samsung server is working, and the Google server is working. It’s cool technology and a lot of fun to play with, but not nearly as reliable as a device that dials my phone number through a land line. It’s really too bad the old alarm died.

I took my bike to South Dakota with us, but when we got out there, I didn’t like the roads and decided not to ride. We had plenty of physical activity, but that’s not equivalent to riding a bike. When we got back home, I found that somebody had jacked up all the hills. I’m making excellent progress on that. I’m doing most of my rides as well as I had done them before we left. I haven’t tried my toughest ride yet, but I should be ready in a week or two. I’ve been lucky to have beautiful weather. Highs are around 70 and most days are sunny.

After two drives across the country, our car was a mess. I decided to get it detailed. The guy worked on it about 4 hours. When he was done, the result was amazing in almost every way. The only problem is that now that the bugs and dust are removed, it’s easy to see the paint chips.

The project I just now finished is to banish Microsoft Outlook from Danita’s and my life. I used to like Outlook because of it’s calendar view and contacts list. I could see personal Emails as well as emails to our neighborhood’s “Webmaster” all in one screen. One could have categories and assign colors. One could have groups and send an Email to many people. Outlook had a nice feature set without being overburdened with a lot of junk. Of course,Email, calendar, and contacts are available online directly from Google. But back in the day, “contacts” was just a list of the Email address of everybody to whom you ever sent an Email. It couldn’t be edited, and there was so much junk in it that it was worthless. Colors weren’t available. Neither were categories. Most importantly, one couldn’t see any of this when not connected to the internet. But it was getting harder to keep all our laptops and phones synched. I took another look at Google’s web services. They have improved immensely. They don’t work exactly the way I would like, but they meet every last one of my needs. That is, once the options are set and the “Offline” helper is installed and configured. It was a little work, but our lives for Email, calendar, and contacts are significantly improved.

Backyard water drain egress

The project I’m working now on is related to our condo. The previous owner connected the sump pump and roof gutter to pipes, buried the pipes under ground, and ran them 20 feet down the hill behind our house. Seven years later, the association decided that needs to be changed. They want me to run the pipes all the way down the hill, almost 60 feet. At the bottom of the hill, they want me to dig a gravel pit. This will do nothing to improve the drainage from my house. And most of the 60 feet of land is owned by Hughes Corporation, not our condo. And water will be dumped right at the border of land owned by Howard County. The board doesn’t seem to understand that one should receive permission from property owners before building things on their land. All of this is to avoid a small hole in the ground in an area where nobody walks anyway because the ground is always wet and it’s on a steep hill. But the board is sure they want the gravel pit to have brown gravel. The board is nuts.

That’s all the news for this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

I kind of petered out and didn’t blog about our last day in Greece. We had a great time, saw a lot of very cool stuff, and had a long but uneventful trip home.

The following weekend Julia, Pat, and the kids came to visit us. It was nice that they came up. We had a good time.

This is the weekend we have 3 neighborhood parties. Friday was a hamburgers on the grill and pot-luck sides. Saturday was the volunteer dinner. Tonight we have a Bluegrass concert. Danita’s sister is Lynn. Lynn’s mother-in-law, Jean Rosser, died recently. Her funeral was Saturday. They had a very nice luncheon afterwards. So we’ve been out and about quite a bit.

I’m still not caught up on all the stuff I have to do after having been away from home so long, but I’m getting close. Today I cleaned the garage. It’s quite warm out, and the forecast is for the temperature to drop over 10 degrees.

I have an alarm that calls me when the sump pump level gets too high. While we were in South Dakota, it started calling every 15 minutes. I had to ask my neighbor to unplug the alarm. I need a new alarm, and decided to go with smart home stuff. I bought a Samsung SmartThings hub and a device to monitor the status of the float switch. So far, I got it to send me one text message. There’s quite a bit more to do, but at least all the hardware works.

I have to go. I need a shower before we go to the concert. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We visited some more ruins today. This was part of a Roman theater. In building the wall, the Romans used some block that was laying around from earlier times, and just by coincidence used block that had the law code of Gortyn inscribed on it. The Romans used the blocks in random order. Archeologists rebuilt the wall using the same blocks, but put them in order so once could (theoretically) read the code as it was originally inscribed.

Tree where Zeus mated with Europa

Another sure winner was the tree where Zeus mated with Europa. It’s an amazing piece of archaeological work. These mythical events can be hard to pinpoint. Actually, the Greeks are still pagans in some ways. If there’s a mountain top that needs a temple for Zeus, they build a Church on the mountaintop and dedicate it to Isaiah. And if a fishing village needs a temple for Neptune, they build a Church and dedicate it to St. Nicholas. (No relation to the Western Christmas character.)

Phaistos Disk

We visited another Mayan palace, this one at Phaistos. I’m sure you will be amazed to learn that this is where the famous Phaistos Disk was found. It allegedly is an early use of printing with moveable type. To bad it’s in Linear-A so we can’t read it. Why did we ever need Gutenberg? His expertise with metallurgy, fonts, and systems of locking type into a frame were justs incidental. Or maybe practical printing was a little harder than some lay people think.

Libyan Sea

We finished up the day at the Libyan Sea. The temperature was mild. The breeze was refreshing, and the water was beautiful. Life can be hard.

Bull and Olive Tree

We arrived in Crete late last night. Dinners are very long – 2 to 3 hours. My butt gets sore. Especially when we don’t start dinner until after 8. We spent much of the day on the Minoans. We visited Knossos Palace and the local art museum with much of the discovered Minoan art. The Minoans had an amazing civilization. It’s quite obvious that the mysterious people in Akrotiri started out as Minoans, and equally obvious they surpassed the Minoans in their culture.

Minoan Palace Water Pipe

We know very little about the Minoans because we haven’t been able to decipher their written language, which we call Linear A. In addition, when the Minoan civilization fell they never revived. There is no later civilization with writings referring to their ancestors. We don’t even know what they called themselves. The only thing we can do is guess from the ruins and artwork that they left behind.

Throne Room

For example, we saw this throne room. The archaeologist who excavated Knossos, Arthur Evans, used primitive techniques. He reconstructed the palace with cement, and he wasn’t afraid to use his imagination when filling in the details. We don’t know whether the Minoans had a single ruler, whether he was a king, the chief land owner, or something else.

Man Leaping Over Bull

Minoan art shows the same free forms and open expression found at Akrotiri. This painting shows a man literally grabbing a bull by the horns, throwing himself over the bull’s back, then landing on his feet behind the bull. (This fresco is a reproduction.) But we don’t know whether the Minoan’s actually did this or whether it was some kind of idealized mythical story. We do get glimpses of their civilization, but there are plenty of tantalizing questions.

Man Leaping over Bull

Here are a couple of more pics. This is a depiction of a man in the air, probably the man in the fresco as he does his bouncing handstand off the bull’s back. I’ll put a couple of more pics below.

Swinging Man. Looks playful, doesn’t he?

Woman’s Head

Bull’s Head

Welcome to my new home!

Just about all buildings in Santorini were destroyed by an earthquake in 1959. A few have never been repaired and are still for sale. I decided this would be a nice place to live. I’ll call the agent when we get home. Don’t tell Danita. I want to surprise her. I’m confident she will be very surprised.

Bell Tower

We toured a few more villages on the island, then spent some time at a black sand beach. Santorini is certainly a beautiful island, but it also suffers greatly from overbuilding. All trash has to be compacted and shipped off island. Much of the water comes from desalinization plants and is not really fit to drink. The rest of the water and other utilities comes via under-the sea cables and pipes, or by boat. Santorini has plenty of arable land, but it’s mostly taken up by the tourist industry. It’s a beautiful place to visit, but it is facing some large challenges. Here are a few pics from the island.

A Village Square

Disembarking the Ferry

Motivation not to dawdle when disembarking. It’s almost like the running of the bulls.

House basement with Decorated Storage Vases

We had an amazing visit to the archeological site on the southern edge of the island near the village of Akrotiri; followed by a tour of the corresponding Museum of Prehistoric Thera. People have lived at this site since the 5th century BC. The more recent inhabitants were the most interesting. These people lived here in the 2nd century BC. They came from the island of Crete and were originally part of the Minoan civilization. Once established on the island of Santorini, they developed a civilization that was incredibly wealthy and was 1000 years in advance of anybody else.

Very Expensive wood Coffee Table

The dig is totally enclosed in a building. The roof automatically adjusts to control the amount of light. Temperature and humidity are also controlled. All this was done when Greece had a totalitarian government. The government wanted to emphasize Greece’s contributions to civilization to encourage tourism and made unlimited funds available to the Athens University school of archeology. Today, there are barely enough funds to maintain the existing infrastructure. No archeological progress is being made, but what we can see is almost unbelievable.

2 story house with toilet and sewage

The firsts pic shows the basement of a house which had some large jugs for storing supplies. In spite of this being basement storage, the jugs were elegantly decorated. The second picture shows an extremely expensive wooden table. Like all wood, the table was burnt and recovered, as I will reveal soon. This pic shows they had 2-story houses with toilets and a sewage system (circled in red). All this 4,000 years ago!

Village Square

The village itself was large. The archeologists discovered a village square, which means the community was planned. The incredibly large window you see in the house at one side of  the square was probably to provide extra light and ventilation to people working on a loom. These people had both wool and linen. Cotton and silk would not be available for quite a while.

Dolphins Swimming in Water

The museum contained some of the art found at the site. Jugs were decorated with dolphins swimming in the water, birds in flight, and other abstract concepts. Some of their art looked quite modern. The sophistication of the art was not available in any other western society for 1000 or 1500 years. The freedom of the lines indicates the society was free — probably an self-governing aristocracy. There is no indication these people had a king, emperor, or other ruler.

Early writing

The people had a very advanced notion of trade. Scales and weights were found, allowing the precise measure of goods. Archeologists found indications of the beginning of writing. All manor of advanced technology was found, including the ability to hollow out marble to make cups, and advanced bronze processing.

Fresco of fashionable woman with makeup and painted nails

The frescos were particularly incredible. The medium itself requires assurance and free-flowing lines. The painting and drawing are done on moist plaster. They cannot be redone or fixed. The subject of the frescos is equally informative. This fresco is of an extremely fashionable woman, with a fancy double-skirt, full makeup, jewlery, and even painted fingernails. One can easily discern her sense of self. This is nothing like the stilted characters Egypt and other civilizations were creating at the time. The picture below is of dancing monkeys. Monkeys didn’t live in Greece. This fresco shows how much traveling people in this society did. Up to this time, every character was presented in profile. The monkey circled in red is the first known instance of an artist rendering a frontal view of a face. And the last, for a very, very long time.

Fresco of Dancing Monkeys

The visit was delightful, in part because I had not read anything about these people. The city was abandoned in 1628 BC when the volcano made its very large eruption. The city was buried just as Pompeii was. But the citizens had plenty of warning. They were able to pack up their valuables and leave the city. They took all their jewelry and precious metals. Pumice covered the island. Anything organic burned. Wooden objects, such as the coffee table above, left a void in the pumice. Archaeologists used this as a mold and poured plaster of paris into the void to discover the object.

Solid gold Ibis

This is the only precious object found. It is a gold Ibis. There was a large pile of animal horns, which archaeologists determined was from sacrificed animals. They found a clay box at the bottom of the pile of horns. Inside the clay box was a wooden box. Inside the wooden box was the Ibis.

Our guide promised to tell us more about these people as well as the Minoans. But we will have to wait until later in the trip to learn what she has to say.

Jug decorated with flying bird

Tonight, we will visit a winery on the edge of the cliff to enjoy some locally produced wine and an amazing view. Dinner will follow.

Fira with Donkey Trail

The island of Santorini is a volcano. In 1600 BC, it had one of the largest eruptions in Earth’s history, probably killing off the Minoan civilization. The eruption created a huge peak, which collapsed from its own weight. What’s left is an island with 1000 foot high cliffs, with the water in the harbor another 1000 feet deep. It’s quite dramatic. This is a picture of Fira, the main village, with the donkey trail leading up from the harbor. Fortunately, our tour company took us up the hill on a bus.

Oia

There’s only one harbor on Santorini island, and only one road going up the hill. The ride is quite exciting for the uninitiated. After checking into our hotel, we took the bus up to Oia, the other main village on the island. The entire island is given over to tourism. They have arable land, but there are so many houses and hotels on the island, they have given up their farming in favor of tourism.

Unseen Scene

Winds can be quite intense. We heard the rattling of doors and windows in the lobby this morning. Protective canvas covers at our outdoor restaurant spent the evening flapping loudly in the breeze. I never saw the most photogenic part of Oia because there were too many people. Instead, I offer this picture, which I found in a magazine.

Here’s a couple of pictures of the church on the Oia village square.

Oia Church

Ringing the Bells

100 Year Old Olive Tree

We’ve spent the last two days on the island of Paros. Paros has fertile soil, plenty of water, and was an important source of marble in the classic period. Today, it has a good, balanced economy with just a small amount of tourism. It is what I think of when I think of modern Greece. This picture shows an olive tree with an incredible trunk. It is probably 100 years old and still producing olives. The olive tree is really a bush. The impressive trunk is actually several bushes mingled together. The colors are strange because I shot the picture through a bus window. The window had some kind of sun tinting.

Church

Here’s a picture of the church in the village square, with some stunning flowers in the foreground. Many Greek families have two houses. They came from a village but had little opportunities for a job. They moved to a city and bought a house or apartment. Then they inherited the house of their parents (or grandparents). There’s no real point in trying to sell the parent’s house, so they use it as a summer home.

Village Alleyway

Greek cities are filled with tiny little alleys that wind around. This provided protection against the wind (which can be fierce), more shade in the street, and protection against pirates. So says our guide, and who am I to argue with the guide? The Greeks continue this idea even in new towns. It’s just how things are supposed to be, I suppose.

Paros Village

Here’s an overview of a village on Paros. It was quite scenic and relaxing. But I’m not alone in thinking that 2 1/2 days may have been a longer stay than we needed. The weather here has been at or near 100 degrees the last two days. It is much hotter than normal, and much hotter than was forecast. Everybody on the tour has said they would have packed differently if they had known what the weather would be.