Greek Food Festival Weekend

#MICROBLOG MONDAY

I could sum up this post with one word:  Delicious.

Our city's Greek Orthodox Church sponsors it's Greek Food Festival every year in October.  We (and the rest of the Festival-goers) wait all year for the good food that can be purchased.  This year it was Thursday the 9th, Friday the 10th, and Saturday the 11th. 

We headed out on Friday night - the line was all the way down the block.  No one was leaving.  No one was complaining.  Everyone knew it would be worth the wait.  And it was!

We each had a Dinner Combination Plate that consisted of 1) Pastitsio, 2) Spanakopita, 3) Dolmades, Meat Balls (my favorite), plus a Greek Salad, Rice Pilaf and a roll.  (Which we ate standing up at a high table while Greek dancers entertained us with their folk music and traditional dances.  It was loud, it was crowded, and we could not have cared less.)

The Greek Festival wouldn't be complete without the Greek Pastries:  1) Baklava, 2) Koulourakia, 3)Kataife and 4) Loukoumades among others.  We are Baklava lovers, but had to try a little of everything.  So we bought a sampler and shared.  Wonderful!

In addition to all the great "home cooked" Greek food, there were tours of the recently restored Church, and many other Greek items for sale - the usual, Tee-shirts, tote bags, jewelry, Orthodox religious items and Greek music CDs.

It was so good, we went back on Saturday afternoon and got dinner to go. 

I can't wait for next year!

***
1)  Pastitsio -  Baked macaroni layered with ground meat and cheese topping.
2)  Spanakopita - Spinach with feta cheese and herbs baked in layers of filo.
3)  Dolmades - Cooked Rice, ground beef, and herbs rolled in grape leaves and served hot. 

****
1)  Baklava - Pecans and spices baked in layers of filo with honey syrup.
2)  Kourabiedes - Butter cookies topped w/powdered sugar.
3)  Kataife - Shredded filo with chopped nuts, spices and honey syrup.
4)  Loukoumades - Honey puffs (think donut holes) w/cinnamon and nuts.  Served hot.

Birthday

Today is my birthday.  It isn't one of those milestone birthdays, you know - 30, 40, 50 etc., that have "year specific" cards.  It's simply a regular birthday.  But it is a special one for me.  I've learned over the last few years to embrace every day and every birthday as special and a blessing.

While I don't feel my chronological age, it is a fact.  It's right there on all my important documents.  And I'm sure my birth year is not a surprise to anyone perusing said documents! 

Later this morning, I will happily drive myself to my dialysis center.  That in itself is a blessing.  I see so many of my fellow dialysis patients who do not have the level of independence and, dare I say it, the level of "good health" I currently enjoy. 

So, today is a day of celebration.  And I intend to do just that.  Celebrate all the many blessings of my life.

Another Week

Microblogging Monday


Another week has started.  It's Monday all over again.  Friday was not a good day.  The reality of my life is that in order to stay alive, I must have a three hour hemodialysis treatment three times a week.  My days are Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  This is new to me.  I have only been on dialysis since the first week of May, 2014.  It has been a challenging transition.  But as someone else once said, "the bottom line is I'm still alive."  And that's the truth.  And I feel blessed to be able to spend more time with my family.  Everyday I tell them how much I love them.  Just in case... 

Changing the Theme

I need to change the look of my blog. It is so BORING. I'm uneasy about doing this.  I don't want to make a newbie mistake and erase the whole thing.  Guess I need to do a back up, huh.  Only I'm not REALLY sure  how.  Need to go back and read Mel's instructions again.  Truly don't have time this morning to get finish before I need to leave at 11:45. 

But I'll think about (obsess) over it all day.

And it rained and it rained and it rained!

Today we had a thunderstorm to end all thunderstorms. And for our area of southeast Georgia, that is saying something. I think we are the thunderstorm capital of the State.

Naturally, I was in the car on the way to pick up my grandson from school. Tonight was Cub Scout night.  Needless to say, the Cub Scouts were not attended on this Tuesday.  After nearly flooding out in the parking lot of the school, there just wasn't the time nor the inclination to drive across town (the predicted direction of the storm).  A 12 minute trip to the school and back turned into nearly an hour. By the time I found a non-flooded, non-tree-blocked road to to get home, it was already too late to get to the gathering place on time -- on a good day.  Which this definitely was not. 

My grandson, who is 9, was quite anxious about the storm.  He was worried about the other members of the family.  Where were they?  Was it raining on them?  Did they have hail, too?  And endless other questions I tried to answer calmly.  It was almost like talking a "jumper" down from the bridge railing.  By bedtime, a little over 3 hours later, he was still nervous about the power going out.

In the time it has taken me to type this post, the thunder has started again  He's a pretty good (heavy) sleeper so unless the thunder is directly over the house I think he'll sleep through it. 

That's my special prayer for tonight.