Cherries and Strawberries

A summer’s day

Endless freight train of grey clouds passes by over my head from south towards north for second day now. Cans and buckets are full of fresh rainwater. Plenty of water for showers after sauna, the must to have thing, at the cottage.

The fitful wind has banished all gnats and horseflies. When a slender sunbeam peeps in between the heavenly wagon train it all feels quite tolerable. This summer it’s one of the low budget holidays for long time. We have practically stayed at the cottage. Fishing, target shooting and repairs & service of several different vehicles. What ever the purpose, as long as they smell and roll they’re OK. Also a lot of barbecue and beer has passed during these weeks.

This is alright yet the frostbitten soul would certainly heal better under hot Mediterranean sun by enjoying local cherries.

Like fish in the pond

We are like perches in the little pond in the corner of farmyard. Waiting for all those sunny days and maybe little refreshing rain every now and then. This time, however, it looks like only 50% of wishes are being filled. Unfortunately this looks to happen every half an hour. Within last 24 hours it has rained about 15 mm per square meter. So the fish now have plenty of oxygen rich water. I only wish that the pond does not get frozen up all the way to the bottom when winter will fall (already within six months, outch).

There’s a Buteo buteo over the field

It’s always great relaxation at the cottage no matter what. I’m specially keen on spotting the wildlife even I seldom ramble the woods or anything. My perspective is more like of a townsman’s. Late last night the dogs almost caught a fox prowling around too close the yard. Glad we do not keep chickens or any other livestock as this farm is just for leisure.

Yesterday there was a special guest flying over the field in the distance. Common Buzzard is somewhat bigger than a crow. The bird was after a kill and it did not take too long as it plummeted downward and caught a big juicy rat or vole. It’s another cycle of life in the natural world.

Another cycle of life makes them to relocate to Africa or Western-Europe in August-October. By March-April they will be back. I must bite the bullet and try to dodge all the jealousy thoughts.

Yeah, right. Pass me the strawberry bowl, honey please.

Cheerio

Crimson Selene

For the dead seamen
and the horrible history

I’ll give my prayer
for your glow to touch down
the forty feet deep

In Cumberland Bay of Más a Tierra
where it shall meet
the slender wreck of Dresden

Among fertile grove of Palinurus Frontalis

Cheerio

Endeavour is Set to GO! (edit: Launch postponed)

For Crew of Mission STS-127

I wish you the best when space shuttle Endeavour is ready to carry all of you seven astronauts and a laboratory complex to the International Space Station. For some of you the life is all Rock’n Roll and the rest of us it’s damn fun to watch down here.

“May God help you prosper“

Cheerio

Compromises Learned Yet Not Acquiesced

Present becomes running along

This spring and starting summer has been time of frustration due to global economical depression finally grasping all of us. Last spring we visited Rome and the year before we had extra special honeymoon week at Rhodes. Two years ago the whole family went towards Rhodes as well. Like all so many years before…

It has been a bit different with my wife this spring. We hardly kept any vacation. Only for two days long but then that was it. First day we had a nice cruising at the countryside. Visited my grandparents grave with flowers and bought each others wedding anniversary gifts from one local book store’s $1 sale. I gave my dear wife a book originally named “Glückwünsche zum Hochzeitstag” (Congratulations on the wedding day) by Jörg Zink. It’s a small book of Christian thoughts and writings with beautiful landscape pictures from Greece (of course). Pretty and true like the following paragraph (free translation):

I am unable to create a mountain slope flowers
I am unable to create the cliff rising from sea
I can only be astonished
and grateful for the beauty falling in front of us

In return I got “The Tree of Life” by Peter Sis. An imposingly illustrated children’s book about the life of Charles Darwin. I love it!

That afternoon the exquisite strawberry cake and strong coffee along hot summer breeze made me daydream I was in my grannie’s garden picking up strawberries once again.

The next day we slept late and stayed in bed until midday. Later then we went for a light picnic towards the shore. Brie cheese, French bread, spicy Italian salami, ripe and fresh grapes with sparkling ice cold cider. One can hardly think anything more for having a perfect picnic. Rocky seashore under blue sky alongside shiny open water. To be exact, if we had a boat big enough we could have gone sailing practically anywhere. Even Rhodes, sigh.

I bow and bend but with grace

It was late February last winter I realised my household was completely running dry of all decent olive oil. We had sunflower oil, my next to best favorite, but no Rhodion extra virgin from Aigaion. This is why it was not listed in the picnic list either.

My mom taught me well that there are certain things in life that one should never bypass nor compromise. Like being honest and hard-working; giving respect for everyone. Well, I probably should have been somewhat more precise and successful while doing it all. Despite of that she also educated me about the little details like the meaning of celery stalk in Bloody Mary or the greatness of green olive in Martini. These are the small things that make the difference in life. Like a crisp bread without olive oil. One may compare this to having sex without love. You may toss it around and bite but it just does not taste.

You know what? Last weekend I was lucky to receive two 750 ml cans of Rhodion extra virgin from our family friends. They just spent 11 great days under the Greek sun, these lucky b****rds (give a grin). I could not have expected anything more preferable present for us.

Believe me, the bread is tasty, again!

Cheerio

My Seventh Windows

Evaluation copy. Build 7100

For the first time in my 25 years of computer history I have come across MS Windows OS that does not suck right out of the box. Miracles do happen.

For this moderate testing I run an older HP Compaq nc8000 model that has 1.6 Ghz Pentium M with 1 GB RAM and 14.1″ screen with ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600 graphics. Certainly nothing extreme or even fancy there if you consider up to date performance standards. However, it looks to me that this platform is quite efficient enough for running W7.

Why doesn’t it suck?

The doessuck/doesnotsuck sensation is eventually very personal opinion. Still it’s easy to point out some reasons that can contribute in general. The first observation is that everything runs smoothly. I mean that even with default settings and animations on it does not nibble or choke the puter. Simple test with streaming video, web browsing and program installation done all simultaneously gives promising results. Video does not cut off at any stage. In general the computer has good response.

I’m not used to this kind of performance and flexibility with prior Windows versions. Maybe it’s too early to say but for instance MS Word 2007 launches smoothly above all previous load. Naturally this reserves free memory up till 700 MB already. So I would imagine 2 GB RAM would be more convenient environment to work on a daily basis.

The second reason for sucking not is due to the fact that even a lot has been changed I still manage to find my way to connect Wi-Fi, play music & videos, browse Internet etc. without need for heavy retraining. I know that Word 2007 would probably be something I could benefit more while being trained properly. But I’m no Word expert anyway.

Yet W7 does not recognize my digital camera right away (like OS X does), it still identifyes the memory card while I plug the camera into USB. I have not tested anything else than Pentax *istD so far but there are at least two Canons and one Samsung video camera left. I’m only missing one firewire cable with proper (read: small) connectors at both ends.

Obvious conclusion what I have discovered is that W7 includes clearly less obstacles (less unlogical issues), than the predecessor Windows. W7 performs reasonably well in older hardware. Well better than the prior one. In addition to this, it looks good and attractive without any unnecessary and tasteless glaze.

Switching already?

Am I now going to switch into MS world and abandon Apples? Probably not. However, I’m prepared to use this along all other different computers in house. Let’s see if we are lucky to get really hot n sunny summer. Then I’m able to keep all these windows open.

Cheerio

Great Grandfather’s House

Great grandfather lived his life
up on a hill
at the edge of the forest

His son moved four hundred yards
to live his life
at the edge of the forest

Father moved four hundred miles into the burg
to live his life far away
from the edge of the forest

His son dreamed of places even farther away
but returned to live his life
at the edge of the forest

Cheerio

One Day

–
no strings or tethers
just freedom and sunshine
over the saving grace of feathers
–

Cheerio

Gyros Pita Rodos

Right combination does it!

Words like “gyros, pita and rodos” put together in Google will return delicious hits. These three keywords are becoming daily more and more popular in my blog statistics.

Ovelix is an obligatory place to start one or two week vacation in the sun. I would not wish to waste my time at Mandraki harbor over priced traps. The tradition guides me to meet Ovelix at alley aside. Well, you can hardly say that since the tourist center of Rodos is such a tiny place anyway. But as warm and cosy as it ever gets. Love it!

Ovelix has the right combination of ingredients for Greek souvlaki pita. Cold Mythos or Coke accompanied by lovely chat with owner/chef couple makes the sunny pearl of Rodos shine even more brighter!

Visit Ovelix at 57 Griva str. Rhodes. It’s there, just around the bend (36°27′3.72″N 28°13′6.80″E).

Cheerio

Memories of Future

Three generations traveling

During September 2007 my dad and two sons traveled with me to a great vacation in northern Norway. Tromsø was our starting point and during a week we went all the way to the most southern village reached by car, Å i Lofoten, Lofoten islands.

Me hut’s on Kabelvåg

The Rorbu Cabin from approx. 1800 – 1850
(The Lofoten Museum)

Anarhichas denticulatus is waiting for you.
(The Lofoten Aquarium)

In Kabelvåg village we stayed overnight at the Lofoten Rorbu Suites that can be recommended for clean and cosy accommodation. The weather was pretty typical (read: raining a lot) but it did not hinder us a bit.

To be honest the Nordland climate is fascinating during autumn. Rain and shine throughout the day. Well, at least if you’re as lucky as we were.

Check out viewlofoten.no that is created to promote beautiful Lofoten Islands. Also check out these scribblings about Norway.

Cheerio

GO! – Hug The Hubble!

Her dive is silent

It’s amazing. Every time. I have never been able to view it live or hear the thunderous roar of almost 30 million newtons propulsion. But I have watched these spectacles probably hundreds of times. Again and again. In most cases without any sound. Or it might have been the commentators or flight directors voice that has been there. But no sound of burning mixture of NH4ClO4 and aluminium. Well, maybe my humble audio installation would knee bend miserably with such program anyway.

As always we were cheering around NASA TV broadcast “GO OV-104!” as Atlantis started her deep dive into space (yes, I believe Atlantis is definitely she, like any other man made ship would be).

Into the space she plunged. Silently. God speed you.

When MMOD Odds Are 1 in 221

Some experts have forecasted that the odds of Atlantis being hit by Micrometeoroid Orbital Debris will be 1 in 221. This has happened before as NASA can prove. Some skeptics claim it’s foolish game to carry through these missions with so high risk of being perished due to these innumerable small “bullets”. But they are wrong. These voyages are not accomplished for relaxing purposes but for pushing mankind forward. This time it is turn to fix Hubble and next flight on June 13, 2009 will do more assembly for ISS.

Sitting on our asses like fake ducks and doing nothing would be even higher risk of failing the future. Saddest of all; we would miss all the blazing fun.

I quote adult Orville, as he was assumed to stay away from flying machines after his shattering crash in 1905.

Oh yeah? Well, tell them to go suck wind!

Cheerio