Back from Hellas. Hellas on earth, that is. I've put up a few pictures so far, gathered from the piles of pictures I've downloaded to John's computer. They begin to sketch out what we did.
This was a most wonderful vacation, fulfilling in ways I tried hard not to hope for. We both feel refreshed, revitalized. In nine days we saw so much - Athens, Ancient Corinth, Olympia, Delphi, Thessaloniki, Pertouli, Meteora, Santorini Island, and everything along the way. I feel grateful to Greece for the generous gifts of its weather, its people, and its adventure.
The NYTs interviews President Putin. I love listening to other world leaders - they're always so detailed, so complex in their thinking. Does Bush ever do interviews for Pravda? (Check out the cafepress babydoll t-shirts!)
Putin stayed in our hotel in Warsaw when I was there. They put metal detectors at the doors and there were always Russian guards in the lobby (they complimented my stylish hat).
One evening a uniformed man told us we could remain in the lobby, but to stay back and not take pictures, as Putin was coming through. We thought he was coming in the door, not out, but all of a sudden, a clump of dark-coated men came from the elevators and a small, tense, serious man with close red hair was in their center. I was the only one that even noticed him go out. Oddly, his lack of stature or presence made me more a fan rather than less.
We were musing about how world leaders feel talking to our prez - I mean, Vladimir Putin was deeply "special services" - as a former KGB spy, you know his life has been full of brutal and extraordinarily character-forming (*cough*) experiences. Organized crime, Chechyn civil war, new world order - and he has managed to last four years as PM, not just survive. Imagine his thoughts as he parleys with the US...
I like untranslated aphorisms. What the heck does foam removers mean? From the article (special services seems to mean intel folks):
"It is a complete nightmare, which has nothing to do with realistic tasks of struggle against terrorism. It is done just for people working at the special services. Since the time when I myself worked at the special services, they were called the 'foam removers.' They just sit and remove the foam. They are still there doing this. "
I'm wondering if it is tied to "skimming the surface" or something? Wild.
Okay, okay, one more quote. Gosh, I just love it when nationstate leaders not only speak specifically at length topics, not only answer unplanned questions, but when asked questions, CLARIFY them to make sure they are answering the right one. *sigh*
"Mr. Putin: ...We have to unite efforts to do everything to neutralize these possible threats.
Q.: Now you have come to the heart of the matter. How specifically do we proceed in Iraq to neutralize that threat?
Mr. Putin: These specific threats or in general how to proceed in Iraq?
Q.: These specific threats or what we need to do in Iraq as a whole. And is Russia ready to help? And is Russia ready to send its troops if the U.N. sanctions it?
Mr. Putin: We think that Iraq's problems can be efficiently solved only with involvement of the Iraqi people themselves..."
Isabel apparently rained frog eggs on Connecticut. In fact, strange winds picking up items and setting them down far away is not rare.
I recall a TV news report on a rain of tomatoes that no one seemed to be comfortable believing was completely natural. The label for the interviewed resident of the tomato-covered house was "pelting victim."
Rains of frogs, while seemingly biblical, are well-documented worldwide. Fish rained in Britain in 1997. Something rained in Little House on the Prairie, too. Yes, it is weird. Random rains happen. Accept this or have cognitive dissonance!
The popebot is reaching the end of his life. For the last many years, it has been hard to detect a person in the entity that is The Pope. His writings are very real, but it's hard to visualize him writing. (October 2003 is the last month of the year of the Rosary, by the way) He mutters quietly, he moves his hand - he mutters in foreign languages. I just don't see much motivity. So, the pope has Parkinson's disease or something like it, and has falls and other problems and surgeries. Aging is hard when it is a near-diety that's doing it.
Meanwhile on the aging front, padded pants are your aging hip's friend and vibrating shoes will improve your balance. I can only imaging what the octogenarians are going to be like when I get there - we'll probably be cosseted in hamster bubbles. Anything to keep the darn bones from shattering and the skin from abrading.
The Open Forum this week at State was William Kristol, speaking on "The Bush Doctrine: Theory and Practice."
It was good to see Kristol live. He speaks about a million words a minute, was gracious and perceptive about his location within the halls of an intellectual institution far more given to diplomacy than war, and full of jokes.
His basic premise was that we need to intervene more, worldwide, and should have done so in Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Kosovo, and he was glad we were bringing some form of democracy to Iraq. He divided up the modern era into three ages, the Cold War era, the 1990s era of hope, and the post-9/11/01 era where we realize that terrorism.
Just as initially the Cold War strategies were confused as the rules of engagement were being worked out, Kristol thinks the initial "feeling around" for strategies in this new era is natural and proper.
John found his logic and arguments much less genuine than they needed to be. Perhaps I'll be able to have himm post a running commentary on the speech. I haven't transcribed my notes, but I think the official transcript will be up soon and I'd rather wait for it.
