Ashley Gets Lost

When life gives you a big juicy potato dumper, you make soup. That’s how the old saying goes, right?

When I saw another expat posting in groups about when and where he’d have fresh loaves of sour dough, I knew I wanted some and that I needed something tasty to go with it! It’s finally feeling like soup season around here, and Joshua asked for baked potato soup. It turned out so good, and I even threw a leek in there for health units. It also added a delicious flavor that no one complained about. The bread was so good as well!

I thought maybe it was time for me to enter the sour dough season of my life a few times over the summer. Now that it’s actually cool enough to bake (and warming up the house in the morning with the oven sounds like a treat), I might need to look into finding or making a starter.

My life for the last couple of weeks has looked like this. I unpack some boxes or have the guys help move some that aren’t immediately important up to the loft. Books, records, and boxes marked art or decorations went up there. Of course we want books and decorations all over the place, but we don’t have anywhere to put them yet!

I would have them semi organized in piles, and then I would need to escape box life for a day or a night. When I’d come home, Joshua would have shoved them all back into the corner because nobody likes looking at them. Then I’d have to organize them again! At this point I have all of my clothes and kitchen stuff that I could find out. What’s left in the great box pile is pretty much all sewing stuff. A lot of what we brought was my machines and fabric. Oops! I need to open my machine boxes and see what we can do about finding the correct power sources for this area, or, failing that, buy a converter. I’m looking forward to sewing season. I have a gorgeous quilt top that has been crying to be finished for a long time now.

I finally remembered to buy batteries for the old label maker. Having my spices labeled makes me feel super happy! I had to go down to the spice shop a couple days ago to refill my most used ones. They are of course chili powder and cumin, essentials in the making of taco seasoning, which we use at least once a week. Funnily enough, almost never on a Tuesday. I also picked up a few new ones to add to the collection after this. I’m looking forward to putting curry on some roasted vegetables soon! That’s one of my favorite health treats.

Last Sunday we went to Sandbar in Chania for their mini Oktoberfest night, where we tried new beers and ate sausages and pretzels. Felix pet this cat. I’m pretty sure I have also pet that cat. Writing group is held at this cafe, and it looks familiar!

We walked around later and I made Josh take a night shot of me with this giant flower. I was trying to hold still and ended up looking very concerned.

I’ve been bugging Felix to write down his grocery needs when he runs out of stuff, and I was thrilled to find this note the other morning. Yes, ice cream would be sick. Dennis’ nuggets refers to the chicken nuggets at the mini market in Plaka. It’s run by a cute family, and their son Dennis is maybe nine? And he’s usually at the register when he’s not at school. So we refer to that shop as Dennis’s store. He’s very cute and fun to talk to. One time he was telling me about exploding diet cokes with mentos, and his description of a scooter (a kid one, not a motorized one) wreck that left him with road rash had me cracking up later. I wasn’t laughing about his poor skin, but how he was miming that it was a kick scooter and not a motorcycle because he didn’t want me to be confused!

Glommo and I have been hard at work burning the skin off my fingers with a hot glue gun in a Halloween costume effort. Mostly I work and he fucks up my shit but in a cute way! I think I have three Halloween events next week! I thought I’d have to have a party if I wanted to Halloween this year, but no. Everyone loves Halloween!

This kitty is a regular visitor to the property. I refer to this section of yard as the νεκροταφείο, which is greek for graveyard.

The people who built this house buried their beloved cat Schnapps in the corner, so it’s the graveyard now. The point of this is that I have resumed the feeding of the local dumpster cats. It’s right up the street, so our yard is a fun place for them to explore. I decided that garbage is stinky and they can come have a snack under my olive tree if they’re hungry for food that is not garbage.

Alright well. Hopefully now that my life is more than just boxes again, I’ll have more fun adventures to share. I’m excited that it’s not too hot to walk anymore, and I’m going to look into several of the activities I deemed too hot to explore in the summer.

Life is being so very good to me. I started Greek lessons last week. I’m starting a jewelry making course next week. I’m turning my patio into a jungle. I can see submarines out my window sometimes. I’m feeling very close to Joshua and Felix. We’ve been here for over five months now, and I’m feeling settled and at home. The tourist season is winding down, and a lot of the beach front restaurants are closing down for the winter. I’m looking forward to things being quieter, more parking spaces, and cozy season.