We went to church just down the road from the cousins' apartments. They all had a floor in the same building, but Roulla has moved out to some other, hyper luxurious pad. They asked us to go and bring Aunty Pola so she could catch up with everyone as well. It was a terrific day.
Andrew and Lito have 4 daughters (Lito a pharmacist, Roulla a doctor, Maro a dentist and Lefki another dentist).
Lida is married to Christo (solicitor), and have 2 children (Petro and Lito, both lawyers, with Lito married recently to Mario, also a lawyer)
Roulla is married to Christoforo (an orthopaedic surgeon) and they have 2 children, Emilia who is studying business and Andrea who is studying music and business.
Maro is married to Andoni (a dentist) and they have three children, Andrea, Alexandro and Dimitri (a doctor).
Lefki is married to Harri (a dermatologist) and they have two children, Electra and Nichola.
Well all that is pretty impressive I think (no, not all that academic success..I'm talking about the fact that I, a person with a sieve for a memory, remembered all that information. But seriously, these guys set the bar pretty high, don't they! The best thing is that they are very nice to boot. There is a positive tidal wave of success but there is not a whiff of arrogance or pride. I think real class is about being talented but unassuming.
The day began with morning tea after church at Maro's . It began a high calorie day, and quite frankly it continued the same way. We stayed on variously chatting until the full clan could assemble in the early afternoon for lunch. We moved from Maro's apartment up to Lida's to a spread that could only be described as a scaled down wedding feast. There were so many of us that we had two long banquet tables set up: one in the kitchen and one in the dining room.
Roulla and Lida are identical twins with the same hairstyle. They are both terrific people, very keen to please and set us all at ease. They took pity on me as I am covered (seriously covered) in a massive carpet of bites that have swollen into welts. They are as itchy as buggery. Lida gave me various creams to tackle the itching and to stop them getting infected.
Roulla is dropping in tonight with some pills to help the welts to subside.
Maro is different both in appearance and I think in nature to her twin sisters, but just as nice. the sister that I think is quite different, is Lefki. In general stature she is very like Ginny (but dark haired rather than blonde). Lefki looks only about 5 years older than her teenage daughter and has a high fashion edgy apperarance. In her direct, take me as you see me approach, she reminds me of me.
As it happened, it was Stella's 60th birthday today and so we took the opportunity to celebrate that at the same time. There was impromptu cake and candle (one was enough as 60 might have necessitated a visit by the fire brigade). Helen was hacking at the cake with a carving knife when Christoforo's cool professional eye could see that a more precise surgical approach was required. Yep, he did carve up the cake but seeing his concentrated deliberation as he dissected it into small sections left me with an uneasy feeling. Suddenly those glistening chocolate balls started to develop anatomical qualities.."do you mind if I have the palooze (grape custard) instead?"
Having everyone there was an opportunity to watch Lito's and Mario's wedding DVD. We piled into Petro's room, thinking that only a handful of us would be watching, but in the end it was like fleapit cinema with bodies squeezed in everywhere. It looked a very happy affair. We saw Helen dancing up a storm. Christo, the bride's dad watched from the doorway, and it was wonderful to see on his face the same loving pride he had on his face on the wedding day, as he sang to his daughter about how beautiful she was.
We finally left sometime after 3 and delivered home a very happy and beaming Aunty Pola. Like the rest of us she'd had an excellent day. Aunty Mary's clan came over to Helen's so that I could help Ian with the downloading and saving of his digital images. We are striking up a real friendship. While he was there I showed him how to resize images for easy emailing. In return, he got the creepy crawly going as a lot of silt has ended up in the pool and it does not look very welcoming. One hand washes the other as they say.
Tomorrow we are off to Trimiklini (again with Aunty Pola). The plan is to catch up with the sights and sounds of the village..yes, and maybe a few rellos too. I am seriously going to try to go without eating tomorrow..I feel I have enough reserves to last a month.
Roulla has just come by with the pills and some more cream, so I'm off to the shower to try to take the fire out my bites. Helen is downstairs with Dox and her children. Ela the cat is driving me insane. He is deperate for cuddles and scratches. If I don't give them to him, he bites my toes under the desk.
The latest on the bites is that I look like the calomine kid (covered from top to toe). As well, I have antiseptic cream on all angry spots. I'm wearing a topcoat of insect repellant. Helen has plugged in a mozzie killer and the aircon is on to drive the little beast out. The final precaution is the mozzie coil which is smoking away in the corner...oops, I've also taken an antihistamine pill. Overkill I hear you say...well you haven't had to suffer two days of incessant scratching!
Well, must go now. keep you posted. Love, Lily
