The things I scribbled in one of mom's books This is just something I wanted to share with any readers of this site when I was going through some of my mom's things a while back.

I remember as a kid always getting in trouble of sorts for being a bit mischievous in various things, one of which was seemingly a regular occurrence, that of taking a pen or pencil and adding my own content to her books on any blank pages I could find! :-o I did it rather frequently and I guess I never learned my lesson or maybe my mom didn’t want to stifle my creative talents. ;) Anyway even before finding this I had a recollection of writing  some words in some book at some period in time, those words being “cotten candy” As it happens when going through some boxes of books a few months ago I came across it again and for reasons to be explained in a minute I felt to post it here and let readers ponder if it was a sign of things to come. Here’s a scan of the page.  I will have to tkae a guess as to what age I was when doing this, guessing around at least 8 years of age as the writing is in cursive and It wasn’t until the third grade I think that we started using cursive writing. Could be a year or two later as it’s not to bad but still looks like early stages of cursive. Not so important what age really but suffice it to say I was young. Appears I didn’t know the correct spelling of cotton, but its what I was meaning to write as there is a drawing of it below the word.

"a premonition of things to come?"

Here’s a closeup of the page and rotated to see the words.

Ok so what’s so important about a kid writing a drawing about cotton candy in a book at a young age. Well as said earlier it could be coincidence I guess but I do have a remembrance of writing it. maybe at the time I had had some cotton candy somewhere or wanted some! Anyway to get to the point, when I met Alison online her screen name was Candyfloss. I hadn’t a clue what it meant until I asked her and as it turns out candyfloss if the British word for, you guess it, our American cotton candy!!

Now when we found this book when going through the boxes I showed it to Alison and of course we saw it as something more than a coincidence. Destiny and fate was before me from an early age! and though I remembered writing it I was sort of gobsmacked to see the drawing beside the words, scribble is more like it I guess, could be some extra terrestrial or just some random curves and lines. But it struck me instantly that it reminded me of a map of Cyprus! Ok its not quite exactly proportionate, but in a cruse way it resembles the outline  of the country that Candyfloss was living in when I met her!!! I admit it could be anything really, but still to this minute I see it as Cyprus and another sign that this was meant to be. Just for the records, here’s the outline of Cyprus

Map of Cyprus

yes granted it is very disproportionate, but still the basic shape is there to me and it struck me from seeing it that it looked like Cyprus, even a boy’s crude drawing.

Judge how you will whether its coincidence or a signs of my my future, but I always knew there was something out there I was supposed to do or someone to meet, and until I met Alison that feeling was always with me! Now I know why and what it all meant, whether anyone else believes it or not, I do! :)

Love you Mrs G xxx

too bad we dont have any video from the karaoke sessions though, I have a feeling quite a few of the girls were feeling pretty good about that time of the evening ;)

Now since that time i have off and on also seen a reference to a village or town in Greece with the name of  Garázon. Well I just assumed it was in Greece proper, but tonight i decided just for fun to go see exactly where it is. Imagine my suprise to see that its located on one of the Greek islands, Kriti or Crete as we call it here! Right there in that beautiful blue Meditteranean Sea where lives the love of my life, Alison Michelle!! :) As i wrote those many years ago about how my screen name came into being and how I heard it as a voice speaking it to me, I wonder even more if it was a sign of things to come even back then. There are a lot of stories I havent shared openly of what some might call weird things or feelings or signs in regards to Alison and I meeting, but they have been numerous and always good :) I’m sitting here looking at that screenshot I made of the satellite location of Garázon, and its proximity to Cyprus .. Maybe coincidence to some… to me… pure amazement! :-)

This is probably not of any interest to anyone but I had to post it, a voice told me to do it ;)

I love you Mrs G XXXXX

THE SANCTUARY OF APOLLO YLATIS

HISTORY OF THE SANCTUARY

The Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates is recorded in the historical sources about Cyprus as one of the most important Sanctuaries on the island. Strabo wrote about a cap (cape?) past the Kourion from where those who touched the Sacred Altar of Apollo were flung into the sea. Many inscribed testimonies, which have been found on the spot and in the city, confirm the historical sources.

The finds from the archaeological inquiry lead mainly to a Roman sanctuary and testify that there were in the area more ancient constructions incorporated in Roman edifices or demolished in the same period when the Sanctuary was intensively undergoing a restoration, southern the boundaries of the Roman temple.

The Romans revived a flourishing cult in the area since the Archaic times indeed. This cult is likely to have been practised even earlier in the Bronze Age, as it is shown by several shells belonging to the red burnished ceramic of the Early Bronze Age, which have been found adjacent to the circular altar but also according to the relevant legends about its heroes and inspirers.

A cult, which is testified on an architectural level only in the 7th or 8th century and which does not in any case constitute properly part of a settlement of any period.

This autonomy of the Sanctuary in relation to the settlement cannot but be linked with the same Sanctuary of Apollo Maleata at Epidaurus, the most ancient and important Sanctuary of Apollon in Argolis. The finds of the known “Temple boys” on the side of Ayia Anna show typically this cultic coherence. The most ancient inscription, which the name of god Apollo (5th / 4th century B.C.) is recorded on, is retrieved at the foot of one of them.

The name Hylates given to Apollo is recorded from the Hellenistic times and it certainly describes the prevailing nature of the cult of Apollo, which was performed until then, combining the primary characteristics of its eastern origin but also its subsequent western development in the Theology of the Hellenic twelve gods mainly as a healing god.

I have to admit i was awestruck in a way from just being here in Cyprus and and standing amid ruins that date back to the time of Christ and before and didnt think to buy some sort of pamphlet describing the site in more detail. I just assumed I would be able to find all I needed to know online somewhere, but that really has proved difficult.  I did manage to take the photos of the information plaques which were also few and far between.

Before I transcribe them let me give you an overhead view of the area from google earth.The temple is situated at the top in this image, at the end of that whitish looking path which runs in a north/south direction. The palaestra is in the bottom right hand corner and the South Portico is along the bottom. the covered area there near the bottom right, above the palaestra are the baths, the structure built over it to protect the mosaic tiles which lined the floors of the baths. This seems to be the most extensive area being excavated and restored or maintained, the majority of the site is ruins of course, but attempts have been made to restore parts of the temple.

The Palaestra
A monumental building with a Propylon (monumental colonnaded entrance), a peristyle atrium (courtyard) and a series of rooms facing the three sides of the peristyle courtyard.
It is dated to the 1st century A.D.

The south Portico

This building comprises a T-shaped complx of T-shape porticoes and guest rooms which were already under construction when Emperor Trajan funded its completion at the beginning of the 2nd century A.D.

Ruins of earlier structures from the Hellenistic and Roman periods (2nd century B.C. – 1st century A.D.) were excavated below Trajan’s building.

This from the Cyprus Dept. of Antiquities web site: The sanctuary is located about 2,5 kilometres west of the ancient town of Kourion along the road which leads to Pafos. It was one of the main religious centres of ancient Cyprus, where Apollo was worshipped as god of the woodlands. It seems that the worship of Apollo on this site began as early as the 8th century B.C. and continued until the 4th century A.D. The site has undergone many extensions and alterations in different periods. The majority of the monuments as they can be seen today belong to the site’s 1st century AD restorations. A wall from which one could enter the site via the Kourion Gate and the Pafos Gate surrounds the sanctuary. Originally the site consisted of: a temple, traces of which survive in the foundations of the present temple; a circular monument, which was probably destined for processions or dances around a grove of sacred trees; and a formalized Archaic Altar and Precinct. During the Roman period the site was extended with the addition of the South and North Buildings, which may have been used for the display of votives or the accommodation of visitors. Terracotta figurines and pottery that were accumulated in the Temple from the 5th century B.C. to the Roman period were buried in the Votive Pit. A long street running from south to north leads to the Temple of Apollo Hylates, which was built in the Late Classical or Early Hellenistic period on the ruins of the Archaic temple. In the 1st century A.D. the temple was rebuilt with a different architectural style. A small building south of the Precinct may have been a priest’s house. Along the external east side of the walls are the Palaestra where athletes once exercised and played games, and the Baths.

I truly enjoyed my time in Cyprus, not to mention being with the Love of my life, but just being in this ancient land so full of history. Another post soon to come of arriving in Paphos.. you aint seen no rocks yet! ;)  lol

The following pictures are also located in my picasa web gallery where you can download higher resolution images.

Sunday Morning, the 5th day of our holiday we had been invited to go to a tavern in one of the mountain villages that Alison and her friends frequent, Taki’s tavern, for lunch. With no rush to get ready in the morning, we had a coffee or two and a bit of breakfast out in the garden.

With still some time to spare Alison decided it was time to give Benji a bath! :o) Well I don’t  think it is one of his favourite things, but he did good and no chasing was involved. well not much! ;)  It didn’t take too long and Benji was cleaned up and ready to get dirty all over again! :) It didn’t take long either in the warm dry air for him to dry and I’m sure then he felt better. With that done we began to get ready for our trip to Vouni village where Taki’s Tavern is located. Agneta and George had invited us to go and eat with them and it was a chance to finally meet her in person. I felt already I knew her from Alison speaking so much about her in the mails and chats we have had as they are very good friends and spend as much time together as they can, even if its just to meet for coffee. It was so nice to meet them. They came and picked us up around noon I think or maybe a little before as we had reservations for lunch already, which I hear is a good thing to do as it is a popular place to go on the weekends and its usually very busy. I think it was about a 20 or 30 minute trek to the village of Vouni. Right outside of Vouni is the famous Donkey Sanctuary.

While we didn’t stop, we were able to see many of them along the way. Most sort of roaming around in the fields and on the sides of the mountains. Of course there were plenty of other donkeys as well being used still a lot for farming and carrying loads and such, ,When we happened to stop for traffic I was able to get this picture of one right by the roadside, while it was sort of sad to see him chained up, but he appeared to be in good health. It is sort of a funny picture looking like he has his own personal refrigerator!

Well how else is a donkey going to stay cool unless he has some cold bottled water or maybe a beer nearby :) Seeing some of the ways of farming and the use of these animals was like going back in time. I can remember growing up in rural northeastern North Carolina and seeing more than few donkeys used for farming and pulling carts and even some used ass regular transportation for some of the poorer farmers who couldn’t afford a car! I think that’s one of the appeals of Cyprus as in some ways its still having a much simpler lifestyle in some ways.

We arrived in Vouni not too long after that and with the streets being narrow and impossible  to find a parking place , we had to park just along the road outside the village and take a stroll up to the tavern. When I say up that is literal as the village is in the mountains and some of the streets are very inclined, thankfully we were moving downhill after eating and being so full! Of course being the good tourist I am, we had to have some pictures along the way. this is Agneta and I posing for the camera. With that belly of mine you would think I had just eaten! :)

And of course I couldnt be posing without one with my bonny Brit could I? ;)  Its taken just about the same spot as the one above, we should have stayed with our heads in the shade though as we look to be squinting a lot in that bright Cyprus sun! I am not so good at reading Greek, but I think the sign is calling it Andrea Branch. I’m willing to stand corrected though if anyone would prefer to translate :)

Just a bit more of a stroll up the hill and we reach our destination, Taki’s Taverna! its a family run tavena inside of an actual home if my memory is correct. Well part of the inside has a couple of dining rooms and then this area in the picture is in a covered outside area. Very much preferable on a warm day like we had, it was a bit stuffy inside for our tastes. Taki’s serves a traditional greek or Cyprus style meze. A meze is simply put , a series of several typical Greek or Cyprus dishes served one after another to eventually make up a whole meal.

I forget now how many different things they brought out, just two or three types at a time with enough on each plate for us all to have a taste, I know there is probably some order the meal is served in , salad things first then assorted vegetables, breads, meat dishes, dips and on and on to dessert and coffee. I apologize for not knowing the names of anything, but I can tell you it was all great! :) I guess the best way to describe the meal as like having a series of appetizers one after another. Well of course a bottle or two of the local wines are always nice to have with any meal! At the end of the meal I decided to have some Cypriot style coffee as I had heard Alison speak of it before and I wanted to try it. Its a very very strong cup of coffee, well a very small cup its served in. I of course had some sugar in it being the silly Americano , but i always have sugar in my coffee and creamer, not real cream mind, powdered creamer! ;) anyway I quite enjoyed it and was careful not to tip the cup and drink the sediment that is left in the bottom of this brew! :o) It really was a great meal and it was a genuine example of Cyprus cuisine, not the sort of thing you find at the tourist spots. This was the real deal and I was so happy to have had the chance to experience it. I thank George and Agneta so very much for the wonderful time we had there! A wonderful experience and the best part… sitting beside the Love of my life !  Afterwards it was back to Agneta’s for a coffee and another wine and to meet up with more friends of Alison, Allyson and Marios, and Thereza and Andros. Of course they were all seemingly so familiar already as I had seen their photos so many times since meeting Alison and hearing of all the get togethers, I felt very comfortable every minute as if I had been here before.

We stayed there until just after dark and chatted and socialized before returning home to get a chance to relax and get ready a bit for our next three days in Paphos, courtesy of Alison’s mom and dad! Thanks Maureen and Jack! :)

Well I know its a serious story as I have read it, but I get amused sometimes to see the way the headlines are written and it struck me funny, yes I have a warped sense of humour :) . At first glance of the headline, I was thinking I definitely would want to avoid that particular hospital for any kind of treatment, or even to visit someone there! LOL  Well if that one didnt make me laugh, look a little farther up! Now I don’t know about you, but I wondered right away how in the world they got inside the foreigner’s nuts to find the drugs to begin with! LOL Well the story was of a man who was hiding drugs inside hazelnut shells, but of course the title is leading one to imagine something else. or maybe its just me. I had to laugh at the last line of the story itself too… “Drug squad officers said they had never seen drugs hidden in nuts before.” Well I can honestly say I havent either! LOL   I guess with the official language in Cyprus being Greek, sometimes the editors and proofreaders dont realise the way it sounds to immature Americanos like me! Well American news site make just as many, if not more, funny sounding headlines than these.

I’m just thankful I did get one ride in it while I was there in Cyprus. Also thankful it was JUST one ride!!!  ;) LOL

“It is debasing human dignity to force men to give up their life, or to inflict death against their will, or without conviction as to the justice of their action. The State which thinks itself entitled to force its citizens to go to war will never pay proper regard to the value and happiness of their lives in peace. Moreover, by conscription the militarist spirit of aggressiveness is implanted in the whole male population at the most impressionable age. By training for war men come to consider war as unavoidable and even desirable.”

Anti-Conscription Manifesto 1926 — signed among others by Henri Barbusse, Annie Besant, Martin Buber, Edward Carpenter, Miguel de Unamuno, Georges Duhamel, Albert Einstein, August Forel, M.K. Gandhi, Kurt Hiller, Toyohiko Kagawa, George Lansbury, Paul Löbe, Arthur Ponsonby, Emanuel Rádl, Leonhard Ragaz, Romain Rolland, Bertrand Russell, Rabindranath Tagore, Fritz von Unruh, H.G. Wells

”Conscription subjects individual personalities to militarism. It is a form of servitude. That nations routinely tolerate it, is just one more proof of its debilitating influence.” :

Against Conscription and the Military Training of Youth  1930— signed among others by Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, H.G. Wells, Bertrand Russell and Thomas Mann  http://www.peace.ca/manifestoagainstconscription.htm

Now before anyone accuses of me of being anti military, I’m not. I appreciate all the sacrifices that our service people make to protect and defend this country and to aid those in need as well. And in general I am usually not vocal at all when it comes to these sort of things. With this country not having any mandatory military service any longer, to be honest I havent even considered the idea that it still occurs in so many other countries and to be perfectly honest wouldnt be writing about it now I dont think, if it werent for the fact  my fiancee’s son, JM,  is in the midst of now dealing with this antiquated and narrow minded system.

JM is a very clever and hard studying student and has been seriously planning a career in aviation,  a pilot,  now for the last two years, having enrolled in the RAF cadets program at the UK bases in Akrotiri around 16 months ago I am thinking. He has excelled in it and has had many opportunities through the cadets, and this last year received a scholarship to go to one of the bases in the UK where he had his first solo flight, from take off to landing! How many 16 year olds in this country or any other really can say they have given that much effort to a lifetime carreer? I have to laugh thinking of myself now when I was 16 and not even thinking about the next day, much less what I would do for a living! I admire him very much for his determination and his abilities. Proud of him too!  well he is at the end of school now and at a time he should have already been applying to university and seeking financial aid, here these things are done generally at the start of the senior year of high school and the students have a very good idea of what they need as far as finances and the like. Well there in Cyprus when a young man reaches 18 and is out of school he must enroll in a mandatory military service for a certain period of time, officially 25 months according to the web site of the Ministry of Defence. Well there are shorter times of service  reported in other various sites and quotes by officials ranging from a few weeks to 16 months, depending on circumstances. Well heres where the confusion starts. Of course like anyone ready to get his life started in his chosen profession, he would love to be able to apply to a few of these schools and begin to sort the financing, but he cant do anything specific as far as setting a date as the Army wont tell him a thing other than he cant get out of service until he is enrolled is their official statement upon each and every inquiry. Well there is a long list of meetings between the army recruiters and JM and Alison, as they began near a year ago just trying to get some idea of a decision and a specific date , Well not only for JM’s sake to get into school or start to work this summer to earn some money for what is going to be a very expensive tuition for this sort of career, but also for Alison and I to have an idea when we can begin to set a date for ourselves to be together too. Its one thing to be separated by this distance but being in limbo of the time we know is coming is just a hard ache to bear. And then there is JM’s anxiety too, heres this fine young man, so very capable of being whatever he wants to be stuck in just the same limbo, not having a clue when he can even start on his journey to what should be an exciting if nervous time in his life. He is waiting for answers too. When they first approached the army to inquire ahead of time to save the wait, they were told to first write a letter to the Minister stating their case and it would be reviewed and a decision would be made, well a month later when thy said it would be, a second visit and numerous calls had them writing yet another letter and restating things a different way, giving the urgency now of Alison leaving the country in very short time. Well another month is passed and still nothing, so Alison is getting perturbed now ( oh these people just dont know how much patience Alison is giving these idiots!) Well then after that its a trip to the main  offices in Nicosia for a meeting, and they come back from that with even less an idea only being told the case is being reviewed :( Oh but now they are starting to say he can only be released from service after he’s enrolled! Oh theres universal government brilliance at work there, cant take someone out of the system if they aren’t in it! :o) Well now its seeming that is the official answer each time, well if it can be called an answer, they still have been giving no indication of a time or what length of service he may have to do.  Nor can he legally leave the country without being scrutinized like someone trying to hide from the system and they even have it if he does leave the country without proper procedures at his age, he could be arrested on returning and placed into service that very day of coming back! Well of course he wants to go back to visit Cyprus at some point, he was born there and part of his family is there. Well its just a mess all around as Alison of course would find it hard to leave JM there alone, as how would he live and where and just those simple things. Oh there is something seriously wrong when a family cannot plan to make some changes in there life such as to relocate to another country or get an education! Now this is not an attack on Cyprus, I love the country and would be there now if it were possible. Just these bureaucrats are making this a right mess for everyone. Well there are so many people who are just not even paying mind to the service and sneaking out one way or another, some going through the Northern areas to get out, some just leaving on trips and not returning, or planning to return! Well we all want to go through the proper channels to make it right, but just like everywhere the right way is the most difficult and most expensive. No wonder the world is in the state its in.

Well I will put more to this later, my baby is just getting home now from Akrotiri taking JM to cadets so I will meet her at the door and give her a welcome home kiss, ok I know I’m 5000 miles away, but the Internet is one lovely invention! thanks Al Gore! LOL

Well this post is going to be a bit different in a way from most on here…  Alison and I have spent the last two years faithfully writing each other each morning and night and in between too. Only the rare occasion when one of us has been on a plane to see the other have we ever missed a mail to each other! It just feels strange to not be writing one tonight so I came up with this brilliant idea to not only send my Angel a kiss,but also tell her what I am up to this evening (and in the process I have another post on my site! ;)  Well i could still send her an email but she may not get it until she is home as she’s in Protaras this weekend with JM and her longtime friend Anne, who is visiting her for a couple of weeks. They are staying at the Sunrise Beach Hotel. JM has his laptop and I can of course send a mail to his account, but I’m sure he’s not really so excited to be the middle man for mushy love mails! LOL Well i will mail the link to this post instead. I know they only may have just a few minutes online as the hotel there is charging for Internet access… unless JM can find an open WiFi connection that is! ;) Its a shame really considering the prices of hotel rooms, especially these bigger ones, that internet service is not provided in each room free to guests. I know here there are a lot of them now offering it as part of the amenities. As are a lot of coffee shops and the like. Considering now how so many other devices besides PC’s are suing the internet and are Wifi enabled, cell phones (mobiles), game consoles, mp3 players, PDA’s.. oh the list is increasing all the time, it really should be something that becomes quite common now.  Oh l’m rambling here too in the post, just as I do in the mails! See Alison, its not just you I ramble on with! lol

Well like I said its every night I have been writing a mail for my baby to read when she wakes, and of course she has always had one for me when i wake too..Its going to feel so strange to wake up and not see one there.  well we have done well not to have missed many. I know I treasure them all. Its not easy to be separated by such a distance as we are, but we have been truly blessed to be able to keep in contact as often as we do with the pc’s and cell’s.

Ok well now I have explained to probably no one, let me get on with a kiss or two or a hundred to my Cyprus Angel X X X X X X X X X X X

I miss you Angel! I do! :) Hope you had a nice rest. I know for me sometimes I dont seem to sleep as soundly if I’m not in my own bed, or one of them ;) I know the rooms and beds are nice most places, but there is nothing like your own is there. I was looking a lot at the pictures of the hotel and it really does look like a very nice one. And the water there seems even more beautiful than what I saw from our travels to the other side of the island. and that was beyond description too. I cant wait to see some of your pictures, well i know you said you havent taken so many, so you need to get busy! You just have to get a little bit camera happy like I do and take pics of everything! LOL well i tak e a lot of bad ones I know, but some are turning out good. See if you can find some bird poop somewhere to add to our collection! LOL oh anyone reading this will think I’m mad… well they would be partly right, I am madly in love with my Beautiful Brit/Americano!

Well I have spent a good deal of time tonight on the site here also, doing a lot of cleaning up of old files and folders and such still left over from long ago deleted web programs I had. Oh its only taken me three years to get it done too! LOL I also added some older posts I ahd found form a couple of older blogs I had, and I even put in some of our poems. the couple we wrote and some from what we found online and sent each other, they are here. Oh that I could have saved everything we have sent each other these last two years, well in the end is the love that matters and we have that in abundance, beyond measure and still growing.  I love you!

oh I am almost forgetting I am writing on the blog now! Well good thing it didnt get into a xrated post! LOL

Ok my love I am heading now under the covers as ita an early start for me, and proabaly going to be a busy day at the shop as well… Just hold me close my love and kiss me when you can. I’ll see you when I wake baby. and in my dreams

have a great day my love, you all take care and I will speak soon…

nite nite from your devoted Chester Wade xxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

we kiss a lot!! ;)

Oh and Happy Easter!!! I keep forgetting the Greek Orhodox Easter is today!!!

Alison’s son, JM and his mate Aris performing at ‘Spotlight’, a small show for amateurs , run by Premiere Society, a cultural society in Limassol. They have sung together on numerous occasions before. Aris us going to be going to school here in the states in the near future and has now left to go to Canada for a while first. so this is their last performance together for a while. They did a great job on this song and they are very talented guys!