Frustration!  I wrote the most interesting little blog the other day about our fun-filled weekend . . . and then *blip* — the internet ate it!  Let me see if I can recreate my story:

Last Saturday we went to Galveston for the Greek Festival.  This is an annual event for us.  It all began when my husband was a kid . . . his family went every year, and so when we married, we began going each year.  It is so much fun.  There are dancers in traditional Greek costume, wonderful music, delicious food.  This year, my mom-in-law, Jami, and I went down to watch a little of the entertainment and pick up some dinner plates to take back to the house.  AJ’s dad had foot surgery a couple of weeks ago and since he’s still limited in how much trekking about he can do, AJ visited with him while we were gone.

The Assumption Greek Orthodox Church is the host of this annual event.  The Olympian Dancers are incredible, performing traditional Greek dances for the festival-goers.   Years ago, a gentleman named Vasili Papavasiliou would do his famous “Table Dance,” where he would literally pick a square table up with his teeth!  The last year that we saw him do it, he first picked up the table, then he set a chair upon the table and picked that up!  It was amazing.  We think his dentist may have told him to stop, because he seems to have retired.

The music is awesome, although the last couple of years they have set up some gianormous speakers, and it’s really almost too loud.  We had difficulty hearing each other talk at one point, and that’s not good.  Perhaps I should write a letter???

The main reason we go, however, is the FOOD.  Oh, my.  We always get the dinner plate . . . full of good stuff.  For $10, you get generous servings of Pastitsio, Tiropita, Spanakopita, Keftedes, Dolmades, Salata, and Bread.  If those things seem a little “foreign” to you, souvlaki (marinated beef skewered with onions and green pepper and grilled to perfection) is also available.  Now if you’re not too full by now, you can visit the dessert table for some delicious confection made by one of the ladies of the church.  The classic Baklava, yummy Kourambiedes, Melomacarona, Koulourakia, or Karidopita.  Those Greeks know their sweets, for sure.  Us girls went ahead and ate our lunches and then took plates back to the guys.  I think they enjoyed them, as there was little conversation and lots of contented munching. 

When they finished, AJ took me over to Ohana’s to see the Bob Martin surfboard he would like to buy. The boards were cool, but the thing that really caught my attention was the tile “welcome mat.”  AJ is going to see what he can come up with for our side entry into the house.  What do you think?

While I would love to get this beauty for him for Christmas, (1) it’s not a surfboard, it’s art and (2) it costs $1200.  Ouch!  Seriously, it is a 10-year-old gorgeous wood veneer board, and it has never been in the water.  I think the original owner hung it on the wall or something.  For that price, I sure would hate to see something happen to it.  

There was a very nice Robert August board there, too.  It was a much more reasonable $800 (!)  In all truth, not a bad price for a nice board (so I’ve been told).  Hey, I dream about $1,000 cameras, so I suppose I can’t say much.

A few days later we made it to the county fair.  I am pleased to say that we did not go home “ribbon-less.”  I received a 3rd place ribbon for that hysterically goofy picture of my sister and her son (see previous blog entry) and my girl received THREE ribbons — a 3rd place for her “Sweetie, Princess of the Caribbean” photograph (how the child got that snotty Chihuahua to let her dress her up is beyond me!), a 2nd place for her colored pencil sketch of an Appaloosa, and a 1st place ribbon for the birdhouse she built at the Home Depot Kids Workshop.  All around, I’d say it was a very nice year at the fair.  I will post pictures of her winning entries sometime tomorrow.

Aloha!