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Sunday, Oct. 13, 2002 / 9:05 p.m. ~Greek Festival~ I'm a tad confused here... I wanted to watch the "Gleason" TV movie, starring the very good actor Brad Garrett, but it appears to be that new "Bram" or whatever show. Must be a football delay thing. Fascinating, I know. I had a rough night last night, unable to sleep, watching the most horrible "Eye of the Beholder" movie - it was so awful, and the kind of awful that's really hard to describe. Why was it awful? See, it's hard to say exactly. Too much style, too little substance, and why does a guy want to help a woman as he watches her killing people. He sees she's killing because she's tormented? I don't know, it was weird, and really bad, but I watched. I fell asleep eventually, with TV on and tuned to a movie from 1939, James Stewart (not Jimmy then) and Carole Lombard, and woke around 4:00 a.m., coughing. COUGHING. That's when I gave in and took the Nyquil... so when I got up to get ready for the Greek Festival I was out of it. And I stayed out of it for a while. I held off on the coughing for most of the day, only had two of the 'tickle' cough attack fit things. Blah! Mark's a good sport. He lives north of me so he always drives to get me and we head south into town. In his car. I love being driven around, really. The Greek Festival has been happening here for 27 years, and last year they postponed it for Church construction - it's amazing what they did, they added a whole new annex and parking lot! Huge!!! The Festival itself was the same as always, a stage set up for musicians and dancing, tents with tables and chairs to eat - long communal dining tables, the lamb roasting on the spit, the kids' area, the food booths, the wine, the Church itself, the shops selling Greek items, handicrafts, etc., art, jewelry, and the Religious Shop. My favorite. I bought a book of Saints, mainly so I could read about Saint Katherine (great story, I wish I had the energy to recount it here - maybe later?), a cool button/pin with a Byzantine representation of Jesus with a lamb around his neck, a magnet with a representation of Peter and Paul, looking really chummy (!), and a plaque of the Creation of the Animal Kingdom. Great stuff. And, for the first time ever, in all the years I've been going to the Fest, we sat in on a lecture in the Cathedral. A most informative lecture about the Greek Orthodox religion, their Service (liturgy?) and the fabulous mosaics that fill the Cathedral. I took some pictures and I'll see if I can post a few here. I'm feeling a bit out of sorts, and I blame it on the drugs. I'm not used to drugs really, not even alcohol lately, and I've been on the Dayquil and the Nyquil and today I drank some Retsina and was around a lot of people (sensory overload), and Mark, and I just read a bunch of diaries that were all very dry and detailed, so I've lost any of my own style, I think...... Anyway, I got the usual at the Fest, my usual: Lamb Sandwich, Greek Potatoes, Retsina wine. I went for a box of pastries, the usual sampler with several different kinds, at the end of the day and they were sold out!!! The line had been really long and I didn't want to wait, didn't want to carry the box around with me (as I already had my bag of icons and book), so we went late and they were totally out, not a piece of Baklava to be found, nothing! I'd never seen that before. Of course I'd never gone on the last day before either (it runs Thursday through Sunday). Ah well, live and learn, but it feels weird to know there is no box of pastries in my fridge right now. Another reason I'm out of sorts, I suppose. The atypical Greek Festival experience. The tent setup was different this year too. But there were a lot of interesting people to look at, and when the crowd got up and danced in front of the stage there was one man amongst them who stood out - he was exuberant, he knew how to dance, he really enjoyed the movements, he was wonderful to watch. I took pictures of him, but we were standing too far away and they didn't turn out very well. A good mix of young and old, Greek and American, beautiful children of various ages, just a good crowd I think. I'm happy they got so much publicity this year (lots of coverage on the local TV channels during the nightly news, and radio, and newspaper!), and that they sold out of everything. It's good for them. I really love this Church, and sitting in the Cathedral, after we each lit a candle, listening to the man who'd sold me my icons talking about the history of the Church, and how they do things, I told Mark I wanted to sign up! "Where do we sign up?", I joked, but in a way I wasn't joking. I have no idea why, but I'm totally drawn to the Greek Orthodox religion. There was a hippie looking guy buying books and incense in the Religious Shop, next to me, and it seemed he was drawn as well. Mark said he had really long fingernails, but I didn't notice. Here is a picture of the front of the Cathedral - I forget what it's called.... but this a screen of mosaics, beautiful, I think.  I'll add more later, I think. I'm going to see if this "Gleason" movie is coming on now.... Cost of the War in Iraq
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