Wild Things

My jet-lagged mind is finally starting to clear and I realized it had been over a week since I last posted on the blog! Thanks so much to all of you who have been reading and commenting, it meant so much to up to hear from you and it kept me focused to keep on writing. It was a good exercise to try and crystallize our experiences as they were happening. It did take effort to write it all down, go to the internet cafe, pay a Euro and a half for an hour of time, then type like crazy amid cigarette smoke, loud music, and the twenty-something crowd playing video games.

If you asked me what kind of wild life we saw in Rhodes, besides the people at the internet cafe, I would have to answer "cats". They were everywhere; in the dumpsters, on door steps and on the beach. I couldn't resist them and Jeff teased me about taking pictures of "another cat". But when I was starting to run out of space on my photo card towards the end of the trip, he took some of the most wonderful cat pictures for me. What a sweetheart!

The second type of wild life I would mention would have to be goats. They would casually cross the highway, sit unconcerned on the warm pavement, and eat your stuff on the beach if they thought you weren't looking. We were greatly amazed when we visited the castle ruin at Asklipio. We were taking pictures from the outside of the castle walls, when I looked up and saw what looked like an rear end of a goat hanging over the wall. When we got inside, there were goats sunning themselves on every wall imaginable. "Ancient Castle With Goats" was the title we decided would be appropriate for the painting inspired by those photos.

I later asked one of the island locals if anyone was actually watching all those wandering herds. He said they did belong to people, but if you accidentally hit and killed one of the goats with your car, the owner couldn't claim damages.

The donkeys carrying the tourists to the top of the castle in Lindos were not exactly wild, but hearing them bray every now and then was a sound we didn't expect to hear. There was a funny postcard with a donkey watching a cruise ship come in. In his thought bubble, he was unhappily remembering his journey with the last shipload of overweight tourists.

I couldn't resist doing a painting of one of the wild life I loved the most. A little street kitten I saw in Rhodos, Old Town. I loved his bright-eyed expression. I hope you will enjoy it too.

Jeff's Corner: My favorite wild life were the nudists on the south end of Tsambika beach.