Christmas Greetings and Misses

This is the time of the year when the holiday season is upon us. Christmas parties and exchanging of presents between family and friends is a common occurrence these days. Christmas songs are sung and Christmas trees are decorated with bright bulbs and lights. Beautiful lights shine outside the house and sometimes if we're lucky, it will snow for Christmas. But this year, I am missing my husband on these special days.

Tony, you will be missed. These are photos of Tony and me a few years ago. Thank you for the lovely memories and for the laughs we had. May your memory be eternal.

Literary Festival Nov. 29, 2014

The Hellenic Writers' Group of Washington D.C., in association with Sam Chekwas, Seaburn Books, and The Hellenic Society Prometheas, will hold a Literary Festival, November 29, 2014 at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Bethesda, MD at 7pm.

Here is the link to the event:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hellenic-literary-festival-tickets-13745207285

Vacation

This summer was an unusually interesting and exciting summer. We visited Europe, particularly Greece, Rome, and Paris. Each country had its own unique style. In Greece, wherever we turned, there were mountains in the distance and the sea nearby to soothe our sun-soaked bodies. We visited with family in Crete and Lipsi Islands, and also Kos Island. The focus was primarily on a spiritual level, where we not only rebonded with our families, but with our souls. We found ourselves in Patmos Island, in the Apocalypse Cave where St. John wrote the Book of Revelations. We sat there in awe, looking at the indentations in the stone, where St. John, well into his nineties, did his "metanioes" or prostrations. His head would rub against the stone, forming an indentation and there was another indentation, where his hand had shaped throughout the years, and he'd use it to lift himself up. We visited Aegina Island, and the church where the remains of St. Nektarios lay, and were encased in embossed silver. We visited Lipsi Island, and on Aug. 15, witnessed the wilted flowers "krini" encased inside the glass of the Virgin Mary of Charon icon, blossom with beautiful white petals.

Afterwards, we flew to Rome and Paris, and saw a different side of life, with a variety of elements coming at us, all at once. In Rome, we visited the Vatican, and walked inside the Basilica and admired the paintings and sculptures there. In Paris, there were churches, but not so obvious. 

I plan to write more later, and I'm glad to be back in the USA.

By the way, before my trip to Greece, particularly Lipsi Island, I wrote an essay about my previous trips there and how I looked forward to this upcoming trip. 
Here is the piece on the following site:

http://hellenicwritersgroupwashingtondc.blogspot.com/

The Beauty of Feeling Greek by Sam Chekwas

 The Beauty of Feeling Greek by Sam Chekwas


     On March 9th, the Hellenic Center in Bethesda, Maryland was filled to capacity with members attending the talk given by Dr. Sam Chekwas on his latest Greek book titled The Beauty of Feeling Greek. The Nigerian born author spoke fluent Greek and said he was proud to be an adopted Greek. He shared his life story, where in his youth he was exposed to Sophocle’s Antigone, which influenced him tremendously in embracing not only the Greek culture, but the Greek language, and thus began his “Greek Odyssey.” His journey took him to Greece, where he studied Greek philology at the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki and also obtained a DDS degree. Currently, he is a dentist, author, publisher, and teacher of the Greek language. He has published over 800 volumes through his publishing company, Seaburn Books, and has received the Ambassador of Hellenism Award by the Greek government.

     In his talk, Dr. Chekwas expressed a valid concern about the maintenance of thefour thousand-year old Greek language, which is slowly fading away. He strongly believes that it should be kept intact and not simplified, and that the modern Greek language is connected to the archaic Greek.  He insisted that Greek should be taught to the children at home, with persistence. “If we don’t maintain our Greek, who will pass it on?” he stated. He believes that there is an inherent wisdom to the Greek language that was given to the Greeks by God. His speech challenged every person in the room, to keep the Greek language and Greek culture alive. Dr. Chekwas currently teaches Greek to children in New York, and his dream is to have a Hellenic Center equipped with a library in every American city. 

For the actual presentation, visit this youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i2AIb2c-E0

His book The Beauty of Feeling Greek  is available on Amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Feeling-Greek-Language-Edition/dp/1592329004/