Laura, Kristin and Karen came together for a week in Greece and soon they will be departing for their homes and assignments. Although I would have enjoyed being with them, I felt like I was actually there by seeing and talking to them on Skype and seeing all of their fantastic pictures!
Whether it was the truth, or whether they were just trying to make me feel good… they all said my Baklava was best. Laura even brought some along to share! Laura did say she was bringing some Greek Pistachios home for me… I wonder what she wants me to do with them!
Next time, I’ll try and tag alone, in the meantime, welcome home, Laura!
The apples are ripening... but alas, not fast enough!
I had hoped to have at least one apple pie in the oven by now, but our tree is a bit of a trickster. It looked like it was about to produce more than I could imagine and quickly, then suddenly, it slowed down. As we say in Marketing, this is the part of the ‘vertical integration process’ of our organization that fails to make its deadlines! I find trees so unpredictable.
As for recipes, I enjoy our more ‘natural style’ but this year I think I am going to produce pies with a thicker and more abundant syrup but maintaining the relative seasoning and sauteing.
Were they happy to see me or were they gloating, or both? I screen captured the picture above from our most recent ‘Skyping’ session ( video conference call … 9 am my time and 7 pm their time). By the way, Laura is brilliant … but troubled in trying to keep time zones straight in her mind… even with a helpful chart I made for all possible locations, a phone that does world time and a computer… she still gets lost. I am glad I have something I can help her with!
From what I have learned, Laura walked our two daughters around Athens everywhere! Laura also shared some of my homemade Baklava with Karen and Kristin. In fact, I think both Karen and Laura had two pieces… Jenny Craig will just have to understand! By the way, it’s over 90 degrees there right now… 36 degrees centigrade or 96.8 F. I’d say that was a bit ‘warmish.’
Tomorrow, they have to do what they came to do in the first place… they present at the 3rd International Conference in Psychology. My ladies have always embraced technology, the internet, web design, social media sites and ‘twitter.’ They know html and where their ‘executive bat file’ happens to be located, how cool is that? I do the best I can to keep up. Eventually, Laura and Karen’s interests found common ground resulting in a research project and a presentation!
Fortunately, they keep everyone updated by uploading their pictures on Facebook and blogging. Technology keeps us all in touch! Just one piece of advice, ladies:
“Take every opportunity of enjoying yourself!”–Mrs. Bennett in “Pride and Prejudice.”
Laura and I have skyped with out daughter Karen while she was in Amsterdam and at her home in Tennessee, but we really wanted to test our systems together before Laura met Kristin and Karen in Greece… and hopefully, find time to call ol Dad once in a while. I like to get calls that don’t involve trying to solve long distance issues… but it’s good to get any call sometimes.
So, what was or final ‘acid test’ you might ask? Laura is in Los Angeles International Airport ready to board a plane for Greece and Skyped me! Well, we learned fairly quickly what a big drain on the battery the video was and decided that Laura would have to run it while plugged in over in Greece. Fortunately, she has the plug converters needed for virtually any country… something we also anticipated on a trip years ago to Australia.
Anyway, it doesn’t quite make up for being here and they being THERE… but it’s fun — in a way — to share the experience in their faces.
Here I am in our little computer room designed as though it is a fast food operation… which means, if you are not bumping into the other person cheek to cheek, well… you have too much room. Let’s just say it is cozy.
With my family often off in far flung places it’s nice to have a way to see and communicate with them. I do remember the old days of video communications that would update a ‘picture’ of the person you were speaking to every 15 seconds… this is far more fun. I still wish that it would show multiple videos than just the one-on-one that is currently available.
I updated to something that has a nice resolution. Isn’t technology fun?
