The Book

30 posters around the island announce
the book signing

What a fantastic experience I had writing, photographing, designing, self-publishing and promoting my first book Sifnos Houses  |  Myrto Kostika, Architect !  Having survived the experience, I feel greater admiration for those who have written, photographed, published, and promoted their own works.  The contributions and enthusiastic support from so many people has been incredibly heart-warming.

For a book description and to order go to  tinyurl.com/mkgbooks .  The book is also available for 20 Euros in the two bookstores on Sifnos, in Kamares and Apollonia.

Despite significant obstacles, the July 16^th book signing event was a success.  Myrto felt rightfully honored –she beamed all evening-- and we all had good fun.  For me, it was our farewell party, and, as such, I could not have expected better.  It was the hottest evening of the summer (30C+).  I learned only the evening before that the last 8 pages of the book were not included during the binding process.  Thus, we had no books to sell and sign.   No books for a Book Signing event!  Can you believe it?  Speechless was I upon receiving the news.  Everyone's reaction was, "That's Greece for you."   In honesty, such a challenge could have happened anywhere.  The local printer is mortified by the situation and strives to make amends.  At his cost, he sent someone (Mary, the psychologist who teaches children's Greek theater) to take orders, and, he has offered to provide courier delivery of signed books to everyone who so ordered it, no matter where they live.


I did have on hand book samples (less the last 8 pages) so that those who overcame the heat to join us could see the book.  About 50 of our friends participated and 77 books were sold.  Even though I publicized to the full community, including tacking 30 posters around the island, only one 'stranger' was amongst us.  He kept to himself, sitting on the veranda reading the book page by page. but didn't place an order.  All others in attendance were our friends or acquaintances.  The venue and hostess (Elli Lehou on her veranda in Artemonas) were absolutely perfect.  She even opened her home so that people could tour it.  Karoline was our business manager for the evening, collecting sales and giving receipts.  Gerhard photographed the event and was the "go-for" guy.  Two of Karoline's friends kept wine and water glasses full while also serving finger sandwiches.  This freed me to roam the group, playing the 'author' role.   Everyone brought their festive outlook, and, since we were all friends, we had a joyful time.  What a lovely grand finale to send us off on the ferry in only two days time!

Book signing party

The End

A day sail to Antiparos

And this concludes a year of living on Sifnos! 

As of a year ago we had landed on Sifnos laden with 10 suitcases of gear that would keep us supplied for our rambles through the region.  In only a few weeks time we return with the same 10 suitcases, this time a bit more beaten up for wear and tear, and filled with memories of extraordinary adventures.

Late Spring and our Sifnos summer have been full of enjoyable activity as we race to ‘experience it all’ before we leave Sifnos at the end of this week, not to see the island again until next summer.

"Faded Glory" in May, close up

April’s unbelievably brilliant greens gave way to a striking orange-pink presented by a pervasive bush that, now in July, looks almost dead.  Since I don’t know it’s rightful name I’ve applied the nickname “Faded Glory”.  May’s colorful show faded as June progressed and now we see the more familiar sandy browns mixed with deep greens. 

Everyone alerted us that May is the most pleasant month of the year.  Certainly we watched as spirits rose after the pressures of the Easter season.  Smiles were broader and steps lighter.  This is the time of great promise…for a good harvest to come…for a wealth-creating tourist season…soon to come.  The potters become most active in this month preparing the new inventory for tourist sales.  They need the sun and drier climate to effectively dry the clay before it is fired in the kilns.  In June everyone braces themself…the students to endure the month long national testing period…the business owners to receive the first onslaught of tourists.

Church at Chrysopigi bedecked for Saint's Day panagiri

Prepared for the panagiri

As tradition requires, the icon arrives by boat

Archbishop brings the icon ashore

This year Greece is faced with spirit-draining problems.  The first elections were a disaster and forced delays in critical political decisions.  All official business was paralyzed and many involved in such duties sat around shrugging shoulders and twiddling thumbs.  It didn’t help that Greece lost to Germany in the European (soccer) cup quarter-finals.  Gloom, gloom, gloom.  We had our own experiences that helped us to appreciate the depth and breadth of problems facing Greece.  Seeking a two-month extension to our visitors visas, we had a three month run-around with the local authorities trying to finding someone willing to claim ownership of the responsibility.  We were shuffled from the island of Sifnos, to the islands of Milos and Syros (all three related through the municipal organization).  We were shuffled from mayor’s office to police to port police to immigration.  Everyone agreed that it should be an easy case, yet we were not successful in finding an owning party.   

Rigorous hikes rewarded with pleasing views

Meanwhile, in pursuing a case of a foreign worker who had made sexual advances on Karoline, we came to understand the plight of the asylum seeker and Greece’s porous border problem.  Fortunately, we also came to greatly appreciate the skill and competence of the local police, as well as the general public vigilence in keeping the island safe for citizen and visitor alike.  It was explained that, upon hearing he was in trouble, the culprit had very likely pursued a traditional solution by slipping away on the first departing ferry, never to return to the island again.  It was an explanation for why it is rather easy to keep the island safe.  We are also grappling with the new national procedures being implemented to convert “illegal” properties into “legal” ones through an amnesty program.  We joined every other homeowner to comply, in good faith, with willingness to pass along the related fees.  However, we came to understand the extortionist level of the fees and the lack of assurance that, in the end result, our property would be any more ‘legal’ than it ever was.  We, like others, came to see the program as, in essence, a simple act on the part of the national government to generate revenues.  Through these experiences, we now come to appreciate the everyman’s resistance to paying any taxes in this country where one is left with the impression that one pays yet gets worse than nothing in return.  ‘Tis dis-spiriting.

Day sails to other islands

We sail; they motor; together it's fun

By the end of June Karoline wrapped up her 7^th grade year with Calvert and eased into vacation mode immediately after her piano contribution to the island’s youth music performance.  She played Mozart’s Ronda Alla Turca to an appreciative standing room only crowd.  In May, during the week before Pentecost, when the island celebrates it’s patron saint Chrysopigi, the children also organized an art exhibit in the island’s one theater.  This followed in early June with a youth performance of traditional dance, in traditional costume, at the athletic center. This week the children will perform a Greek tragedy at the amphitheater that overlooks Faros harbour.    I am impressed by the quality of the performances and the professionalism of the youth program’s organization.  

We paint new roadside marquee

These past months have found both Gerhard and me busy with completing modernization and business development projects for small businesses on the island.  The municipality has loosely sponsored all of this activity.  Gerhard is assisting a construction company with expanding its business into the Middle East, where the money is these days.  He also assisted with improvements on the business of a boutique hotel—whether as simple as plumbing and electrical repairs, or by making recommendations for better promotion through web marketing.   Karoline and I also helped the hotel with a small project to design and paint new signage directing car traffic to the hotel.  Meanwhile, I have been working with an icon painter, organic food purveyor, potter, and jewelry maker on various and sundry projects such as new product line merchandising, expanding business by creating an online distribution and marketing presence, structuring a cooperative to more effectively sell higher volumes, and promoting product through event marketing.    The book I have authored, (tinyurl.com/mkgbooks) is to help with the municipality’s efforts to promote the island as a repeat vacation destination for English speakers.  We hope we leave behind a Sifnos that is better off for having hosted us. 

Schools out!  Guests join our fun.

Working the Earth

Immature pomegranate in late May

So much of our late spring and all of summer has been about harvesting from the earth.

In early April we harvested the wild oregano just before the buds bloomed and stored the cuttings upside down from our high shelves in the kitchen until the several weeks before the leaves are completely dry.  Opinions abound as to how to prepare the spice mix.  Some advocate including the bud heads, while others claim that only the leaves are worthy of retaining.  Some say to store the leaves and buds whole while others recommend grinding them to ease cooking with the spice. 

In late April we joined just about every household in planting our perivoli (kitchen garden).  I was surprised to learn that just about everyone buys starter plants from Athens.  I would have expected a more local approach.  For irrigation we are doing the local method of laying the young plants in trenches dug on an east-west axis and flooding the trenches every other day with a simple portable hose system.  We missed the chance to fertilize while tilling so, instead, we are applying goat manure tea on a weekly basis. 

Loquats ready for harvest

Come May the wild capers are ready to harvest.  Friend Ioanna calls them ‘God’s gift’ because the plant is such a beauty to the eye while also supplying a variety of tasty treats.  Besides the more common way of harvesting while the buds are still small then preserving in salt, there are the other methods of harvesting.  The young leaves that surround the bud can be pickled and served as a garnish on a salad.  Or, the more mature and larger buds (just as the flower petal begins to show) are sun dried for storage, then boiled quickly and pulsed into caper salad.  If one is patient enough to wait until later, it is possible to harvest the bigger bulbs (about the size of an olive) after the flower is spent.  These can be salted, as is done with the more common method, and served as a flavor enhancer. 

In May, with the lambs and goats sacrificed to the Easter celebrations, animal husbanders become busy with the extra milk by making cheeses.  Mizithra is a feta of a softer consistency and quick to make and consume.  Manoura is a salty hard cheese brought to maturity with a wine musk wrap and stored on bamboo shelves hung from the ceilings of kitchens. 

June brings on the apricot harvest and the end of June welcomes the first harvests of tomatoes, cucumbers, arugula, other greens, peppers and even the first of the watermelon. 

Ioanna's gift of apricots

June is also when the lavender flowers are spent and it is time to harvest and distill for the oil.  If the lavender is cut while in full bloom, then the oils can be captured in the flowers to make sachets.  These are commonly placed in closets to scare away mites, moths, mosquitoes and other tiny pests.  The oils of a lemon or rose scented geranium are also distilled at this time of year.  The oils are used to flavor almond cookies or to make a perfume.  I hear that a mix of lavender and rose geranium oil makes a lovely scent.  Through a trade-in-kind arrangement, I helped Lulu to harvest her 500 lavender plants.  This was an exchange for her 4 hours of workshop time teaching me how to use Photoshop to process digital photos for my book.  My friend Nasia and several of Lulu’s friends joined us.  We chatted while clipping or hanging the bundles from ceilings and took so many cold mint tea and cookie breaks that the time felt like a day’s worth of ‘kafe klatsch’.   By the end of the day every building in her themonia (farm), including her bedroom, was strung with lavender bundles on chains attached to the ceiling.  Now, when passing by the farm, the aroma of lavender pleases every passerby.  I will do this again, given the opportunity!

Have tools; can harvest lavender

Lavender ceiling

Yannis, our goat herding neighbor, spies on my perivoli and offers unsolicited sage advice that is much welcomed.  I think he feels sorry for us as he witnesses the slow meager development of our tiny plot.  I suspect that we started a month too late, using nourishment-depleted soil, and with a week’s worth of Beaufort 6 winds stressing our plants.  Nevertheless, we watch daily growth with amused interest and produce arugula, basil, tomatoes, onions, peppers, eggplants and melons for our table.  In sympathy of our meager results, Yannis drops off his overly abundant leftovers from his own wind-protected perivoli.  Yesterday’s bag of lusciously red tomatoes inspired a culinary frenzy to prepare Imam (stuffed and roasted eggplant) and tabouleh.  Maria, our Greek teacher, also pushes into our arms chicken eggs, zucchini and parsley from her mother-in-law’s farm.  In practicality, I see no reason to cultivate our own garden given the generosity of our friends.  But, we are not always practical creatures, are we?

Back in Berkeley I will miss this ready access to the earth’s daily bounty.  Or, is a project to replicate such in our future?