1. I think I first have to tell you that Kate, our houseguest, is great! We've been having a great time with her. Our schedules overlap slightly, so she's not around all the time when we're around, but when she is, she's just so fun and easy to be with. Last night while Neel and Cal were at baseball practice, she and I worked on our laptops and watched House Hunters. Match made in heaven. And you guys. She loves The Devil Wears Prada. Who could ask for more, really?

2. I think it's been just great talking photography with you guys all week. Face it, I've been thinking photography a lot. A bunch of you have asked about the various projects I'm working on, so let me tell you about a couple of them. I'm participating in a month-long Instagram photo prompt developed by Raincoast Creative Salon. So far, really fun. And the month is young! It's not too late to jump in if you're interested. There are tons of great prompt projects out there, and I don't always play along, but I find it can be a fun way to help you think about your photography rather than just snap a shot that appeals to you.

Another project I'm in the middle of is with my Thursday Morning Photo Group (Now on Fridays). Late in the summer we did a photo scavenger hunt using about eight words as prompts. Some photos were "found" and some were "created." That was great fun, and it really stretched me and inspired me. I'll share the results of my scavenger hunt in the next weeks. Our most recent project was a slight shift on the hunt. This time everyone wrote a prompt on a piece of paper to place in a bowl and we each pulled out one prompt. This way, everyone does a different prompt. One to three pictures for each. The prompts range from black and white to water, and my prompt is tiny. There's a lot I can do with that. It's due in a week! YIPES!!

3. I think you're right. We're over the moon about our upcoming trip to Greece. Part of it is that it's so nice to have next year's trip already settled. A luxury, really. And the bonus? My dad is coming with us. Well, not to the Greece part actually. We always tack on a little extra to these trips (although I lovelovelove these meetings that Neel goes to, and for that part Cal and I can't wait!), so where else will we go? All will be revealed in the fullness of time.

4. I think if I were moving to a House Hunters International location, I'd pick Copenhagen. Just based on today. That might change.

5. I think I'm going to establish a no-more sleepovers rule. We all still seem to be recovering from the one Callum had last weekend, and here it is, the weekend again. For us that means more baseball, more photos and hopefully more walks on the beach. Restful and busy? Is that possible? Lord, I hope so.

*that's garlic in the back of that truck*

In 1990 I traveled to Greece with a college group. It was, in many ways, a problematic trip. In many others it was sensational. Several years ago, Neel had a conference that took place in the Peloponnese, outside of Athens, and we all went back. Callum was eight.

Our first night in Athens, we traveled with the group from Neel's meeting to a restaurant at the base of the Acropolis for dinner. It was early evening, that time of night just before twilight begins to fall, not quite the golden hour, but close. Still late afternoon, really. As our busses pulled to a stop so that we could get out and make our walk to the restaurant, I looked up and suddenly there it was.

The Parthenon really does glow in the late afternoon light, you know.

I burst into tears. It felt like coming home.

It was an amazing trip. When we finished Neel's meeting, which was an incredible experience in itself, the three of us took ourselves off for some exploring on our own. I planned a trip that mimicked somewhat the travels I'd made many years ago. I wanted Callum to see the Palace at Knossos in Crete (we took an overnight ferry to get there, and that was pretty awesomesauce), and I wanted him to see the caldera at the volcanic island of Santorini. We did it all.

It was really, really hard to let Neel go off to Greece on his own this summer.

Honestly, I'm not completely sure how to talk about what this place means to me. How do you find the words to describe a place that feels like home to your soul? Sometimes I'm a little embarrassed saying it, thinking people think I love tourist traps (Santorini) or I'm a hard-partier (Mykonos). And while I love the beach and the ocean, I'm not really a beach bum either.

Instead, it's the light. A skim of gold across azure water. It's the roar of a crowd of men gathered around a tiny, tinny television to watch a local football match. It's the steadied measured click of worry beads in worn hands. It's the hearty "Yia sou!" ("Hi!") from everyone you pass. It's old women sitting and watching through the hot, slow afternoons. It's every apartment having a balcony. It's the smell of night blooming jasmine and the bright magenta burst of bougainvillaea against the sun bleached walls of white. It's bags of cherries at the market and glasses of Ouzo at the start of dinner. Olives and feta, and fish so fresh you swam with it just hours ago.

If I have dreams of dreams, the kind you know don't come true but dream anyway, it always has a house in Greece, with jasmine at the window so the smell drifts indoors. There's a spray of bougainvillea at the gate and scrap (at least!) of a view of the sea. I can pick lemons from the tree in my back yard and walk a winding path to town or the water.

I can't wait to go back.

Neel's been invited to another meeting. Countdown to Olympia: 243 days.

five things, october 4

this place {life}