In Skopelos

 Lynn Manos

I'm at the Foundation now, a very welcoming place, family run, well equipped, and encouraging.  I had the tour, unpacked my suitcases, went grocery shopping, and made arrangements with Christos, a friend of the director, to see fishing tools.  I'll begin making rubbings tomorrow.  I get to work on a 20-foot-long clean white table that parallels a wall of windows looking onto the water.  Pinch me.  And I have access 24/7.  Fantastic. 

I'm writing after hours from the Foundation's computer (no need to trek down to the internet cafe and pay for access).  Nearly every window has a view of the Aegean from where I'm sitting.  When I walk out of my apartment I get the same beautiful view.  All water, very blue, surrounded by Mediterranean stucco houses with tile roofs, nestled in steep wooded hills.  My pictures coming soon. 

There are five thousand people who live on this island overall.  I am guessing that there are ten thousand cats.  And it looks as though they are cared for.  It's like dogs in Spain -- they're royalty.  And it is expected that you would be standing in your kitchen, lifting up your eyes only to see a cat or two across the room.  And not your own.  I like cats a lot, but I think I'll let them hang out on my balcony instead. 

There have been Pierce Brosnan sightings in the days before my arrival.  And there's a good chance I'll be privy to a talk by Meryl Streep here at the Foundation later this month, fingers crossed.  But no word of where Colin Firth is hiding out on the island.  

I'm drinking Folgers Instant right now just to keep me up until 9pm, a more proper time for bed than 6.  The sun's going down a bit, and I see that the mountains are turning the watermelon color of the Sandias in Albuquerque.  Today, as I travelled to the coast to catch my ferry, I concluded that this place is almost exactly like the high desert. . .it just has lakes, then sea, in the low places (imagine that, New Mexicans).  The brush is an exact match in places.  The resemblance is striking. 

My first sunset here. . . I'm off to my apartment to get my camera.  Have a great day where you are.