Pictures

The top picture is from our second floor balcony looking southeast.  I took the picture just a few minutes ago, at 5:15 p.m. in Tirana, temperature 87 degrees.

The next two pictures are views of the old castle at Petrela, about 15 miles southeast.  The reddish built-on addition on top of the old tower is a restaurant.  We went Sunday afternoon to take a couple of visiting U.S. Marshals sightseeing.   The next is a photo from the castle taken from my picnic table, the Tirana Birra tastefully hidden from view (necessary for one's revival after the short-but-steep climb).  It was kind of a hazy day, but Tirana can be seen in the distance.  Last photo is of a house being constructed across the ravine from the castle.  I hope the structural engineer has lots of experience and/or malpractice insurance, although from casual observation I suspect that on a small house project like this there is no structural engineer.

We have reason to believe that our household goods may be in Albania tomorrow.   According to the last schedule we received they were to be unloaded in Thessaloniki today.  Thessaloniki is the capital of Macedonia, the Greek province, not the new republic.  The Former Yugoslavic Republic of Macedonia is between Albania and Greek Macedonia, and the Greeks and Macedonians are fighting over the use of the name.  Which is why FYRM did not receive an invite to join NATO, like Albania did.  Macedonia is where Philip the Great was from, and where his son Alexander the Great was born, so the name conjures up some old notions of greatness.  I tend to think the Greek explanation, that they don't want to encourage their northern province to break away and join a namesake country, might be partly true.  Or maybe they're just stubborn.  Who knows?  Anyway, our household goods will be coming through both Macedonias before they get here, a mountainous trek with roads in less than stellar condition.  Hopefully they will make it this week, and then I will be happily engaged in unpacking and settling in and trying to figure out what to do with what we brought.  I can't remember any more how I divided everything up, so it will be interesting to see what shows up as opposed to what I thought I put into storage.