Beast from the east nothing more than a minor cold snap for a few days, I went in to work when it hit and the bus I was on got the recall back to base because of soft snow! :haha:

Winter must mean month after month of ice and snow any thing less is a poor excuse.

Try being down here in the South during summer and this year has been bloody hot for months! Getting back to winter I recall as a kid we got snow well above the knee and now just above the foot that tells me snow today is not as deep thanks to global warming.

Are you sure you don't live in Kentucky?
A cousin of mine just moved from Florida to Chicago for a job. He posted they have a blizzard warning. Yes, I'm poking fun at him. :D

This was up in Maine Saturday


https://i.imgur.com/h3KmScv.jpg

Living at the point where a big desert meets the mountains, our recent weather has been about average. After a long war autumn it suddenly snowed Saturday, but now it's all sunny and warm (sort-of) again.

I think I'll winter here (someday) :yep:

Santorini, Greece - Most Beautiful Spots

https://www.mostbeautifulspots.com/w...ini-greece.jpg

^ That is on our list of six possible destinations for next years holiday.

Pictures or it didn't happen.

^ Niki, they stole this from the Finns. Geordies prefer warm showers :O:


^^ Regarding the picture and Santorini.. what can i say. Have been there several times, first time with a geological team along with students from Athens and archeologists. Later we had a lot of fun conducting guided tours about geology and the human settlements of the bronze age, and before. Excavations and history are closely related to the geology of said island.

When you rent a boat (you can see the strata of the several eruptions better from a distance), you can see sharks circling a hundred meters beneath you, and dolphins. Without too much wind the water is chrystal clear, in the crater area. Knowing a bit of its past, and seeing the sun set is pure magic.
It is a rather small island, you can see it all in a week. You can take the way up from the old harbour with the help of a donkey, bathe near the new central volcano in warm if sulphuric seawater, or just enjoy the (black) beach at the south-east coast. Whatever, be sure to visit the archeological site of Akrotiri!
While the island of Crete was the mainland of the Minoans, their heart was Thera, now "Santorini". During excavations at Akrotiri (former port of back-then-Thera) they found a frieze depicting a fleet sailing between two islands.

There was a terrific museum exhibition "Islands of the winds" about the Minoans, especially about their ships and sailing techniques - good Pdf, only german but you will get the idea(s): Link

Or you can go to Crete for some weeks, and visit Thera/Santorini via ship from Heraclion, for a few days.
Akrotiri is a Member of the European heritage fund, the excavation site has been recently helped financially by Eugene Kaspersky or so i heard.

Going there to avoid a harsh winter is sure a good idea :)

Thanks for the travel tips ... better than trusting a stranger, plus I love the Greek food and the people on this side of the Atlantic are always so vibrate and alive with zeal for life.

The Greek word for enthusiasm is "God is within you" :yep:

You are welcome; those Minoans, their history and especially their ships and reconstructions are my favourite subject.
I love greek food, too. And I did not know the real meaning of this word in greek, thank you! :salute:

Thanks for the info, most interesting :up:

BE SURE TO BRING TWO GIRLFRIENDS! THEY WON'T CALL IT 'THERA...PY' FER NUTHIN BBY! :O: :shucks: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...mmerLovers.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Thera

Yea winter. :down:

Our power just came back on after 11 hours. We are experiencing winds of 44 km/h with gusts up to 72 km/h. Fortunately it is not real cold, 1°C and it didn't snow to much, mostly rain. But that causes other problems. We've had a lot of rain lately and the ground is saturated. We have two sump pumps that work well at keeping the water from flooding our basement which is my daughter and grandsons apt. Of course sump pumps need electricity. So every 45 minutes for 11 hours my wife and I have been going down and bailing out one of the pits and dumping it in the sink. We are hoping that the power stays on but it's still blowing a gale. Fingers crossed.

But I got my internet workin'.:yeah: