7 GMT 03 January 2002
After poking
up last night's fire on the the hearth
Making a thermos of coffee and drinking the first cup
And giving the dog permission to jump up on the bed with Barbara
I go out
front to check the street
First I let out Arabes, the old next door dog
All his family dies, the street takes care of him
I open his gate, put scraps of yesterday's dinner in his plate
Go up the
street with the broom and sweep his shits into the gutter
The old grandma "giagia" (pronounce yayA
In the neoclassical house three down
(Son often visits from burbs to help out)
toothtless mavrophorousa (black wearer)
comes out as
I am sweeping
Pretty easy with the welladapted old tools
the giagia who died out of our house left behind
I finish
the sweep
Lean on the old broom
she greets me and starts to explain
It's hard for Arabes he can't go too far
She starts the all his family died story
I assure you I know I share the historia
We know we know
(Tempted for a moment to say to her
something like me too
Lotsa stuff
Not so easy for me any more)
She tums
up the steps, I up the street,
Choruses of Happy New Years
Happy New Year
Good wishes
Go with the good
Likewise Like
Wise
At home
I stash the broom and pan
Behind the iron alley gate
On pebbled path leading to our orange lemon trees
[The old lady's roses reviving one more spring]
Next down
to the corner fournos (furnace)
A sunny morning the smell of the fresh bread
Rising up the street
In front
of the boulangerie
he son of the house overloading the delivery van
with the 50 kilo sacks to be dropped
at stores and tavernas
Inside jokes
about the Euros
And serious concerns
Please pay in drachmas euros no good
She takes
a handful of eurochange from the drawer
She's right in my hand it's too light
the penny way too small
The sourdough
not ready yet?
Madame yells out back
Baker show his face we're permitted to pass
Into the
oven area
He opens it peeks a small round is ready
Just what I want
One half
kilo 65 Cents American
He spills it out
I carry it juggling hot home on the wrapping paper
We eat the
hot crust off all around
We'll get a black bread when it comes out this aftenoon
and we all go out
Barbara
and the retriever go for a good long walk
Along the bay to the Venetian harbor and back
I bike downtown check email and the net
Sunny at
one end of the street Raining on the other
Lot of winter rainbows here this year
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