Chapter 8: Scotland, Greece
Tim rolled out of bed a bit late Sunday morning. While the Embassy folks hadn't had fireworks, he and James put together several clips of firework shows found online and last night they'd played them on the 2 largest TV screens they had in the house. Everyone had fun watching them, oohing and aahing as the colorful fireworks burst into sparkles, stars, flowers or made noises as they burst in the air. As they were watching indoors in the media room, no one had to stay up waiting for the skies to get dark enough to see the fireworks and their necks didn't hurt after the shows were over.
Today, Sunday, was Preparation Day for the Midei-Camilo-Gibbs' 7 week stay in Greece. They were leaving on Tuesday and would return home August 25th, in time to make sure the twins had everything they needed for their first day of Reception on September 1st.
Unless she was able to return with the family or during the same week, Artie would fly home the day before school started, and leave again Tuesday morning, she'd decided she needed to hear how their chicklings' liked their first day of school. She and Tim weren't worried, they'd have plenty of nursery friends with them and as they'd also had preschool classes, they knew how to behave in school. Once the project for the other property owners, whose surname was Remis, was underway, she would be home more often, checking on everything online, through daily calls with her team, visiting the site every couple of weeks.
The first to-do item, after breakfast, was laundering the rest of the clothes the family wanted to take with them. They would pack Monday after naps, screening what toys the children took and likely their clothes as well. Any ironing would be done by other volunteers, Tim felt he'd done his bit and was leery of ending up ironing anything that wrinkled in people's suitcases.
While the clothes swished around in the washer, Tim and Poppy took the children for a walk outside to see the animals and then, since it was a warm day, had them play outside for the rest of the morning. When Artie and Grama joined them, the men returned to the house for more prep work.
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By Tuesday morning, those leaving for Scotland and Greece were ready, toys, games and books were sorted, electronic items fully charged and the chargers packed (and checked on at least a dozen times), suitcases packed and their carry-on bags stuffed full. Because they were once again flying Air Paddington, the folks on their way to Greece were taking some perishable items from the refrigerator as well as frozen items in their wheeled cooler. Everyone had their favorite pillows, those continuing to Greece also had beach towels along with flip flops or water shoes to wear on the beach, they were not allowed to walk barefoot on the beach, and in the water.
The family stored several large beach umbrellas in the rafters of Mimi's Bill-and-Jethro-built double garage conversion from a carport. When they were cleaning and repairing her home after the storms last winter, they laughed at themselves for being so relieved that the umbrellas were still useable. Shade was very important during the heat of Greece's summers, especially on the beach!
Geordie and Bec, realizing they had no classes or work until September, had belatedly decided to join the early group and managed to rent one of the last vacation apartments available. Although the cost was a bit more than they'd planned, Bec arranged to hold two half-day seminars at one of the universities in the area, covering the apartment's cost with enough money left over to do more sight-seeing. While they hadn't yet done much with their trust money, they did have plans for it and were happy to find another way to fund their extra vacation.
Thinking a private home close to his cousins would be easier for Jasper, especially while his parents were at work, Mimi invited Bill, Nikki and their son to stay in her home while they were in Varkiza. Although she would be in Scotland with her Donald until closer to the original arrival date, Artie, Tim, Lu and Jethro knew where everything was.
With the Jardine-Gibbses and the Childers-Gibbses also joining the group, that meant the three Powells would be the only ones home during the day, unless Rob was visiting although he usually divided his time at the house between sleeping and swimming, with breaks for eating. He'd arrived unexpectedly last night, was up early, before Sarah woke, to say goodbye to everyone and was already tucked away in one of the downstairs bedrooms, sound asleep.
Now Sarah sighed as most of her family boarded the hired coach that would transport them to the airfield. Those going to Scotland traveled with them, the jet would first deliver them to an airport in Aberdeen before continuing on to Athens.
Waiting until the vehicle disappeared from sight, she trudged sadly up the stairs to their 3rd floor suite. Making a face, she slammed the door closed, which made her feel a little better. Then she sat down in her writing nook and began to write a rather cranky dialogue between two of her favorite characters.
Two hours later, a tap on the door woke her from her cozy nest in her favorite chair by the window. The senior Powells had decided to stay in Jaxton with James and Sarah until the original vacation date, much to Sarah's relief. While they originally planned to go early, they realized Sarah would be alone while James was at work and while she would be perfectly safe and certainly knew how to defend herself, they thought she'd be lonely and probably bored. They changed their plans, staying with their son and daughter-in-law in Jaxton, planning various weekday outings with Sarah and possible weekend outings either for James and Sarah or with James and Sarah. A day's trip out of town somewhere fun, they thought Brighton or the Suffolk Coast would be good choices, another jaunt, this one into London, theater tickets on a weekend for their kids, a surprise dinner out, and at least two weekends away, depending on James' work schedule.
Now, the senior Powells laid out their plans for the next few weeks before and after the annual reunion in Greece. Sarah's smile grew into a grin and when asked where she'd like to go, she brought out her list. While most destinations were places both she and James wanted to visit, some were places that she knew wouldn't interest her husband. Both women smiled at each other as George did his best to look enthusiastic about those same places. Father and son, so close in interests and temperament!
The three soon had a list of activities to occur during the week and another one for weekend fun. By late morning, they were on the train, destination: Stratford Upon Avon where they'd have lunch before taking a canal and river tour. After the boat ride, Sarah and Edie would visit Holy Trinity Church and the cemetery where Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway are buried while George would visit a well-known pub that overlooked the river Avon.
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The flight to Aberdeen, Scotland, was brief, especially by the standards of the US group and before they could even have a decent nap, not that anyone even thought of complaining about that, the jet landed at Aberdeen. The older gentlemen disembarked, accompanied by many wishes to 'have fun' and to see various sites, including Loch Ness, home of the fabled 'Loch Ness monster'.
While the senior and junior Gibbes had visited Ducky's Highland home in Tain a few times, they still hadn't seen everything and now Tim watched Jack, LJ, Richard and Mac leaving with a touch of envy, making a mental note to bring his family up here for a longer stay, perhaps two weeks, although a second week would be tough to find with the twins in school. Knowing they would have a week off in October, he checked the weather in October and found it to be generally in the 50s Fahrenheit, they could deal with that and they were all used to rain. He'd bring up the idea with Artie when she had some free time and then rolled his eyes at that thought!
The children's half term holiday next June was probably a better idea and he loved the idea of spending his birthday in the Highlands. Whenever he was there he felt a sense of peace and belonging. Considering his belief that he had at least some Scottish ancestry, those feelings seemed right in line.
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As the older men gathered in the terminal, piling their luggage on a trolley, Jack spotted Ducky and another man walking in the door. Ducky smiled as they approached, "Hello, my friends and welcome to Scotland! This is my cousin Archie Quillan, we are first cousins on my mother's side of the family. While his son Donald, yes he is my namesake as is baby Donald, will be driving us, Archie insists that he personally narrate our journey to Tain as there are many sights along the way. We'll stop at a few of them so we can all have a stretch. Driving straight through takes a little over 3 hours but since we're in no rush and seeing a few things now will give you more time to see other sites we believe it will be worthwhile. Now come, our transport awaits!"
Grinning at each other, this was what they'd hoped for, the four visitors first stopped at the men's room before they were helped to maneuver the luggage trolley outside. There a large van was parked, waiting for them. It had enough big windows that each passenger could easily view the scenery on either side of the vehicle. Young Donald loaded their bags into the cargo area before handing the cart off to someone being dropped off.
None of the visitors brought much, having sent their Greek vacation clothing ahead with the others. They wouldn't need sweaters (aka jumpers), hooded jackets, trousers, jeans or boots, gloves or a knit cap in Varkiza! Their luggage for Greece usually consisted of 2 beach towels, 2 pairs of swim trunks, 2 or 3 UV blocking t-shirts and sun hats, with neck flaps at the insistence of the family doctors, shorts, flip flops modified with a ankle-back strap for the elderly men, sneakers, sturdy walking sandals, underwear, a lightweight pair of trousers and at least one nice shirt, for church or dinner out, sleepwear and at least three tubes of sunscreen. Although it sounded like a lot, it didn't take up much space in the duffle bags they'd sent ahead.
Ducky was right, the scenery along the way was beautiful, awe inspiring with much of it having historical significance. They stopped several times to spend a little more time looking. Cousin Archie provided an interesting narrative, including historical facts as well as stories and a few 'tall tales' about what they were seeing.
Stopping in Inverness, they had lunch, afterward walking around the city for a solid hour, stopping here and there for a rest or to browse through the shops. Inverness was interesting to walk through and they peered into shop windows, taking a few minutes to visit some of them. Jack and Richard had fun finding souvenirs for the children of their families, no matter how old they were. After watching them, LJ joined in, purchasing postcards and items for the his great-grandnieces and nephews, as he considered Jethro's grandchildren, as well as his cousins in the US. Back in the van, they continued on their way. While they all wanted to see Loch Ness, that would happen later in their stay.
While there was more to see, the three older men, Richard, Jack and LJ, fell asleep almost as soon as the van started moving and remained asleep for the rest of their journey. Mac was the only one still awake. As he was sitting next to a large window he was too busy looking out or looking over to the window on the other side of the van and listening to Archie's continuing narrative to fall asleep.
When they finally arrived in Tain, the visitors, awake again, exclaimed as the van stopped in front of Ducky's home. Although this was the second visit for Jack and LJ they were still in awe of the lovely place. Built the year before Victoria became queen Purchased in the late 1800s by Ducky's Quillan grandfather, it was renovated when Victoria inherited it and again, this time more extensively, when Ducky came into possession of it.
While nowhere near the size of the Jaxton house, it was, as Ducky said, "large enough!". The large garden in the front had lovely green lawn with beds of various blooming hedges and flowers as well as trees, with pathways leading to the front door or wandering through the various parts of the garden. Off to one side, they could see a fence that looked out onto the lovely green hills, crisscrossed with wandering paths and roads, with taller, craggy mountains not far off. The house and the town of Tain were located on Scotland's East Coast and the town is said to "stand between the heather and the sea"*.
When they looked down a path that ran along the side of the house, they could see a greenhouse in the back.
Ducky smiled at their interest, "Yes, as much as I love to garden, from the time I was a lad I knew there was no way I could keep the garden up without help! So Mother and I had a greenhouse built and hired gardeners who keep this place going as lovingly as I would if I could. There are 3rd generation gardeners now on staff here and I take a great deal of comfort in that, knowing the knowledge of all this will outlast me."
When some of the others silently wondered how much it cost to keep the grounds and house in such good condition, Young Donald seemingly read their minds. He smiled, "There is more to the story. Every year there are tours of historical homes and gardens and at the end, people vote on the best, best house, best gardens, best overall. The viewing and voting is limited to ticket holders and while the cost is reasonable enough, it's not cheap. This house and the gardens have been on the tour since the 1950's after Cousin Victoria had the house and gardens renovated and has won 'best overall' in 23 of the past 25 years and it also did very well, although not the top prize, in most of the years following Victoria's renovations. Since Cousin Donald inherited and renovated again, we've won every year." Grinning, he added, "It's a cash prize."
Ducky chuckled, "Yes, that has certainly helped with the upkeep! Now come along, let's get you inside and sorted to your rooms."
Each man smiled when Athena, Artemis' grandmother, greeted them as they entered the house, welcoming them to Scotland and Tain in particular. She smiled, "I'm glad to see I'm not the only one avoiding the summer heat in Varkiza!"
Laughing, they agreed and then followed as she and Ducky led them to their rooms. Jack and LJ were sharing as were Mac and Richard. Young Donald moved their luggage for them before saying goodbye. He'd see them again at a planned family gathering but thought they probably needed to rest now. Although the day and their travels had been a great adventure, it had also been a long one and the younger man knew from experience that people sometimes found traveling tiring.
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By the time those who were visiting Scotland settled in for their naps, those traveling to Varkiza had completed their flight to Athens, landed, disembarked, claimed their luggage, had been through passport control, picked up their rental cars and were in Varkiza. Once everyone was in their latest 'home away from home', most of them stayed inside after sweating through moving their luggage from vehicle to house or apartment. A few brave souls ventured outside for a quick walk to the beach but no one stayed outside for than a few minutes, by now it was well after 3 PM and the summer heat was approaching its peak temperatures.
After Tim and Artie's children ran around the house saying hello to everything, they disappeared to begin emptying their suitcases. Although they were young, they knew where everything was supposed to go and were quite proud of themselves for putting their clothes away. Each of them could even reach high enough to hang some of their clothes in the closets, as Tim, Bill and Dad had, with approval, thanks and credits on their rent from the landlord, installed adjustable shelving and hanging poles in the closets in the homes that family members with children normally rented from the man.
While Chloe could reach, she still needed help moving her clothes from her suitcase to the shelves. She wanted to move everything at once and inevitably some of her clothes slid off the pile she struggled to carry. That frustrated her and her usually happy face wore an angry frown but her big sister quickly came to her rescue, helping her pick up the fallen items, folding them again and putting them on the lowest shelves, meant just for Chloe. When they were done with Chloe's clothes, she helped Ellanne with hers and they grinned at each other when they finished.
At home, the four children had changed rooms a few months ago so that the girls shared a room as did the boys. By now they were used to the change and frequently visited each other's room.
While the children unpacked, their parents were also busy unpacking the food and supplies they'd brought. They first unpacked the perishable items, happy to see everything had made it without spoiling, wilting or melting. As they'd brought fresh fruit and vegetables from their gardens, fruits and vegetables that the children had helped to plant and tend, that was very important. The ice cream they'd brought was a little soft but would be edible after a few hours in the freezer. If it didn't quite refreeze all the way, they'd use it for shakes or fruit smoothies, it certainly would not go to waste!
Tim and Artemis grinned at each other when they opened the door of the broom closet, which they used as a pantry, and found a welcome basket from their landlord, full of more fresh vegetables and fruit, with a note to check the stand-alone freezer. When they pulled the door open on that, they both laughed as there were two gallons of ice cream! Shaking their heads, they moved their own container of the treat from the refrigerator's freezer in with the others. Now they had three flavors of ice cream!
Tim made a happy noise when he also found an entire case of his favorite lemonade and Artie was just as happy when she found a case of her favorite iced tea! There was another note, this one taped onto one of the lemonade bottles, from the owner, saying Athena had left those with him to 'welcome them home'.
After they finished with the food and decided what they'd have for post-nap snacks and then dinner, they looked through the kitchen to see if there was anything new and smiled as they found another crockpot, this one much larger than the one they'd left here two years ago. They were happy to see the smaller one was still here as well.
Next, looking at the spices, they were happy with those, until Artie started laughing, telling him they'd apparently left several of them behind at their Easter visit! Frowning, Tim looked at the labels and chuckled, they were indeed theirs. They always marked the items they brought with a small 'm' for Midei and several of the spice containers had those. They smiled when they spotted newer containers with other initials and understood other visitors were doing the same thing they'd done. It didn't matter if other people used them, it was mainly for returning guests to recognize their own things and keep track of the age of the item, in this case spices. They remembered that one of their spices had been teetering on old age when they brought it at Easter and tossed it, noticing now that someone else left a new jar.
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Lu and Jethro had tentatively planned to walk down to the beach once they were unpacked but after experiencing the heat when they picked up their car and again as they carried their belongings into the house, they decided to wait for sunset. Instead they stayed inside as their landlord had apparently dropped by before their arrival, setting a lower temperature on the air conditioner. Once they changed from their travel clothes to their 'vacationing in Greece' clothes, they found the temperature in the house quite comfortable and although they intended to do this or that, both dozed off.
Although the flight hadn't been long, none of the junior Gibbses ever slept much the night before leaving for Greece and Monday night, their last night in Jaxton for nearly 2 months, hadn't been any different. With that in mind, everyone had naps that afternoon although Artemis made sure to set her phone alarm. Otherwise she was afraid the 6 of them would sleep all afternoon and evening and be up all night!
When they woke and washed their faces, everyone was hungry and the children helped put together drinks and snacks, setting the table and carrying everything from the kitchen counter to the table. While they noshed, they decided it was still too hot to do anything outside and instead they would take a drive up to the new property. While the children had seen all 3 lots, they hadn't paid much attention to Lot#1 because it wouldn't be theirs. Although it still wouldn't be theirs, their mama was going to build houses on it, along with Uncle Bill and Cousin Matthaíos and they asked to see it again. Sending a message to Poppy asking if they would like to go with them, Tim smiled at the reply and again when he looked at the hopeful faces, "And the answer is yes, Grama and Poppy are going with us! Let's add lots of ice to our water bottles, put sunscreen on and bring our neck fans and hats so we can walk around if we want to." The neck fans were small fans attached to a cord that hung around their necks, keeping their faces cooler, or at least made them feel less hot. They initially ran on batteries but now were rechargeable and Tim bought new ones for Artie, the children and his parents. He also had one for Bill that he had intended to give him for his birthday but with the possibility of his brother working in Greece with Artie, he'd given it to him before they left home. He'd also given one to Matthaíos.
Within a few minutes, the senior Gibbses joined them, everyone climbed into their van and off they went. When they reached the properties, they stopped at Lot 1 and stood, briefly, at the edge of the street and the property. Familiar with Artie's design of the main house, Tim nodded as he looked around the lot, turning to his wife and speaking for her ears only, "It's a beautiful view and a nice lot. Your design will absolutely lift the place from lovely to awesome. However, I'm glad your clients preferred this lot to ours, with your design, our property will be spectacular!"
With a chuckle, she replied, just as quietly as he'd spoken. "Although ours cost a bit more, you're right, our property is clearly the best. It's amazing how different the two properties are."
From there, they drove down the street to look at their property, loving it just as much as the first time. Too comfortable in the air conditioned van to brave the heat, they sat and talked about the middle property. When Liam wanted to know if they could have a playground over there, his parents looked at each other and frowned, although the children didn't see their frowns. Instead they said they were making a list of what might go on that property and that they planned to have a playroom in their house, just as they did now. Although they'd thought about putting the pool over there, behind the garage, they quickly realized how far it would be from the house and people and crossed it off the list for Lot #2.
Currently, they were considering placing the garage lengthwise, from the front to the back of the lot, rather than horizontally across the lot. After all, the garage didn't need to look at the view! If built lengthwise, the RV garage could also be lengthwise down the back of the garage and the RV could be driven straight in when arriving and either backed out when departing or pulling all the way through and then turning right to go around the garage. Even with leaving enough room for the RV to exit by going around the garage, there would be plenty of room for parking stalls for all of their vehicles as well as the caretaker's dwelling which would then be closer to their lot than Lot 1. Unless they built the caretaker's house at the very back of the lot, which they didn't think would be a good idea when it came to security, the reason they needed a caretaker in the first place!
Tim was glad the Remises knew exactly what they wanted for their lot, he hoped that Artie concentrating on their property would give the two of them a much needed delay for designing their own property, especially as they were not in any hurry to build.
Back at the rental house, the children and their father had lemonades while the others had iced tea. Tim said he'd had enough caffeine for the day.
A cooling breeze was gently lifting the hot air when they finally walked down to the beach after dinner, first changing into their bathing suits. They waded in the sea water up to their knees, which felt incredibly good, smiling, laughing and chatting with the rest of their bunch, also called by the breeze. It felt so good, was so peaceful, that they stayed out past the children's usual bedtimes. Even Jasper and Madelyn, who was not quite a year old, were still laughing and having fun as the sun set. Eventually, the youngest ones were carried while Tony and Maggie's MacKenna and Tim and Artie's four managed to walk on their own as they left the beach for their rental homes. It was a wonderful end to their first day of their extended stay in Varkiza.
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Wednesday, Artie was up early, she would meet with her new clients at 8:30 this morning at the Remises' temporary quarters. After a light breakfast and a cup of tea, she kissed Tim goodbye, asking him to kiss the children good morning for her. He promised, wishing her the best outcome for her meeting. She smiled, knowing she had his full support and confidence.
While she'd toyed with the thought of having Bill accompanying her to the meeting, she'd decided against it. She'd been winning bids and having her designs and construction plans approved for nearly 15 years now, she could certainly handle this one! And if not, well then she'd start working on their own property. Wondering why she was feeling a little uneasy, she finally realized it was due to the couple's refusal to wait less than 2 months to start construction, not even for the safety of the people who would build their home. She knew they had the money for the project as well as their temporary housing. She always checked before she presented her plan, why give away her designs to clients who couldn't pay.
When she realized she didn't much care for Mrs. Remis, who came across as condescending and snobbish, she laughed to herself. Not that it mattered but she and Tim could buy them out without even blinking at the cost. Thinking it was more likely that the woman had never before met a female engineer and disapproved, she nodded to herself. No one ever said one had to like one's clients. Do an excellent job, get paid and move on, that had been her practice since her very first project.
By the time she arrived at the Remises' temporary home, she was herself, strong, confident in her designs, the construction plan and ready to do business. When she walked out nearly an hour later, she was smiling, they'd loved her design and construction plan, she had a cashier's check for the full cost and perhaps best of all, they were both excited about their new home. They'd loved the idea of a brief kick-off celebration which they'd have this Saturday. She'd already selected the construction company she wanted to hire and spoken with the main contractor. He understood she couldn't hire his company until she had the final approval and was waiting to hear from her.
Driving up to their lots, she made a number of calls, giving the good word to Bill and her cousin as well as her aunt and uncle, officially hired the main contractor, and asked Bill, Matthaíos and the contractor to meet her at the site in an hour. While she waited, she called Tim. He answered right away, asking, "Yes?"
She grinned and tried not to yell, "Yes! We're all set. They gave me a cashier's check which I will deposit as soon as I get off the phone."
"Wonderful, Artemis, this is awesome! How was the snobby woman?"
"She was so excited about the design I guess she forgot she thinks she's better than I am. Or whatever she's been thinking. Who cares, I'm building her dream home and then will never have to talk with her again."
Tim laughed, "I'm glad we bought the middle lot for the garage! Did they sign off on the caretaker?"
"Yes and let's get that going as soon as possible. I had a thought, in the US mobile homes are frequently moved in for construction offices and security. The company that moves them levels them as well, so we wouldn't have to worry about that.
"Great idea for the caretaker! How about I handle that? What about your construction office?"
"Thank you, sweetie but it will easier to do both mobiles at the same time, we should get a discount. For the office, we'll lease a smaller mobile home, just one room with a couple of desks, plain walls so we can put up our maps and plans, a kitchenette, and half bath, no shower."
"Would they also be able to provide some of the cooling equipment you'll need?"
"They may, I'll work with Bill and Evander on that. How are the children?"
"Excited about the new project! I'm already at the Embassy, I had planned to walk the children next door to Mom and Dad's but Bill beat me to it. He came by with Jasper and took all 5 of the kids to Grama and Poppy's."
"Good! We're having our official kick-off Saturday morning at 9:00, early enough that it won't yet be blistering hot. We won't do anything but announce and show the design and if we have one piece of something done, we'll show that off. Evander and his wife will be there and with the Remises' permission, I also invited regional government officials, who are responsible for having approved the development of the three lots, along with the commercial building. I wasn't sure about inviting the previous owners and Evander said he would handle it. My staff will be there along with our spouses, children and our parents. I'm also inviting the press."
"Excellent! Do you want more folks? We could ask Pete Russell and his family, even his team if you'd like."
"Oh, I hadn't thought of that! Perhaps just Pete and Trina? We'll have enough family members there to make a good-sized crowd!"
Tim thought of something else but decided not to say anything, it would be great to surprise their Chief Engineer-Architect.
They disconnected their call as the new Main Contractor, whose name was Ermis Mallas, pulled onto the lot. He looked around, puzzled. Artie greeted him with a smile, welcoming him to her company and telling him about the three lots. He grinned at that, "So once you've built for these clients, you'll start on your own home?"
She nodded, "Yes, although probably not right away. We have four young children, the oldest two will start school this September. Next year, the next eldest will start and the year after that our youngest. We're thinking we'll need to get them all into school before we build here. Of course, we may change our minds."
"It's a beautiful lot, the view is glorious!"
She grinned, "I agree! Now here's our Construction Manager and our Engineering intern, Bill Jardine-Gibbs and Matthaíos Caras." Bill turned into the lot, Matthaíos next to him, grinning out the window at her.
"Bill is not Greek?"
"No, he's American, although he, his wife and son would love to live here fulltime. My husband has 11 siblings and Bill is the second eldest while Tim, my husband, is the third youngest."
"12 children, I can't imagine! How many boys and girls?"
She laughed, "They started out with 8 of them, 7 boys, 1 girl, all adopted although not all at once. Recently, another three, all adults, formalized their relationship with my in-laws, through adoption. They are 1 woman and two men, married and the two men have children. The newest sister is newly married, no children yet. The last one is also another woman who is part of the family, another sister, although she doesn't want to be adopted. And there are currently 10 grandchildren."
"Your in-laws must be happy with all their children and grandchildren!"
"Yes, both Tim's parents and mine are wonderful with us and the grandchildren." She laughed, "Tim's mother and the original adopted sister are very happy to have more women in the family."
Quickly introducing Bill and her cousin to Mr. Mallas, the four discussed what they'd be able to do Thursday and Friday as well as for the kick-off. Mallas would have his crew on site tomorrow morning, Thursday, to get started and those who didn't have other plans would join them for the kick-off on Saturday. Because they would do very little digging on any of these lots, they would not do the traditional 'first shovel-full of dirt' for the kick-off.
Bill, happy to hear that Mallas' crew had some experience with the foam concrete, suggested they construct the temporary wind block walls on Thursday, then Friday they could start with the foundation. On Saturday, they would use a form to pour another setup, so people could see how that was done as well as what it looked like 24 hours later. While it would be great if they could build on it by Saturday, foam or not the concrete needed 6-12 hours to become solid and then would be tested for comprehensive strength after 7 days and again at 28 days.
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When Tim and Nikki saw each other in the Embassy canteen later, the two grinned at each other although neither had time to talk. Tim had a message from his father that afternoon, telling him they were going to grill and eat dinner on the beach in celebration of the new project and that the children had volunteered to take an extra rest so they could stay up to eat on the beach when the sun was gone. Jethro added that included Jasper and his parents as well as Matthaios and his parents and anyone else who showed up. By the time he and Nikki got home, they'd ride-shared this morning, they were expecting quite a crowd, including Evander and his wife Kim.
And so it was that Artemis, Bill and Matthaios had their own semi-private party on the beach Wednesday night. All of the family travelers attended and the Scotland, Italy and Jaxton folks dialed in via FaceTime to join the fun as best they could. While the dinner preparations were underway, the children ran up and down the beach as well as wading on the shoreline with most of the adults. Lu had found time to make a sheet cake, she later admitted she'd used a boxed mix, with a big 'Congratulations' written across the middle and bits and pieces of construction equipment present in gel form iced onto the corners and around the cake. There were even some small pre-made hammers, saws, shovels, paint brushes and cans and other tools that Lu later confessed she'd found in New Mexico where she'd seen them advertised for a child's cake. She'd purchased everything she could find and brought them from home this week for the celebration she was sure they'd have. Rhode, who'd helped her with the cake, laughed as she told the crowd she was very impressed with Lu's thinking ahead as well as her creativity.
Jasper, who wore himself out running on the beach and playing in the water, and baby Madelyn, 9 months old, rode home in their strollers, sound asleep. Chloe, Liam, Ellanni and Jack managed to walk home from the beach, although their parents were holding onto their two youngest and the twins held hands with each other.
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Artemis had been a little concerned that she, Bill and Matthaios would be tired on Thursday after their party but woke up full of energy Thursday morning. Taking a quick shower, dressing, adding sunscreen and a sun hat even though it wasn't yet light out, grabbing a quick bite to eat, made a cup of tea to go and headed out the door. As she got into the car, she smiled as she heard a vehicle that sounded very much like Bill's rental, a pick-up truck, starting up and two doors slamming, Matt must be with him. They met at the site, ready to go even though they were nearly 30 minutes early. While Bill and Matthaios unloaded the truck while Artie Artie was very pleased when they heard vehicles coming up the third feeder road, the closest road to this lot. Mr. Mallas and his crew were also early!
Once everyone had gathered, Artemis introduced herself, Bill as their Construction Manager and Matthaios as an Engineering intern. She gave them a very brief history of her work and then segued into what they would build and how they would build it. She'd set up 2 large tripods, one to display the construction plans, complete with graphics and the other to display the architectural plans as well as the finished product, what their work would produce. Inviting them to walk around the lot, she warned them not to get too close to the edge even though it wasn't a cliff. Once they'd done that, Bill and Mr. Mallas, who had asked to be called by his given name, Ermis, went over what they would do that day, Thursday, and the next. They also mentioned the kick-off celebration happening on Saturday, inviting all of them. Bill told them the plan for the party, to have at least one foam concrete set and then demonstrate how they'd done that, making another piece of the foundation. That would include tying the form(s) down and making sure the walls blocking the wind were solidly in place.
Once they had the plans for that morning, Friday and the kick-off on Saturday, they pointed out the cooling zone in the next lot over, where they could also park while on the job.
Overnight the future garage site had sprouted shade canopies, several 'portable potties', and three large tents with ceiling fans running and several small portable air conditioners on hand to use if they worked past noon or the day heated up earlier than usual. There were cots, chairs, tables and they would also have several coolers full of bottled water and hydration drinks. The new crew laughed at the toddlers' wading pools although they nodded in agreement when Bill explained the reason for them. He'd worked on his explanation with Matthaios, to make sure his Greek made sense. As it happened, several people in the construction crew understood English which would help.
Once they had their instructions, they got to work building the wind walls, which would reach a height of 7 feet, blocking out the worst of the wind they'd have this time of year. Artie and Bill had already marked where the walls would go, having marked the level parts of the back and sides of the Remises' property. Using the idea of Artie's family's future pool deck frame, they laid out the wood, the bottoms of the frames and then bolted them into the bedrock. It was difficult to do but they did it. Placing lengths of wood across the back and sides of the property, they drilled bolts into the bedrock. From there, they created a sturdy framework which would hold the solid, wind breaking walls in place. Because they'd need to keep the wind off the project until the foundations were solidly in place, the temporary walls would cover the back and sides of the property.
Artie watched, adding a word here and there when necessary, and was happy with the results. The walls were up and all of them felt the difference, very little air movement. Now they felt the temperature without help from any cool breezes. Artie made an immediate note about that but as these walls were only temporary, once the foundations were fully set, they could remove or at least shorten the walls in favor of air movement.
They'd rotated shade and water breaks throughout the morning and that had worked well. Artie insisted everyone have more water as they finished their work for the day. Putting the tools away, locking them in either Bill or Ermis' truck beds, everyone but Artie, Bill and Matthaios left and those three were on the road back to Varkiza by 1:30 PM. Within an hour after they left the site, the temperature would have been too hot to work any longer. Their early hours worked!
Friday morning, only those involved in foundation work were on the site. First they tied down the forms they'd use for the foam concrete and then got to work. It was breezier that day than the day before but the walls kept the breeze out. Because of that and because everyone knew what they were doing, they were able to do more than originally planned.
The mobile office and dwelling were delivered that morning, carefully situated in the middle lot, the office closer to the Remises' property and the caretaker's dwelling near the front center of the lot, leaving room for parking and all the safety equipment. When Artie and her family were ready to build on that lot, they'd have the mobile dwelling moved closer to the front, centered between the Remises' and the Gibbses' property.
In the meantime, Artie's father the Colonel found the perfect caretaker for the properties. A former Army Captain, he'd retired from his post-military career and now a widower, he was looking for something new to keep him busy. He was healthy and after his years in the Army kept up his fitness routine. He also liked to garden and that helped the family decide what else they wanted on their garage lot. Raised beds for shade trees, fruit trees, vegetables and however many kinds of flowers they could grow. The man was invited to the kick-off on Saturday and afterward was given a tour of the Gibbs' family lots. He later met with Artie, Tim, Jethro, Lu and Geordie, each of whom liked him and it certainly helped his chances of success that he was an old friend of Peter Lekkas. He was invited to a family dinner on the beach that Sunday and had fun with the children, who all seemed to like him. So much so that Tim told his wife they'd have to make some rules so the children wouldn't take up all his time. On Monday he met with the Remises who agreed he was more than suitable for the job. By Monday evening, he'd been hired as the caretaker of all three properties and on Tuesday, with the help of those Gibbs' or Lekkas' family members who weren't working, he moved his belongings into the mobile home and began his work that night.
The caretaker's name was Alan Martin, an ex-pat American who'd arrived in Greece as a young man, ready to serve his mandatory time in the Hellenic Army as his mother was Greek. Except during his service and later for vacations he remained in Greece, marrying a Greek woman. Finding a niche in the Army that worked for him, he made his way up to Captain and served until he hit the mandatory retirement age. Although he and his wife never had children, their home always seemed to be the gathering spot for the neighborhood children. Now, as he moved into his new home, he brought his dog, retired from the Army, who'd been trained for security. The dog, whose name was Lykos, the Greek word for wolf, was carefully introduced to the Remises and all the current resident Mideis-Camilo-Gibbses and of course the Lekkas family, whom he'd met a few times before. He carefully sniffed and licked almost everyone, he was ordered not to lick Nikki and once he knew them by smell, saw that Alan was comfortable with them and the new people with Alan, they became his family.
*The quote about Tain is from northcoast no space 500 dot com