Uncovering History

Today, Tess and I helped out at an archeological dig. This is something we have never done before even though there are about 100 dig sites throughout Cyprus. The location we helped at is called Idalion. Idalion was the center of a thriving copper trade operating throughout the ancient Mediterranean world. It also housed the religious cult of the Great Mother and her consort, later known to the Greeks as Aphrodite and Adonis, and includes a great Adonis sanctuary; which is being uncovered this summer.

This is the temple area where we were helping today.


You need to the right gear to work here in Cyprus otherwise you will roast.


Tess is helping one of the archeologist sift through a bucket of soil, looking for pottery and other ancient stuff.

Here, Tess is holding the standard for the survey portion of the dig.

It was really dusty.

Odds and ends

Here is a plumeria that we brought back from Hawaii. Hopefully it will take and grow into a nice tree. The flowers are used in Hawaii to make leis and are very fragrant. It will grow to be about 7-8 feet tall and next year we will transplant it into the garden.



The lettuces in our raised gardens are really full of leaves. We have been making fresh green salads for several weeks. Everything tastes a lot better when it is fresh out of the garden.



The tomato plants have taken over the planter by the garage. We except to have about a zillion come ripe all at once. We have 4-5 different varieties planted. More salad fodder.



When we are not working in the yard, we are eating well. On Friday we had a couple tsapura and
grilled them on teh gas grill. Usually we wrap the fish in foil and bake them on the grill but we decided to try something different this time. Along with a bottle of wine, we had a great meal.