#hellenic senior living

[ahepaseniorliving]

Jennifer Bedolla Promoted to Regional Director of Operations for Hellenic Senior Living

We are incredibly pleased to announce the promotion of Jennifer Bedolla to Regional Director of Operations for Hellenic Senior Living.

Jennifer began her career with AHEPA Senior Living 14 years ago as a Service Coordinator and has grown with us to become the Director of Service Coordination prior to her most recent promotion. She has a strong belief in serving our residents and is committed to building a strong foundation for the betterment of our communities.

Jennifer has a profound love for the outdoors and listening to music. She is often found reading and learning something new. Her personal quote of advice she gives most is, “Transparency is the bridge between communication and comprehension.” She advocates for self-growth and living your best life. She loves soulful conversations and laughing with friends and family.

Jennifer’s son, Gavin, recently turned 18! He plays percussion and guitar. He is involved in many musical extracurricular activities that Jennifer enjoys attending. Her house is the cool place to hang out with his friends, where they write music and play instruments. They have two dogs and a bearded dragon.

Jennifer is looking forward to stretching her own abilities and learning new skills while strengthening existing skills.

Please join us in congratulating Jennifer on her promotion!

Original content source: https://ahepaseniorliving.org/company-announcement/jennifer-bedolla-promoted-to-regional-director-of-operations-hellenic-senior-living/

[ramrodd]

Of Malice and Mercy (8:1 – 11, 4/23/2023)

COMMENTARY:

I use the KJV all the time for the poetry of its  interpretation. The Textus Receptus is actually a Greek translation of the Gutenberg KJ. It's like Genesis 41"32" the KJV "doubling" is a more vivid discription of the experience of the action of the Holy Spirit in the personal consciousness.

The numerology of Acts 10 suggests that Cornelius was attached in some manner to the X Legion which was  encamped on the Mout Olives during the seige and reduction of Jerusalem. John Mark had access to what we call Quelle, the intelligence archives assembled by Cornelius from the  eye witness spy accounts of Jesus routinely filed prior to His arrest.  John Mark is making the connection between Jesus and Cornelius. It is not unlikely that John Mark came to know Josephus.

I think John Mark appropriated this story to fit in with the erotic quality  of his narrative, This woman fits in with the woman with the chronic flow, the Samaritan Woman,. Martha and Mary on Palm Sunday, Mary or Bethany's reprise of Ruth covering the feet of Boaz . The anointing of Jesus in Mark is Peter's version of events, with  an allusion to the anointing of David by Jesus. Peter was a typical Jewish misogynist. Totally asexual but misogynist none the less. Who we know as Mary of Bethany was the alleged harlot of Peter's version and, as I say, she conducts a very public and erotic reprise of Ruth's marriage proposal to Boaz

This is where Hege's historical Gestalt from the Phenomenology of Spirit comes in hanty. Jesus is the singural figure in all four cospels, the leading edge of the epistemology of the narrative. There are 4 different fields defined by this singular figure  The Gospel of Mark has the Roman military sociology and the anthropology of a senior centurion of the Italian Cohort of the Praetorian Guard in Rome. The Praetorian Guard was the administrative state of the Roman Empire. When Constantine dismantled iin the wake of Milvian Bridge, the Roman began to fall apart within the century.

The Gospel fo John is the Jerusalem Sociology and the anthropology of a a Jewish boy between 12 and 15 years of age who who had a serious idol worship relationship with Jesus.

The Gospel of Matthew has the same Jewish sociology as Jesus and the anthropology of the Judaizer.

The Gospel of Luke is a Mediterranean Sociology and the cosmopolitan anthropology of a Greek OB/GYN with a Jewish book.

The anthropology of all four is profounding Hellenistic. The opening overture of the Gospel of John could have been the legend for Philo of Alexandria's school. The Alexandria Jews were fascinated by Hellenism and Plato. For one thing, Hebrews at that time had a vocabular of about 80,000 words and Greek had a vocabular of 250 - 3000,000 words which could get into the nooks and crannies of the Torah in  unbelievable ways.

Jesus died a virgin, but He was absolute catnip to the women around Him.

The Law of Moses worked like Sharia law ofr women: it was a woman's fault to get raped. The difference with what this woman was dealing with compared to the Samaritan woman is of the essence.  .

Anyway, Hegel's literary critical method celebrates the texture and emotional ambience of the horseradish of a Jewish boy's living memory of the raw charisma of Jesus in contrast to the emotinally flat Roman military journalism of the Gospel of Mark

As I've pointed out in previous commentary, εὐθὺς is an apparatus that demonstrates the grounding of the conical Gospels as grounded in Quelle that is missing from other contemporary writing, For example, The Gospel of Thomas has no similar grounding and can be authentically classified as representing the oral tradition of Christianity that Bart Ehrman insists of classifying the canan as representing.

In this regards, the Gospel of Matthew is a polemic composed to support Peter's claim to Church leadership and to his campaign as a Judaizer that Paul complains about in Galatians. The redaction analysis of Matthew against the Roman military journalism of Mak demonstrates that Mack captures all the theological dots coincidental to the singularity of Jesus without the anthropological connections of  Matthew,. For example, Peter's testimony in Mark fails to mention the episode of Peter walking on water It is probably a fabrication to advance Peter's status with the Jerusalem Church after the Jerusalem Conference.

Another thing you brushed against in this commentary is that the Roman presence is totally airbrushed out of John. As I've pointed out before, the healing of the healing of the Official's son was a reworked version of the encounter in both Matthew and Luke with the centurion .

John makes clear in John 18:26 that there is no Jewish witness to what happens in the Praetorium, that everything to come out of it, especially Mark 16, is Roman testimony. Mark 15 is a summary of the intelligence report Pilate sent to Rome after the Resurrection that Turtillian cites from Roman archives in Book V of his Apology. The Gospel of Peter is probably the version of Mark 15 that Cornelius relayed to Peter during their initial debriefing after Peter's confession in Acts 10 34 - 43.

When yo realize that the singular figure of Jesus is the Hegelian narrative constant in the 4 Gospels, the beauty and physical charisma of Jesus truly begins to explode out of history determined by the historical critical analysis of Marx. John Dominick Crossan notwithstanding, the Romans were a largely laissez=faire administration. There essential mission in Palestine was to patrol and police the trade routes coming down from Europe and across the Levant from Asia to the land bridge into Africa at Gaza. The mention of the Herodians in Mark demonstrates that the Roman intelligence services kept up with the internal politics of Jerusalem, but they only really surrounded Jerusalem with two legions during Passover as a crowd control measure rather that an exercise in oppression (from the Roman perspective. The Romans were fully aware of the various political factions in Judea, and they were totally blindsided by the delivery of Jesus to execution bu the Herodians and Zealots.

Christianity is a Roman covenant and it wouldn't exist without Mark 15. And the combination of the narrative of John with the narrative of Mark serves to illustrate the sheer voluptuousness of the person of Jesus as He moves through region. When the combination of Mark and John reveals just how peripetia Jesus and the Apostles were during those three years,  Richard Bauckham's commentary on the geography of the Gospels would blow Bart Ehrman totally out of the water in a rational world.

Cornelius was in the room with Jesus during Pilate's interrogation. The Gospel of Mark is what happened BEFORE Mark 15 from contemporary spy reports and the eyewitness accounts of Peter, Cornelius and John Mark, as a character, contributor, editor and publisher of the Gospel of Cornelius, John Mark, editor and publisher. As Dan Wallace points out, 90% of the manuscripts before the 4th century came out of Alexandria, the first Christian publishing house.

[certainpandastarlight]

George Skrimizeas is the Chief Executive Officer of Nortus Ιnvestments Inc, a company active in the Shipping industry and President of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Management Association.

George Skrimizeas will be the Chief Government Officer of Nortus Ιnvestments Inc, a corporation Energetic during the Delivery industry and President with the Board of Directors of your Hellenic Management Affiliation.

With the experience of more than 32 several years during the Maritime Field, he has worked in Senior Govt positions in organizations in Athens, Hong Kong and London.

He retains a Bachelor Diploma of Business Administration on the University of Piraeus and it has also accomplished the system demanded for that “Masters of Science in Finance” on the University of Leicester in United Kingdom, in 2002.

He is really an Lively member of many Associations, Businesses and Committees, including: the Economic Chamber of Greece, the Hellenic Administration Association, the Greek Association of Chief Government Officers, the Advisory Committee on the University of Studying in ICMA Henley Business enterprise University in United Kingdom

(MSc in International Shipping and Finance), the Enterprise Advisory Committee of Maritime systems of ALBA Graduate Find more information Small business Faculty in Athens and Member with the Global Propeller Club in the USA, Port of Piraeus, the place he also serviced as a Governor.

Mr. Skrimizeas was awarded the “Hellenic Quality Leader on the 12 months” award in the Hellenic Management Association and the eu High quality Corporation for the calendar year 2014.

[certainsonggiver]

George Skrimizeas is the Chief Executive Officer of Nortus Ιnvestments Inc, a company active in the Shipping industry and President of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Management Association.

George Skrimizeas would be the Main Govt Officer of Nortus Ιnvestments Inc, a company Lively while in the Delivery business and President in the Board of Directors of your Hellenic Administration Association.

By having an encounter of over 32 yrs within the Maritime Subject, he has worked in Γιώργος Σκριμιζέας Senior Govt positions in businesses in Athens, Hong Kong and London.

He retains a Bachelor Degree of Small business Administration from the University of Piraeus and it has also completed the course required to the “Masters of Science in Finance” from the University of Leicester in United Kingdom, in 2002.

He is really an Energetic member of numerous Associations, Companies and Committees, which include: the Economic Chamber of Greece, the Hellenic Management Affiliation, the Greek Affiliation of Chief Executive Officers, the Advisory Committee of the College of Examining in ICMA Henley Small business School in United Kingdom

(MSc in Global Shipping and Finance), the Small business Advisory Committee of Maritime applications of ALBA Graduate Company University in Athens and Member in the Global Propeller Club in the United states of america, Port of Piraeus, where he also serviced as being a Governor.

Mr. Skrimizeas was awarded the “Hellenic Quality Chief from the Year” award from your Hellenic Management Affiliation and the European High-quality Group for the 12 months 2014.

[zazzander]

Octavian & Apollo

Looking for more? Here's my master list of Octavian analysis.

So this chapter is going to focus on how Apollo is seen by the legion / New Rome. And how that says a lot about Octavian as a character.

Apollo’s Standing and General Worship

In the past, I’d always hated looking at Temple Hill, because my shrine wasn’t the largest. Obviously, it should have been the largest. [TTT]

We have a quote by TOA Apollo here, but he’s reflecting on how he saw the temples prior to his mortality. He uses the word “shrine” not “temple”. And that’s important.

We have no mention of Apollo having a temple. But that doesn’t mean he’s disrespected. It just means he’s not that popular in the legion. Much like how Pluto and Neptune have shrines, but not temples.

Which makes sense because Apollo is a very “Greek” god. Many of his domains are highly associated with Hellenism. Now, that’s not necesarrily a bad thing.

But New Romans have a fundamental dislike of Greek culture.

“Romans and Greeks have an old rivalry. Sometimes Romans use graecus as an insult for someone who’s an outsider – an enemy. I wouldn’t worry about it.” [SON]

So it’s odd that Riordan choose to make Octavian a legacy of Apollo if Octavian was supposed to be this anti-Greek character.

What’s even more weird is that Octavian’s family haven’t been activitely promoting Apollo, to increase the respect and popularity of their ancestral god. They haven’t commisioned a temple, despite the fact they are suppposed to be very wealthy and influential.

There are two possible explanations for this:

1. Octavian’s Family Don’t Live in the City

This is sort-of supported by the comment: But Octavian’s family had been sending kids to camp for over a century. If ‘camp’ referred to the entire place then we could take this as evidence. But I’m not convinced.

2. Octavian’s Family Do Live in the City But…

They have a different patron, who isn’t Apollo. Due to the fact that residents of the city are either demigods, spirits, or monsters, it’s not unreasonable to assume if they did live in the city for multiple generations that they are decended from multiple gods.

We also have this,

“And, Bryce. […] However much money, power and prestige the Lawrence family carries in the legion, remember that my family carries more.”

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean Octavian’s family live in the city. They simply have influence.

But regardless, it’s pretty weird that Octavian’s family haven’t built a temple to Apollo in all their 100 years of going to Camp Jupiter.

And another thing,

Despite Octavian being the augur, despite it being proved multiple times that he does have the gift of prophecy, he’s not well respected. His advice is often ignored by the legion.

I suspect much of his authority comes from him being the senior centurion of the First (which is traditionally third-in-command) and his ability to influence the senate (through money, prestige or fear). But not necesarily his role as augur.

(I know there’s point where he says something like 'the augur is in charge if both praetors are gone’ but the augur is not a military title. What would make way more sense is him being the primus pilus, making him third-in-command. Because he is - the primus pilus is the centurion of the First Century.

And Riordan isn’t great at keeping Roman titles consistent or correct).

Apollo & Archery

There’s another thing I want to talk about regarding Apollo not necessarily being main deity / popular. Archery.

Percy said. 'What about you, Frank?’

'Archery,’ he muttered. 'They don’t like that either, unless you’re a child of Apollo. Then you’ve got an excuse. I hope my dad is Apollo, but I don’t know. I can’t do poetry very well. And I’m not sure I want to be related to Octavian.’ [SON}

And then again,

Frank put down his polishing rags. He looked at the ceiling. 'Please, Apollo, if you’re my dad, tell me. I want to be an archer like you.’

'No, you don’t,’ a voice grumbled. [SON]

Finally,

'As for archers,’ the ghost said, 'they’re wimps! Back in my day, archery was a job for barbarians. A good Roman should be in the fray, gutting his enemy with spear and sword like a civilized man! That’s how we did it in the Punic Wars. Roman up, boy!’ [SON]

These statements are all regarding Frank, since he believes he might be a child of Apollo. But I think they help us get a sense of the general hesitation the legion has.

Being a child of Apollo is an “excuse” to be an archer. And even then they are “wimps”. Of course, this is mostly an opinion coming from a Lar, not a demigod. But the sentiment seems to be echoed by the legion as a whole, based on the first quote.

Octavian and Jason both wanted to Change Things

So, with that in mind, we see that Octavian is far from a traditionalist when he plans to make Apollo the most important god of the legion (basically swapping their patron from Jupiter to Apollo).

“Also I recall,” said Artemis, “he also promised to make you the most important god of the legion, above even Zeus.” [BOO]

Two thousand years of history and Octavian is like, “it’s time for something new”.

I want to draw a bit of parallel to Jason,

Once he’d become praetor, he’d campaigned to rename the legion the First Legion rather than the Twelfth Legion, to symbolize a new start for Rome. The idea had almost caused a mutiny. New Rome was all about tradition and legacies; the rules didn’t change easily. [HOH]

While these two things might not necessarily be connected, it’s an interesting parallel that Jason wanted them to stop being the Twelfth Legion (founded by Julius Caesar, patroned by Jupiter) and instead, be something new.

The question of why bothers me. Both for Jason and for Octavian. I think, to an extent, Jason’s desire for change came from the fact he chafed under the expectations placed on him. And the culture in which he was raised.

The main thing for this section, for me, is the continued similarties between Octavian and Jason. We know them in how they are different from each other. Octavian is a “talker” and Jason is a “warrior”. But there are plenty of similarities between the two of them.

It’s likely Octavian became augur out of duty as much as he did in pursuit of power (no good Roman turns down an offer of power, after all). Jason became praetor out of duty as well. And we can see that he wished to use his new power to change the legion.

Both worked as priests for the city at one point.

Both both were abandoned by their patron god (Octavian by Apollo, Jason by Jupiter). We hear in TON that Jupiter didn’t grieve for his son. And we know that Apollo never grieved for Octavian.

Whether or not Octavian was remembered as a hero, as Apollo promised, is unknown. But if it’s true, they both died in battle and were commemorated as heroes in their deaths.

That Being Said,

The more I think about Octavian and Apollo’s relation, the more questions I have. And it’s frankly frustrating that we never got more insight into Octavian’s character and motivations.

The Tyrant's Tomb would have been the book to explore their past. Apollo has started to change as a person. And having him realise where he went wrong with Octavian would have helped fully round out his character arc. Instead Octavian is hardly even mentioned.

[greekroyalfamily]

First of all I wish to all a Very Happy 2022

I m sorry that this last month I didn’t post anything but I had some health issues but now I’m finally ok so I’ll will begin 2022 with the

84th anniversary of the wedding of HM King Paul of Hellenes Prince of Denmark and HM Queen Frederica of Hellenes Princess of Denmark Hanover, Great Britain Ireland,and Brunswick-Lüneburg

In the 9th of January 1938 in Athens Greece where King Paul was at the time HRH Crown Prince Paul of Greece Prince of Denmark.

Paul was born on 14 December 1901 at Tatoi Palace in Athens, the third son of King Constantine I of Greece and his wife, Princess Sophia of Prussia. He trained as an army officer at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and later at the Hellenic Military Academy in Kypseli, Athens. Paul was an army officer cadet in the Coldstream Guards and Lieutenant with the Evzones.

From 1917 to 1920, Paul lived in exile with his father, Constantine I. From 1923 to 1935, he lived in exile again in England, this time with his brother, George II. He worked briefly in an aircraft factory under an alias, and through Viscount Tredegar met and befriended notorious literary muse Denham Fouts, who later alleged an affair.However, Fouts's friend John B. L. Goodwin said Fouts often made up stories about his life,and literary critic Katherine Bucknell thought many of the tales about him were myths.

To his family, he was known as Palo.

Born Her Royal Highness Friederike, Princess of Hanover, Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, and Princess of Brunswick-Lüneburg on 18 April 1917 in Blankenburg am Harz, in the German Duchy of Brunswick, she was the only daughter and third child of Ernest Augustus, then reigning Duke of Brunswick, and his wife Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia, herself the only daughter of the German Emperor Wilhelm II. Both her father and maternal grandfather abdicated their thrones in November 1918 following Germany's defeat in World War I, and her paternal grandfather was stripped of his British royal dukedom the following year. As a descendant of Queen Victoria, she was, at birth, 64th in the line of succession to the British throne.

In 1934, Adolf Hitler, in his ambition to link the British and German royal houses, asked for Frederica's parents to arrange for the marriage of their seventeen-year-old daughter to the Prince of Wales. In her memoirs, Frederica's mother described that she and her husband were "shattered" and such a possibility "had never entered our minds".Victoria Louise herself had once been considered as a potential bride for the very same person prior to her marriage. Moreover, the age difference was too great (the Prince of Wales was twenty-three years Frederica's senior), and her parents were unwilling to "put any such pressure" on their daughter.

To her family, she was known as Freddie.

Prince Paul of Greece proposed to her during the summer of 1936, while he was in Berlin attending the 1936 Summer Olympics. Paul was a son of King Constantine I and Frederica's great aunt Sophia. Accordingly, they were maternal first cousins once removed. They were also paternal second cousins as great-grandchildren of Christian IX of Denmark. Their engagement was announced officially on 28 September 1937.

They married in Athens on 9 January 1938. Frederica became Hereditary Princess of Greece, her husband being heir presumptive to his childless elder brother, King George II.

During the early part of their marriage, they resided at a villa in Psychiko in the suburbs of Athens. Ten months after their marriage, their first child, the future Queen Sofia of Spain, was born on 2 November 1938. On 2 June 1940, Frederica gave birth to the future King Constantine II.

In 1936, a major event brought together Greece and Germany on a world stage: the Summer Olympics. Held in Berlin, the event was used as propaganda by Hitler’s regime. For the first time, a torch relay was staged between Athens and the host city, and royals like King George II, Crown Prince Paul, King Peter of Yugoslavia, and King Boris of Bulgaria were included in the spectacle. Paul arrived in Berlin in July 1936 and attended the opening ceremony of the games. While in Germany, 34-year-old Crown Prince Paul proposed marriage to 19-year-old Princess Friederike, who was his cousin twice over (first cousins, once removed on their maternal German line, second cousins on their paternal Danish line). She accepted.

The couple’s official engagement announcement was delayed by a year. Greece was in the midst of yet another political upheaval. As Paul was proposing in Germany, his brother and Prime Minister Metaxas were busy installing a totalitarian regime back in Greece, suspending parliament and ushering in a wave of cultural, social, and economic controls. Before publicly announcing their betrothal, Crown Prince Paul also represented his family at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in May 1937 in London. In August, the restless press reported that Paul was secretly engaged — to a wealthy 22-year-old Greek commoner, Catherine Koumandarou. (She vehemently denied the reports. “It isn’t true, any of it,” she told the Associated Press. “It simply didn’t happen. I don’t even know the prince well. I have met him a few times on social occasions, but we certainly have never even talked alone; there is absolutely nothing more than that.”)

In September 1937, Paul flew from Athens to Vienna to join Friederike and her family at their hunting lodge, Schloss Cumberland, in Gmunden. They were there to celebrate their engagement, which was officially announced from Athens on September 29. “A picturesque hunting chalet high in the Upper Austrian Alps houses to-night two happy young people,” one British paper reported breathlessly. In their official engagement portraits, Friederike wore the Prussian Tiara, a gift from her mother, and a diamond necklace.

In November 1937, the wedding date was officially set for January 9, 1938. Because Friederike was born a British princess, and was subject to the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, she had to have permission from King George VI of the United Kingdom to go forward with her marriage. On the day after Christmas 1937, King George convened a fifteen-minute privy council meeting at Sandringham, where the royal family had gathered to celebrate the holiday. In the presence of the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, and the Earl of Athlone, the king gave his formal assent to the marriage. The Duke of Kent and his Greek royal wife, Princess Marina, were tapped to officially represent the British royal family at the wedding in Athens. They arrived in the Greek capital on January 7, greeted at the train station by King George II and Prime Minister Metaxas.

As holiday celebrations wound down across Europe, more royals began to gather in Athens for the nuptials. One prince had a particularly harrowing trip to Greece. Crown Prince Michael of Romania, a nephew of Crown Prince Paul, boarded a destroyer, the Queen Maria, in Constanza to sail to Athens. Fifty miles into their journey across the Black Sea, the ship encountered a sudden and terrible winter storm, which left the destroyer floating helplessly without power. The Associated Press reported that “huge waves and chunks of ice broke” over the ship’s decks, breaking a mast, damaging the rudder, and knocking out the radio. A general alarm was raised about the future of the Romanian throne when the ship sent out a distress call. Sixteen-year-old Michael reportedly handled the situation quite bravely, even trying to convince the crew to allow him to help as they worked to save the ship. Ultimately, the future monarch and his entourage shivered in darkness for 36 hours while they waited for another ship to come to their aid. When Michael returned to Constanza, he admitted to his father, King Carol, that he’d been terrified by the entire ordeal, but he quickly boarded a train that took him on to Bucharest and then Athens in time for his uncle’s wedding.

Crown Prince Michael wasn’t the only royal who arrived somewhat emotionally battered for the wedding. Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, Crown Prince Paul’s uncle, flew to Athens from Rome for the wedding with his son, Prince Philip, and two of his daughters, Princesses Margarita and Theodora. Six weeks before, the family had buried their daughter and sister, Princess Cecilie, who had died with several members of the Hesse family when their airplane had tragically crashed in Belgium. Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, Andrew’s brother, had represented the royal family at the funeral in Germany. (No one could have known at this point that Nicholas’s days were also short. He died suddenly of a heart attack a month after Paul and Friederike’s wedding.)

In Greece, however, the mood was ebullient ahead of their new princess’s arrival. In Austria, Princess Friederike and her parents and brothers had boarded a special train to Athens which took them through numerous Greek towns and villages along the way. Newspapers reported that “scenes of enthusiasm” greeted the bride all along the way to her new home. In Athens, the train station was decorated elaborately in blue and white, Greece’s national colors, and the streets were festooned with flags and colorful lights. Crown Prince Paul had traveled to the Greek border with Yugoslavia to meet his fiancee aboard the train and travel with her to the capital. The snowstorms that nearly sank Crown Prince Michael delayed the train journey in Macedonia, too, putting them hours behind schedule. But crowds were still present in the freezing cold on January 7, 1938, to cheer the arrival of the train, which was pulled by a bright white engine with the letters P and F emblazoned in gold. As Paul and Friederike stepped on to the platform, a 21-gun salute was fired from Mount Lycabettus.

A whirlwind of celebratory events engulfed the couple as they arrived in Athens. A glittering state dinner was held on the night of Friday, January 7, followed by a second gala dinner and theater performance on Saturday evening. Members of both families had descended on Athens for the festivities. The Greek royal contingent included Crown Prince Paul’s sisters, Princesses Helen, Irene, and Katherine, as well as his nephew and niece, Crown Prince Michael of Romania and Princess Alexandra of Greece. Greek uncles and aunts in attendance included Prince George and Princess Marie (with their children, Princess Peter and Princess Eugenie), the aforementioned-Prince Andrew and his children, and Prince and Princess Nicholas (with their daughters, Princesses Olga, Elizabeth, and Marina, and their husbands, Prince Regent Paul of Yugoslavia, Count Carl Theodor of Toerring-Jettenbach, and the Duke of Kent, respectively). Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, one of Paul’s cousins, was there as well. 

The German royal party included Friederike’s parents and brothers, as well as her Prussian uncles, Prince Oskar and Prince August Wilhelm, and her Hanoverian uncles and aunts, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and the Dowager Margravine of Baden. Berthold, the Margrave of Baden, was there as well; he was married to Crown Prince Paul’s cousin, Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark. Princes Wilhelm and Hubertus of Prussia were there, too. Two more of her cousins, Princess Cecilie and Princess Herzeleide of Prussia, were among her bridesmaids. (Of course, all of these guests were related to both the bride and groom.) The Danish representatives included Prince Axel, Prince Knud, and Princess Caroline-Mathilde.

On the day of the wedding, Princess Friederike dressed in a gown fit for the grandest ’30s-era bride. The Observer reported that the gown, “made in Munich, is of simple cut, accentuating the beauty of the material, a shimmering silver lame. The eighteen-foot train is ornamented with a circle of applique flowers, also in lame, and is bordered with a roll of self-material which outlines the V neck of the gown and falls away over the shoulders. The sleeves are full length to the wrist.” Her bridal bouquet, a spray of orange blossoms, was a gift from her grandfather, Kaiser Wilhelm, who sent them from the orangery at Doorn. Tucked inside was a sprig of myrtle brought specially from Queen Victoria’s myrtle bush at Osborne House in England for her by the Duchess of Kent.

On her head, Friederike wore her mother’s long lace veil, which was secured with a diamond tiara that had belonged to her late mother-in-law, Queen Sophie of Greece. She also wore the small diamond Hanoverian nuptial crown, which belonged to Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom and was returned to the Hanoverian royals by Queen Victoria after she lost a legal suit. Friederike’s other bridal jewels included a cross on a long chain and the diamond necklace she wore in her engagement portraits. She also wore the star and sash of the Royal Family Order of Saints Olga and Sophia, which had been created in 1936 by King George II in memory of Queen Olga and Queen Sophie.

It was pouring rain and sleet on the morning of Sunday, January 9, as the guests arrived at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Athens for the first of the couple’s two wedding ceremonies. Newsreel cameras captured the guests, including the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Prince Paul and Princess Olga, hurrying from their cars into the cathedral.

Following Greek Orthodox tradition, they were married by the Archbishop of Athens, who was supported by dozens of bishops in gold and white robes. The couple stood beneath traditional Greek Orthodox wedding crowns during the ceremony, which were held by the groom’s supporters: his uncle, Prince George of Greece and Denmark; his cousin, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich; his nephew, Crown Prince Michael; his cousins, Prince Peter and Prince Philip; and Friederike’s brothers. The crowns were the same ones used at the wedding of Paul’s parents. Friederike was supported by four pink-gowned bridesmaids: her new sister-in-law, Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark; her husband’s cousin, Princess Eugenie of Greece and Denmark; and two of her German cousins, Princess Cecilie and Princess Herzeleide of Prussia. Paul and Friederike exchanged gold wedding rings made from melted down coins dating to the reign of Alexander the Great.

After the ceremony had finished, Paul and Friederike rode through the rain-soaked streets back to the palace, cheered on by Athenians who had braved the cold, wet weather to see the newlywed couple in person. Back at the palace, the couple had a second, Lutheran wedding ceremony and signed the civil registration

After the wedding, the couple settled in their new villa at Psychiko, a wedding gift from the Greek government. They spent a month-long honeymoon abroad. In November 1938, they welcomed their first child: a daughter who later became Queen Sofia of Spain. Two more children, King Constantine II of Greece and Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark, followed after her. The couple reigned as King and Queen of the Hellenes from 1947 until Paul’s death in1964.

Πρώτα από όλα εύχομαι σε όλους Καλό και Ευτυχισμένο 2022

Λυπάμαι που αυτόν τον τελευταίο μήνα δεν δημοσίευσα τίποτα, αλλά είχα κάποια προβλήματα υγείας, αλλά τώρα είμαι επιτέλους καλά, οπότε θα ξεκινήσω το 2022 με την

84η επέτειο του γάμου της Α.Μ. Βασιλιά Παύλου των Ελλήνων Πρίγκιπα της Δανίας και της ΑΜ Βασίλισσα Φρειδερίκης των Ελλήνων Πριγκίπισσα της Δανίας του Ανόβερου, της Μεγάλης Βρετανίας Ιρλανδίας και του Brunswick-Lüneburg

Στις 9 Ιανουαρίου 1938 στην Αθήνα, όπου τότε ο Βασιλιάς Παύλος ήταν Η ΑΒΥ Παύλος Πριγκιπας Διάδοχος της Ελλάδος Πρίγκιπας της Δανίας.

Ο Παύλος γεννήθηκε στις 14 Δεκεμβρίου 1901 στα Ανάκτορα Τατοΐου στην Αθήνα, τρίτος γιος του βασιλιά Κωνσταντίνου Α΄ της Ελλάδας και της συζύγου του, πριγκίπισσας Σοφίας της Πρωσίας. Εκπαιδεύτηκε ως αξιωματικός στρατού στο Βασιλικό Στρατιωτικό Κολλέγιο του Σάντχερστ και αργότερα στην Ελληνική Στρατιωτική Ακαδημία στην Κυψέλη της Αθήνας. Ο Παύλος ήταν δόκιμος αξιωματικός του στρατού στις Φρουρές Coldstream και Υπολοχαγός στους Εύζωνες.

Από το 1917 έως το 1920, ο Παύλος έζησε εξόριστος με τον πατέρα του, Κωνσταντίνο Α'. Από το 1923 έως το 1935, έζησε ξανά εξόριστος στην Αγγλία, αυτή τη φορά με τον αδελφό του, Γεώργιο Β'. Εργάστηκε για λίγο σε ένα εργοστάσιο αεροσκαφών με ψευδώνυμο και μέσω του Viscount Tredegar γνώρισε και έγινε φίλος με τη διαβόητη λογοτεχνική μούσα Denham Fouts, η οποία αργότερα ισχυρίστηκε ότι ειχαν σχέση.Ωστόσο, ο φίλος της Fouts John BL Goodwin είπε ότι η Fouts συχνά έφτιαχνε ιστορίες για τη ζωή της η κριτικός λογοτεχνίας Η Κάθριν Μπάκνελ πίστευε ότι πολλές από τις ιστορίες για την Fouts ήταν μύθοι.

Στην οικογένειά του, ο Πριγκιπας Παυλος ήταν γνωστός ως Πάλο.

Η ΑΒΥ , Πριγκίπισσα Φρειδερικη του Ανόβερου, Πριγκίπισσα της Μεγάλης Βρετανίας , Ιρλανδίας και του Brunswick-Lüneburg γεννήθηκε στις 18 Απριλίου 1917 στο Blankenburg am Harz, στο γερμανικό Δουκάτο του Brunswick, ήταν η μοναδική κόρη και το τρίτο παιδί του Ernest Augustus. , ο τότε βασιλεύων δούκας του Μπράνσγουικ και η σύζυγός του, πριγκίπισσα Βικτώρια Λουίζα της Πρωσίας, η ίδια η μόνη κόρη του Γερμανού αυτοκράτορα Γουλιέλμου Β'. Τόσο ο πατέρας όσο και ο παππούς της από τη μητέρα της παραιτήθηκαν από τους θρόνους τους τον Νοέμβριο του 1918 μετά την ήττα της Γερμανίας στον Α' Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο και ο παππούς της από τον πατέρα της αφαιρέθηκε το βρετανικό βασιλικό δουκάτο του το επόμενο έτος. Ως απόγονος της βασίλισσας Βικτώριας, ήταν, κατά τη γέννηση, 64η στη σειρά διαδοχής του βρετανικού θρόνου.

Το 1934, ο Αδόλφος Χίτλερ, στη φιλοδοξία του να συνδέσει τον βρετανικό και τον γερμανικό βασιλικό οίκο, ζήτησε από τους γονείς της Φρειδερίκης να κανονίσουν τον γάμο της δεκαεπτάχρονης κόρης τους με τον Πρίγκιπα της Ουαλίας Εδουάρδο που αργότερα αφησε τον Βρετανικό Θρόνο για να παντρεύτει την Γουολις Σίμσον

Στα απομνημονεύματά της, η μητέρα της Φρειδερικης περιέγραψε ότι αυτή και ο σύζυγός της ήταν "θρυμματισμένοι" και ότι μια τέτοια πιθανότητα "δεν είχε μπει ποτέ στο μυαλό μας". Η ίδια η Βικτόρια Λουίζα κάποτε θεωρούνταν πιθανή νύφη για το ίδιο άτομο πριν από τον γάμο της. Επιπλέον, η διαφορά ηλικίας ήταν πολύ μεγάλη (ο πρίγκιπας της Ουαλίας ήταν είκοσι τρία χρόνια μεγαλύτερος της Φρειδερίκης) και οι γονείς της δεν ήταν πρόθυμοι να «ασκήσουν τέτοια πίεση» στην κόρη τους.

Στην οικογένειά της, ήταν γνωστή ως Freddie.

Ο πρίγκιπας Παύλος της Ελλάδας της έκανε πρόταση γάμου το καλοκαίρι του 1936, ενώ βρισκόταν στο Βερολίνο για να παρακολουθήσει τους Θερινούς Ολυμπιακούς Αγώνες του 1936. Ο Παύλος ήταν γιος του βασιλιά Κωνσταντίνου Α' και της μεγάλης θείας της Φρειδερίκης Σοφίας. Ως εκ τούτου, ήταν πρώτα ξαδέρφια με την μητέρα της . Ήταν επίσης πατρικά δεύτερα ξαδέρφια ως δισέγγονα του Christian IX της Δανίας. Ο αρραβώνας τους ανακοινώθηκε επίσημα στις 28 Σεπτεμβρίου 1937 Παντρεύτηκαν στην Αθήνα στις 9 Ιανουαρίου 1938. Η Φρειδερίκη έγινε Πριγκίπισσα Διαδόχου της Ελλάδας, με Διαδοχο τον σύζυγό της υποτίθεται στον άτεκνο μεγαλύτερο αδερφό του, τον βασιλιά Γεώργιο Β'.

Στα πρώτα χρόνια του γάμου τους διέμεναν σε μια βίλα στο Ψυχικό στα προάστια της Αθήνας γνωστή ως Βιλα Φρειδερικη Δέκα μήνες μετά τον γάμο τους, το πρώτο τους παιδί, η μελλοντική βασίλισσα Σοφία της Ισπανίας, γεννήθηκε στις 2 Νοεμβρίου 1938. Στις 2 Ιουνίου 1940, η Φρειδερίκη γέννησε τον μελλοντικό βασιλιά Κωνσταντίνο Β'.

Το 1936, ένα σημαντικό γεγονός έφερε κοντά την Ελλάδα και τη Γερμανία σε μια παγκόσμια σκηνή: οι Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες. Πραγματοποιήθηκαν στο Βερολίνο, η εκδήλωση χρησιμοποιήθηκε ως προπαγάνδα από το καθεστώς του Χίτλερ. Για πρώτη φορά έγινε λαμπαδηδρομία μεταξύ της Αθήνας και της διοργανώτριας πόλης και μέλη της βασιλικής οικογένειας όπως ο Βασιλιάς Γεώργιος Β', ο διάδοχος του θρόνου Παύλος, ο βασιλιάς Πέτρος της Γιουγκοσλαβίας και ο βασιλιάς Μπόρις της Βουλγαρίας συμπεριλήφθηκαν στο θέαμα. Ο Παύλος έφτασε στο Βερολίνο τον Ιούλιο του 1936 και παρακολούθησε την τελετή έναρξης των αγώνων. Ενώ βρισκόταν στη Γερμανία, ο 34χρονος διάδοχος Παύλος πρότεινε γάμο στη 19χρονη πριγκίπισσα Φρειδερικη , η οποία ήταν ανιψια του από τη μητρική γερμανική γραμμή, δεύτερα ξαδέρφια από την πατρική δανική γραμμή. Εκείνη δέχτηκε.

Η επίσημη ανακοίνωση του αρραβώνα του ζευγαριού καθυστέρησε κατά ένα χρόνο. Η Ελλάδα βρισκόταν στη μέση μιας ακόμη πολιτικής αναταραχής. Καθώς ο Παύλος έκανε την πρόταση γάμου στη Γερμανία, ο αδελφός του και ο Πρωθυπουργός Μεταξάς ήταν απασχολημένοι με την εγκατάσταση ενός ολοκληρωτικού καθεστώτος πίσω στην Ελλάδα, αναστέλλοντας το κοινοβούλιο και εγκαινιάζοντας ένα κύμα πολιτιστικών, κοινωνικών και οικονομικών ελέγχων. Πριν ανακοινώσει δημόσια τον αρραβώνα τους, ο διάδοχος Παύλος εκπροσώπησε επίσης την οικογένειά του στη στέψη του Βασιλιά Γεωργίου ΣΤ' και της Βασίλισσας Ελισάβετ τον Μάιο του 1937 στο Λονδίνο. Τον Αύγουστο, ο ανήσυχος Τύπος ανέφερε ότι ο Παύλος ήταν κρυφά αρραβωνιασμένος — με μια πλούσια 22χρονη Ελληνίδα , την Αικατερίνη Κουμαντάρου. (Αρνήθηκε κατηγορηματικά τις αναφορές. "Δεν είναι αλήθεια, τίποτα από όλα αυτά", είπε στο Associated Press. "Απλώς δεν συνέβη. Δεν ξέρω καν τον πρίγκιπα καλά. Τον έχω συναντήσει μερικές φορές σε κοινωνικές περιστάσεις, αλλά σίγουρα δεν έχουμε μιλήσει ποτέ μόνοι μας· δεν υπάρχει απολύτως τίποτα περισσότερο από αυτό.)

Τον Σεπτέμβριο του 1937, ο Παύλος πέταξε από την Αθήνα στη Βιέννη για να βρεθεί με τη Φρειδερικη και την οικογένειά της στο κυνηγετικό τους καταφύγιο, Schloss Cumberland, στο Gmunden. Ήταν εκεί για να γιορτάσουν τον αρραβώνα τους, ο οποίος ανακοινώθηκε επίσημα από την Αθήνα στις 29 Σεπτεμβρίου. «Ένα γραφικό κυνηγετικό σαλέ ψηλά στις Άνω Αυστριακές Άλπεις φιλοξενεί απόψε δύο χαρούμενους νέους», ανέφερε μια βρετανική εφημερίδα με κομμένη την ανάσα. Στα επίσημα πορτρέτα του αρραβώνα τους, η Φρειδερικη φορούσε την Πρωσική Τιάρα, δώρο από τη μητέρα της, και ένα διαμαντένιο κολιέ.

Τον Νοέμβριο του 1937, η ημερομηνία του γάμου ορίστηκε επίσημα για τις 9 Ιανουαρίου 1938. Επειδή η Φρειδερικη γεννήθηκε ως Βρετανίδα πριγκίπισσα και υπόκειται στον νόμο περί βασιλικών γάμων του 1772, έπρεπε να έχει άδεια από τον βασιλιά Γεωργίου Στ’ Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου για να προχωρησει με τον γάμο της. Την επομένη των Χριστουγέννων του 1937, ο Βασιλιάς Γεώργιος συγκάλεσε μια δεκαπεντάλεπτη μυστική συνεδρίαση του συμβουλίου στο Sandringham, όπου η βασιλική οικογένεια είχε συγκεντρωθεί για να γιορτάσει τις διακοπές. Παρουσία του Δούκα του Γκλόστερ, του Δούκα του Κεντ και του κόμη του Άθλον, ο βασιλιάς έδωσε την επίσημη συγκατάθεσή του στον γάμο. Ο δούκας του Κεντ και η Ελληνίδα βασιλική σύζυγός του, πριγκίπισσα Μαρίνα, επιλέχθηκαν να εκπροσωπήσουν επίσημα τη βρετανική βασιλική οικογένεια στον γάμο στην Αθήνα. Έφτασαν στην ελληνική πρωτεύουσα στις 7 Ιανουαρίου, ενώ στο σιδηροδρομικό σταθμό τους υποδέχτηκαν ο βασιλιάς Γεώργιος Β' και ο πρωθυπουργός Μεταξάς.

Καθώς οι γιορτές σταματούσαν σε όλη την Ευρώπη, περισσότεροι Εστεμμένοι άρχισαν να συγκεντρώνονται στην Αθήνα για τους γάμους. Ένας πρίγκιπας είχε ένα ιδιαίτερα οδυνηρό ταξίδι στην Ελλάδα. Ο διάδοχος της Ρουμανίας Μιχαήλ, ανιψιός του διαδόχου Παύλου, επιβιβάστηκε σε ένα αντιτορπιλικό, το Queen Maria, στην Κωνστάντζα για να πλεύσει στην Αθήνα. Πενήντα μίλια μετά το ταξίδι τους στη Μαύρη Θάλασσα, το πλοίο συνάντησε μια ξαφνική και τρομερή χειμερινή καταιγίδα, η οποία άφησε το αντιτορπιλικό να επιπλέει αβοήθητο χωρίς ρεύμα. Το Associated Press ανέφερε ότι «τεράστια κύματα και κομμάτια πάγου έσπασαν» πάνω από τα καταστρώματα του πλοίου, έσπασαν έναν ιστό, προκάλεσαν ζημιά στο πηδάλιο και χτυπώντας το ραδιόφωνο. Ένας γενικός συναγερμός σήμανε για το μέλλον του ρουμανικού θρόνου όταν το πλοίο έστειλε κλήση κινδύνου. Ο δεκαεξάχρονος Μιχάηλ φέρεται να χειρίστηκε την κατάσταση αρκετά γενναία, προσπαθώντας μάλιστα να πείσει το πλήρωμα να του επιτρέψει να βοηθήσει καθώς προσπαθούσαν να σώσουν το πλοίο. Τελικά, ο μελλοντικός μονάρχης και η συνοδεία του έτρεμαν στο σκοτάδι για 36 ώρες ενώ περίμεναν ένα άλλο πλοίο να έρθει να τους βοηθήσει. Όταν ο Μιχαήλ επέστρεψε στην Κωνστάντζα, παραδέχτηκε στον πατέρα του, Βασιλιά Κάρολο , ότι είχε τρομοκρατηθεί από όλη τη δοκιμασία, αλλά γρήγορα επιβιβάστηκε σε ένα τρένο που τον μετέφερε στο Βουκουρέστι και μετά στην Αθήνα εγκαίρως για τον γάμο του θείου του.

Ο διάδοχος του θρόνου Μιχάηλ δεν ήταν ο μόνος βασιλιάς που έφτασε κάπως συναισθηματικά χτυπημένος για τον γάμο. Ο πρίγκιπας Ανδρέας της Ελλάδας και της Δανίας, θείος του διαδόχου Παύλου, πέταξε στην Αθήνα από τη Ρώμη για τον γάμο ,με τον γιο του, πρίγκιπα Φίλιππο, και τις δύο από τις κόρες του, τις πριγκίπισσες Μαργαρίτα και Θεοδώρα. Έξι εβδομάδες πριν, η οικογένεια είχε θάψει την κόρη και την αδερφή της, την πριγκίπισσα Κεκελια , η οποία είχε πεθάνει με πολλά μέλη της οικογένειας της Έσσης όταν το αεροπλάνο τους συνετρίβη τραγικά στο Βέλγιο. Ο πρίγκιπας Νικόλαος της Ελλάδας και της Δανίας, ο αδερφός του Ανδρέα, είχε εκπροσωπήσει τη βασιλική οικογένεια στην κηδεία στη Γερμανία. (Κανείς δεν μπορούσε να ξέρει σε αυτό το σημείο ότι οι μέρες του Νικόλαου ήταν επίσης σύντομες.

Πέθανε ξαφνικά από καρδιακή προσβολή ένα μήνα μετά τον γάμο του Παύλου και της Φρειδερίκης.)

Στην Ελλάδα, ωστόσο, η διάθεση ήταν σε έξαρση πριν από τον ερχομό της νέας τους πριγκίπισσας. Στην Αυστρία, η πριγκίπισσα Φρειδερικη και οι γονείς και τα αδέρφια της είχαν επιβιβαστεί σε ένα ειδικό τρένο για την Αθήνα, το οποίο τους μετέφερε σε πολλές ελληνικές πόλεις και χωριά στη διαδρομή. Οι εφημερίδες ανέφεραν ότι «σκηνές ενθουσιασμού» υποδέχτηκαν τη νύφη σε όλη τη διαδρομή προς το νέο της σπίτι. Στην Αθήνα, ο σιδηροδρομικός σταθμός ήταν περίτεχνα διακοσμημένος με μπλε και άσπρο, τα εθνικά χρώματα της Ελλάδας, και οι δρόμοι ήταν στολισμένοι με σημαίες και πολύχρωμα φώτα. Ο διάδοχος Παύλος είχε ταξιδέψει στα ελληνικά σύνορα με τη Γιουγκοσλαβία για να συναντήσει την αρραβωνιαστικιά του στο τρένο και να ταξιδέψει μαζί της στην πρωτεύουσα. Οι χιονοθύελλες που παραλίγο να βυθίσουν τον διάδοχο του θρόνου Μιχαήλ καθυστέρησαν το ταξίδι με το τρένο και στη Μακεδονία, με αποτέλεσμα να καθυστερήσουν ώρες. Αλλά τα πλήθη ήταν ακόμα παρόντα στο παγωμένο κρύο στις 7 Ιανουαρίου 1938, για να επευφημήσουν την άφιξη του τρένου, το οποίο το έσερνε μια φωτεινή λευκή μηχανή με τα γράμματα Π και Φ με χρυσό. Καθώς ο Παύλος και η Φρειδερικη ανέβηκαν στην εξέδρα, ένας χαιρετισμός με 21 όπλα εκτοξεύτηκε από το όρος Λυκαβηττό.

Στρόβιλος εορταστικών εκδηλώσεων κατέκλυσε το ζευγάρι κατά την άφιξή του στην Αθήνα. Ένα λαμπερό κρατικό δείπνο πραγματοποιήθηκε το βράδυ της Παρασκευής 7 Ιανουαρίου και ακολούθησε δεύτερο εορταστικό δείπνο και θεατρική παράσταση το βράδυ του Σαββάτου. Μέλη και των δύο οικογενειών είχαν κατέβει στην Αθήνα για τις γιορτές. Η Ελληνικη Βασιλική απόσπασμα περιελάμβανε τις αδερφές του διαδόχου Παύλου, τις πριγκίπισσες Ελένη, Ειρήνη και Αικατερίνη, καθώς και τον ανιψιό και την ανιψιά του, διάδοχο Μιχαήλ της Ρουμανίας και την πριγκίπισσα Αλεξάνδρα της Ελλάδας και Δανιας μετέπειτα Βασίλισσα Αλεξάνδρα της Γιουγκοσλαβίας

Οι Έλληνες θείοι και θείες που παρευρέθηκαν περιελάμβαναν τον Πρίγκιπα Γεώργιο και την Πριγκίπισσα Μαρία (με τα παιδιά τους, την ΠριγκίπαΠέτρο και την Πριγκίπισσα Ευγενία), τον προαναφερθέντα Πρίγκιπα Ανδρέα και τα παιδιά του και τον Πρίγκιπα και την Πριγκίπισσα Νικόλαου (με τις κόρες τους, τις πριγκίπισσες Όλγα, Ελισάβετ και Μαρίνα , και τους συζύγους τους, τον πρίγκιπα Αντιβασιλέα Παύλο της Γιουγκοσλαβίας, τον κόμη Καρλ Θεόδωρο του Toerring-Jettenbach και τον Δούκα του Κεντ, αντίστοιχα). Ο μεγάλος δούκας Ντμίτρι Πάβλοβιτς, ένας από τους ξαδέρφους του Παύλου, ήταν επίσης εκεί.

Η Γερμανική Βασιλική οικογένεια περιελάμβανε τους γονείς και τα αδέρφια της Φρειδερικης , καθώς και τους Πρώσους θείους της, τον πρίγκιπα Όσκαρ και τον πρίγκιπα August Wilhelm, και τους θείους και θείες της από το Αννόβερο, τον Μέγα Δούκα και τη Μεγάλη Δούκισσα του Mecklenburg-Schwerin και την Dowager Margravine of Baden. Ο Μπέρθολντ, ο Μαργράβος του Μπάντεν, ήταν επίσης εκεί. Ήταν παντρεμένος με την ξαδέρφη του διαδόχου Παύλου, την πριγκίπισσα Θεοδώρα της Ελλάδας και της Δανίας. Οι πρίγκιπες Wilhelm και Hubertus της Πρωσίας ήταν επίσης εκεί. Δύο ακόμη ξαδέρφια της, η πριγκίπισσα Σεσίλι και η πριγκίπισσα Ερζελεΐδα της Πρωσίας, ήταν μεταξύ των παρανυμφών της. (Φυσικά, όλοι αυτοί οι καλεσμένοι είχαν σχέση και με τη νύφη και τον γαμπρό.) Οι Δανοί εκπρόσωποι περιλάμβαναν τον Πρίγκιπα Άξελ, τον Πρίγκιπα Κνουντ και την Πριγκίπισσα Καρολάιν-Ματθίλδη.

Την ημέρα του γάμου, η πριγκίπισσα Φρειδερικη ντύθηκε με ένα φόρεμα που ταιριάζει στην πιο μεγαλειώδη νύφη της δεκαετίας του '30. Το Observer ανέφερε ότι το φόρεμα, «κατασκευασμένο στο Μόναχο, είναι απλής κοπής, τονίζοντας την ομορφιά του υλικού, ένα αστραφτερό ασημί κεντημα Η ουρά του 5 μισι μέτρων είναι διακοσμημένο με έναν κύκλο απλικέ λουλουδιών, επίσης λαμέ, και οριοθετείται με ένα ρολό από υλικό που σκιαγραφεί τον λαιμό V και πέφτει πάνω από τους ώμους. Τα μανίκια είναι μέχρι τον καρπό». Η νυφική ​​της ανθοδέσμη, από άνθη πορτοκαλιάς, ήταν δώρο από τον παππού της, Κάιζερ Γουλιέλμος , ο οποίος τους τα έστειλε από το πορτοκαλί στο Ντόρν. Κρυμμένο μέσα ήταν ένα κλαδάκι μυρτιάς που έφερε ειδικά από τον θάμνο μυρτιάς της Βασίλισσας Βικτώριας στο Osborne House στην Αγγλία για εκείνη η Δούκισσα του Κεντ.

Στο κεφάλι της, η Φρειδερικη φορούσε το μακρύ δαντελένιο πέπλο της μητέρας της, το οποίο ήταν ασφαλισμένο με μια διαμαντένια τιάρα που ανήκε στην αείμνηστη πεθερά της, βασίλισσα Σοφία της Ελλάδας. Φόρεσε επίσης το μικρό διαμαντένιο στέμμα του γάμου του Ανόβερου, το οποίο ανήκε στη βασίλισσα Σάρλοτ του Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου και επιστράφηκε στα βασιλικά του Ανόβερου από τη βασίλισσα Βικτώρια αφού έχασε μια νομική αγωγή. Τα άλλα νυφικά κοσμήματα της Φρειδερικης περιελάμβαναν έναν σταυρό σε μια μακριά αλυσίδα και το διαμαντένιο κολιέ που φορούσε στα πορτρέτα του αρραβώνα της. Φορούσε επίσης το αστέρι και το φύλλο του του Βασιλικού Οικογενειακού Τάγματος των Αγίων Όλγας και Σοφίας, το οποίο είχε δημιουργηθεί το 1936 από τον Βασιλιά Γεώργιο Β' στη μνήμη της βασίλισσας Όλγας και της βασίλισσας Σοφίας.

Το πρωί της Κυριακής 9 Ιανουαρίου έπεφτε καταρρακτώδης βροχή και χιονόνερο, καθώς οι καλεσμένοι έφτασαν στον Μητροπολιτικό Καθεδρικό Ναό στην Αθήνα για την πρώτη από τις δύο γαμήλιες τελετές το�� ζευγαριού. Οι κάμερες του Newsreel απαθανάτισαν τους καλεσμένους, μεταξύ των οποίων ο Δούκας και η Δούκισσα του Κεντ και ο Πρίγκιπας Παύλος και η Πριγκίπισσα Όλγα, να βιάζονται από τα αυτοκίνητά τους στον καθεδρικό ναό.

Ακολουθώντας την ελληνορθόδοξη παράδοση, παντρεύτηκαν από τον Αρχιεπίσκοπο Αθηνών, τον οποίο συμπαραστάθηκαν δεκάδες επίσκοποι με χρυσά και λευκά άμφια. Το ζευγάρι στάθηκε κάτω από τα παραδοσιακά Βασιλικά Στέμματα των ελληνορθόδοξων γάμων κατά τη διάρκεια της τελετής, κρατούσαν εναλλάξ οι κουμπαροι του γαμπρού: ο θείος του, Πρίγκιπας Γεώργιος της Ελλάδας και της Δανίας. ο ξάδερφός του, Μέγας Δούκας Ντμίτρι Πάβλοβιτς· ο ανιψιός του, ο διάδοχος του θρόνου Μιχαήλ· τα ξαδέρφια του, ο πρίγκιπας Πέτρος και ο πρίγκιπας Φίλιππος. και τα αδέρφια της Φρειδερικης . Τα Στέμματα ήταν τα ίδια που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν στον γάμο των γονιών του Παύλου. Η Φρειδερικη υποστηρίχθηκε από τέσσερις παράνυμφους: τη νέα της κουνιάδα, την πριγκίπισσα Αικατερινη της Ελλάδας και της Δανίας. η ξαδέρφη του συζύγου της, η πριγκίπισσα Ευγενία της Ελλάδας και της Δανίας· και δύο από τις γερμανίδες ξαδέρφες της, την πριγκίπισσα Cecilie και την πριγκίπισσα Herzeleide της Πρωσίας. Ο Παύλος και η Φρειδερίκη αντάλλαξαν χρυσές βέρες από λιωμένα νομίσματα που χρονολογούνται από τη βασιλεία του Μεγάλου Αλεξάνδρου.

Αφού τελείωσε η τελετή, ο Παύλος και η Φρειδερίκη διέσχισαν τους βροχερούς δρόμους και επέστρεψαν στο παλάτι, επευφημούμενοι από Αθηναίους που είχαν αντέξει τον κρύο, υγρό καιρό για να δουν το νεόνυμφο ζευγάρι από κοντά. Πίσω στο παλάτι, το ζευγάρι έκανε μια δεύτερη, Λουθηρανική γαμήλια τελετή και υπέγραψε στον ληξίαρχο.

Μετά το γάμο, το ζευγάρι εγκαταστάθηκε στη νέα του βίλα στο Ψυχικό, ένα γαμήλιο δώρο από την ελληνική κυβέρνηση. Πέρασαν ένα μήνα του μέλιτος στο εξωτερικό. Τον Νοέμβριο του 1938, καλωσόρισαν το πρώτο τους παιδί: μια κόρη που αργότερα έγινε βασίλισσα Σοφία της Ισπανίας. Ακολούθησαν άλλα δύο παιδιά, ο βασιλιάς της Ελλάδας Κωνσταντίνος Β' και η πριγκίπισσα Ειρήνη της Ελλάδας και της Δανίας. Το ζευγάρι βασίλεψε ως Βασιλιάς και Βασίλισσα των Ελλήνων από το 1947 μέχρι το θάνατο του Παύλου το 1964.

[floralspine]

This is my first Scream into the void !

My name is Spine and this account is for me to simply start fresh because I don't associate with what I posted on my old ones anymore.

Quick about me to hold me over until I can make another page for this blog:

- I am 22 and Non Binary (they / them plz)

- I'm a practicing Hellenic Polytheistic Witch, about 8 years into my craft

- I'm an Aquarius Sun, Leo moon and Aries Rising

- I am diagnosed with severe social anxiety, depression and BPD, and in the process of being disgnosed with an eating disorder

-i struggle with self harm and suicidal ideation, as well as disordered eating as mentioned above. This account is not meant specifically to vent about this struggles but it may come up. I will put tw in the tags if it does

- i am an artist! I do work primarily with pencil, watercolor and SFX but like to try my hand jn other mediums when inspiration hits me

- I love the color Purple

- my go to hot drink is a dirty chai made with oat milk

- my favourite flowers are lavender and sunflowers

- i'm Canadian and Trinidadian, live in Canada however

- i have a beautiful senior egyptian mau who is my life

- i have a job i am highly under qualified for

- i collect physical media (cds dvds game consoles vinyls etc etc)

-i primarily play on my switch and playstation

- i listen to a lot of different genres but primarily metal emo and punk

- my goal in life is to be a forest nymph

Thats it for now i guess

[peacockwinchester]

Throwback to the spring musical where me and my trans friend were just completely done with everyone. It was the best moment of transmasc, vincian, and Norse/Hellenic pagan solidarity. It was great bc we did 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and we were at the judge's table on the ends and between us was a conservative Trump supporter (not joking, mans was a senior who literally had a MAGA hat, but who am I kidding I live in northern Ohio in a rural town).

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Treat Your S(h)elf

The Places In Between by Rory Stewart

“I offered Asad money but he was horrified. It seemed a six-hour round trip through a freezing storm and chest deep snow was the least he could do for a guest. I did not want to insult him but I was keen to repay him in some way. I insisted, feeling foolish. He refused five times but finally accepted out of politeness and gave the money to his companion.Then he wished me luck and turned up the hill into the face of the snowstorm." 

- Rory Stewart

Just weeks after the fall of the Taliban in January of 2002 Scotsman Rory Stewart began a walk across central Afghanistan in the footsteps of 15th Century Moghul conqueror Emperor Babur and along parts of the legendary Silk Road, from Herat to Kabul. He'd find himself in the course of twenty-one months encountering Sunni Kurds, Shia Hazala, Punjabi Christians, Sikhs, Kedarnath Brahmins, Garhwal Dalits, and Newari Buddhists. He said he wanted to explore the "place in between the deserts and the Himalayas, between Persian, Hellenic, and Hindu culture, between Islam and Buddhism, between mystical and militant Islam." He described Afghanistan as "a society that was an unpredictable composite of etiquette, humour, and extreme brutality."

The Places in Between is Stewart's account of walking across Afghanistan from Herat to Kabul in January 2002. The book was the winner of the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Award and the Spirit of Scotland Award and shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize and the Scottish Book of the Year Prize.

I first read the book as a teenager a few years after it came out when I was spending a few months doing voluntary work for an Afghan children’s charity in Peshawar, Pakistan with my older sister who was a junior doctor at the time.

I read it on the rocky bus ride from Peshawar, Pakistan and into Afghanistan from Jalalabad to Kabul with my sister and her colleagues. I avidly read the book because I already knew the author through my oldest brother but from a distance because of our respective ages. Little did I realise then that I would be back in Afghanistan a few years later but this time in uniform doing my tour in Afghanistan flying combat helicopters against the Taliban.

I had the book with me (but a newer copy) and it took on a greater prescience precisely because as soldiers, even from the most senior officers on down, we privately questioned what the hell were we really accomplishing in a country ravaged by war since the Soviet invasion in 1979 (and that’s being generous given how history has buried empires into the graveyard of Afghanistan as a testament to their hubris).

Maybe it was hubris or perhaps it was that adventurous strain that needs to be scratched that led Rory Stewart to undertake his madcap journey. Stewart did the entire journey on foot, refusing any other form of transportation (and at one point going back and redoing a section of the walk when he couldn't turn down a vehicle ride). He took an uncommon route straight through the centre of the country and the heart of the mountains, instead of the more common route through the south that bypasses the dangerous mountain passes. This choice was partly because it was shorter, partly because the south was still partially controlled by the Taliban, and partly I suspect (though he doesn't say this explicitly) because it's the less-discussed and less-known route, even today.

This is, therefore, a sort of travel book, describing places that 99.99% of readers in the Western world are very unlikely to ever go. It's also unavoidably political, since Afghanistan is unavoidably political. However, unlike many travel books and many books with political overtones, it's carefully observational, documentary, and quietly understated in a way that gives the reader room to analyse and consider. Stewart focuses on his specific journey and concise, detailed descriptions of what he encountered and lets any broader implications of what he saw emerge from the reader's evaluation. He describes how he reacts to the remarkable natural beauty and almost-forgotten ruins that he encounters, giving the reader a frame and a sense of the emotional impact, but he's not an overbearing presence in the book. The story is clearly personal, but he doesn't dominate it. This is a very difficult line to walk, and I don't recall the last time I've seen it walked as deftly.

Instead there is a real sense that the author has gotten over the novelty of travelling and is more focused on the fundamental circumstances he encounters. The book overall is a fascinating read and there is much to be learned about the epistemologies driving the Afghan people and how different interpretations of Muslim teachings (and likewise, any teachings) can create small, but significant differences between neighbours. He has a gift for vividly describing the people and the landscape without injecting himself too much into the scene.

I suspect every reader will take different things from The Places in Between.

For some readers unaccustomed to the culture of Afghanistan, they would find it distressing to read how dogs are treated in Afghanistan. It's said Prophet Muhammad once cut off part of his own garment rather than disturb a sleeping cat. Unfortunately, he didn't feel equal affection for dogs, and they're "religiously polluting." They're not pets, and they're never petted. A quarter of the way in his journey Stewart has a toothless mastiff pressed upon him by a villager and he named him Babur. The evidence of past abuse could be seen in missing ears and tail, and someone told Stewart the dog was missing teeth because they'd been knocked out by a boy with rocks. Stewart found the dog a faithful companion and said he'd call him "beautiful, wise, and friendly" but that an Afghan, though he might use such terms to describe a horse or hawk would never use it to describe a dog.

But I knew all this growing in Pakistan and India as a small girl. Friends would look perplexed that we Brits - or any Westerners - have dogs or cats as pets and even see them as part of the family.

For me though two big themes stuck out when I first read the book.

One of the things that struck me most memorably is the spider’s web of personal loyalties, personal animosities, different tribes and history, and complexity of Afghan politics that Stewart walks through. Afghanistan is not coherent or cohered in the way that those of us living in long-settled western countries assume when thinking about countries. While there are regions with different ethnicities or dominant tribes, it doesn't even break down into simple tribal areas or regions divided by religion. The central mountain areas Stewart walked through are very isolated and have a long history and a complex web of rivalries, differing reactions to various central governments, and different connections. Stewart meets people who have never traveled more than a few miles from their village, and people who can't go as far as his next day's stop because they'd be killed by the people in the next village. It becomes clear over the course of his journey why creating a cohesive western-style country with unified national rule is far less likely and more difficult than is usually portrayed in the Western news media. The reader slowly begins to realise that this may not be what the Afghans themselves want, and some of the reasons why not.

A large part of that recent history is violent, and here is where Stewart's ability to describe and characterise the people he meets along the way shines. It is a tenet of both Islam and the local culture to give hospitality to travellers, which is the only thing that makes this sort of trip possible. Stewart is generally treated exceptionally well, particularly given the poverty of the people (meat is extremely rare, and most meals are bread at best), but violence and fighting fills the minds and experiences of most people he meets. He memorably observes at one point that one of his temporary companions describes the landscape in terms of violent events. Here, he shot four soldiers. There, two people were killed. Over there is where they ambushed a squad of Russians. It's striking how, after decades of fighting either for or against first the Russians and then the Taliban shapes and marks their mental map of the world. It's likely that few of the people Stewart meets are entirely truthful with him, but even that is an intriguing angle on what they care to lie about, what they think will impress him, and how the Afghan people he encounters display status or react to the unusual.

The second big theme that stuck out for me on a personal note was how Stewart respectfully weaves the wonder of history with the sad lament of the destructive loss heritage on his travels. In the book, Stewart followed roughly the same path as Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire, did in 1504 at roughly the same time of year. He quotes occasionally from the Baburama, Babur's autobiography, which adds a depth of history to the places Stewart passes through. The Minaret of Jam in the mountains of western Afghanistan is one of the (unfortunately rare) black and white pictures in the centre of this book, and Stewart describes the legendary Turquoise Mountain, the lost capital of a mountain kingdom destroyed by the son of Genghis Kahn in the 1220s, of which the minaret may be the last surviving recognisable remnant. He describes the former Buddhist monasteries at Bamyan in Hazarajat (the region of central Afghanistan populated by the Hazara) and the huge empty alcoves where giant statues of the Buddha had stood for sixteen centuries until destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. This book then is full of history of which  is described with a discerning eye for necessary detail.

How Afghanistan's precious historical and cultural legacy was being destroyed even back in 2002 is heart breaking to read. I think many Westerners certainly know about how the Taliban dynamited the giant Bamiyan Buddha statues over a millennium old because they considered them "idols." Just as profound a loss is discovered by Stewart in his travels. There is a legendary lost city, the "Turquoise Mountain" of the pre-Moghul Ghorid Empire. Archeologists couldn't find it - but when passing through the area, Stewart had found villagers who had, and were looting artefacts with no care for the archeological context or the damage they were doing to the site, selling the priceless wares for the equivalent of a couple of dollars on the black market. This is what he tells us about his discussion with the villagers about the lost city:

"It was destroyed twice," Bushire added, "once by hailstones and once by Genghis." "Three times," I said. You're destroying what remained." They all laughed.

Even as I write this I can’t help but think this episode eerily echoes the madness gripping us in Britain, Europe, and the US (albeit for different reasons) in defacing and pulling down historical statues in wanton in acts of extreme ideological vandalism.

Overall I enjoyed the ‘peace’ of this book as there is a constant tone of a simple purpose. There are some moments along the way that are quite confronting and even frustrating, but so many that are warm and celebratory of the Afghan belief in hospitality.

Perhaps others will differ but I didn’t find too many irritating passages that wax-poetic on the evolution of the traveller. Stewart’s writing style is clinical; completely void of sentimentality, he never allows his own initial or personal meditations on these places overtake his observations, written with much hindsight. Whether being harassed by local soldiers or struggling through snowdrifts Stewart does not bridge a gap with the reader to really get a sense of who he his, as if his own story would detract from the crucial timing of his recordings of this landscape and its people.

His own biography is something out of John Buchan. The son of Scottish colonial civil servant who was born in Hong Kong and grew up in the Far East (and subsequently the second most senior official in the British secret intelligence) before being packed off back to England to Dragon School, Eton and onto Balliol, Oxford to study PPE. A short stint with the Black Watch regiment (as his father and uncle before him) before joining the British Foreign Office and work in some hot spots of the world, including a stint as deputy governor in the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq after 2003. He went on to work at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard before returning to the UK to successfully run as a Conservative MP in his native Scotland. Served as a minister in different ministries under Prime Minister Theresa May’s government and improbably came close to upsetting the coronation of Boris Johnson as the next leader of the Conservative party. He resigned from the party rather than be purged and made an unsuccessful bid to run as an independent candidate for London Mayor. He continues to writer and author travel books and front documentaries. He has a storied background but he wears it very lightly.

Of course there is a conceit to the book which in a sense all travel books of this kind that largely goes unquestioned. I don’t think it’s wrong to question a certain kind of entitlement that pervades these kind of books, no matter how much I enjoy reading them especially about countries you have traveled to and know a little bit about. Stewart after all embarks on a journey ‘planning’ to rely on the proverbial kindness of strangers because that is an Islamic cultural and religious value. Try planning a trip anywhere in Western Europe or the USA and Canada. I cannot imagine anyone walking across America, or England and Scotland for that matter, who would believe that he was entitled to expect food, shelter and assistance because he asked for it.

And he does it - as have countless travellers before and after him. Because Stewart succeeds in his journey, he is evidence of an astonishing degree of Afghan Muslim hospitality and generosity. As a back packer who has done it rough not just in Afghanistan but also neighbouring Central Asia as well as Pakistan, India, and China I can see why it might rub some up the wrong way. But I also think it’s not cultural or some sort of colonial arrogance on Stewart’s part. It’s hard to articulate but it’s really a kind of cultured sensitivity of people and lands you already are familiar with or know well from childhood.

Certainly for Rory Stewart - and myself - didn’t exclusively grow up in England and Scotland but in the Eastern post-colonial countries of the ex-British Empire that afforded a privileged childhood (privileged as in a real cultural engagement and immersion) that left a deep appreciation and respect for those countries cultures and traditions. I believe for the vast majority of Western back packers who take adventurous treks across these lands they do so partly out of genuine respect and understanding of different cultures.

For instance, the legacy of this book has been that Rory Stewart has spear headed a long term project called Turquoise Mountain. Alongside his partners, they have been re-creating the "downtown" river district in Kabul and restoring it to it's former glory. They have opened schools for people to re-learn the ancient arts of carving, weaving, architecture, etc. They have supported efforts to restoring city blocks that have been covered in a mountain of trash, and restoring homes where families have lived for centuries. And all for free. The Afghan have never been sure why someone would be doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, but that the poignant irony is that the goodness began with them through their hospitality of the stranger.

The kindness to strangers is a real thing in this part of the world. Kindness to strangers has it roots in fear that the strangers might be gods or their messengers alongside the pragmatic need that strangers in a strange land might need assistance. I sometimes wonder how is it we cannot show the same unabashed kindness to strangers to our homes?

However you slice it, you have to admire Stewart for his mostly un-aided walk across Afghanistan. It does take a certain kind of ballsiness to do it. He carried just his clothes and a sleeping bag (and money), trusting that the villagers along the way would put him up for the night and feed him. He got very sick (diarrhoea and dysentery), was at constant risk of freezing to death in the mountains, and had some very unpleasant encounters with Afghan soldiers in the last few days, after rejecting very strong advice not to walk through this section.

Strangely though nothing about this book is breathtaking of ‘Oriental exoticism’ beloved of Western imagination. Indeed nothing in this book is romanticised and nothing is placed on a pedestal. Stewart writes openly and honestly of all the people he met, those friendly, and those that would've preferred to rob him and leave him dead in a ditch. He's truthful and humorous, and I found myself walking alongside him, a sort of ghost following his rugged trail through mountains, valleys, and Buddhist monasteries.

Re-reading this book when I was doing my tour in Afghanistan with time to kill between missions, I wished George W. Bush and Tony Blair - and all the other Western leaders since these two - could have taken that walk with Stewart and learned the lessons he did. Stewart gives you a sense of the complexity and diversity of the culture and of Islam - and just how ludicrous and ignorant were the assumptions and goals imposed on the country by the invading Westerners. Indeed at the very end of his walk, Stewart reaches Kabul, the heart of the western intervention in Afghanistan and the place where all the political theorists and idealists came to try to shape the country. He describes the impact of seeing draft plans for a national government, which look ridiculous in the light of the country that he just traveled through.

It's a rare bit of political fire in the narrative that's all the more effective since it's one of the few bits of political commentary in the book. Indeed it’s all the more rich and relevant given its emergent commentary and background for the current war being fought there. Stewart necessarily tells only part of the story of Afghanistan, but he tells far more of the story than most will know prior to reading it. It should be mandatory reading for anyone making decisions about how to proceed in that region.

I would recommend anyone take a walk with Rory Stewart.

[ahepaseniorliving]

AHEPA Senior Living Breaks Ground on Fifth Des Moines Area Community

DES MOINES, IOWA— AHEPA Senior Living (ASL), a nationwide nonprofit provider of affordable multifamily housing for older adults, held a groundbreaking ceremony for AHEPA 192 IV Apartments in Des Moines, Iowa, Aug. 18, 2023, announced ASL President and CEO Steve Beck.

The speaking program featured City Councilman Joe Gatto, Steve Eggleston, HUD Des Moines Field Office director; ASL Chairman of the Board Ike Gulas, and AHEPA 192 IV, Inc., Board President James L. Karthan, and AHEPA and Daughters of Penelope local chapter officers. Beck moderated the program, which also featured a ceremonial first shovel dig. Father Basil Hickman of Saint George Greek Orthodox Church performed the ground blessing. Attendees included representatives from the offices of U.S. Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Joni Ernst (R-IA), and U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA). Several ASL Executive Board officers and members also attended.  The event earned coverage from the Des Moines Register, McKnights Senior Living, The Business Record, and The National Herald.

Photo Gallery (Credit to Joe Crimmings Creative Media)

AHEPA 192 IV will be a three-story, 90-unit affordable senior housing community located on 4.4 acres of the old Southridge Mall site. It will be the fifth Des Moines-area affordable senior housing community managed by ASL and administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Section 202 program.

According to Beck, AHEPA 192 Phase IV is the first HUD 202 community ASL is constructing since HUD began funding capital advances for new 202s in earnest a few years ago.

AHEPA 192 IV is a $22 million project. Its financing is comprised of a $8.9 million HUD Section 202 capital advance, a $6 million low-income housing tax credit allocation, a $1.25 million Polk County Housing Trust Fund award, and a HUD 223(f) mortgage loan.

“The need for affordable housing, especially for very low-income seniors, is great, and in the Des Moines area, each of our four existing communities has a waitlist,” Beck said. “We are excited and proud to be able to help seniors in need of safe and dignified housing with 90 new units thanks to our financing partners and the support we have received from the City of Des Moines, Polk County Housing Trust Fund, and HUD, and special thanks to our development team.”

ASL also manages AHEPA 192 Phase I Apartments in Johnston; AHEPA 192 Phases II and III Apartments, and Penelope 38 Apartments, in Ankeny. These four communities total 196 units.

AHEPA Senior Living affordable independent living communities offer very low-income older adults, 62 and over, residential apartment-home living with the voluntary supportive services they may need to continue to live independently as they age. Through service coordination, the services may include meal services, case management, transportation assistance, public benefits programs enrollment assistance, fitness and wellness programs, housekeeping assistance, and health services. As HUD Section 202 developments, they are subsidized and provide rental assistance for very low-income seniors.

About ASL

Serving more than 5,000 older adults across the United States, AHEPA Senior Living (ASL) is a mission-driven, nationwide provider of affordable independent and assisted senior living communities. Since 1980, it has developed and managed more than 90 affordable senior housing communities in 21 states administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program.

Through its subsidiaries, ASL owns and manages four affordable assisted living communities with 532 units in Indiana.

The mission of ASL is to provide older adults with safe, healthy, and enriching affordable residential communities and quality services that allow them to thrive and enjoy peace of mind.

To support our mission, please visit https://ahepaseniorliving.org/donate/

ASL is based in Fishers, Ind.

[chicagocityofclans]

Vladimir Draga → Peter Facinelli → Warlock

→ Basic Information 

Age: 614

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Straight 

Powers: Aerokinesis 

Birthday: February 17th

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Religion: Hellenism 

Mark: Draga

Generation: 1st

→ His Personality Vladimir, who prefers being called Vlad, has developed throughout his years. He was once erratic, immature, impulsive, and intense. A man who craved power. Vlad was extremely unpredictable, violent, and had horrible impulsive behavior due to the rejection and abuse during his early childhood. He shunned his feelings, he was emotionally erratic and paranoid, and easily found weakness in those who wore there’s on their sleeves. As he grew with his anger towards the world the more he lost and the more he started reevaluating his outlook on life. Especially, when his powers turned against him and Vlad remained invisible for 68 years, 3 months, 22 days and 19 hours. Young, untrained and unable to control his powers, Vlad watched as his family, friends and the world moved on without him; the majority of them were happy that he was gone. 

It changed him. It developed him into the man he is today. Vlad is a logical chess player that watches the world around him quietly before speaking, calculating, being able to look ahead and anticipate others. He wants the most out of life; experiencing love and fatherhood as he developed for the better. He has done a complete 360. However, when angered or under stress, he quickly returns to his self-reliant and suspicious old manners; being distrustful and fearful of what others will impose on him. He will be harsh and judgmental. It took a lot for him to grow and fulfill his need for love which is often upset with a snap of a finger when annoyed and drowning under pressure.

→ His Personal Facts

Occupation: Translating Spells 

Scars: None

Tattoos: A feather on his left front shoulder and they’re 8 birds escaping from it onto his chest. He also has a triangle on his right back shoulder. 

Two Likes: History and Pointillism

Two Dislikes: Bourgeois People and Plastic Surgeries 

Two Fears: The True Meaning of Life and Losing a Limb

Two Hobbies: Painting/Sculpting and Translating Spells

Three Positive Traits: Responsible, Courageous, Intelligent 

Three Negative Traits: Impatience, Dry, Stingy

→ His Connections

Parent Names:

Aldee Meago (Mother): Aldee died nearly in her 100s and gave Vlad the best years of his life. If he could he would bring her back to meet her grandkids. 

Sibling Names:

Viktor Draga (Brother): Viktor shares Vlad mark. He is Vlad's younger brother. Vlad took on Viktor’s last name and has made it their official mark name.

Vara Sookram nee Draga (Sister): Vara is Vlad's younger sister and closest friend. They have their powers in common and a similar personality.

Villard Draga (Brother): Villard is the youngest of them all. Vlad does care for his youngest brother but Villard is too immature for Vlad’s liking.

Vaughn Draga (Brother): Vaughn is Vlad’s oldest brother by two years but the last to be found and added into their family. They get along well enough. 

Children Names:

Fallon Draga (Daughter): He doesn’t know where Fallon gets it from but she is the wild child his mother cursed on him when he was young and growing up. 

Alucard Draga (Son): Alucard is much like his replica. He’s quiet and enjoys solitary. Vlad finds himself connecting with his son more easily as he ages. 

Romantic Connections:

Rhiannon Draga (Wife): Vlad has been with his wife for nearly half of his life. He is sure she’s the piece that he was missing before. 

Platonic Connections:

Fenrin Gustafsson (Good Friend): Vlad and Fenrin have known each other for many years. Their shared histories on the high seas drew them together but a more solid friendship has grown out of that over the years. 

Arianna Garcia (Mentee): Ari shares the same powers as Vlad and Alucard. Since Ari and Alucard are close in age it has been a breeze training them both together. 

Alyss De Silva (Mentee): Alyss is interested in spells and painting. Vlad is fine with mentoring her on both until Eric Lasiter has a mentee position open. 

Hostile Connections:

None

Pets:

None

→ History Since the day Vladimir was born, he had been fighting with himself and the world around him. His mother did the best she could and tried to raise him right, but Vlad fell in with the wrong crowd at a young age. He was pulled into piracy at the age of 8. He was scrubbing decks, assisting gun crews and was the aid of the cook. He was treated harshly, rarely paid and Vlad knew he was expendable. He was surprised when he made it to the age of 12 years old and the crew kept him around. He was sure it was because of his relationship with the sailing masters who were officers in charge of navigation and piloting. Vlad had always had a great sense of direction and feel for air movements. He had helped them out of a storm when he was only 9 years old and had earned their respect. By the time he was 14 years old they allowed him to disembark with them as they battled over treasures, raided governed towns, gathered cured meats and fermented vegetables for their journey and pillaged lawless villages. He was also allowed to eat, drink and be merry with the crew, which was a great come up from fighting with the other younger boys his age for crumbs off the floor when the crew finished eating. As the years onboard continued, Vlad had worked his way up to gunmen then junior officer when the captain requested that he was trained as a sailing master. His mother didn’t approve and refused to use his blood money for her living, but she was always happy when he made port and came home.

Vlad was a senior pirate that had been on many ships and well into his mid-30s when he noticed he had abilities no one else had. Mostly everyone called it luck and wanted him on their ships, but Vlad was uneased by his nearly ‘supernatural’ abilities. After plundering the wrong village, Vlad’s ship was attacked hundreds of miles from land, yet he was the sole survivor. He held his breath as the rough seas took him under repeatedly as he made his way home. He swam when he could and floated on his back when he couldn’t. While his mother was happy to see him and have him home, the other villagers counted him as a traitor and abandoner. He lost his street and sail credits and not even the whores would see him. He grew angry and bitter, turning to rum and stalking in his home. It was the one-year anniversary of the death of his crewmates when some of the villagers thought it would be fun to burn down his home and drag him to the sea to die. It was fun but not for them. Vlad was enraged that he had survived and was being punished for it. The air left the area surrounding his cabin, those villagers and a few undeserving animals, and they all choked to death as Vlad yelled in anger and frustration. 

He was on the run with his mother when she commented on his skin and him aging well. Vlad was nearing 40 years old and still looked like he could be in his twenties. That’s when he remembered stories about witches and warlocks from one of the ports they visited. They were hundreds of years old and still looked young, they were able to kill with one word or a snap of a finger, and they were hard to kill themselves. When they finally settled on the outskirts of France, they had been traveling for months and Vlad had been testing his theory while his mother slept. Not fully trusting society, Vlad chose to purchase a plot of land with what money he had saved up from his days of piracy. As he built, the neighboring farmer's daughter caught his eye. He needed a wife and he knew nothing would make his mother happier. They were married within the fortnight but she and his unborn child died during a plague years later. 

When Vlad's mother died at the age of 97, he was devastated and his world was dark all around. He still looked like he was in his twenties but he was 83 years old. He knew nothing about himself or whatever power he held. Vlad decided to sell his land and restart his quest for answers. He ran every loose end, hunted down every tale and sought out to kill posers who wanted to trick him out of his money. Vlad was 211 years old when he gave up on his search and was considering taking his life when he went invisible. Vlad remained invisible for 68 years, 3 months, 22 days and 19 hours. He was found by Ambrocio Ee (Lee), who taught him how to change back and explained that he was just like him. He was traveling from Nagasaki to England for a potential tutoring job when he noticed Vlad cold stares into nothing. When Ambrocio heard of Vlad's story he offered his sincere apologies and offered to mentor Vlad instead of continuing to England. Vlad offered to follow him on his journey, wanting to leave that part of continental Eroupe behind him. 

Apparently, Vlad had mastered deoxygenation and aerokinetic creation during his time as a pirate and while he was on the run. Ambrocio focused more on his invisibility, of which Vlad was hesitant in the beginning but quickly caught the hang of turning himself and objects around him invisible. Ambrocio was a hard teacher and tried his hardest to get Vlad caught up with not only his powers but spells, charms, potions and more. Vlad worked day and night on learning his basic and advanced powers. It was during a day trip to Wales when Vlad met Viktor and Vara. They shared the same mark and the two of them lived off of the land like nomads. Viktor was only two years younger than him and Vara was five years younger. Vlad was skeptical at first but Vara showed him that she could manipulate storms and tornadoes, both of which Ambrocio had yet to mention to him. Vlad said his goodbye and gave Ambrocio his gratitude but followed after his siblings. 

Vlad had stopped counting but he was in his 300s when he met Rhiannon. She reminded him so much of his deceased wife and Vlad couldn’t remember the last time he was willing to skip a lesson to spend time with someone he barely knew. She was 400 years his senior but they formed an unbreakable connection from the start. He eventually started to court her and they were married just as quickly. Vlad continued to practice his magic with his siblings' help and was grateful for Rhiannon understanding that he wouldn’t want to have a child while he still learned to control his powers. Rhiannon removed them from their nomadic life and reintroduced them to the finer life once again after many years. It wasn’t long before they moved overseas to America. Vlad loved the culture and could easily find work since he had picked up over 14 languages in his travels; now he’s expanded to 267 languages that also helps with his job. They eventually settled in Chicago. To Vlad’s surprise and to the surprise of his family he had quickly mastered all of his known powers and had the opportunity to mentor Audo Wilhelm for 20 years. It was about 77 years ago when they discovered Rihannon was pregnant. It came as a shock to both of them that she was carrying twins, one boy and one girl. → The Present Vladimir has had a tough life. Remaining stationary in Chicago is slowly getting under his skin. Vlad has been thinking about possibly vacationing in Hawaii, Tahiti, Bora Bora and Fiji. Especially since he and Rhiannon are nearing their 300 year anniversary. He wants a break away from the busy city life with a full month of lazing around on beaches and eating tropical foods. He cannot remember the last time his family vacationed on an island or away from big inner city tourist attractions. He has made comments about leaving for vacation but Vlad is sure that his family is taking it as a joke. He has already let some of his major clients know that he might not be available in the future and is planning on bringing his proposal to Rihannon and letting her decide whether now is a good time since they’ll be leaving behind her mentees and also removing their own kids from under their mentors for a period of time. 

→ Available Gif Hunts (we do not own these)

Peter Facinelli  [1][2][3][4][5][6]

[canaryrecords]

Sotirios Stasinopoulos was one of the most gifted folk singers to have recorded in the first half of the 20th century and one of the most vibrant Greek singers to ever have recorded. Born in the small mountain village of Dafni in the district of Achea in the northern Peleponessus where the largest close town was Kalavryta (present-day population only about 2,000) on March 1, 1878, he followed his brother Vasillios (William) to the U.S. for the first time at the age of 27 on May 10, 1902 at Ellis Island with $12 ($350 in today’s money) in his pocket.

About half of the 500,000 Greek men who arrived in the United States between 1890 and 1920 came to earn money and then returned home. Stasinopoulos went back to Greece twice but then came back to the U.S. first in April 1905 when he said that he was a shoemaker and intended to go live with his brother-in-law Constantinos Kamakiotis in Orange, New Jersey where he subsequently worked as a barber and then again in 1912, when he arrived one last time. His 1912 immigration document, issued when he was 34, mentions a scar across his face. We don't know whether he was involved, but his later songs show strong political leaning that could have tied him to the onset of the Balkan Wars of 1912-13

Six years later in 1918, he was living at the southern tip of Manhattan at 20 Greenwich St, a section then overrun by Irish street gangs including the Hudson Dusters and only a block or so away from the stretch of Washington Street known as Little Syria, crowded with Arabic-speakers. He identified himself as a professional musician but was working for one George Calogeras, an importer about five years his senior who had spent four months in jail for tax evasion on the importation of figs.

Stasinopoulos recorded a trial disc for Victor Records accompanied by a house pianist on April 19, 1921 at the age of 42. Having passed the audition, he recorded four songs at a session in September 1921. One of the four, “Drousoula,” gave him trouble after three takes, and he returned on March 13, 1922, when, after five more takes, he finally cut a master. Within a few months, he had two discs on the market, and in October and November of that year, he recorded eight more songs for Victor.

He recorded for Columbia for the first time in 1923, cutting four sides, all of them issued and setting a pattern for the rest of the decade. Every few months from September 1924 until January 1929, he went into the studio and cut between four and eight sides for Victor, Columbia, or Okeh Records. Practically everything he recorded from that point on was done in one or two takes and was issued. He had learned a lesson from the 1922 sessions, arrived at the studio prepared and got the job done.

In total, he recorded 94 performances, all but the first four of them issued on relatively expensive 12” discs. We present here 16 of the 38 performances he made between September 1921 and April 1925 in the order in which they were recorded. All of this material was recorded acoustically, which is to say before the advent of microphones. Although about half of the performances have circulated online for a few years, a half-dozen of them are available elsewhere too fast. (Victor discs before 1922 run significantly slower than 78rpm; playback at 78rpm is roughly two whole-tones higher than the pitch at which they were recorded.)

His accompanists were largely established semi-professional players about a decade younger than Stasinopoulos himself, mostly from the Peleponesian peninsula and all from smaller municipalities including Sparta, Kalamata, and Corinth - never from the cosmopolitan port cities. Several of them cut discs under their own names, although only he obscure clarinetist Tom Vrounas cut any discs at Stasinopoulos’ sessions. (Vrounas’ 1926 performances appear to the only instances of Stasinopoulos as an accompanist, playing lauto.) Many of Stasinopoulos’ accompanists also recorded with other significant Greek vocalists of the 1910s-20s including Madame Coula and Marika Papagika.

The most consistent accompanist among Stasinopoulos' 1922-25 performances was the santouri (hammer dulcimer) player Louis P. Rassias, who was born in Sparta May 2, 1884 and lived in Montreal for a short while before crossing to the U.S. by ferry to Detroit, where a warrant was issued and then rescinded for his arrest, then moved to Lowell, Massachusetts and finally New York City. When he declared his Intent to Naturalize as an American citizen in 1932, he was living at 404 W 35th St. a few blocks from the center of the Greek nightclub scene. He cut 13 sides for Okeh and Columbia on his own between 1929-29. After the Depression, he moved first to 860 N. 9th Ave and then where he worked repairing shoes and then uptown to 525 W 138 St.

Like many performers, the reorganization of the major record companies after 1929 pretty well ended Stasinopoulos' recording career. It’s clear that he continued to perform, although the only documentation we have of any of Stasinopoulos’ live performances is of a gig at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal under the auspices of the Laconic Brotherhood, a Hellenic organization founded in 1936 and still operating today.

In the early- or mid-40s, he self-released a handful of performances on his own label with a photo of himself in full Grecian folk dress, a hand on his hip and a great mustache. He was at that point well into his 60s. The material he recorded then demonstrated a profound Hellenic nationalism unsurprising as an ex-patriot witness to the Balkan Wars and two World Wars on his country.

His last address was at 1977 E 16th St in New York, less than 20 blocks from French Hospital where he died on on July 22, 1948.

There is something deeply solitary and wonderful in Stasinopoulos’ voice. His subject matter is relentlessly tied to his origin in the rural mountains in a country that had only won independence less than 50 years before he was born in a struggle that originated out of his home district. He speaks for the hillbillies who fought and died and won Greece. He is proud, inflexilble, and a great stylist with a masculine presence and a voice that emanates liquid sequences through these poems of rural life. He seems to embody something that is profoundly old - a spirit of Greekness that might well have existed a millennium ago. Somewhere in the mists of time at some table over emptied bottles of fantastic, hard vinegar, there was a Sotirios Stasinopoulos of some kind rhapsodizing and singing some old poem about a mountain or a hero or a tree or a mother or all four at once.

Known accompanists: Louis Rassias (santouri, b. Sparta, May 2, 1884; arrived in the U.S. 1900) tracks 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Nicolas Relias (clarinet, b. Corinth ca. 1888; arrived in the U.S. 1907) tracks 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 16 John Kiriakatis (clarinet, b. Thebes, April 15, 1885; arrived in the U.S. 1911) track 5 Stasinopoulos is the lauto player where it appears.

Tracks 1-3 Sept. 7, 1921 Track 4 Sept. 22, 1921 Tracks 5-7 Oct. 5, 1922 Tracks 8 1923 Tracks 9-10 Oct. 26, 1923 Tracks 11-12 Sept. 24, 1924 Tracks 13-16 April,1925

Where English translations of song titles were given on the original disc labels, we have retained those.

Transfers, restoration, and notes by Ian Nagoski, March 2020 Discographical data from Richard K. Spottswood, Ethnic Music on Records: A Discography of Ethnic Recordings Produced in the United States, 1893 - 1942 (University of Illinois Press), 1990

Examples of later Stasinopoulos performances can be heard on the Canary Releases To What Strange Place ("O Korakas," 1927) and Why I Came to America ("Metaxas," ca. 1940s).

[anamedblog]

Byzantine Nyctophilia

by Giovanni Gasbarri, ANAMED Senior Fellow (2019–2020)

Anyone who has ever been a fellow or a guest at ANAMED would confirm this: nights here are, undeniably, very animated. Even if you prefer not to join the hyper-intense social life of the local community at Merkez Han, the stream of tourists, musicians, and bon vivants flowing along Istiklal Caddesi constantly remind you how the old Pera neighborhood, although radically transformed over the centuries, has never lost its energetic and cosmopolitan allure.

However, after a certain hour (usually around 3:30 am or so), the ANAMED building seems to fall into a sudden state of calm. Then, only a gentle whistle from the elevators and, occasionally, alley cats fighting in the streets can be heard. That is the moment when bats, introverts, and other eerie creatures of the night are allowed to emerge from the shadows and finally live their moment of glory. It is also, undeniably, the most creative and productive time in the study room on the 3rd floor. Unfortunately, I have always found it extremely difficult to persuade other fellows of that.

ANAMED: the study room at night

As a Byzantine art historian and a resolute night owl—the two attributes being concurrent, but apparently not consequential—sometimes I love indulging myself with the idea that artists in Byzantium might have shared my personal preference for nocturnal atmospheres. Indeed, for a culture that had developed such a highly sophisticated aesthetic based on the symbolic and soteriological values of light, Byzantium seems to have also cultivated a surprisingly serene relationship with the visualization of the night. Truth be told, Byzantine religious iconography used to associate darkness with some of the most tragic episodes in the Christological narrative, such as the Agony in the Garden and the Crucifixion. In a famous sixth-century representation of Gethsemane from the Rossano Gospels, Christ’s loneliness is emphasized by the presence of a dark background, and the colors are so dense and deep that they permanently stained the parchment on the verso of the same folio.

Rossano Calabro (CS, Italy), Museo Arcivescovile, Codex Purpureus Rossanensis: Agony in the Garden 

The night sky, however, often played a positive role in Christian imagery, functioning as a dramatic tool to highlight (pun intended) some crucial moments of the divine revelation and to express the universal potency of God’s nature. The star of Bethlehem descends from a deep blue hemicycle to brighten the darkness of the cave in Byzantine Nativity scenes; golden stars decorate the maphorion of the Theotokos in numerous icons, mosaics, and wall paintings; and in an early seventh-century icon at Mount Sinai, a gleaming, starry night sky surrounds the austere figure of Christ as the Ancient of Days.

Sinai, Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Icon: Christ as the Ancient of Days

Byzantine secular arts also seem to reveal a fascination with the night. Much of this attitude was due to the robust Greco-Roman cosmological tradition, which the Byzantines constantly updated and reinterpreted in their own ways. The luxurious Vat. gr. 1291, a ninth-century copy of the Procheiroi Kanones by Ptolemy, has preserved a calendar table in which the hours of the night, depicted as dark-skinned female busts, surround the chariot of the sun, providing the necessary counterpart to daylight. Another folio in the same manuscript shows a majestic astrological representation of the night sky, in which numerous classical personifications of constellations, delicately sketched in white paint, emerge from a deep blue background.

Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS gr. 1291: Chariot of the Sun/Constellations

Ancient archetypes contributed to religious iconography, too, and led to some very eclectic (and sometimes curious) results. The well-known Paris Psalter (BNF gr. 139), produced in the mid-tenth century for the court of Constantinople, has preserved some quintessential examples of the enthusiasm for classical imagery that characterized aristocratic artistic production during the so-called Macedonian Renaissance. Among the plethora of Hellenizing personifications that accompany various characters from the Old Testament we can find the elegant Nyx, the personification of the night, depicted as one of the three protagonists in the episode of the Vision of Isaiah. She is clad in a long flowing peplum and her airy blue veil, decorated with little white dots like a starry sky, floats over her head while she gently moves away from the scene, pointing a torch to the ground. The sense of the whole composition is easy to understand: Isaiah’s vision takes place at a very specific moment when the night is slowly making way for the dawn of a new day, Orthros, represented as a cheerful young boy holding a flaming torch.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS gr. 139: Vision of Isaiah

The representation of the night sky as a precious veil is also included in one of the most notable masterpieces of late Byzantine art in Constantinople. In the Last Judgment scene preserved in the parekklesion of the Kariye Museum (ex-Chora Monastery), visitors can still see the representation of an angel wrapping the starry sky in a roll as if it were an expensive silk fabric, similar to those for which the Byzantine capital was celebrated all over Europe. I have always loved to think of this scene not as an act of destruction but, rather, as an attentive gesture of conservation. The angel is not tearing the sky apart: he is carefully folding and storing away a valuable artifact that is not needed anymore. Another example of Byzantine nyctophilia? Perhaps….

Istanbul, Kariye Museum, parekklesion: Last Judgement, detail

[tenorioronelyn]

1 2 3 are you willing to come with me? Are you willing to see the real me? Do you want to see the world that I want to be? I can’t promise that every Episode are happy, maybe my lifis boring but I can say that it is quite interesting are you ready? if you really want to know every chapter of my life please turn the page and begin to the next phase of my life.

Whoosh Whoosh sound came from the stiff breeze and the loud whistle of storm wind, its already 8:00 pm of ****** ** **** on a cold down evening, a baby’s crywill be heard in the town of ****** *** ********The daughter of ********* and ********* was born named Ronelyn Tenorio a Watery rounded eye with long thick eyelashes and a dimple on the right of my face that’s why they use to call you ‘BILOG’ my mother said.

“STORY OF MY LIFE”

I am the second eldest Daughter in our family. I have two sisters my elder sister named ************** and the younger one is ************ My mom and dad work together to provide everything we need in our family.

Go back then when I am two Months old baby when my mother leave me because she needed to work that’s why I grew up with my Beautiful grandmother named *********** she was very talkative; she really love talking and talking all the time but she was the best grandmother for me she always supporting me in my studies and also in my passion. Unlike my grandmother, my grandfather was just silent and also supporting me on what I want.

Now that I am a Grade 12 student currently taking Humanities and social sciences studying at Senior High School in ***. There are some changes I am tall and have a brown-skinned, have a long straight hair and a deep dimple in my right face. I am a type of person who is very shy and feel nervous most of the time, there are times that my hands are shaking and my knees go weak that’s why I can hardly speak in front of other people but I love to join on different pageants, weird right?

Sometimes I’m quite, sometimes I’m loud it depends on the people in my surrounding. I enjoy to read wattpad stories, surf in the social media like facebook and twitter.I really love gardening and also I really love music, Music is such a huge part of my life because I feel that music help me to escape from reality I live in. I am able to sing and dance but not that good. When it comes to the things that I hate, I hate watching horror movies both day and night. I don’t really like being ignored and being an option of other people.

“CHILDHOOD MEMORIES”

Searhing for Mr. and Ms. ******, Mr. and Ms. United Nation,Mr. and Ms. Buwan ng Wikaand Mr. and Ms. A1 Child I started joining pageants when I was grade 2 and after all the pageant that I’ve joined I was Grade 6 when I was crowned Ms. A1 child Intermediate Level and I’m veryhappy that time because after so many years for the very first time I won HAHAHA! I also love joining a camping during my elementary Days Stars scout to Girls Scout I have many memorable experiences when it’s comes to camping sharing under the Bonfire woke up too early to jog and to cook for your own food by doing this activity I learned to be independent at the young age.

In my first year of being a Junior student I need to adjust in my environment; I need to serious my study because I don’t want to disappoint my family. I still remember how many times I’ve cried because in the first release of my grade during my first year high school failed to have a good grade maybe it is fine to other but in my case I failed, because that time I want to be at least on top 10 but when I saw the ranking my name is on rank 12 I asked myself why am I failing? I’ve studied well, I’ve studying most of the time how can I tell this in my grandmother I don’t want to disappoint her, after a days I decided to told her about my grade and she said “it’s just a number I know that you are better that’’

After that I promise to myself that I will study but I enjoy everything I didn’t wish to be on top but just to enjoy my High School life I was second year high School I was surprise because my name are on rank number 5 oh my God I made it! I made it! And another blessing came because in my third year I’m on rank 4 I know that my family is very proud of me same year my adviser asked me to join the Mr. Ms. Lakan and lakambini. I know that joining pageant are one of my passions. I tried to join again, I failed to be a Ms. Lakambini that time but I’m happy because I got Best in modelling and Best in Talent.

In my last year of being a Junior high School student I experienced to have a hectic schedule, busy on doing different paper works and I also want to share being a Supreme Student Government officers. When my teacher asked me to run for an SSG officer I ask myself if can do this responsibility I know that being an officer has a lot of responsibility but

I told to myself that if my teacher and my friends trust me, I should trust my self too and in God will, I won in the election for public information officer I can say that it’s so hard being an officer but there’s a great experience that you can only see in this Organization. High school taught me more life lesson than actual education change people into the person they said they’d never become. Same year I Join again in Searching Mr. and Ms. United Nation I won a Second Runner up but I promise to myself that this is the last time that I will join the pageant because I want to focus on my study.

“Winning doesn’t make you a better person, but being better person will make you a winner”

Best Friend

Friendship starts in many different ways finding true friend feels like a gift that keeps on going. For me I’m very lucky to have a different circle of friend but after so many years I saw five persons who will disturb and make my life complicated HAHAHA *******, ******, *******,****** and ****** those five person who are always laugh in simple mistake of one, who always fighting and who insult each one. Somehow, that’s our way to show our love for each other. When I have a problemed they are always there for me. Having a Best friend like them is a blessing for me, they never know this but they changed my life and I’m very thankful that they complete my life. “The language of friendship is not words but meanings.”

Dream

I want to help my family and make them so proud that is my ultimate goal. When I enter my college life I want to take Bachelor of science in psychology, I want to study why people behave the way that they do? And maybe it’s weird but one of my reasons for taking this course is to be able to overcome my shyness and get to know myself better. Thinking my future career in psychology is really exciting.

Main belief in life

I believe that experience is either

“a blessing or a lesson”

I always look on the positive side of my life.

I believe that “Everything happens for a reason” people learn and grow from everything that comes their way. If you are open for acceptance you will be happy and contented on your life.

My Motto in life

“The most beautiful things

in the world cannot be seen

or even touched they must

be felt with the hear”

-Hellen Keller

“All our dream can come true,

if we have the courage to

pursue them”

-Walt Disney

That’s all the changes and decision I made and the influence of it on my life. How those small changes transformed my life over the period. Life doesn’t require that we be the best, only that we try our best to become success you can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.

My autobiography simply the story of my life. My life story is the story of everyone I’ve ever met.

[parkerpeterholland]

12 days of Christmas history pagan holidays vs Christian

Merry Christmas Wishes To you from our team. Enjoy Reading!

The number twelve has an abnormal essentialness in the retribution of time:

There are twelve sun powered months, relating generally to twelve zodiacal houses along the sun's ecliptic way. In the Christian legend, Christ is trailed by 12 missionaries.

There are customarily twelve 'hours' of sunshine, as figured by sun-dials, and subsequently we determine our twenty four hours of light and night which contain our unit of one sun powered 'day'. This is known as 'clear sun oriented time', when contrasted with the clock-time we will in general keep in current occasions, known as 'mean sun powered time'.

There is a distinction of around twelve days between the old 'Julian' and more up to date 'Gregorian' calendric frameworks being used in Europe and Asia Minor. These progressions were organized to counteract the festival of Easter (determined dependent on the Jewish Lunar schedule) from crawling further away from the Spring Equinox into summer.

There are twelve days denoting the conventional European and Eastern 'Christmas' or 'Yule' bubbly midwinter period… These were at times each viewed as speaking to a different month of the sun based year in numerous pre-present day European societies. Yuletide started at the winter solstice (approx. 22nd December) and completed on the third January, though Christmastide was from 25th December to sixth January (Revelation).

Starting points of Christmas Day

The foundation of the date of the Nativity celebration on the 25th December in Christianity was not in reality officially settled upon for a long time after the time of Jesus' alleged life and demise. In the late agnostic Roman Realm, the 25th day of December was praised as Natalis Invicti – the resurrection of the worshipped 'Unconquerable Sun' – Sol Invictus. In spite of the fact that presented as a late Supreme Clique under Aurelian in 274CE (250 years or so after the passing of Jesus) the religion of Sol Invictus was likely in light of the abundance of puzzle cliques all through the Roman Realm which utilized the iconography of a young sunlight based male god, apparently got from the more established delineations of more seasoned divine beings, for example, Apollo, Adonis and Attis. Adonis, etymologically in any event, seems to have a Semitic cause (think about Adonai – 'Master'). These had their causes in the standards of Sunlight based godhood connected to the extraordinary 'static' or 'authority' puzzle cliques of the first thousand years BCE: Those of Delian Apollo, Apollo at Delphi, Eleusis, Samothrace and the secrets of Cybele and Attis in Phrygia, among others. Such cliques by and large endless supply of land loci – fixed religion destinations – and the cooperation in initiatory custom for the reasons for either getting prophets, recuperating or higher information. They themselves may have created from prominent augmentations of the initially more firmly monitored internal puzzle ceremonial conventions encompassing the exclusive classes of rulers and religious hierophants of the prior 'palatial' societies (Minoan and Mycenaean), themselves duplicating the antiquated Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies, which are the most established for which we have proof, and were in coherence until in any event the beginning of the first thousand years CE.

Wars with Carthage and the extraordinary developments of the 'savage' Celts during Rome's Late Republican Period (c.3rdC BCE) prompted the importation of 'outside' riddle religions, for example, that of Cybele and her delighted ministers into Rome during the late Punic wars. Another well known elated religious puzzle faction was that of the Bacchanalia (Dionysia) from Greece. The Celtic obsession towards the sunlight based god Apollo (whom they knew as Belenos) made them really attack Greece and sack Delphi in 179BCE! These occasions, alongside Rome's expanding extension and social cooperation prompted the flood in prominence of riddle religions all in all during the late Republican period, to such an extent that by the 1stC CE Roman Sovereigns were themselves visiting Eleusis and Samothrace to move toward becoming starts. These cliques indicated to clarify the insider facts of the sun, the moon, the planets and stars and the most profound puzzles of nature, passing and recovery. Maybe obviously, the nurturing Sun was a key piece of this, and turned out to be a piece of another 'elementalism' and drive towards rearrangements and 'versatility' of folklore.

As the Roman and Greek social nations extended and thrived, initiatory puzzle religions turned out to be less a guilty pleasure of the elites, and furthermore less joined to fixed topographical areas, forming into a plenty of portable ideological 'establishments' delighted in by increasingly standard people. These very likely copied the insider facts and legendary systems of the more established 'official' puzzles whose (frequently well off) starts and suppliants should stay discreet on torment of death or profound torment, and such secrets were bit by bit purchased out beyond all detectable inhibitions and talked about and conjectured over. This procedure was helped by the dissemination of education and the spread of and improvement of the thoughts of the 'Thinkers 'of traditional and Greek time 'Magna Graecia' who tried to examine the constancies and certainties behind old orally-transmitted folklore.

A genuine case of such reductionist procedures at their apotheosis are the 'Hermetic' and 'Gnostic' religions in Hellenized Asia Minor, Center East and North Africa, of which Christianity was to develop as an early branch inside the irritable and millenarianist Hasmonean-time Jewish world with its critical diaspora. These utilized Pythagorean, Non-romantic and Luxurious reductionist speculations and a talk including the standards of the spirit as a type of undying light in their prophetic religious stories, scarcely concealing such thoughts behind the character accounts of more established folklores.

Such express intellectualism was not to everybody's taste, obviously, and other increasingly semiotic types of riddle factions dependent on custom, fantasy and imagery served the requirements of those with progressively conventional (less orientalised) tastes. Orphism was maybe the most seasoned and best-settled of these customs – conceivably the 'granddaddy' of all, with its inceptions in the primary portion of the first thousand years BCE in any event. Its starts looked to 'filter' themselves so as to accomplish a superior the great beyond. Mithraism was surely the most well known of the more up to date factions, spreading from Asia Minor into the most northern and western degrees of the Roman Realm between the first and third hundreds of years of the BC. Comparative famous secret religions based on the Thracian god Sabazios (a local relative of Dionysus) and European syncretic cliques including the Celtic divine beings, for example, that of the 'Danubian Horsemen' including Epona in Eastern and northern Europe, and an abundance of others all the more ineffectively comprehended because of scarcity of material proof. These all had the regular attribute of underscoring the situation of the characters of 'Sol' and 'Luna' in their iconography – nearly as an 'identification' of their 'puzzle' status.

A Roman alleviation delineating the feast of Sol, Luna and Mithras..

A wonderful case of a plaque delineating the 'Danubian Horsemen' and their focal goddess... apparently a rendition of Epona.

A plaque portraying the 'Danubian Horsemen' and their focal goddess (Epona): Sol Invictus rides his quadriga at the highest point of the picture, which manages the symbolism of the religion's riddles.

Sol and Luna remain above Sabazios in this cultic Roman plaque

A coin of Ruler Constantine I who changed over to Christianity and took the Realm with him. The delineation on the front-side is of Sol Invictus.

The revered sun was conflated in this time with the more established Greek god Apollo, whose character was supported by the Romanised Celtic people groups from the Danube bowl to the Atlantic northwest of Europe, in their very own syncretic religions. Such religions all through the Domain had uprooted those of the more established Capitoline and Olympian Roman and Greek gods among the all inclusive communities, in spite of the fact that these still had a metro task to carry out.

Maybe the most significant, mainstream and long-running faction of the senior Greek divine beings was that of Dionysus, whose most established celebration – the Country Dionysia – concurred with the time of the winter solstice whose Greek month was named out of appreciation for the antiquated ocean god: Poseidonia. This was a celebration of sprucing up in the pretense of the entourage of the god: men as satyrs or silenoi and ladies as maenads. It was additionally, essentially, a celebration of the revelation of Dionysus to humanity, which praised the god's transubstantiation of water into wine and the riddles of growing nature: topics clearly acquired into later christianity. At Delphi, there was a custom that Apollo left to live among the Hyperboreans during the month when Dionysus showed among the individuals at this celebration, at which there was much singing of famous tunes by all classes in Greek society – a convention getting by in the cutting edge European Christmas singing merriments.

After the third century CE the ascent of heathen, proficient, literalised and intellectualized religious propensities in the Hellenized Eastern Domain and North Africa was progressively to obscure the western conventions of baffling non-literal folklore, which had been at the foundation of European religion for centuries. Apollo, Sol, Belenos, Attis, Dionysus and Adonis progressed toward becoming 'Logos' – supplanted by a scholarly man-god who professed to be 'the light of the world', promising – as an end-result of a vow of loyalty – 'recovery' after death into a perfect eternity, safe from the disarray of life. The ideal model of altruistic Majestic power truth be told.

[cashlesseyehospitalinnavimumbai]

World's Largest Walk Against Blindness held - Advancedeyehospital

After three years of tremendous success, Tamaso Ma JyotirGamaya, the Walk against Blindness saw its fourth edition on 8th January 2017 at 7:30 am on Palm Beach Road in Sanpada, Navi Mumbai. Organized by Advanced Eye Hospital and Institute (AEHI) and One Vision Health and Research Foundation, TMJ has been seeing a record-breaking number of participants come on the streets every year to make it the largest ever walk to raise awareness for eye pledging and eye donation.

The National Program for Control of Blindness states that 1.2 lakh Indians are blind from diseases of the cornea(the outer clear layer of our eye) and every year about 25 - 30,000 new cases are added to this humongous backlog.

TMJ, The Walk Against Blindness motivated people to get over their inhibitions and overcome the shortage of corneas. And it pushed across this sombre message in a very light-hearted, fun-filled way. The walk had dance and song, refreshments, fervent sloganeering, celebrity performances, and an energetic anchoring by the live wire RJ Archana from Radiocity of ‘Salil and Archana’ fame.

This year, the Walk was preceded by a Carnival in the top eight colleges of Navi Mumbai which saw college students participating in singing, dancing, and video-making contests as pre-event activities. The finalists of these contests showcased their talent during the Walk.

This year’s edition saw about 12000 people participating which included hundreds of doctors, students from all the schools in Navi Mumbai, college kids, senior citizens, and dozens of social organizations and NGOs.

Mr. Satish Mathur, Director General of Police, Maharashtra State, the Chief Guest of Honour was joined by the Mayor of Navi Mumbai, Mr. Sudhakar Sonawane, the Commissioner of Police, Navi Mumbai Mr. Hemant Nagrale and Dr. Nitin Kadam Trustee MGM Trust, to inspire people to pledge their eyes for eye donation. Nookad Nation, Tata Motors, Humanity First Foundation, Evolve Business School, Direct To You, Lions Club, Rotary Club, Y Guys, New Bombay Punjabi Association, Kutch Yuvak Sangh, Schools and Colleges like Avalon Heights, St. Lawrence, Poddar International, NIFT, Sterling NCRD, ICL College, SIES College, Modern College, Pillai College, Hellen Keller Institute for Deaf and Deaf Blind, Indian Navy, Anti Corruption Intelligence Committee, NGOs Awaaz, Aarambh, Tarun Mitr Mandal, Jan Seva Mitr Mandal, Agarwal Samaj, Lohana Samaj, Kannada Samaj, Mangalam Foundation, MITR Hospital, Yerala Medical Trust, Indian Merchant Chamber, Achievers Zone and Success Foundation  are just few of many organizations that extended their support for this cause.

Dr. Vandana Jain, Cornea & Cataract Surgeon and Director of Advanced Eye Hospital and Institute (AEHI) said,” We have now more and more people in Navi mumbai registering for eye donation on our website as well within the eye hospital. With the events such as the walk against blindness, we plan to raise funds for poor patients for surgeries also. Last year we did 500 free surgeries and distributed free spectacles to more than 5000 old people. These were all poor patients and could not afford treatment for even 500 rs. We also adopted some villages in nearby area with help of One Vision Health and Research Foundation for free eye care. I urge all Navi mumbaikars to work towards making Navi Mumbai a model city with highest rates of eye donation and completely blindness free.”

The walk was flagged off by Mr Satish Mathur at 7:30 am at AEHI, Sector 17, Palm Beach Road, Sanpada.

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