Whiter and Whiter

Shortly before we left for Greece, Elena became obsessed with white paint. There was a crew painting the metal working on the bridge at the end of the street. They were painting the bridge 'whiter and whiter.' Evidently the obsession was related to the fact that you could not touch the bridge while it was being painted. This transfered to a fear of doors in the house, which had also been painted 'whiter and whiter.'

So, say you've got a toddler with a fearful obession of white paint. Where is a good place to go? Try Greece where everything on the Paros was white washed to a beauitful contrast. It only took about 5 days and several 'tests' of mommy and daddy rubbing the white paint as hard as we could to show that the walls in the house were 'safe.' However, the Greeks love their bright colors (preferabley, but always bright blue) to constrast the gleaming white. Pretty soon, 'was that chair painted? Table?" "Daddy you touch it." "Elena is scared of the painted whiter and whiter (but now blue) chair."

Inspite of our constant battle against toddler obessive fear, the houses, and in particular our house, on Paros was lovely. The island is basically made of marble. So the 'condo' (the word seems so offensive when describing our little villa) was made entirely of marble, which was then white washed with a gleaming stucco. The floors of the house, stairs, and patio were polished marble, as was the bathroom, sink, counter and table tops. When your island is made of marble, such elegance is actually practical. Especially because, true to their centuries old engineering, they kept you cool in the heat. (Though during our first few cool evenings, they were hard to warm up at night! and patting around marble floors makes your feet quite cold).





Anyway, though Elena was less than pleased to have to staying in a 'painted whiter and whiter' house, Jake and I loved it. Perhaps it was the view of the mountains and sea from our patio, or the flowering vines reaching up from below, or even the small metal table, many things mirrored our old balcony in Santa Cruz. Mostly we loved hearing the crickets and being able to see a sky line (all the better that it involved ocean and mountains) and see the stars. While we make due and enjoy many things about Utrecht, there is something peaceful about not living in a city and having a bit of outdoor space to call your own and sip ouzo and read while Elena takes her nap.