MINUTE OF MONTH NO. 42, AUGUST 2023
Channel: Sarah Bay Gachot
Date: 2023-09-13

#minuteofmonth No. 42, August 2023. At the beginning of August, we’d just arrived in the Peloponnese. This month, the clips don’t capture things accurately. For instance, one of the most important moments of August was sitting at a picnic table under two eucalyptus trees and looking out over a dry riverbed at olive groves on the north side of a mountain ridge. You’ll see it, but it should be a longer clip. When you’re looking for home like I am, you might think finding a place like this, where I felt like I was in my own private Quaker Meeting, might tell me something. But I couldn’t claim a magical spot like this. These travels are well into their fourth year, and patterns are emerging. The revisiting of things. This bike ride. That hillside. These restaurants. This shop for halvah. That messy pile of lamb chops. Many whole fishes. Horta. Gavros marinatos. Melitzanosalata. Fries. The view of the moon. This seascape. The inspection of every beach pebble and its rings and colors and luster. This underwater feature where I free dive. I’m living into the photographs from the memory album I made last year and the year before, with elaborations wending their way in, like new friends, feeling closer to the ones we met last year. The overall emotional flavor is always unique. This time it was like molasses and mastiha. A friend taught me how to spearfish. I haven’t caught anything yet, but I’m still learning, with a custom wetsuit made in Athens on its way to me now. I visited an octopus every time we went to the beach. It never shook my hand (and I only hunt fish btw). @gazpachot tore his meniscus when we arrived, so there wasn’t as much running around and hiking and walking into town as in previous years. But his good nature and a sports therapist who lived practically next door in this little village healed him within weeks. Then we went back to Athens, where you’ll see a clip from the video “Dereviled” by #davidhaines at EMST. Also, it was getting smokey from fires. Then we flew back to the U.S.A. and arrived in Rhode Island. The minute should be slower. At some point I thought I wasn’t making videos at all. But there were still so many.