To the Far Side of the Moon and Back
Copy, Moon joy.” — Jacki Mahaffey, NASA
Like much of the planet, I have been fixated on the Artemis II space mission these past few weeks. At a particular tumultuous time in world history, it has been so life-affirming to focus on a positive news event instead of (waves hand) all this.
Earthset
Photo Credit: NASA
It’s also been so great to see Canadians and Americans getting along. No lie — Canada is feeling pretty beat up and bruised by the current political situation between our two countries. What Artemis II did was remind us that we don’t have to agree on everything in order to do big things together.
Canada punches above its weight when it comes to space travel. We were the fourth nation to launch a satellite. A Canadian company built the legs of the Lunar Modules that landed on the Moon in the Apollo program. And we built the Canadarm and Canadarm2 — the robotic arms used on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. In return for committing to build Canadarm3 for Gateway, the space station that will orbit the Moon, Canada was given two astronaut flights to the Moon.
And that is how a Canadian ended up being the first non-American to fly to the Moon.
I livestreamed all the significant parts of the mission: the launch, the lunar flyby, and the interview with our prime minister when the crew assured him that their choice of topping on pancakes was maple syrup, not Nutella.
The splashdown aired live on CBC, our public broadcaster, and the host spent a good amount of time talking with two retired Canadian astronauts, Roberta Bondar and Chris Hadfield, as we waited for the Artemis II astronauts to exit their spaceship. In addition to explaining what was happening as it was happening, both astronauts talked about the future of space travel.
Neither thought it would be a half century before we’d return to the Moon, but Chris Hadfield made an apt comparison between space travel and the early voyages between Europe and the Americas. John Cabot struggled to find funding to sail to Newfoundland in 1497, but he did, eventually. Yet it was another 100 years before any Europeans attempted a permanent settlement in what we now call Canada.
Commander Hadfield also pointed out that the first journeys to Antarctica were for exploration, then science, but now tourists are routinely travelling to that continent. He speculated the same will (one day) happen with the Moon.
I watched the first news conference with Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen after they returned to Earth. All four talked, not about the science (that will come, according to Jeremy), but about the very human moments they experienced. And what struck me as I listened is that very few of us have the kind of job where our colleagues’ survival depends on us doing our jobs right. What those four went through is almost unimaginable.
Jeremy talked about gratitude, joy, and love. While he said some incredibly moving and profound things about gratitude and love, I’m going to quote him on what he said about joy.
We have a term in our crew that we coined a long time ago, the Joy Train. And you saw, I think, … you saw a lot of joy up there. There was a lot of joy. We’re not always on the Joy Train, this crew. There are many times we’re not on the Joy Train, but we are committed to getting back on the Joy Train as soon as we can. And that is a useful life skill for any team trying to get something done.
His words hit home to me because, coincidentally, I’ve been thinking a lot about joy the past few months.
Few of us will ever travel to the Moon and get to experience Moon joy. Not all of us have jobs that make an out-of-this-world contribution to humanity. And some of us have jobs that don’t always give us joy.
But committing to finding the joy in what you do and how you live — that is a useful life skill. A life skill I am determined to work on for the remainder of my time here on Earth.
Happy Easter!
Agios Konstantinos and Agios Ioannis o Theologos, Serifos, Greece, October 2025
Donkeys of Serifos
Of course, you can’t spend any amount of time in the Cyclades without encountering one or two donkeys.
Donkeys have a long history as beasts of burden in the Mediterranean. And no wonder — they are sure-footed and able to easily navigate the narrow passageways of the Chora.
All they need for fuel are food and water. These two are drinking their fill at the tap just outside my door. I was all set to leave one morning when I realized they were blocking my way.
So I waited until they were sated and on their way.
The man and his donkeys were hauling gravel from the road below my house to some unknown construction site above my house. And you know what I discovered?
There is no better way to remind yourself you are on vacation than watching others work.
Through My Lens: Ekklisia Christou
Ekklisia Christou (Church of Christ) is my photo choice for today, Palm Sunday. This small domed church is located just below Agios Konstantinos and to the right of Agia Varvara. Like all the churches at the top of the Chora, Ekklisia Christou gives you a fabulous panoramic view of Serifos and the Aegean Sea.
Cats of Serifos
I now know why my home exchange partner did such a fabulous job taking care of my cats when she and her partner stayed in my Vancouver home.
It’s because cats are as much a part of Serifos as whitewashed walls and blue domes.
As far as I know, the cats of Serifos live completely outdoors and come and go as they please. But I wouldn’t call them feral. Or even strays.
They belong to everyone and to no one. “Community cats” is probably the best way of describing them.
I fed my clan every morning and evening. The most I had at any one time was nine. Nine cats! (Isn’t that the name of a song?)
The cats of Serifos are small, but healthy and well fed (see above). I’m told the Aegean cat is a breed native to the Cyclades that developed naturally, without any human intervention.
Often on my wanderings through the Chora, I’d see little piles of kibble set out for the cats — I wasn’t the only one feeding them.
I loved how completely relaxed they looked and acted in their environment.
And they kept me good company while I was in my Grecian home.
Through My Lens: Agia Varvara
For today, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, here is a photo of the church of Agia Varvara (Saint Barbara). You come to it when you keep walking down the steps from where I took last week’s photo. It was built in the post-Byzantine era and renovated in the late nineteenth century.
Saint Barbara lived in the third century CE and is the patron saint of anyone working with explosives, including miners. For that reason, she was considered the patron saint of Serifos, which has a history of mining going back to Roman times that continued until as recently as 1965.
Through My Lens: Agios Konstantinos From the Back
If you take a few steps from where I took last week’s photo, you have an excellent view of how the church of Agios Konstantinos was built on the ruins of the castle at the top of the Chora of Serifos. This view of Agios Konstantinos from the back is my photo choice for today, the Fourth Sunday of Lent.
Doors and Windows of Serifos
Naturally, I had far too many photos for my post about the Chora of Serifos, so here are some of the outtakes — most of them doors and windows.
One might assume, as I did, that the colours of the Cycladic houses come from the Greek flag. Or from the colours of the Aegean Sea and the Grecian skies. But it turns out the blue-and-white colour scheme has a much more basic origin.
White is a practical choice, of course. Along with the thick stone walls and small windows, it helps the houses stay cool — an all-important consideration in the Mediterranean climate. But whitewash also contains limestone, a natural disinfectant, and during a cholera outbreak in 1938, it was ordered that whitewash be applied to all houses to help prevent the spread of the disease.
And blue? Turns out blue was the cheapest colour of paint available and after painting their boats, fishermen used any leftover paint on their houses.
Then, in 1967, the military dictatorship that ruled Greece at the time ordered all houses be painted blue and white because the colours were considered patriotic. White was linked to purity and independence (remember the uniforms of the Presidential Guard?). And, yes, blue represents the sea and the sky.
The colour scheme was made law in 1974. Those laws are no longer in place, but the blue and white colours have become so synonymous with the Greek islands that everyone keeps the traditional colours.
One final bit of trivia: many of the Greek islands were colonized by the Venetians and their influence can be seen in the construction of the doors and windows.
Through My Lens: Agios Konstantinos
For the Third Sunday of Lent, I’m posting a photo of the church of Agios Konstantinos. This small chapel was built almost two hundred years ago on the ruins of the castle built by Venetian traders back in the fifteenth century. Its location at the highest point of the Chora, about 250 metres above sea level, makes it the best spot for a panoramic view over Serifos.
Agios Konstantinos (Saint Constantine), also known as Constantine the Great, was Emperor of Rome from 306 to 337 CE, founder of Constantinople (now called Istanbul), and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He is credited with stopping the persecution of Christians and making the Christian faith the dominant religion of the Roman Empire.
Through My Lens: Agios Athanasios
Even an island as small as Serifos has a cathedral and that would be this church, the Cathedral of Agios Athanasios. Agios Athanasios (Saint Athanasios) was the twentieth Patriarch of Alexandria and a key figure at the First Council of Nicaea held in 325.
Built in 1820, the cathedral is located in Pano Piatsa (the main square) of the Pano Chora and is my photo choice for today, the Second Sunday of Lent.
There and Back Again 