In 1982, the Cabot Trust awarded me a grant for documentary work in a Greek village because I expressed “bravery”and “venturesomeness”when I diverged from teaching biology to design and teach a course in cultural anthropology and to edit the oral history, You May Plow Here: The Narrative of Sara Brooks  (Norton, 1986). During that pivotal two-year stay in the Peloponnese, I began to record villagers' stories. Eventually, I published these with tales I wrote about Elika and gossip I overheard about the “American Girl” in my book Dancing Girl: Themes and Improvisations in a Greek Village Setting  (Fundamental Note, 1991). Simultaneously, I yielded to the intuitive urge to have a home of my own in Elika—I purchased and began single-handedly to restore a roofless ruin long used to corral sheep. After seven seasons of backbreaking work, the house became habitable. Stories about the house restoration enrich Dancing Girl. As the author of Dancing Girl, I took great delight in reading my stories aloud. Then, one time, I boldly set the book aside and became a storyteller and, eventually, a performance artist. Anecdotal and spontaneous, my Monologues allow me to share directly with listening audiences the people, places, and events that have inspired me profoundly. Unexpectedly, around that time, a reader of Dancing Girl and owner of a tour company invited me to develop and conduct a walking trip in Greece. An itinerary in the Peloponnese presented itself to me instantaneously, but I preferred to operate independently. In 1995, I took my first small group to Greece. Excursions & Sojourns in Greece now offers four programs, each designed to make every trip a unique, intimate, personal odyssey. Encompassing the books I have written, the programs I give, and the trips I conduct, astragreece inc. is the vessel for my collected experience. The books, programs and trips available from astragreece inc. also are catalysts of your own bold adventures and vehicles for your own genuine encounters. —Thordis Simonsen