Sunday 22 October 2017

July the holiday month.

After a long delay here I am again friends and readers (hello!Are you still out there?)
July and August were the months of my holidays. Schools closed, mum was at the rehabilitation centre and we at the beach house which is closer to the rehab so that was really convenient.
July started with a day with my crafty group girlfriends at Saint Nicholaos near Naoussa.
It's a lovely place, a huge forest park with streams and rivers and lots of grass and trees.

We went there to attend the christening of the daughter of one of the girls in the group Kikitsa, the blogger behind DIY my day!You should visit her blog, it is so sweet!
The christening had all the beautiful girly things one expected from Kikitsa.Sweets,
macarons,
lemonade,
handmade christening favours,
summer decorations....
and a pro photographer, Kikitsa's sister, who took amazing photos of us!
Of course the focus of all this was the gorgeous little Ariadne!Oh yes I attended the christening of a baby named with my name!I am so so happy!
The very next day my niece was graduating from her University in Kastoria.
The highway was decorated in sunflowers!
And here is my niece with my son at the dinner after the graduation.Aren't they both gorgeous?I am so proud!
Kastoria lake was beautiful as usual.
After those two days out we moved to the beach house. Three to four times a week we visited my mum at the rehab. She was slow in her progress but she seemed happy to be there.

Sometimes we took Barca with us and mum seemed to enjoy her visits.

At the beach house things were relaxing and simple.
I went to the beach every day and put my little beach chair under the shade of the clay cliffs.
I enjoyed the sea so very much.

I always took my coffee and snack with me.I especially enjoyed these special edition strawberry Oreos this summer.They had a taste like when I was a kid.
This summer the flamingos were much in fashion. Some of them though died at our beach.
I spotted lots of little creatures this summer. The permanent resident, the green lizard was there of course.
A lovely jelly fish swam around me one day. Later in the summer we spotted a huge one like this but unfortunately we couldn't take a picture of it.
I found sea urchins in the shallow waters and some dead ones on the beach too.
I even found the spikes of a hedgehog.The little creature was missing from inside probably eaten by a cat.
Insects are all around us at the beach house.

And hubby tried some fishing too.
We didn't go much around this summer but we did pay a visit to our friends Areti and Fondas at Posidi. We swam and had dinner out together. The sea was fantastic and so was the food and Areti's homemade ice cream! She was my inspirations for later making lots of homemade icecream in the city.


Another day my friend Elpida and her friend Dimos visited us. We had a great day and Barca adored them. Elpida is the great crafter of  Elpida's amigurumi creations so why don't you have a look at her page? She is now in Sweden working as a teacher there but I am sure we will meet again next summer.
There is a big mall near the beach house now with mainly shops for tourists. There was a marble art exhibition at the time and we saw that hippo there.
We also attended a shadow puppet performance by our friend Odysseas Kanlis at Fokies village.
In July I read some books too.
As you can see that book was accompanied by both hot and cold coffee depending on the weather conditions.




The first three books were excellent.
This summer I just rearranged a few things around the beach house.
I made this candle holder out of an old lamp.
I loved taking photos of my glass paper weights.
I put the sailor and the mermaid on the wall.
The rest of the decorations stayed the same.
I also made a new door number as the previous one was stolen.
I stitched a bit too.
That doggy kit was sent to me by Chiara of The Grey Tail a long time ago as it reminded her of Barca.
It turned out so beautiful!
This summer Anna of In My Closet organised a summer crafty challenge in which I took part. Every week she gave us a theme and we worked on it. Here's what I made in July. Something out of an old pair of jeans.I made a bag for my book for my beach bag.
A toy. I made a Noughts and Crosses by painting on sea tiles and pebbles.And made a bag out of an old bed linen.
And here's a pic of the cross stitch I started this summer. It is a Blue and white theme that I love but unfortunately I haven't moved on much. 
Nature around the beach house was lovely as usual. This is our pomegranate tree.
And that's the view from my back balcony.
We had a couple of flowers too.
But it is so beautiful all around that the neighbours' daughter even did a photo shooting there. Don't they look like fairies in the forest?
The views from the beach house are always breathtaking! That yacht  made its appearance three times during summer.


In July we had a rare weather incident. It rained continuously for 29 hours!It was awful! I admit we don't like staying at the beach house under such weather but we couldn't do otherwise at that time.


I even put on the right shoes to go out.

And hence the hot coffee.
Even Barca didn't enjoy it.Look at that face!

The sea looked awful after that rain storm!
And all the flowers fell from the bushes.
But in the end there was a huge rainbow.
And lots of sea glass of course!
In fact there was lots of sea glass all summer.
Some pieces were especially good.

I even took some photos with my macro lens.

That crab shell is really small.


Barca enjoyed the sea a lot and when there were no people around we put her in too.
She is adorable isn't she?
She so enjoys staying around the barbeque for obvious reasons!
The sunsets are usually the end of a blog post about the beach house!





But this time we will close with some underwater photos I took with my underwater camera.









I hope I will show you some August blog post soon!

20 comments:

Purple Pixie Dust said...

What a wonderful time you had, wish I was there. Oh, the sea glass is so lovely. You did good. Yes, your poor dog dose not like rain. Not for 29 hours. That's no fun to pee in the rain for any poor dog. Like your under water photo's and I am glad your mom is doing better. big hugs

Linda said...

Looks like you had a fantastic July. Wish I were there.

Linda

Christy ♥ said...

Hola Ariadne, siiii todavía estoy aquí, esperando tus publicaciones.
Esta vez nos traer lugares muy bonitos y muchas actividades que has realizado. Me alegro que tu mamá se encuentre en rehabilitan, un beso para ella.
Barza esta preciosa y que buena compañera te resulto.
Me despido y deseo que tengas un lindo inicio de semana.

Lillie said...

What a marvelous blog post. Look like you had a perfect summer.
Thank you for sharing all the lovely photos, both your son and niece are beautiful.

dimitrART said...

Tι υπέροχες φωτογραφίες! Χαίρομαι που η μαμά σου είναι καλύτερα Αριάδνη...Φιλιά!

zina said...

Τι φοβερή ανάρτηση ήταν αυτή;;;; Γεμάτη χρώματα, Καλοκαίρι, αποδράσεις, δημιουργίες, ρομαντισμό! Απλά υπέροχη! να είστε πάντα καλά να απολαμβάνετε ακόμα περισσότερα!!!

butterfly said...

What a lovely post, love all the beautiful photos .
Great stitching .
Great to have you back.

Ο κόσμος της Ράνιας said...

Πέρασες πανέμορφο Καλοκαίρι και οι φωτογραφίες σου είναι όλες καταπληκτικές !!! Χαίρομαι ιδιαίτερα τις αναρτήσεις σου γιατί είναι πολύ ενδιαφέρουσες με πράγματα που κι εγώ αγαπώ !!! Πολλά χαιρετίσματα και φιλιά !!!!

Brigitte said...

Another great post full of wonderful pictures.
The decoration your friend created for the christening celebration looks gorgeous. She is a very talented lady.
So nice to read that you were enjoying your time at the beach house. In spite of the day full of rain. But you could spend the rainy day stitching and reading, how great. I love the stitched little Barca design.

Marie-Anne said...

Τώρα που ξεκουράστηκα λίγο από τα του γάμου της κόρης μου, ξανάρχισα την βόλτα μου στην μπλογκογειτοιά.
Μου αρέσουν οι αναρτήσεις που κάνεις για έναν ολόκληρο μήνα! Οι φωτογραφίες σου είναι καταπληκτικές, όπως και οι υποβρύχιες!!! Δεν είχα πάρει χαμπάρι για τις βροχές που κράτησαν τόσο πολύ...εμείς εδώ λαχταράμε για λίγη βροχούλα, που ακόμα δεν λέει να έρθει! Ωραίος ήταν ο Ιούλιός σου, Αριάδνη μου...περιμένω να διαβάσω για τον Αύγουστο!

Marie-Anne said...

Αριάδνη μου, σου είχα γράψει ένα μεγάλο σχόλιο, αλλά μάλλον κάτι πάτησα και χάθηκε! Τώρα που ξεκουράστηκα από τα του γάμου της κόρης μου, ξαναρχίζω τις βόλτες στην γειτονιά μας. Δεν είχα πάρει χαμπάρι τις έντονες βροχές που είχατε τον Ιούλιο (εδώ σε μάς, ούτε σταγόνα!). Οι φωτογραφίες σου είναι υπέροχες όπως και οι υποβρύχιες που τράβηξες! Σου έλεγα πως μου αρέσουν πολύ αυτές οι 'μηνιαίες' αναρτήσεις/ανασκοπήσεις που κάνεις και θα περιμένω να διαβάσω και πώς πέρασες τον Αύγουστό σου!

Sheryl said...

Beautiful post full of amazing summer photos, thank you for sharing. I love the gorgeoous blue and white embroidery you are working on and the lovely dog cross stitch.

devonseaglass said...

Lovely seaglass!

Mary - Lecoeurceltique said...

A lovely blog post with beautiful pictures. Your underwater photos are amazing. It's nice to see that you were able to get some crafting and stitching time as well as some time for reading.

Bethan said...

What an amazing summer you had! Thanks for sharing so many beautiful pictures x

Anonymous said...

We love you and you know it!

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

What a busy summer you had! Glad to see that you got some time for stitching. All the sea glass is gorgeous too.

AppleApricot Wen said...

Hello Ariadne, yes we're still here :) What a beautiful country you live in! So wonderful with the beautiful beaches and flowers. Those sunflowers, wow! Your stitching projects are gorgeous, I love that sweet little doggie and how gorgeous is that blue and white! Sweet photos of Barca. Wishing you a beautiful month of November! Hugs xx

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

It's so wonderful to see all of your photos and see what you've done during the summer months. You look fabulous my friend and I wish I could have sat on the beach with you and looked out at the sea! I still treasure the seaglass that you sent me. I look at it and can't believe it is from so far away. Enjoy your week sweet lady. Hugs, Diane

Unknown said...

Πολυ ομορφες εικονες απο το καλοκαιρι σου ...και του χρονου να
εισαι καλα Αριάδνη ...καλη εβδομαδα