Ariadne from Greece!

When people go away...

2012-03-01T16:42:00.000-05:00

Yesterday all of a sudden a great Greek comedian Vasilis Tsivilikas died at the age of 70.
He has given us great moments of joy and laughter through his roles in the Greek cinema.

And today we heard that Lucio Dalla died too!

Who hasn't heard Caruso?
Adding that to the sudden recent death of Whitney Houston some of our youth memories heroes are gone.

And you start realising how time flies away and you lose people around you that have given you so much happiness.
I will always love you!

Carnival days

2012-02-29T15:09:00.000-05:00

We don't usually have the chance to go to Carnival parties any more. When my son was younger I used to take him to Carnival birthday parties of his friends. And years back I used to get dressed even at school to amuse my students.
Well this year we were invited at a Carnival party the evening after the performances finished. It was a party organised by our play director and her other amateur drama team. We only had to take some drink or snack so we took some sweet red wine,my favourite, and some crisps and went dressed into what else our performance clothes. We didn't have anything else anyway.
I was the red hen and hubby was the pig!LOL!
We had fun, danced a lot to songs of our times of youth,disco etc. That was fun!

Dancing to the rhythm!

"There is money;come and get it!"George Papandreou

The vine!An excellent costume.

Koutornithia

2012-02-27T06:48:00.001-05:00

As my readers probably know I am an amateur actress apart from teacher. I belong in Dithyramvos ex Amaxis, the Teachers' Association Drama Club of Thessaloniki.
Every year we mount a play for children and do various others performances, book presentations etc.
That needs lots of rehearsals that we do twice a week. And of course our only satisfaction out of this is our joy during acting.
This year two members of the team Afrodite Ioannou and Ioanna Katsarou wrote a play for us. "Koutornithia" is the land of silly hens. They are happily living in a modern egg production plant but they are not aware of what happens to their eggs which vanish every day.
One day a strange bird lands in their place and they want to throw it out as it is different from them. But the bird helps them to realise what they are and the dirty pig explains why their eggs vanish.
It is a funny play with lots of messages about industrialisation and racism. We acted the play twice a day for schools for a week (20th-24th February) and on the 24th we acted a third time in the evening for the public.
The play was directed by our fellow teacher and actress Vana Vourtsaki.
Here are photos from the performances.You can see more photos here.
Me, the red hen Pardalo with the pig,my hubby!

One of the geese and the unknown bird, a hoopoe.

The whole group together.

The red hen.

The cat the policeman.

The forgetful hen.

The new rooster and the no-eggs hen.

The knowall turkey.

The journalist mouse.

The orange hen.

The red hen with the mole.

Marianna did my face painting. Students from the Beautician's Faculty always do their practice with us.

Frieda was here!

2012-02-22T15:31:00.000-05:00

I am so glad when Frieda, my sea glass friend from Skiathos visits her sons who study in my city.They happen to live in my neighbourhood; this way Frieda and I have the chance to meet and do things together.
Frieda is such a crafty person, she made me these Greek drachma fridge magnets, a crocheted purse out of supermarket plastic bags and also she baked these traditional windmill speculaas biscuits and put them in this lovely Dutch tin box. They are absolutely tasty. I hope she will put the recipe on her blog.

While Frieda was here we went to IKEA together and for a walk at second hand shops.We bought some books there.
We also went to the theatre and watched Madame Soussou by Dimitris Psathas.

That's the new Municipality building of my city which we passed on our way to the city centre. It is decorated with a kite as it is Carnival time here.

We had coffee out together.

She also came home for coffee and at a family meal where hubby cooked the tuna fish she brought us from her island, fished by her husband.Hubby marinated it in dill and mustard sauce and cooked it in the oven. It was great!

I made cous cous with shrimp and cabbage and carrot salad.We had a good time.

I made Frieda a small gift,too. I cross stitched the symbol of her project on Skiathos island, the Green Fox.She and her friends have started this project a year ago trying to collect and send away to the recycling factory all the plastic water bottles used on the island.Here is their blog The Green Fox of Skiathos.

I used this site on the net that changes pictures into cross stitch patterns.
I really enjoyed my time with Frieda. I hope we will meet again soon.

Tsiknopempti-Carnival

2012-02-19T12:56:00.000-05:00

On Thursday when the Carnival starts in Greece it is common for children to dress up. We did a small celebration at school too.
My first and second graders made masks!

Butterflies for the girls...

....and frogs for the boys....

Aren't these colours wonderful?

And this little Minnie?

More butterflies...

The Physical Education teachers organised traditional dances with the Maypole.

and some colourful tubes were played too.

My Godson's birthday!

2012-02-16T15:01:00.000-05:00

We went to my best friend Gia's house last week to celebrate my Godson's birthday!
Here are a couple of photos from the birthday!
My Godson danced around as Michael Jackson!

We took photos of each other!

The strawberry birthday cake was fantastic!

The children gathered all around hubby to see shadow puppets!

The view from their new house is fantastic too!

Gia and me!

Who wants the Greek people poor, hungry, angry and devastated?

2012-02-13T13:05:00.001-05:00

I could not resist yesterday's wordless post!
While the Parliament was voting for the new more strict measures of the Europeans (and lots of the members of parliament were refusing to vote for them and getting resigned or sent out by their leaders) the city centre of Athens was getting burnt by the KnownUnknown as they are called! Who are they? Protesters? Definitely not! There were thousands of people protesting outside the Parliament! Who are all these who broke into shops, stole lots of things like mobile phones and then burnt shops, banks and old cinemas? That destroyed all those beautiful aristocratic buildings that were a hundred years old and survived two World Wars? It is such a pity!Modern Greece eats up her children and her children destroy their country!
Thank you all for your comments. I slept very late last night watching the news and fearing that more riots will break out.
This morning the markets were happy that our Parliament voted for the new measures! Is that why all this is done? For the markets? And what about the people? Does anyone think of the people?There are already too many unemployed and homeless people in Greece. This number will rise since salaries and pensions will again be cut down and prices of services and products will go up! Who wants the Greek people poor , hungry, angry and devastated?
My friend Ian from England showed me this great blog of a British teacher of English living and working in Greece. He is also a photographer. He has followed the riots and has great photos for you to see.
Hopefully...we will survive!

Greece in flames!

2012-02-12T17:27:00.000-05:00

Birthday gifts!

2012-02-12T10:45:00.000-05:00

Thank you so much all of those who commented on my previous post. It is great feeling that some people out there really understand you! It is also great to have new commenters. I try to answer my comments personally but some of you have no e-mail on your blogger page so I cannot do that!
Anyway as I promised in my previous post here are a couple of gifts I recently received for my birthday!
From my dear Marabeth in the States this lovely red sea glass pendant made by Deb Lowther.

You might not be able to see it but this is probably from a bike tail light or something! I love it!
Here is the total contents of one more lovely parcel from Marabeth! I loved the card especially the part that talks about fullfilling dreams!LOL!

And this strawberry sweet parcel is from my pen friend Sigrid from Austria.

I found this beautifully smelling mouse inside and wondered what it is. Well it is a handmade hot/cold water "bottle". It is filled with wheat and lavender and can be cooked for 5 minutes or cooled for a while and put around a painful spot of your body! I really appreciate that as the awful weather we have been having causes quite a lot of pain on my shoulders! Ich danke Ihnen!

A leap year

2012-02-09T14:29:00.001-05:00

Feeling down has made me avoid blogging recently because I thought I would not write a happy blogpost and I hate that! Anyway the reasons for being down are many, big and small.
2012 is a leap year and I am afraid it is not bringing good luck so far not to Greece, not to our family, not to our friends.
My sea glass friend Angela's father suddenly died.
Theo Angelopoulos' sudden death cost hubby's Godson so much as he was working on his last movie.
The weather has been terrible,everywhere, all over Greece, too cold, snowing and here in town it is so cold and snowing from time to time but without covering the streets.We have been spending so much on heating!
The financial situation is getting worse and worse. Our government is talking and agreeing with the Europeans and as a result we will have less money in our salaries and in our pensions! Young people under 25 years old will get 400 euros salary! Can they live and start a family like that? I am afraid the majority of our young generation will move out of Greece.
On the other hand demands on teachers are more and more. And parents don't make things easier I would say.When you do your best with what you have and hear no thank you but instead accusations for inability then you just have to wonder where we are going to!
A shattered dream of mine for a trip has made things worse in my mood recenlty. We can't even dream any more.
And money is demanded more and more, taxes, extra taxes, bills, extra bills, sudden damages in car and house, all demand to pay more. Where from?
I have only been stitching lately and reading.These are the only two free past times of mine!And TV of course!
I am glad I don't need to buy new books, I have many unread in my library and there is a lending library in the neighbourhood too.Also I don't need to buy threads as I had bought most DMC colours years ago so I still have to use them to stitch. Nothing else. No going out. No shopping. No Internet shopping either. I am afraid I won't do any more Internet shopping for the next couple of months.
I haven't written any letters and I still haven't thanked so many people for their lovely gifts.I promise a blogpost about these generous friends of mine soon.
I hope you are feeling much better than me and your life is going smoothly and happily!

All kinds of things.

2012-02-05T14:42:00.000-05:00

This bundle of ribbons was lying around on the curb so I gathered it up and here it is clean and inside a box ready to be used somehow.

These golden leaves were stuck on a huge branch of a tree and was decorating inside a museum in my neighbourhood for an exhibition. When they threw the branch out of the museum I painstakingly and patiently collected all the leaves!!!!!

This lovely letter and birthday card arrived recently for my birthday from my dear friend in the Azores Maria Jose!

I recently taught my students how to smile!!!!!!

And fruit!

My mood is like the weather!

2012-02-04T08:43:00.000-05:00

Thank you everyone who have joined my blog recently. It is amazing that I have 58 followers. I am not a collector of followers I admit. I prefer readers who care to comment from time to time,not always of course.
My mood is just like the weather right now.Freezing cold and dark!
Here is how the weather was a couple of days ago.It started snowing a little bit. I wasn't happy to see the snow as I was thinking of how many people are out there homeless in the cold or how many flats in the city don't have heating any more because of the financial crisis!

Thank you my teachers....

2012-02-02T16:18:00.000-05:00

Thank you all for your wishes on my birthday! I really appreciate it when people remember me! I try to remember people's birthdays too but I admit I sometimes forget!
Today is my Godson's birthday,too! Happy birthday Elias!
We spent two days off school on Monday and Tuesday and with the Drama Club we made a presentation for the pensioners teachers invited by our administration office. The presentation included singing, dancing, poetry reading and a little acting. Also hubby added his shadow puppetry and it was great fun. All pensioners enjoyed it very much!
What I enjoyed most was that I met old colleagues who got pension. But I also met a Physics teacher of mine and was so happy to aknowledge his teaching abilities from stage that he was moved! Great teachers are always appreciated. He used to tell me to study Physics but well I had my mind on English teaching from very young! And I am not sorry about it! It gives me great pleasure!Inspite being so underpaid!
Here are some photos not very good ones I am afraid!

My birthday...

2012-01-30T17:20:00.001-05:00

...was on the 28th January!
My 6th Graders surprised me on the last hour of school with a birthday cake and a gift and a party, yes a party! No lesson, balloons and pop corn and music and fun! It was good that it was the last hour and some parents, members of the Parents' Association helped in the organising of the party. The music teacher brought the other 6th grade class too and we had fun!
Here is my gift from them, a shirt and lovely long brown jacket. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so no more photos! It has been years that students had surprised me like that and I really enjoyed it!

At home as soon as the hour struck twelve hubby decided to give me his gift. He put the happy birthday song on his laptop and then gave me his gift!! About this later in the year!

Here I should add that a day before my birthday I received a little parcel from another sea glass friend Terry or Watercolorsky! She has a lovely shop too.

She sent me a lovely pair of earrings!

Then the next day which was my birth day my mum brought me a lovely bouquet of flowers.

I received lots of phone calls from friends and relatives too and a sweet kiss from my son!.
Then in the evening we went to the cutting of the New Year's pie with the Drama club. There we had sweets with my colleagues and friends and they gave me this lovely pair of earrings.

Don't they look great on Paula's otchipotchi stones?

What the mail brought

2012-01-26T15:44:00.000-05:00

I love it when I receive lots of mail together. I don't open it at once, I give it time.
I have lunch, relax and spend an hour opening everything, reading it, taking pictures.
Here is the mail of a very special day in the beginning of January just after the holidays (when the post office was closed).

The long round parcel was Andria's sea glass calendar I told you about in Calendars and Diaries post a couple of days ago.
The brown parcel in front is from my dear friend Marabeth whose parcels arrived filled to the rim with beautiful things and I will share in a separate post.
Don't you love that beautiful blue flower Marimekko envelope? Of course it is from Finland and it included a lovely sea glass Christmas card from my dear sea glass friend Tua.

There was a lovely parcel from Sharon whose blog , TaylorsNana, I recently started following. I was a RAK receiver. And if you like me don't know what that means, it means Random Act of Kindness!!!! She was so generous to send me a packet of erasable pens to use on my cross stitch patterns along with some threads and some patterns. I don't get Prairie Schooler here and they are fantastic, as well as a whole kit of Shakespeare's Pendler. It is lovely!

On the same day I received two handmade bags from GreenBagLady whose giveaway I won through Sewmamasew. They are bags to use while shopping instead of paper and plastic ones.These will be great for the beach house shopping!

Then there was a long letter and Christmas card from my pen pal Annette in Australia,

and the Spoonful zine I get four times a year from Australia too. This time I was fast to order it and got this collibri print by Kareena Zerefos as a gift.Bytheway Anthea of the Spoonful team recently got married so here's a chance to wish her all the best!

Then a couple of days later I received this little pin cushion I had ordered from Sonia of Cozymemories.

I also received another giveaway ( I have really been lucky with giveaways recently) that I won from Arounna at Bookhou. I was afraid this would arrive broken but Arounna did her best to seal it perfectly!It is abeautiful mug for my morning drink but I would say I could also use it as a little vase!

Finally a set of crocheted snowflakes I had ordered from Elina in Eljuks on etsy of course. I love crocheted snowflakes. I think it is the main reason why I want to learn to crochet.

Well I had great mailing days during the last month but I too sent lots of letters, cards and parcels around the world. My only disappointment is that I have realised that two of my parcels one to New York to my Christmas ornament giveaway winner and one to California to Edgar did not arrive to their recipients. The strange thing is that both these parcels contained cross stitched Christmas ornaments so I am afraid someone really liked my cross stitch and kept them!

Theo Angelopoulos

2012-01-25T13:00:00.001-05:00

The only way to endure the world is its poetic version....
When all of a sudden yesterday we heard on the news that Theo Angelopoulos died in a road accident during the shooting of his latest film I was in awe.
Such a talented person to die just like that in minutes because he wanted to have a better look of the angle of his camera!
You can read about him here and on his official site here.

It was many years ago while walking at the city sea front I saw a huge hand suspending from a helicopter and a crew shooting a film. It was Theo Angelopoulos shooting Eternity and a day.Unforgettable scene.

You can watch this little tribute to his filmography here.

Calendars and diaries.

2012-01-24T09:26:00.000-05:00

I have been keeping a diary for ages. When I was younger I used to read back my diaries and then as I found some things really silly I tore them apart and threw them away. But the last ten years or so I have been writing a diary regularly and keeping it. I am not going back to read it but I enjoy having them and being able to look up in them dates of events I have forgotten.
I also have calendars all around the house to see dates. I don't cross out days as they pass. I just look at them to find important dates like when is the next loan payment or a bill unfortunately or the next holiday fortunately!
Last Christmas I had received lots of calendars from friends and pen pals and sea glass friends and a Flower Fairies diary from my dear hubby.
This year I decided it was high time I used a perpetual diary that I had kept for ages. It was a gift given by Susanna, a cross stitch magazine, years ago and as it was so beautiful and contained cross stitch patterns I did not want to use it. But I think the economy made me to give in and use it instead of buying a new one. Anyway I am getting old why should I keep it unwritten for future generations?LOL!
So here it is....

It has beautiful paintings.....

and recipes(in Italian unfortunately)....

and cross stitch patterns.....

And here are my calendars this year. Just two.
One from Andria my sea glass friend from the States....

I love it!

And one with monthly cards with quilts from my dear pen pal Cathy from England who is a magnificent quilter.

Colourful buttons

2012-01-23T12:41:00.000-05:00

The weekend was sunny but so cold and having no outside chores to do I stayed in the whole of it. I really needed that as I felt really exhausted.
I spent most of my Saturday answering e-mails. It is amazing how many e-mails I had to answer and although I managed to lower my inbox level I still have a lot. Sorry if someone expects an answer I will do my best soon.
I also stitched a lot (no photos they are gifts!)
We savoured some nice fried bread slices with maple syrup that arrived from the States. I had never tried maple syrup and was thankful that again Marabeth gave me this chance!

I finished blogging about Maija who is leaving for her next hostess in Scotland....

And arranged some buttons I recently bought. Just a little box of 100 small buttons for crafts.
Aren't they so sweet in their colourful galore?

A concert

2012-01-22T06:05:00.001-05:00

In December I won two tickets for a concert in the Concert Hall of Thessaloniki.
It was funny to enter the Cityportal giveaway and win among 4437 entries!
The concert was fantastic! It was dedicated to the poet Nikos Gatsos and sang Maria Farantouri and Alkinoos Ioannidis.

Here you can here my favourite Nikos Gatsos song with music by Manos Hatjidakis. Kemal.
I am adding the song in English. It was first performed by Manos Hatjidakis and New York Rock and Roll Ensemble in New York. Here it is performed by Raining Pleasure group.

Gifts from Canada

2012-01-18T15:42:00.000-05:00

My dear Canadian sea glass friend Angela and her " daugher " Zoe, my niece, her sweetest puppy, sent me this lovely parcel with treasures from Canada and Prince Edwrad Island.

I loved the little fatty mermaid!

And the beautiful card Angela made with sea glass!

She also made wine tags.

I loved all those shells from her island.

Sha painted a stone for me!

And made me jewelry!

And of course added some chocolate!

Thank you my dear!

Frames

2012-01-17T15:33:00.000-05:00

I know I have not been blogging for a couple of days but things have been a bit hectic with my mum's health problems and all the chores I have to run out for her as well as certain things hubby and I have to utilize. More in future about this.
Anyway I have had for some time some things framed so here they are in no specific order!
Remember that card I had bought from Lilarubyking?

Well I turned it into a frame.

I also framed my very first cross stitch which was school work.

Then I framed a poster Kim, a sea glass friend, sent me from the Sea glass Festival in the States.

I gave a facelift to this old frame of Manto Mavrogenous I salvaged from school!

These previous three are going to be added in the summer house collection!
Another photo with Anna's card framed. Next to my son's Aris Salonica team clock of course!

I at last decided to give some space on my wall for my University diploma and my awards for getting a very good entry place and for adding to the collection of books in the Educational Museum of Veria, Greece.

Since this is the year of the dragon here is my dragon, I painted this on acrylic sheet and it is a shadow puppet theatre figure. It is quite big and enjoys a place over my Billy bookcases.

Two more additions on my pink bedroom wall.
A frame of a beautiful card I had bought in England years ago
La Belle Dame Sans Merci by Sir Edward Dicksee.
John Keats wrote the ballad that so many painters illustrated.
I love the ballad and this painting.

I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful-a faery's child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.

And a small cross stitched dancing girl from my childhood years again.

Last but not least, Geninne's original The Umbrellas.
I had trouble framing this one because when I realised there was a drawing on the back of the collage I wanted to show it too and not imprison it in a frame. So I gave it a full extra plexiglass frame which I can turn around and show the back anytime I want.

Of course you do recognise Margie's crocheted stones and Paula's vases,crochet pebbles and delicate porcelain leaves.

Two days with my Godson...

2012-01-12T16:31:00.001-05:00

My Godson asked me to spend some time with me at my place as his Christmas gift and I couldn't resist him.
We spent two lovely days together doing things.
We went for a walk looking at the lit Christmas trees of the city like this one in the water.

We went to the movies and watched Puss in Boots in 3D with pop corn of course!

The next day we went to Santa's Village inside the city Trade Fair.
We walked all around. I loved looking at all those little houses.

But it was very very cold and dark!

We went up the Funfair rides. I hope you don't get dizzy!

We then made crafts at various workshops.

And saw a Christmas exhibition....

Finally we watched a magician and his tricks.

That evening we took my Godson back to his house and we also enjoyed a shadow puppet performance by him.

What the mail brought....

2012-01-11T13:15:00.000-05:00

December brought so much beautiful mail...I am so lucky!
So here is some more...
a lovely card and porcelain leaves along with great tea from dear Paula of otchipotchi.

A lovely teatowel that I purchased from bookhou and the talented Arounna...

Great cross stitch magazines and a kit from my friend Brigitte in France.

Thank you everyone for your gifts and Christmas mail!
Although I have posted lots of mail (parcels letters and cards) before Christmas I still have to mail some more so please be patient with me!
I am glad though that one by one I receive notes that my mail has arrived all around the world.

Gifts for Christmas...(3)

2012-01-10T15:03:00.000-05:00

My dear friend Sigrid from Austria made me this lovely loop scarf! I wear it every day, it is so warm and comfortable! Thank you!

I saw a great post in Tiny Happy Melissa's blog just in the holidays so following it I made these little paper ornaments. They are great to recycle wrapping paper with them.

Gifts for Christmas...(2)

2012-01-09T13:56:00.000-05:00

I woke up at 5.22 in the morning from the fury and sound of a mild earthquake which had its epicentre 9km from the city centre so one could say it was inside the city!
I have lived the 1978 huge 6,5 R scale earthquake that caused lots of deaths and ruins in my city so every time I feel an earthquake that's what I remember, my 12-year-old summer experience.
I am not afraid of earthquakes (not as much as I am afraid of thunderstorms anyway!) and living in an earthquake abound area I am used to them but despite that I can't stand the chill of a morning sudden earthquake awakening.
So I couldn't go back to sleep and started doing lots of chores.
I had coffee and put away all my Christmas decorations. Having done that I started changing position to certain furniture!!!!!
Then I did some schoolwork and then some open market shopping.
Then relaxed and confident went to school. The first day was dedicated to what we did at Christmas and I showed my students what a Christmas cracker is. My friend Cathy had sent me a packet of them last year so I kept them and used some with the family on the Christmas dinner and some with my students. It was fun!
I also introduced Maija to them!!!They were really happy to meet her!
Back in December now....two heavy parcels arrived.Both from my Scottish friends John and Juliana!
Here are some pics!
Juliana took so much care to wrap everything beautifully!

She included so many lovely things. She knows what I like!
A huge cross stitch book and some cross stitch kits. I have to find time to do some more cross stitch in 2012!

And delicious handmade local chocolate! We all loved that in the family!

There was so much in the parcels I really can't show everything and can't believe how generous and kind my sea glass friends are!
And last but not least a cross stitched sea glass card and some magnificent sea glass boulders from Seaham in England!

Thank you both very very much!

Gifts for Christmas....(1)

2012-01-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

I got lots of lovely gifts this Christmas. Thank you all for your thoughtfulness and love.
I will start showing them as I am taking photos.
From dear Frieda, my seaglass friend from Skiathos island.
Frieda upcycled old Christmas cards in an excellent way with crochet and wooden beads.

I loved the beautiful sea glass pieces....

... especially the one with the bubbles....

But I also loved all her handmade gifts like this little fridge magnet made from a beer bottle cap.

And these fantastic crocheted Christmas wreaths.

Thank you Frieda, and thank you for reading and commenting on my blog,too. Hope we will meet again soon!

Last days of December at school.

2012-01-07T18:27:00.000-05:00

Today it was very cold and windy so we didn't do much. We stayed at home and I started putting away my Christmas decorations. I plan to take the tree down tomorrow.
Anyway in the evening we went to a neighbourhood theatre called Amalia-Peiramatiki skini (Experimental Stage) and watched Ken Ludwig's Moon over Buffalo which was hillarious and very well mounted.
Here I would like to add a bit more about my December last days at school.Yes I still haven't finished my December news!
So in December the sixth grade had a project on Shadow Puppet Theatre and they loved writing their own plays and acting them out on the screen.

The first graders played with some Nativity scene stickers from a book my friend Cathy had sent me some time ago and learnt new vocabulary.

They coloured Santa....

made Christmas trees....

decorated their classrooms....

The fourth graders coloured Christmas trees.

The second graders sang Christmas songs and acted out a nativity scene with their teacher who also painted the background. She is the one who makes the driftwood villages in a previous post.

In the first grade we had the surprise of a little doll who played Christmas music.

That is the Christmas sticker book I used.

We sang Christmas songs with the second grade. That's me sitting in the middle with the red hat!

We also sang Christmas songs with the fourth and sixth grades in the hall.

And they played Little Drummer Noy with their music teacher using plastic pipes. It was great!

Epiphany Day.

2012-01-07T10:02:00.000-05:00

One day the weather is fantastic like on Thursday when we went for coffee with our friends and the next day it is windy, rainy and cold and you have to stay inside.
One good thing was that we had invited my brother's family for lunch so we didn't have to go out.
I spent the morning cooking and we had fun around the table and afterwards trying to take a family picture to send to relatives and friends abroad.
Setting the table....
Mum's rice,various cheeses and ham,green salad, three coloured salad, beef stroganoff, cheese salad with olives,mum's stuffed vine leaves...and not in the photo rabbit stew....

Desserts.....various chocolate from around the world.......

Chocolate mousse and strawberry jello....

Vasilopita(New Year's pie) made by my best friend Gia....and Maija watching!

My niece can make you say cheese in seconds but you can't stop laughing afterwards!

Maija in Greece!

2012-01-06T12:28:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we had lovely sunny day and we arranged with some friends to have coffee together!
Before leaving home I had to go to the post office to receive a parcel!
It was from Susan Seamaiden a friend from the States who sent me a Globetrotting little troll, Maija who is travelling around the world having fun via our sea glass site SeaGlassLovers!
Here are a couple of photos with Maija along.

Isn't she so sweet?

I had to dress her up as she was cold but she looked like Mother Teresa so we didn't keep this outfit on!

She took pictures from the harbour towards the city sea front!

And with the beautiful sunny sky as a background!

Towards the cafe!

Towards the city!

Kitchen Bar, the cafe-restaurant.

Lovely chocolate and biscuits.

Maija brought gifts!Thanks Susan!

A second hand shop at last.

2012-01-05T14:22:00.000-05:00

While spending time with my Godson last week which I haven't blogged about yet but hopefully will soon I found by chance a second hand shop in the city centre!
I was amazed because antique shops do exist in the city centre and they are quite expensive but no second hand shops! So this discovery was a revelation!
So yesterday evening I took along hubby and went to the huge basement. It was cold but clean and heavily packed with furniture, books, glass, embroidery, toys, etc etc
I realised though that it is not very cheap as thrift stores are usually abroad.
The owner a Greek lady from France brought the idea from there a year ago! And I only found it now!
Anyway better late than never!
I tried to behave myself and not buy everything I liked leaving some things for future visits hoping that there will also be other things I might like.
Here is what I bought and spent only 10 euros.A book hubby bought about shadow puppet theatre is missing.
The good thing was that the lady has a whole bunch of free things to take as well and also she gave me the little shamrock vase for free as it was a bit broken on the lip.
I took the ribbon for free which costs about 2 euros in shops.
The teddy bear cushion is for my summer house.
The book about MichaelAngelo by Romain Rolland is in german from the 50s.

The green cloth was also free of charge. I am going to make it into a summerwear.
And that's the Donegal Irish Parian China vase.

This little book is very dirty but being published in 1914 was a must.Look how it is inside. Lovely!

And a set of vintage Greek coasters quite a souvenir.

I loved the pictures in this little book.

A Christmas tree exhibition.

2012-01-04T18:52:00.001-05:00

Yesterday morning I went for a while to the Goethe Institute which is in my neighbourhood next to the Ethnological Museum. There was a designer's Christmas tree exhibition. It wasn't really anything special but you could get an idea of how people's artful minds work. And you could laugh!
Here are photos I took there.
This was the poster of the exhibition and this little tree was lovely! I wanted to light it!

The Goethe Institute.

The gardens.

Another exhibition poster.

Be careful! Christmas!

Everything can become a Christmas tree!There were some paintings!

I loved this one, so so simple to make!

A haircut!

Logos and trademarks!

A fish bone!

Glass bottles.

Pencil sharpening bits.

Melted wax.

Wine glasses one on top of the other.Or were these left over from the opening ceremony?

A book can be cut into a Christmas tree!

And a Japanese artist made a Coca cola bottle into a tree!

Look at this one!

And that was called Atlas.

Chilly peppers turned into a Christmas tree!

And that's how Christmas trees end up into ashes!

Unless you hang yourself from one of them!

Bazaar (4)

2012-01-04T07:37:00.000-05:00

The last of the bazaars I went to in December was the biggest and most beautiful. It is organised every year for four days in the grounds of the Ethnological and Folk Art Museum of Thessaloniki.
The building of the museum itself is very beautiful.
We went to visit the museum which is free of charge during the bazaar days.
We saw lots of beautiful traditional costumes. Photography is not allowed inside the museum but as we were taken on a guided tour by the photographer of the museum himself he allowed me a couple of photos for my blog.

Look how this tree was decorated with natural elements.

Traditional piece of a folk costume. Handwoven and handembroidered.

Traditional jewelry.

Porcelain stove from an old "ladies' house" in the centre of the city.

Remember those tiles I had found on the curb? They come from a similar stove.

There is a huge beautiful vitreaux window and a strange work of art hanging from the ceiling over the staircase.

In another room there is a permanent exhibition about old mills and how they worked.

At the bazaar I was only allowed to take pictures of my friend's works of art who also exhibited there.

And here are some things I bought and gave away as gifts.

This one I kept for myself.

Blooming lentils.

2012-01-03T10:25:00.000-05:00

Today we spent most of the day on paying bills, doing chores for my mum who is in bed with a hip problem and then spent quite a couple of hours at the supermarket. We hadn't been to a big supermarket for more than 6 months as hubby wasn't getting paid so we were trying to keep expenses at the minimum. We didn't spend too much this time either but there was more variety in products and we took advantage of sales on certain house cleaning products too.
Now some more things from December's diary.
It is a custom here to put lentils on wet cotton on Saint Barbara's day on the fourth of December so that they bloom by Christmas! I did it this year and here was the result to decorate all this time long!
Here they are near my otchipotchi crochet stones.

The only Christmas magazine I bought this year was Marie Claire Idees. I always used to buy about five Christmas crafts magazines but this year I thought I should save up! So no money no mags!Marie Claire Idees has the same reasonable price for years and I love to have a look at it although I don't make its crafts very often as I don't really have time. This issue had some fantastic ideas. Here they are!

Unique Christmas trees!

This great tablecloth!

I love this paper craft!

And this cross stitched runner!

This is one of the gifts I bought my Godson. There will be another blogpost about our time together on December 30th. This book is called Byzantine Constantinople by Evi Tsitiridou-Christophoridou and he is taught about Byzantium in his grade at school. The exciting thing about this book is that the drawings were made by my cousin Thanasis Demou who is also a very good actor in Athens.

A photo of the IKEA plant pot I had bought some time ago and here is how it ended up.

A gift from a colleague and friend who makes them herself. I hate my old looking hand.

A gift from the Parents' Association of my school to all teachers at school. I added it to my collection of good luck charms on my living room wall.

And this is how I am using the velvet covered box it came in. So helpful with seed beads.

A scarf I made in December in just three nights!I don't believe I made it. I now need to add a button to look perfect.

More curb finds

2012-01-02T18:04:00.001-05:00

We had a meeting tonight with the Drama Club discussing all our plans for the new year and our future performances as well our premier over carbonara pasta and wine!
Here I will continue though with some of the happenings of last year!
It is a continuation of my previous post.
Leaving the Koperti bazaar I went for coffee at a friend's house and then returning home I spotted a couple of lovely things on the curb.
I went back home but could not forget them so I asked for my son's help and went and fetched them home. Here they are.

A lovely shelf. Even the glass is intact.

A pair of great wooden chairs which I will take to my summer house where I will paint them off white and add striped blue and white fabric to match my deck chairs.
And although I know you won't like the next two photos I would like to show you how furniture and other useful things end up in the garbage in Greece.

There are no thrift stores or reclaim stores or charity shops or opshops and you are not allowed to do a garage sale or an estate sale or a carboot sale or a tag sale and you cannot sell anything in a flea market without permission and there is no second-hand market.What a pity! In Greece "One man's trash is another man's treasure" is very limited;not many people believe in it.
* I found a second hand shop (probably the first in town) somewhere in the city centre just after I had written this post at a neighbourhood I do not frequent so I am going to go soon and if I like things there I will probably become a regular.

Bazaar (3)

2012-01-02T08:08:00.000-05:00

The mail today was more than generous but as I have left things untold or not shown from my December activities I will start the New Year from older news.
So more on charity bazaars!We always attend the Christmas bazaar at our friend's school called Koperti because the money they collect goes to charity.
Here are some photos from that day December 11th.

A handmade paper mobile for my friend Marabeth's grandson soon to come.

A little 2012 handmade ship for good luck in the new year for another friend.

Lovely handmade soap for another friend.

Hello 2012!

2012-01-01T15:23:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!
The year started beautifully!
We had dinner at my brother's just me and hubby as my son was at his dad's and my mum wasn't feeling very well!
We had lovely meat dishes and salads....
the little hill you see in this photo is Cerkez Tavuk,my mum made.It is chicken with walnuts and garlic and red pepper. The golden rimmed bowl has my potato salad (with mayo, spring onion and dill) and the meat is stuffed pork.

Stuffed chicken roll, cabbage and carrot shredded salad, tortellini, and octopus salad....

And my beautiful niece Vicky!

We had lots of sweets, fruit,nuts and cut the New Year's pie (vasilopita).

Guess who was the lucky one who found the coin in his piece? Well it was between mine and hubby's piece so we two are the lucky ones of the year!We are so happy!
My brother had a gift for the lucky one who would get the coin in his piece.

The lucky coin and the gift, this pair of acorns very suitable indeed. I loved it.
We watched fireworks....

And we watched a greek music programme that amused us.
We also exchanged small gifts (we agreed on not exchanging expensive things due to the financial situation here) and here is what I got...

a lovely glass Christmas tree. My brother really knows that I love his collection and he has added to mine this one with all its fantastic balls.

I also got this handmade ship for myself to carry my dreams for 2012....(from the Ethnological Museum bazaar)

And mum brought us flowers to start the year well!

We slept late at night and in the morning after making phone calls to wish relatives and friends a happy new year hubby and I went out for a walk!
It was very cold but the sun was shining!
Of course I took a pic at my usual spot at the Municipality Hall along with a lovely dog that followed us and I was again in the verge of adopting it. We tried to find its owners but in vain.

We had a tsipouro snack at Ellinikon to celebrate hubby's pension!Fava, kolokithokeftedes(zucchini balls) and mussels in sauce.

We then walked at the sea front and it was lovely!

And that's this year's Christmas tree that the Municipality decorated the sea front with.

Not very impressive when not lit.
I hope you all had a lovely first day of the new year!

All is well that ends well!

2011-12-31T12:44:00.000-05:00

Dear readers, friends,followers,accidental passers-by,
this will be my last 2011 blogpost!
As this is my first year blogging I feel so happy that I managed to keep to my 2011 New Year's Resolution to keep a blog.
I loved blogging and it was somekind of a diary for me.
Thank you for reading my blogposts and commenting on them.
I hope to keep it up in the New Year!
2011 was a good year inspite all the great mainly financial problems in my country.
I am thankful that we are all in the family still together and still healthy inspite minor temporary problems.
I am thankful that I still have a job and that I got a transfer to my neighbourhood school and that I am having a great time there although I am sorry I get a smaller salary now.
I am thankful that hubby got his pension and yesterday on the last working day of the year he started getting paid! He was without salary or pension since August!
I am thankful that I have lots of friends in real life and in blogland, in sea glass sites and in the penfriend world.
I am thankful that I managed to complete with an A the Major Teacher's Training Programme and my lesson plan was chosen to be posted in the Educational Institute Lesson Plan site.
I am thankful that I was able to collect more sea glass on my beach and the bank has not taken my home(yet)!
I am thankful that I continued with my hobbies mainly cross stitch!
I am thankful for lots and lots of things.........
Enjoy your New Year's Eve!

Sea glass from Seaham England sent to me by John and Juliana and card sent to me by Susan Seamaiden!Thank you!
Thank you every one for your cards, parcels and presents I will blog about everything in the new year!

My Xmas cards

2011-12-28T18:14:00.000-05:00

I sent various types of Xmas cards this year.
I try to use up all the cards I have already before start making or buying new ones.
Some of my cards were handmade, others cross stitched and some had added sea glass on them for my sea glass friends.
Here are some of the cards already received.
To Marabeth a trashstories postcard where I added sand, sea glass, shells and sea pottery!

To some of my sea glass friends this IKEA card with added sea glass gifts.

To other sea glass friends this card from the anti-rheumatism children's charity. My mum assisted that charity years ago and she had bought hundreds of their cards to help them out. I have been sending them for years, giving them to students and I still have a lot!!!!!!!

To blog friends and pen pals I added beads on their cards. One of them had an added bonus. The way I added the beads ended up with another design on the back. It wasn't intentional but I loved the end result. That one went to Margie of Resurrection Fern.

Believe it or not I forgot to photograph most of the cards I sent!!!!!!!

A day trip to Drama.

2011-12-27T17:30:00.000-05:00

December the 26th was a very looooong happy tiring day!
As I have said before hubby and I belong to the Teachers' Association Drama Club. We had been rehearsing heavily the last months on "Koutornithia" a play written by two colleagues Afroditi Ioannou and Ioanna Katsarou, teachers.
The premier of the play took place yesterday at the Music Hall of the city of Drama where we were invited by Oneiroupoli,(the dream village) the Christmas village of Drama.
We left Thessaloniki very early in the morning in a bus, arrived there at 10 and rehearsed till three.

Then we did a short walk at the Christmas village...

There were Christmas decorations everywhere. There was even a Shadow puppet little house with figures of the Greek shadow puppet theatre.

Little houses filled with workshops for children.

Popular heroes walking around taking photos with children.

Lots of little rivers and lakes decorated.....

Santa's post office of course.

There was no time for us to go into the houses unfortunately.

There are huge tall trees in the park.

And Santa is flying...

And a small market with handmade products....

And lots of games for children....

On the way back to the Music Hall I spotted this lovely wall painting on a building....Drama is far away from the sea though!

Then we got dressed up and put on our make up and did our performance which went really great.
The play is about a bunch of chickens that live on an egg producing farm but really don't know why their eggs vanish every day till they find out the truth and decide to change their lives.
Here are some of our photos. I am the red hen and hubby is the pig.
We do the happy dance because a new rooster has come to the farm

The pig appears in the farm.

The red hen is sad because her eggs keep disappearing.

The animals end up in jail because they are revolting.

We read the news and find out the truth.

In the end we dance along with our little spectators.

After the performance we did a night walk at Oneiroupoli and I must say it was more impressive by night.

I am still trying to get some rest after that experience.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T17:01:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas to you all!
I hope you had, or you are still having a great time!
Thank you all for reading, following and commenting on my blog! I really enjoy writing it!
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day news!
Christmas Eve was very very quiet.
I had to do the last minute supermarket shopping all by myself as hubby is in bed with his backache. I didn't really enjoy that but I had to.
Then I prepared some things for the next day!
In the evening I turned on all the Christmas lights on the tree and around the living room and cried my heart out watching the most amazing Christmas movie which is based on a First World War real story. You shouldn't miss it if you haven't seen it already! It is called "Joyeux Noel" ("Merry Christmas") and here is a bit about what happens in it.

"On Christmas Eve during world War I, the Germans, French, and Scottish fraternize and get to know the men who live on the opposite side of a brutal war, in what became a true lesson of humanity. "

You can watch the most amazing scene here to get an idea!

A most wonderful anti-war real story movie to spend a lonely Christmas Eve!

I then opened my friend Angela's from Canada gift but gifts will be shown later in another blogpost.

On Christmas morning I went to church with my mum and son. I am not a real church goer but a parent has to set an example.As my teenage son tried to avoid it I went along and it was nice this Christmas morning to listen to the church choir with hymns and great voices all united in harmony to celebrate the birth of Christ!

Then I did certain preparations for going to my brother's.

Here is what I prepared.

Cheese and anise muffins.

Upside down pineapple cake.

I found the recipe in this great book They draw and cook. I replaced raisins with cranberries.

I had some hard time taking it out and as my son said "The cake was afraid of me!"

And I also made coleslaw my way with only cabbage,carrot,red pepper and celery with a sauce of lemon, olive oil, vinegar, salt, red pepper and a bit of brown sugar.

Here is the page from the book.

We had a great Christmas dinner at my brother's. They prepared a fantastic turkey with a delicious minced meat, rice and chestnut stuffing and lots of appetisers.

We had Christmas crackers all the way from England, my friend Cathy sent them last year after the holidays and I kept them for the fun of it!

The turkey stuffing, the coleslaw and my mum's stuffed vine leaves.

We skyped with relatives,

listened to Christmas carols from all around Greece and ate lots of sweets.

My brother's baklava...

my niece's little chocolate balls....

and my pineapple upside down cake.

We ate so much!!!!!!

We don't exchange gifts but here is something small I gave them for their new flat.

Pomegranate for prosperity something Greek families really miss this Christmas.

This is from the Thessaloniki Folk Museum bazaar.

And here are some extra photos from their lovely glass Christmas tree collection.

I hope you didn't get tired of this long post!

En(JOY) my seventh ornament.

2011-12-24T09:26:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve and I have lots to do.
Some last minute supermarket shopping.
Preparing food and sweets for tomorrow when we spend the day at my brother's.
Get prepared for Monday's day trip with the Drama Club.
And at the same time hubby is down with a very bad backache so I have to look after him, too, and get preparing all by myself.
So there is not much time for anything else or to linger on the computer.
Here I will show you some things I had made a blog about and didn't publish.
It is for the Christmas ornament challenge and it is the seventh and I suppose it will be the last one as I have no time to stitch any more.
Anyway I made it from Sam Hawkins' 50 cross stitch Christmas booklet using whatever leftover fabric and threads I had and some beads and some beautiful pink lace trimming from Melissa of Tiny Happy.
It ended up quite beautiful although I should have used lighter green and I decided to keep this one as I love keeping one handmade ornament each year for my tree.

And here are pics of my blooming bulbs. They smell wonderful!

Post and postage

2011-12-22T12:48:00.001-05:00

I love letter writing, pen pals, letters and parcels, sending and receiving. I used to have 100 pen pals as a teenager and I still have some of them who can still stand my delays in answering. The last couple of years I have lots of new type pen pals, people I exchange e-mails with, or counteract on facebook (not that often), or the sea glass sites or on blogs. And with these people we have started exchanging parcels with sea glass and small gifts and things have evolved from there in great beautiful friendships.
I decided this year to send fewer parcels for Christmas and try to save on postage as postage has gone high again and the whole financial situation is troubling me.
Still I managed to post in December 16 parcels and 17 letters/cards!!!!!!!Some of them were already received and aknowledged and I am happy about that. Unfortunately I still have a dozen more to write and send!!!!!!And I don't think I will manage that before Christmas so maybe I will have to do it at my relaxing time during the holidays.
I am glad I have started receiving my Christmas mail too, yesterday for example I received 6 Christmas cards together, and today four parcels, wow!
I am sorry some people will not receive this year anything from me, or they will receive something very little. I had to cut down on my list!
Here are some photos of outgoing mail.

And here are a couple of photos of etsy purchases which will be gifts.
I found this etsy shop Lila Ruby King by chance when reading Star of the East blog and realised it is someone in Greece. I love her art and here is what I got. A card made from little pieces of fabric. I gave that for framing.I also bought a pdf file from her with beautiful patterns that I am going to use at school!
I loved her map inside envelope and the extra cards she sent me too.

This is a pencil case by Jill Wignall of Today I saw. It is handprinted and sewn. And comes in a lovely handmade envelope,too.

The inside fabric of the pencil case is lovely too.

Teaching I love

2011-12-21T16:46:00.001-05:00

I so much enjoy teaching in my new school.My children seem to appreciate my teaching and enjoy it. We recently did a small dramatization of the Princess and the pea.
I could not possibly put photos of the students during the play but I would like to show you the lovely crowns one of my students made for it.
The king

The Queen

The prince

The princess

I also downloaded and presented flashcards about Christmas to my first and second graders.

And here are some pieces of their art.

Walnut candles and a secret eagle.

2011-12-21T09:16:00.000-05:00

I went to my framer's a couple of days ago to frame some of the lovely things I have purchased or received recently. Imagine my surprise when I found on the back of Geninne's Umbrellas this eagle. Now I am trying to find a way to frame it so that both sides can be see. Any ideas?

A couple of days ago I made my own walnut candle decorations which I saw on Margie's blog. They took a very short time and I used up leftover candles I had kept for ages.

My Christmas Tree this year.

2011-12-20T17:57:00.000-05:00

I used to have a very big Christmas tree.
Some years ago my dear and I decided that it was too heavy to put it down from the " attic " so we donated it to my old school and bought a new, a bit smaller, one which hubby insists that it is still huge!!!!!
As my dear is suffering from his back lately my dear brother helped out to bring the tree down and I put some Christmas music on the computer and started decorating it on the 5th of December.
In my dream world the Christmas tree is something the whole family does together!
Well in my real world my teenage son and my hubby prefer their computer so I decorate myself.
This year I decided to put the tree in another corner of the house next to the sofa and the Billy (Ikea's wall to wall bookcase).

Then I added some lights, not too many but I decided I won't buy anything for the tree this year.

Then it was time to put the ornaments on. I have lots of ornaments, vintage ones from my grandfather and from my father, store bought ones I accumulated for years, handmade ones made by friends, and finally handmade ones I made myself.

When in 2006 we visited Finland for Christmas I bought some ornaments there and ever since then I have been decorating the Finn way...that is wooden ornaments, felt ones and straw ones.

This year I decided I wanted a combination of Finn, wooden, handmade and vintage so here is what I put.

The big red heart is from Lapland and there is reindeer fur on it. The wooden and straw ones are from Finland, the cross stitched pouch was made by Cathy, my friend in England, years ago and the pearl angel was made by my niece Vicky who loves beading and handicratfs in general.

This is a box of wooden toys I bought from Lidl years ago and decided to put them on this year. I was planning to add them as tags on gifts and maybe I will in future.

This is not a very good picture but maybe you can spot my friend Marabeth's photo ornaments, sea glass friend's Gara's crocheted snowflakes, my dad's vintage baubles,a dove heart by Maria Jose, my Portuguese pen friend and Cathy's felted hearts.
Then I stopped decorating the tree for a while and hang some glass ornaments on my light fixtures. The fused glass hearts were made by Deed, another sea glass friend.

The angel is a gift from Marabeth!

And after stretching on the lights I added some decorations on my big table.

My various material collection of Christmas trees and some glitter stars and fern leaves.
After all that I was too tired to continue.
You will see more of my tree in future as I continued decorating it.

Bazaar (2) and a walk.

2011-12-19T13:44:00.001-05:00

On December 4th I went to the French Institute bazaar. I bought some handmade and some second-hand things all very reasonably priced. Like in the previous bazaar post these cost me about 10 euros all together.

The majority of these are for school use and for gifts.
I loved this Little Red Riding Hood coming along with grandma for story telling at school.

And this little teddy bear from England can be my assistant at the young ones. The elephant is fantastic, in very good condition and I loved the colour!

This was handmade by the students of the school and I bought it to copy at my school at some point.

After the bazaar we went for coffee with my brother and my sister-in-law in Kalamaria, a city suburb.
I loved the colourful balloons and the carouzel.

Someone was selling a blowing bubbles tool. Aren't they gorgeous and so difficult to take a picture of!

There was an ice skating ring.

The sky was blue and planes passed over our heads.

We did some window shopping. Lovely windows filled with Christmas ornaments.

And another curb find. Don't you love that frame with all the little flowers on it?

When December came...

2011-12-18T07:08:00.000-05:00

...my first concern was the Major Teachers' Training Programme. It was the last part where for three days we would focus on microteaching. The seminar took place on two days after all and I presented my microteaching "The Owl and the Pussy cat" which went very well. I also enjoyed attending the rest of the participants.
And tried to take some pics as usual.

I used Marabeth's gift to carry my things and it attracted lots of attention from the English teachers who loved to have one too!!!!!

Then I started decorating for Christmas....
added some fairy lights on my sea glass...

...and on my big table...I laid the woven fabric I saved from the school crearance, I put the Italian candy cane vase horizontally because the cloth I covered the table with is not even and I was afraid it might fall...

...I put the IKEA red lantern with more fairy lights, the blue pomegranate that cut my finger, some painted pine cones and Margie's crocheted stones in a plate that was a gift of students years ago...

...I added lights to the fantastic driftwood boat that my friend's boyfriend made for me...

...and of course the red typewriter and the pots of plants are there too...

My photo diary.

2011-12-17T11:36:00.000-05:00

A good way for me to keep a diary is by taking photos everywhere I go every day and of whatever I receive, I buy, I see, I admire, I watch, I read.
It is a great assistance to me when I write my blog to see the photos and add to my blog posts.
But as in other things too I am behind here also.
Here we are on December 17th and I still blog about things we did in the end of November. So today I will simply add together the last photos of November to finish up.
I am taking the chance here to thank you all for following, reading, commenting or simply visiting from time to time. I recently got comments from a reader from India too. I can't believe how huge/tiny this blog world is.
So in the last few days of November we visited our friend's Tasos school called Koperti for a shadow puppet performance. They have decorated the school so beautifully with colourful paper ribbons.

And inside it is like a toy museum.

So colourful.

The shadow puppet theatre screen.

Shadows everywhere.

Karaghiozis and Kopritis.

Little friends tried out their skills in shadow puppet playing.

And they also made shadow puppets.

In the end of November I also received my purchase of an original painting collage by Geninne.

The umbrellas.

I planted some hyacinth bulbs in some reclaimed plant pots from my school clearance.

I received some more little gifts from my friend Margrit from Istanbul.

And we celebrated my dear's birthday with a delicious lemon pie (no I didn't make it) and a visit from his son and a surprise visit from his Godson.

The end...of November.

Bazaar (1)

2011-12-14T16:21:00.001-05:00

I love bazaars. Especially Christmas bazaars with handmade things and second hand things and charity bazaars.
On November 25th I went to my old school's bazaar. They do a big bazaar with both handicrafts, sweets, old books, second hand things and even antiques and old clothes that lasts two days.
Here are some pics of what I got.I only bought from the second hand part of the bazaar as you can see and spent very little money.
I had the misfortune to cut my finger the moment I touched the very first item, the blue pomegranate which is broken on its stem(ribbon put afterwards) and I still have a little problem on my finger since then. That made my choosing of other items very quick as I was in a hurry to return home and look after my cut.

I couldn't pass a handstitched piece; this old fashioned winter scene which I find very beautiful.

This little tray is amazing, very good quality thin glass in gold leaf. Chocolate will look great on it.It looks absolutely new or unused.

This tumbler attracted me with its colour. It is made of green marble and there is a label underneath that shows it is quite old.

I bought this dish because it shows Chicago. Not that I have been there but it looked like a collector's item and for one euro I could not pass.

This little abalone shell boat is for my beach house.

I love folk painting and the following items were great too.

I think they are Russian.

The label on the tumbler.

The aforesaid pomegranate.

The back of the dish.

Christmas shopping at Ikea

2011-12-13T15:04:00.001-05:00

I love Ikea and thought of going to see the Christmas decorations with my sister-in-law.
I was disappointed by the Christmas ornaments though. They were either too expensive or not really nice.
That's all I bought.
A frame for a gift I am going to make, some straws to use at school in various handicrafts, some moose tags,

a Christmassy red lantern,

a fantastic lace plant pot I am not going to plant in,

some beautifully smelling tealight candles for the holidays(these are rose petal and cinammon stick),

and those table mats whose birds remind me of Geninne's birds. I already have a tray of this design.

We then had some delicious coffee with my sis and that was the best part.

Old maps

2011-12-12T15:39:00.001-05:00

At my school clearing some very well used maps were thrown out in a rubbish bin.
Well yes I went to the bin and took them. I am not sure what I will be doing with them.
This is how they looked at first.

And that's after I dusted them and corrected some torn parts. It was the time that I realised I should have taken some more before the rubbish truck took the rest.
The four seasons. An amazing map in its detail.

World discovery travels.

The earth goes round the sun.

Hellas/Greece.

1821 Revolution

The world of the sea (I think I will put that in my summer house wall).

Zoology-Fish

I have also taken a world map.

What the mail brought

2011-12-11T16:54:00.001-05:00

In the end of November I received some lovely things.
A box of chocolate from Xanthi brought to me by a colleague. He is from this town and when he said he was going there I asked him to bring me a box of carioces, a chocolate sweet from Papaparaskevas pastry shop.

I received a lovely parcel from my life long pen friend Maria Jose from the Acores (Azores in English) who included some beautiful sea glass for me

My order from Lilla Jizo arrived. Petra paints beautifully on sea glass, sea pottery, stones, paper and wood. I snatched her collage painting for almost free.And there is a 22% sale till the end of the year.

I loved the beautiful water lily stamps on her envelope.

Another spontaneous order from Albertine Press shop that I found in Poppytalk. These coasters are lovely and will probably be a Xmas gift.

Then my order from Cozy Memories from my dear Sonia arrived. Sonia makes such lovely sewn things and always accompanies them in beautiful wrapping like this gorgeous red bag.

Monday open market

2011-12-11T10:59:00.000-05:00

I love seeing the Monday open market outside my home. It looks colourful and so lively. Unfortunately there are side effects like the dirt left afterwards. But let's not talk about that.
Here are some pics.
Jeans...

Hair accessories....

Children's socks....

Household items....

Aren't these stripes lovely?Pillows....

Flowers and plants in pots...

Curtains...

Spices and herbs...

Colourful bed linen...

Oranges and lemons....

Chestnuts....

Lotus.......I love them when they are ripe. I put them in the deep freezer to ripen.

Muffins and sea glass.

2011-12-10T15:42:00.000-05:00

Well not really two things you could connect. And no I did not add sea glass to my muffins. I made some cheese muffins and we went visiting to my brother's at the end of November. As you can see I am still blogging about November,I am so behind. But since almost no one reads this and it is mainly a diary for me I guess it is ok.

My brother had collected some sea glass pieces and of course I took some photos.

Little changes and findings...

2011-12-08T14:23:00.000-05:00

I love changes, I mean small changes at home and in my life.
So here is my new desktop.
Geninne offers every month a new desktop and the December one is amazing. I have it on my screen and love looking at it although only today it started being rather cold and windy here and still no snow. That's good because that way we don't spend money on heating.

So if you want to have the desktop on your screen go here.
I recently bought a new shower curtain for my bathroom. I had to shorten it, too. It looks good and clean and matches more the colours of my tiles.

Also recently we did a thorough cleaning at school and here is something I saved. An old woven piece of cloth which no one knew who had left it at school and they said they did not need it. So I took it, gave it a good wash and....

...and tried to use it somehow...on the sofa...

...on the armchairalong with my old cross stitched cushion from my childhood.

Finally I put it on the table for Christmas.

I also saved these old pieces.Woven pieces and...

...an old frame of Manto Mavrogenous, a hero of the 1821 Greek Revolution. It is only a piece of paper framed but these old frames used to be in every school in Greece for years. I hate to see them being thrown away now. So I decided to save this belle.

Jungle party!

2011-12-07T08:43:00.000-05:00

I so much enjoy my first and second grade lessons. It's all new to me teaching to so young pupils after many many years.
Here the theme was jungle animals and here is something we did together with the children. That was two weeks ago as we are now doing Christmas things.
Here is the B1 class.
Leo the lion had a birthday party and all the animals were invited.
Tigers...

Giraffes...

Elephants...

Parrots...

Hippos...

Zebras...

Leo himself and his little brother...

Monkeys...

The whole A2 gang.

And A1.

And these are the flashcards I made for the next theme "Food".

More for the cross stitch challenge.

2011-12-06T14:38:00.000-05:00

I managed to finish a couple of small cross stitch pictures as ornaments and framed pictures. I am taking part in Becky's cross stitch challenge. Here they are. All will be given as gifts.
The robin is from a cross stitch magazine I had in my pattern collection.

These are designs 1,3,4 and 5 from 50 Cross stitch Christmas by Sam Hawkins framed in little frames I had for years and never managed to use. Which one is your favourite?

A little Christmas scene.

2011-12-05T16:53:00.000-05:00

Today I was hyperactive. Maybe the iron pills are working.
After school I corrected tests, prepared report cards, put up the Christmas tree (photos tomorrow by daylight), vacuum cleaned the remains of the tree on the floor, finished my cross stitch ornaments(photos to be taken tomorrow in daylight for the challenge blog), changed some frames on the walls and started knitting a scarf!!!!! I haven't knitted for a long time so maybe it was high time for this scarf to get ready. I loved a scarf a colleague was wearing the other day on the Major Teachers' Training Programme and thought of making something similar but with yarn I already had.We will see.
I am leaving you with a little handmade Christmas scene that one of my student's mother made to put as a class decoration. Isn't it lovely?

They draw and cook.

2011-12-04T09:46:00.000-05:00

They draw and cook is a lovely artits' cooking blog. I had found it when Geninne illustrated a recipe of hers for it. It is great to see the recipes that appear in lovely colours and not many words and you can make them instantly.
The blog published some of their recipes in a lovely book that I saw in Melissa's blog Tiny Happy and I ordered it from Amazon.
I have already made the Turn That Frown Upside Down Cake with pineapple by Claire B. Murray when my cousin Platon was here and it was great. You can find easy and more difficult recipes but what's the most attractive about them is the illustration.

The Owl and the Pussy-cat.

2011-12-03T11:54:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a hectic day as immediately after school I had to attend my Major teachers' training programme till 8 in the evening and then had to go to my Drama Club rehearsal. And today from 9.30 in the morning till late in the afternoon I attended my second Major Teachers' Training Programme and also presented my own Microteaching. It was based on The Owl and the Pussy-cat by Edward Lear. I really loved making it and enjoyed presenting it, too.
Here is the poem from the book I used. I cannot show you the powerpoint presentation unfortunately.

My childhood cross stitch.

2011-11-30T16:22:00.000-05:00

I was cleaning up some cupboards and here's what I found among other things. A very old cross stitch piece that I had made in Primary School. I had learnt cross stitch from my grandma Ariadne but we had a Housekeeping Teacher at school who was teaching us how to do cross stitch,too.
My mum gave it a good washing as there were some stains on it from old time. You can even spot mistakes I had made in counting.
I am thinking of framing it. What do you think?

Here it is with Margie's stones.

A gift delivered.

2011-11-29T17:13:00.000-05:00

I hope not every one thinks that I only receive gifts.
Gifts and parcels are being given,posted,sent,delivered but some are personal and some are not handmade so I am not going to show these unless they are something really different.
Last weekend my cousin Platon was visiting the city to attend an Archaeological Conference. We didn't see him as much as we would like as he is also the Godfather of my son but we managed to spend a couple of hours together. I decided since it was his nameday as well to give him a handmade gift so I stitched these and framed them for his kitchen as he loved tea pots so much.

I found the design in an old issue of Labores del Jogar, a magazine from Spain I used to buy years ago which has fantastic designs for cross stitch especially.

It was very early on Sunday morning when we went to the airport to say good bye to my cousin who was leaving for Athens.That day I saw both the sunrise and the sunset!It was amazing!

Platon always finds very clever gifts. Here is a series of pens for all of us! I kept them to show and use them at school with the little ones.

THE gift....

2011-11-27T16:31:00.000-05:00

I have been really very very busy lately and I know my blogging is just adding photos and writing a few lines but the end of the year is absolutely really difficult.
Having a performance with the Teachers' Drama Club on the 26th December we are on the last rehearsals and they are tense and strenuous and very very regular. On the other hand I have to finish my last details for my seminar which was moved for this coming Friday and Saturday. Amidst all these I have in my mind to write Christmas cards and prepare parcels and get ready for the Christmas celebration at school and I still have done nothing.
So I am taking it slow on my blog and you are still reading about things that happened earlier in the month of November.
So unexpectedly in November I received a fantastic handwoven woolen Turkish carpet from a dear couple of friends (who are like relatives to me) from Turkey. Margrit and Bulent had been visiting this summer and we had a great time together,we always have. And this is what they sent me as a gift. I LOOOOOOVE it and it absolutely suits my living room. Thank you so very very much!

The kindness of people (6)

2011-11-24T16:27:00.000-05:00

It's Thanksgiving in the States! So I am taking the chance to wish my American readers a Happy Thanksgiving!
I am also taking the chance to show you more of the kindness I received recently!
Thank you Kim for the lovely things you sent me from the Sea Glass Festival. You know how much I love sea glass!
The parcel included the poster of the 2011 NASGA Sea Glass Festival,bookmarks,the programme and lovely cards made by sea glass friends.

The kindness of people(5)

2011-11-24T08:49:00.000-05:00

I love Margie's crocheted stones and I recently received one as a gift! Thank you so very much dear friend!
Margie has a fantastic blog, Resurrection Fern, which has been my inspiration to start my own blog. You know how we sometimes wonder how people we get to know through the Internet are in reality. Although I have never met Margie in person and probably I never will as she lives in Canada and me in Greece I am sure she is one of those really special people who walk this Earth!
Margie took the time to make this stone into a beautiful parcel accompanied by a handmade stamped card.

The crochet thread was dyed in indigo.

You can find her stones and fantastic photos in her etsy shop knitalatte. And hurry because there is a discount now.

The colours of the rainbow.

2011-11-23T15:59:00.000-05:00

I really enjoy teaching first and second graders this year for the first time after many many years. I download material from the site of the Ministry of Education. I spend a lot of time preparing things for the little ones and quite some money,too. But I really enjoy singing and dancing and making things with them and it is so satisfying when they scream with joy when they see me. That's the fascinating part of teaching!
Here is the English corner in the 2nd grade.Words in English around us,pets and the rainbow.

All classrooms in my school have colourful curtains that filter the sunlight gorgeously and when there are decorations on the windows they look beautiful through.

The rainbows of the first graders.

I punched colourful butterflies and gave them to the kids to sing and fly with.

The kindness of people (4)

2011-11-22T16:09:00.001-05:00

My dear Edgar whose blog I have been following for a very long time was so very kind to send me this lovely excellent chocolate that I could not find here. With dark chocolate, caramel and black sea salt! A strangely delicious taste!But I adored the wrapping which will be turned into a frame soon!Isn't this Oz card beautiful,too?Thank you Edgar!

Olympic Museum

2011-11-21T15:41:00.001-05:00

In the beginning of the month we went on an educational half day trip with my school.
We visited the Olympic Museum where we saw a temporary exhibition about the History of basketball in Greece and then we attended a theatre performance about the correct raising of cattle in farms. It was very interesting!

The children attended the guided tour with great interest.

I loved the key chains and pins!

Greece, my all time favourite basketball team!

Nick Galis, the best Greek basketball player!

ARIS Salonica,a great Greek basketball team.

Beautiful athletic paintings are all around in the Museum.

The performance.

The Kaftantzoglion stadium outside the Museum.

A Flower Fairy card arrived at its destination and the winner is...

2011-11-20T17:17:00.001-05:00

I made this Flower Fairy card some time ago for Karen D., a sea glass friend in the States who loves Flower Fairies like I do. I used printed papers with Flower Fairies that my friend Cathy from England had sent me a long long time ago.

And that's the end result. Karen received the card so I can show you now.

It has a 3-D effect.

As you have noticed only three people commented on my giveaway so I only chose among those three and the winner is ....Pesky Cat Designs! Congratulations!

Please contact me with your address details so that I can post your ornament!Thank you all three for taking part!

Giveaways!

2011-11-17T12:26:00.000-05:00

I realised today that I have 50 followers so I am going to have a giveaway. I am going to give away my first ever Prairie Schooler Christmas ornament as a little thank you; so whoever wants to take part in the giveaway please leave a comment only on this post.Rules? Should they be rules? Well,ok I will just do what others do. You have to be a follower (and hopefully a regular reader,LOL!) and you should add your e-mail so that I can find you. I will do the drawing on Sunday at midnight local time!(I hope I will be at home at that time,LOL!again!)
Here is a photo of the ornament which I made for the Christmas Ornament Challenge 2011organised by Becky Bee. You can see lots of beautiful ornaments here.

And since we are talking about giveaways here are two more you can join.
First Sonia's who is also updating her shop today.
And secondly Tatiana's in Russia who makes amazing cross stitched things.You can read the blog translated in English.