Bazaar (4)

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.

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

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)

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!

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!