Summer is over....

and today it is drizzling and gloomy after two days of heavy rain!
Oooops! Hello friends! How are you? We are ready into fall!
It's been a while I know. I wasn't really in the mood for blogging all summer. That's because on the one hand I haven't got the best of Internet access at the beach house to blog and on the other I chose to do other things instead of being on the computer.
Anyway here is a loooong post full of photos of what I did this summer.
Summer holidays started just after schools closed and we spent four days on Skiathos island in June.

 I will blog about this trip later on although I know I should have done it earlier to trigger you to visit the island as well. We had a great time!And it was so nice meeting our friend Frieda again!
Then we went to the beach house and spent a week cleaning and redecorating.
I loved the clean look of my mantelpiece.

I also loved all the paintings my friends Marabeth, Eleanna and Ian painted for me!They adorn the newly painted guest room.

We also solved some plumbing problems from last year as we were expecting our American sea glass friends Janet and Bruce to visit. 

You can read all about their visit here. We had a great time!
And then a slow paced summer began. As last summer was dreadful with all the plumbing and sewage problems and my gall bladder operation I really needed to relax and do the things I liked this summer.
So I rested a lot and slept well.
I swam a lot no matter what the weather was like!

I even swam during a rainfall nearby! That was quite a challenge for me!

But most of the time the sea was calm and beautiful!

I went sea glassing  a lot.

I found lots of beautiful pieces some rare ones like this yellow one.

I got tricked by this piece that looked black ...

but was green!

That's a light bulb insulator.

And that's a double piece porcelain.

 That's a burnt piece.

 That's an old Greek coin.

But my favourite pieces are these two. This one that looks like a tiny piece from an ancient glass vessel.

And that Vicks jar lip.

During summer we spent time with family and friends. We ate together.

 Our Syrian friends visited us as well.

And we went to the nearby fountain show again.

We also spent a day at Moustheni village where I have relatives. It was so nice meeting them again!

 During summer Barca was our best companion everywhere. As she hates being alone at the beach house we take her with us wherever we go.

But I am sorry to say there are some neighbours who don't like dogs and we have to keep her inside when they are around!

This summer the sunsets again were wonderful!

My favourite pasttime after sea glassing that is was taking photos of nature. My son's rose bush bloomed all the time!

And our pomegranate tree is full of fruit.

I caught a couple of fish with my own hands.

And a couple of crabs but all of them were left back to sea!

I loved birdwatching!

I spotted jellyfish and sea urchins.

A starfish.

Tiny insects.

Bees.

 Spiders (which are not my favourite)

Isn't our neighbour's cat the most beautiful?

 There were lizards of course, and what a pity that I didn't manage to take a pic of the green one too this year!

 A slug.

 A little frog.

 And many beautiful butterflies!

I met a neighbour who went fishing every day and one day he fished this huge pina (which later I learnt he shouldn't have taken out as it is a protected species)

I read lots of books this summer and completed the #readathon16 of So little sleeping and so much reading challenge but decided to continue nontheless.

One of my favourites.

My favourite of all are the last two.

Handicraftwise I didn't manage to make much this summer. Although I also wanted to take part in the Summer Challenge organised by Anna of In my Closet I couldn't make myself do it.I didn't do much cross stitch either

 but I did manage to make some sea glass felted stones!

...to give as gifts!

I also made the house number plate with beeach finds.

And finally I managed to make the Hamsa hand my friend Ruth had sent me from Israel as a wedding gift.

This summer I even fancied trying this!

And this!

 Or make this!

But I didn't!LOL!

This summer we enjoyed watching the Olympics.

We also went to the theatre and saw Aristophanes' Ploutos which was very good.

We went to Saint Mamas open air market.

And to Marmaras to eat some lovely homemade pizza and ice cream at Flavours' House.

During summer we came back to the city for very specific reasons One of them was to wish happy birthday to dear Angela of Poco Loco at a surprise party at Koumbi coffee and crafts cafe. The birthday cake was lemon pie and it was divine!

We also came back to the city to say goodbye to our Syrian friends who left for Athens and from there they will be relocated to Romania. It was a sad farewell but we wish them all the best and hope they find a better life there and make a new start! We miss them already!

 I miss summer already,too!
I miss the daydreaming....

I miss the light....

I miss the sounds...

I miss the carefree times....

Goodbye summer!

With Janet and Bruce

I know I haven't blogged for some time now and I am behind with my news but life sails fast in this corner of the world....in fact it is the middle of summer and there is so much to do. Mainly spend holidays in the best way we can as last summer had been dreadful with the operation I had and the problems at the beach house.
So we started our holidays with a trip to Skiathos about which I will blog later on.
And then we went to the beach house to clean up. It is quite difficult to clean up a house that hasn't been cleaned for a year but I am glad I did a thorough cleaning and it looks much better now.
And then it was time for friends to visit.This time it was Janet from the States who came to Greece with her husband Bruce and they added Thessaloniki and Chalkidiki in their itinerary to meet us.
It was a really short visit but we managed to do and see a lot.
Janet and I met online some years ago through the sea glass sites and when Themis and I visited the States we visited her as well. I am so glad Janet decided to pay us a visit too.
We took our friends from the airport directly to our beach house in Chalkidiki.

After some refreshments we went down the beach for some sea glassing and to see the sunset.

My idea was to give Janet all the pieces of sea glass I find and I must say it was one of those good days when you find a lot. I am so glad.

It was the night of the Euro final so we had pies (the leek pie was really appreciated) and TV. I supported France but Portugal won afterall. No problem!
The next day we went to Kallithea to see the view and buy some souvenirs.

Then to Afytos where we had refreshments and coffee at the most amazing balcony of Notos Bar.
Look at this view.

The Ethnological Museum was closed as it was a Monday.

We ended up having lunch at Argonaftes, the tavern we usually go which is really good and Barca friendly too.
Loutsos fish, gavros fish, octopus and squid was what we had and they were all delicious!

In the evening we spent some time at the beach seaglassing and then we went to the nearby Pomegranate Spa Hotel to see the fountain music show! They say it is one of the three there are in the world. I really don't know. But it is good!

Of course as no good things come alone we had some plumbing problems (yes again!) so the plumber came the next day. After he left (and no the problem wasn't solved ) we left for Thessaloniki!
First we walked our neighbourhood and guess what. We found an old bookshop where prices were really low.

Then we had lunch at Kati ap'ola.It was really good as usual.
We then went to the White Tower, hopped on the culture line bus and did the tour around the city just to see the sights!

Afterwards we hopped on Arabella the pirate boat and had coffee while tourng the bay!Marvellous views and the weather was so good!

We ended our evening at the sea front and the sunset again saying goodbye to our friends who left early the next morning!

It was so great to have Janet and Bruce here and we really enjoyed their company!Barca adored them too!