What a waste!

Have a great week everyone!
I know I haven't even said "Have a happy month" either!LOL!
If anyone wants a beautiful desktop on their computer here's what I have on for November taken from Geninne's blog!
So the week started with a great day at school. I love it because it is still sunny and warm and the sun makes us all happier!
While returning from the service yesterday morning in the car I spotted the shop window of a closed antique/second hand store in my neighbourhood. My eyes opened wide when I saw a mustard colour velvet armchair there!
It was the same armchair(one of a pair) that I had seen on the curb last week and of course didn't have the courage to take home. How to take them and where to put them was the usual question!So now someone else took them and is selling them too!!!!!
I will try to take  a pic and show you! I am also going to start taking photos of curb side finds to show you what I mean that people throw anything out!What a waste!
Have I shown you this shop window mannequin I collected from outside a shop that was closing down recently?Many shops close down due to bankruptcy and after selling their stuff for very cheap then throw things away!Again what a waste!

I almost collected these curb finds at some point!My husband would have killed me!

That reminds me that I had bought something from an antique store in the end of September but never showed it here. It was a very cheap price and it is so so lovely!

I am in love with its colour and transparency.
Also in the end of September I coffee dyed this lovely heart wreath I had stitched in summer because when I washed it some green colour had bled so I thought it a good idea to dye it myself. And here it is in its new IKEA frame!

In the beginning of October I had also added this frame in my balcony. The frame was an old curb find and the teatowel is by Arounna.

 We had to change the light in our kitchen so here is the new one again from IKEA. I am not sure I like it that much but it provides good light!

So I will just say good night!Off to correct some tests and do some cross stitch!

What the mail brought

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!

Tsiknopempti.

This is probably a Greek custom only.
Annually on this Thursday people eat meat and get dressed for carnival.
It is ten days before Clean Monday when Lent begins and fasting for Easter.
Tsiknopempti means Thursday with tsikna which is the smell of grilled meat.
We were not really in the mood to get dressed and have fun so we simply had some meat brought at home and the men (hubbie,son,brother) watched Manchester City-Aris Salonica. We are already losing with 3-0 but well ok we are still fighters.
Here is what we ate.

 Souvlaki.

 Gyros.

 Tzatziki and pita.

 I at the same time finished a beautiful sea themed frame which will be a gift,so no photos till it is delivered.
Here I would like to show you the two little parcels that arrived yesterday from faraway Canada and New Zealand.They are a je t'aime tea towel by Arounna and a lovely needlebook by Melissa of Tiny Happy.

 New Zealand is suffering from that awful earthquake of the day before yesterday. Christchuch suffered the most with a great toll of deaths. I am very sensitive on this subject because when I was only 12 years old back in 1978 my city Thessaloniki was hit by an awful 6.5 Richter scale earthquake that caused the death of 45 people and a lot of destruction.It is a memory I cannot ever take out of my mind.

I will close with a hopeful photo of my son reading a literature book. He doesn't usually do that so I was happy to see him read something at last.

Dogtooth.

Greek cinematography is excellent but not always recognised.Of course we have Theo Angelopoulos and his masterpieces but we haven't had a nomination for the Best Foreign Language movie in the Oscar Academy Awards since 1977. And yes after so many years a Greek movie made it to the nominations. It is George Lanthimos' film Dogtooth. I had seen the film when it was on our cinemas. It is a strange film,a very original script,and it is a great food for thought film.I won't give out details but if you happen to be able to watch it don't miss it. A very different film.

I quote :"Culture Minister Pavlos Geroulanos, in a statement, said the nomination "goes beyond the sphere of cinema, arts and culture. It concerns an entire country, its people, a new generation of creators who personify the 'Yes, it can be done' in difficult period."  I agree.

Today the mail brought lovely things.
Sometime ago I had seen the collaboration of Arounna and Jill of Today I saw blog and I really liked the four seasons that were the result of this collaboration.They arrived today and I will have them framed the soonest.They are lovely although the photo does not do credit to them.

 There was also a colourful parcel today from Portugal. And it included two beautiful delicate pieces of art by otchipotchi Paula Valentim. Paula had made those a long time ago as tests for her final diploma work which is not reproduced.She was very kind to send me those two last pieces and I am lucky and grateful. I love her work. These are her shells empty....

 ...and here filled with some multis,the exceptional sea glass pieces from Seaham,England sent to me by another generous sea glass friend Joanne.Don't they look lovely in Paula's shells?

 And here are her doily pebbles at my Christmas night dinner table.

Going back in time here are a couple of photos I took this morning at school. I love finding details and corners at school and enjoy their beauty.
My coffee warm and bitter sweet with a little milk next to the window. I don't have that much time to sit down though.

 A lovely blown glass blue vase and a potato urchin shell and a bowl filled with shells and pebbles both in the headmaster's office.Aren't they lovely?

 And on the way back home I stopped to take pics of two great graffitti pieces on the wall of my son's High School. Aren't they great? I don't think I have ever seen a better aubergine!But why an aubergine?