A gift delivered.

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 end of January and the encounter with a butterfly.

Last night I went to another New Year's pie cutting,this time with the Teacher's Association Drama Club.
My friends took the chance to make me blow a candle for my birthday!We had fun. I didn't win the lucky coin of the pie this time either but it doesn't matter. I feel lucky and blessed this New Year already as so many happy things happened in the month of January.My brother who had lost his job a month ago found one already which really makes me very very happy. My mum's heart problems which at first we had thought were serious are finally not.I was appointed subheadteacher in my school and seem to have won the respect of my colleagues and headteacher.Even the sewage and plumbing problems in our block of flats that at first looked very serious and dangerous finally proved that were not caused by our own pipes and the problem was solved.
In January I received a lot of mail which brought cards,gifts and sea glass.I watched great theatrical plays and movies,I went out with friends and family and enjoyed every minute of my new hobby blogging. I also finished my dad's memorial sea sampler at last after twelve years.
Another very important event of this month was that my beloved cousin Platon Petridis,who is my son's Godfather and is a Professor of Byzantine Archaeology in the University of Athens, was awarded the Gustave Mendel award from the Academie des Inscriptions et belles Lettres of France for his book La ceramique protobyzantine de Delphes which he had published some months ago.
This month had its ups and downs but I think the only real sad moment I had that I will remember was the news of the death of my pen pal Jackie.

 Blowing the candle!

 Another New Year's pie.

 For dessert crepe au chocolat with chestnut and ice cream.
Today I passed outside the Archaeological museum of Thessaloniki.These huge posters outside the museum were beautiful and so was the huge broken amphora.

I  had an encounter with a butterfly outside the museum and I took photos and a little video of that meeting. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.It was a great goodbye to January! 

(I will post the video tomorrow as for some reason I could not upload it today.)

 On the way home I noticed this lovely cobbled square in front of the new Mayor Hall and those beautiful old doors in some old buildings hidden among big blocks of flats in narrow streets.