Wordless Wednesday-The footbal match

With Thanks to our hosts at the Wordless Wednesday HQs and 5 minutes for mom, and you for stoping by and commenting!

See you next week!

Wordless Wednesday-One naughty little cat

Hi! So glad you took the time to stop by and comment! I'll make sure I stop by and comment, too.

With thanks to the Wordless Wednesday Headquarters and 5 minutes for mom for hosting.
Happy WW!

"if in doubt, garden"

Hi there!
I just had a very fun afternoon. must share the good ones , too!
all i did was gardening. you know i have a postage-stamp garden? well, i gave up on it. no one else in the household helps, well, the kids thankfully do some watering, but otherwise it turns into a jungle of weed. so, i suggested we hired the next door neighbours' handyman to do the weeding -can't keep up with weeding all the time-, and i did some fun work. (photos tomorrow morning, it's way past midnight here). i concentrated on container gardening. i had some dying plants here and there, squeezed in their original plastic pots. well, i emptied the simple clay i ones i LOVE, of some worn out bulbs, and tada! i now have plants for both home and shop.

the garden on a good day

basil and cactus

the vegetable plot :)

 on our short break, part work-part vacation, the best i can hope for, after camping :) i'm taking me with me a book to read as not much swimming is expected. it's called Feel Fab Forever: The Anti-Ageing Health and Beauty Bible, and it is written by the beautybible.com team of Josephine Fairley and Sarah Stacey. i love dirt, and this book has plenty of ideas for playing with what your mom told you not to. and that, in my case, included dirt. there is even a chapter called "if in doubt, garden".

There is nothing more therapeutic for me that spending time gardening. i love flowers and plants and tending to them, and i don't mind if they are a fuss to clean after; no, i don't have a maiden, but i make choices!

My husband brought me from Athens...

C came home from Athens tonight. Praise God! The house feels so silent when he is not around! He came loaded with...

...stories from the aeroplane.
He told us how he sat by an equally oversized gentleman to whom he said: "Don't you think they should have put us on opposite sides to help keep the plane in balance?" Poor guy he was so scared he didn't move from his seat for the whole flight!

...stories from relatives he hadn't seen for awhile
A relative owns a pharmacy at the very heart of Athens. Her husband has undergone six by passes all caused by stress and anxiety. They feel they are besieged by scores of illegal third world immigrants as well as native leftist supporters of multiculturalism who threaten to burn down the pharmacy.

...tales of a new shopping center
where, always an authentic, he chose to have souvlaki over TGI Fridays!

...the airline's on flight magazine with some lovely places to stay and eat in Athens and all around Greece (I promise to show you the very best)

 ...and photos of places he thought I'd like to see (and post about!)

We all love VW in this family!

The shop window of French cosmetics company L' Occitane

 He did not buy anyone anything. Besides, I have yet to find the Facebook and Twitter apps I downloaded on my mobile (thankfully, they are free :) We were so pleased to have him back that we served pizza and coke on the balcony to celebrate.

Notice the planted basil centerpiece? A natural mosquito repellent!

Tomorrow I am going to post a step by step guide on making stuffed veggies or gemista! A summertime must! Hope to see you around. Have a great new week!

the reluctant yogi

John-William Godward~golden hours

it has been a week. or more. a week of too much heat. i cannot sleep before 5 a.m. when there is a slight breeze coming through the door. that means i have three hours sleep at night. which means i have to nap at midday before going to work for the afternoon. it's quite exhausting, i tell you.
today i had a :hot: encounter at work too. a customer who owes us some money and insists that owing people is how the market works. i couldn't help telling her that that is the exact mentality that brought this country to where it is now. i hate confrontation. my hands were shaking and my breath was getting short, but over the years i have learned to control these impulses and keep a straight face when i have to.
thankfully, a friend came after her and we had a good, comforting laugh.

then in the evening F and I went to her yoga class together. she stressed it was only because her best friend with whom she goes to the gym was on holiday. which was ok with me. at first i was uncomfortable with that reflection on the mirror. how could she not do the pose her body was supposed to recognise after all these years of practicing? i thought "that is the first and last time i do this". then my mind was wandering, replaying the morning dialogue, then thinking of how to promote the summer sales. i followed a rule of acceptance, if you fall, you get up. and i went back into my practice. this time, knowing from confession that i can practice without feeling guilty of doing something non-christian, as long as other gods are not called upon, was puting me at ease with my practice and my physical existance.  in time , i got to like her, that breathing, moving, sweating lady across the mirror, and feel compassion for her. i think i even like her. and by the end of the session i was tearful and grateful. for my existance, for my daughter, for the evening, for the day...

i hope you all have a lovely weekend.

All the good things

To get the week started on the right foot!..

Two jokes and a funeral

Why is it that the funniest conversations take place after a funeral? Is it the defence of the living against the fear of death, or is the dead person's blessing who rejoices in seeing those still alive having a good time?

Whatever the case, today C went to a funeral. His cousin and F's godmother called him in the morning. A cousin's mother in law had passed away, and her funeral would take place in the afternoon. C gulped some omelette after work, and off he went.

Funerals are big in this part of the world. They are more than sad occasions and goodbies. They are a time to meet people whom you haven't seen in a while (hopefully!), to exchange news, and talk. So I wasn't surprised when C called me a couple of hours later to tell me that there was a crowd at the funeral, that they had just finished greeting the relatives, and that they would now head for coffee.

It is traditional to drink coffee together after the ceremony. It used to be a bitter greek one, followed by a small glass of brandy. But in the past year we have been asked what kind of coffee we'd like. We had cappuccino. And last summer we even had frappe, which is coffee on the rocks, drunk with a straw, which is rather festive and related to good times. Anyway. C went for the coffee.

It's in the coffee shop that two very funny stories were told. It would be a pitty not to share them with you, so here they are.

#1 C's cousin and F's godmother together with another cousin and best friend, and their respective husbands, return home from bouzoukia (live music) on a Saturday night. These are high maintenance ladies in their 50s, one of them a grand mother, all accomplished housewives, who like the fact that they can party till late and be good in everything they do.
So, they are crossing at the traffic lights, when some youngsters check them out and tell them:
"Grannies, shouldn't you be in bed by now? Don't you have church tomorrow morning?"

#2 C's most dear uncle has a wife who has Alzheimer's. It seems he gets some of it, too, but he is not giving up. One day, he returns home after a morning at the coffee shop, when he gets off the bus at the wrong stop. It's pouring, so he enters the first establishement he sees, and orders a whiskey, intending to stay until the rain stops. The barman brings his drink, but as it is lunch time, and uncle is old fashioned, he wants some food with his drink.
"Why are you bringing this on its own?" he asks. "A good drink needs company". By company, Uncle implies food, but the barman calls the owner of the premises thinking he requires female company. Uncle promised his daughter and son in law to carry with him a card with his home bus stop name from now on.

#Bonus story: The late lady's son is understandably very sad. after the more distant relatives go, he confessed to C: "As if my football team' losing the game weren't enough...".

That is life, my friends!

And with that, and some photos of C's village, I'm saying good night. xxx

Tears and prayers

Hello dear friends,
It is so strange how our days differ from one another in such unforseen ways. That is why Carpe Diem may be the one most important moto to use in our lives.
In the past week we have been playing hosts to C's parents. Thankfully my relationship with my father-in- law is lovely. They were due to leave yesterday when we received a phone call form one of C's cousins. Her mother had passed away after a long illness. We went to her home last night to offer our condolences to the family. Aunt P was 85, a mother, grand-mother and great-grand-mother. She had  fluffy white hair. She loved us a lot. We went to her grand daughter's wedding and her great-grand children's Christenings. When our eldest, F was hospitalised a few months after we came here, she came to the hospital with a homemade pie and encouraged me and F. It is not strange then that F remembers her, although our families didn't see each other very often. Which tells us a lot about small gestures that go a long way...Her husband passed away a few years ago and we were so sad for him, too.
May God rest their souls in His everlasting peace.

C's parents just left for Athens. We are travelling to Athens later today for a company meeting. It is not imperative to go, but C does not want to dissatisfy his parents who want us to go and stay in their home. OK. Please pray for our safe journeys to Athens and back here. There is heavy rain as I write and it will be snowing tomorrow.

Do not forget to also keep Denise and her husband in your prayers. She has helped me so much and she is such a Jesus loving and faithful person. I pray for her and her husband with all my heart.

Have a lovely, loving weekend.

St.Dionysius of Aegina

In loving memory of my adventurous and loving grandfather who was born on this day in 1915 and was named after the Saint as is/was the custom. May God rest his soul.

Apolytikion in the First Tone


The offspring of Zakynthos and bishop of Aegina, protector of Strophades Monastery, Saint Dionysios, O faithful, let us all with one accord now honor and sincerely cry to him: "By your fervant prayers save us who are observing your mem'ry and who cry to you: Glory to Christ who glorified you; glory to Him who made you marvelous; glory to Him who gave you to us as a sleepless advocate."

Kontakion in the Third Tone

On this day doth Zakynthos call all the faithful together, rousing them to offer praise in songs and hymns of thanksgiving to our great and fervent helper in needs and sorrows, who doth swiftly rescue them that are caught in perils. And she honoureth him, crying: O Dionysius, boast of the faithful, rejoice!

Beginning of the week

Hi there,
I hope you all had a nice weekend.
We spent it at home with J's fever reaching 40. Luke warm baths and echinacaea with some spoonfulls of anti-fever syrup. He is better now, c.38+, but he still has the caughing and some new stomach issues...Eating rice like a Chinese man. C hasn't been feeling well either. His fever is c.37+. I don't know if it is my man or every man, but when it comes to the flu, I think men are worse than babies.

We began redecorating the shop. The new bed is very stylish. Very urban style chic. Will show you pictures. Quite tricky to set up as it is a completely new style, but we'll learn. Lots of work to be done tomorrow.

D and I watched Four Christmases tonight after I came home from work.Just what I needed. Relaxed, heartwarming and light hearted.

Over the weekend C placed the lights outside the house.(Picture taken earlier tonight, while I was collecting the laundry). The rugs are in place in the living room, too. I like them better this year than last year!
We haven't decorated the Christmas trea yet, but we do have a real one this year which we shall plant after the end of the holidays. Plus three real ones at the shop which we shall be donating to the community after Christmas.

I have taken some pictures of the house in the quiet hours of Sunday morning. I had very little sleep, so I when I finally decided it;s better to wake up and get dressed, the light was such a blessing. I'll show you in a while.
Take care,
xoxo

Morning habits

Goodmorning!

Those few days by the sea were good for me, it seems. Starting Tuesday I have been waking up a little bit earlier and go out walking. I was hesitant at first. People here do not have the habit of walking for the pleasure of it. I thought they'd think I am mad. Wrong. The first day, J accompanied me, willing to forego of the last days of late mornings. So, we went out hand in hand. We chatted along about everything. I so cherish these moments with my babies.

J took this picture of my favorite neighborhood car. "For your blog".
FIY, my baby had his first front tooth taken out last night. D called us at the shop stating an absolute emergency: J's tooth was hanging, waiting for the final pull. C drove home asap and completed the manly task. My boy is the only one of my children to believe in the Tooth Fairy. Ooops! I haven't thought of a gift yet!

Back to morning walking. There are lots of pros about walking. My homeopath had suggested walking to ease depression. My physiotherapist suggested it before Easter. We walked everywhere in Florence and Munich during our trip, and my back felt really better. But sedentary lifestyle took its toll again. So I thought it best to begin incorporating walking into my daily life, not waiting for an excursion or hoping for anyone to join me. I did get some funny looks but I didn't really mind.

Yesterday and today J didn't come with me, as he was too sleepy, but so unlike me, I decided to get on by myself. To cut a long story short, today I walked to the shop. What I found is that walking to work in the morning, when the streets are still not that busy, gives me time to adapt. When we leave on car I always find it difficult to settle. My mind wanders. I think of home and the kids I left sleeping, the housework that hasn't been done. Oh, and the guilt of the Working Mother: I am not there to make breakfast for them, I am not there to see them into the day, I could be hanging laundey, playing with them, summer passes by and we didn't dine al fresco yet...you get the idea.

Walking puts me at some kind of peace. I look at the neighbouring yards, the trees, the little surprising details that would otherwise escape me, I feel the morning air...I arrive at work with my head cleared and (almost) ready to tackle the daily tasks.

I can spot a fig tree.
This lady herds sheep. She changes into clean clothes, washes and hangs the laundry from the trea.
An old farm building.
Simply green...

This one is fun. As of this past July, there is a law forbiding smoking in public places. That includes one's own shop. Poor smoking fellows! However, cunny Odysseus found a way around the law. You can't smoke inside. Fine. But nowhere does it say you cannot smoke outside your shop! All you need is a couple of chairs, a table or stool, coffee, cigarettes, and good company.

Today I served C's coffee with Fanouropita. I made a point of taking pictures while I was preparing it, last night, so expect to find my detailed cooking session on-line by Monday. It turned out really nice, thank God.

I hope you are all doing well. Love and blessings to all.

Sunday at home...or at work?

What a nice summer weekend!
Sunny in the morning, fresh in the afternoon. I know many people don't like rain, but I do. Especially that rain that comes when you are thirsty and there is rain in the air.

I spent Saturday morning at home, overseeing the workers on the attic conversion. I then went to the shop till late in the afternoon.
Back at home I resisted all temptations to watch a film on DVD and set office in the back veranda, overlooking our garden. Patcha the cat had the same idea, I think!


All afternoon till night came, I was proof reading the company's new catalogue.


I occasionally made some notes. This one reads:

"Wind is the breath of God. He gives us of Himself to live. He gives us Life through breathing, oxygen to live on".


On Sunday, we did not go to church. C wanted to sleep late, and we all went with it. I made breakfast at 1 p.m. Bread with olive oil butter and honey.

Then I sat back to work, to finish the project.
C made a seafood spaghetti that is his specilaty. I loved the part of picking tomatoes from our balcony garden!


Then it was time to type out all the changes. It took me until 3 a.m. to e-mail them to the factory. But I couldn't have the weekend go without saying hello.

Have a beuatiful week ahead!

I have been travelling...

Hello, my dear friends,
I hope you are all doing well. I shall not be visiting many of you tonight, but I am sending you my best thoughts, feelings and prayers.
We came back last night after a long weekend in the South of Greece. I haven't been to the South in litteraly ages. We passed through places I have only heard poeple in the family talk about. Places I haven't been to since I was a teen.
We went on business. The company wanted us to road test anew pillow we shall be stocking from this coming autumn. It will be made of narural rubber (for support), lavender (aromatherapy) and a type of seaweed providing iodine to those who miss it. It's going to be good for ailments of the thyreoid and asthma. Beautiful, wild, unspoilt, undiscovered places...So pure. This pillow will embrace all these qualities as well.

And then tonight, as I was checking my e-mail and was signing into Google, my French childhood friend popped up in a window and we had an on line chat, typing away, exchanging photos, and sharing confessions.

Home has been turned upside down in the past week. C and I decided to convert the attic into C's office. I hope to get a little corner into a yoga corner in the morning! But that means having builders coming in at the crack of dawn. So I must really getting going now, if I want to wake up before they show up on our doorstep.

Last piece of news for tonight (I promise you larger coverage of our trip with lovely pictures). Our eldest, Fee, passed her English examination as organised and approved by the University of Michigan. We are so pleased for her!

Great big hugs to all of you.

Celebrating Love

Love

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails.

But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

(Paul, 1Corinthians 13, NIV)

Journeying on together, in love. Happy Anniversary!

Sadness and Love

(Picture: Sunset at the Sea of Galilee from Around the Island)

Today we visited my fil's sister in hospital. She had a stroke a few days ago. C went to see her twice, but I wanted us all to go and wish her well. So today, after F finished her oral exam for her Michigan certification in English, we drove to the hospital.
C had told me last night that she was talking about her parents and her long deceased son, and I was quite worried. She also has a fever and doctors are afraid of a second stroke.

We found her in bed, with her signature round glasses on, tiny, with rosy cheeks and smiling as always. It was the first time I saw her without her black headscarf. Traditionally Greek women who have lost their husband wear black including a headscarf, and never get out of it for the rest of their lives. Her hair is silky and white with little strokes of black.

Although C had told me she wouldn't name her own children, she called F by name, first, telling her her usual :"You got my name, didn't you?" which makes them both smile because they share the same name. Then she recognized J whom she had seen at her great grand daughter's christening a few months ago. She pulled his head onto her chest and kissed his hair. She also spotted D and called her by name. D has the name of her daughter. She is blind but she always has her mother's smile on her face. We didn't name either child after her or her daughter It just happened.

I was caressing her forehead and hands, and C was talking to her. She was telling me stories of making vast quantities of pan cakes for her children and her brothers' children. She looked at me and said: "I have always loved you, and now I love you even more".

I told her that she'll make pancakes for my children again, and that she may give us some of those delicious eggs she would collect and offer us as we'd drive away from her home.
I couldn't help the tears flowing from my eyes, although I didn't want her or her son to see me, but I couldn't help it. Nor can I help it now.
I know that she is old and fragile, but I want her to get well, and go back to her two bedroomed little house again, where everything is warm and welcoming and loving, as it should be...

The Weekend (part 1)

Saturday. The day started with C telling me I could go to the shop later in the day...or not at all. That, I heard as "it's time you did some housework around here" which has always a negative effect on me. You see, I am not a housework person. I do as much as I believe to be my duty to do, like providing clean clothes and a tastebud appealing and healthy meal, but I do not drool over the latest in housecleaning products. For me, a bucket of hot water with a cup of vinegar and a bunch of old newspapers (that we tend to accumulate around here in Cyclopean steps) cleans my windows just fine. I do not need a fancy new smelling product. I just turn over my sleeves and get on with the task. However, if someone else would like to do it for me, I would be grateful. (Not the window cleaning or the ironing though; I quite like those chores).

Anyway. Prioritize, I thought to myself, and I began with the cooking. I asked the two kids present what they'd like for lunch. I got one answer. Pizza. That didn't sound much of a meal to me, so I set out to do the next best thing: pasta in tomato sauce with onion and parsley. It has been a staple in the favorites list lately, so I thought I was picking a fast and safe choice. I was nearly done, when the multi-tasker in me began hammering my consciousness:
"It's only pasta you're making. Stop looking at it, go get some serious housework done". Something done? Like cross stitching while I waited, perhaps?
"No, that's fun", little voice whispered. "Something important like...hoovering?" Rejected. Too complicated. Lots of tiny bits to pick up.
"The laundry, then!". And the laundry it was.
I told my 7 year old that I was going to put up the laundry and could he please give me a shout when the buzzer went off? Yes , he said and happily sat in front of the TV (just to be near the kitchen).
Oh what a fragranced day! Springtime. Fresh, clean smelling clothes, the dishes off the dishwasher (note to self: clothes drier still out of order). Hmmm! Yours truly was on cloud 9.
Thank God for His angels, pat-patting on my shoulder. No shout+no buzzer+comics on the telly=my first burned meal in years of marriage.
Oh why didn't I go to the shop? Give me my shop back. I am not a SAHM and I shall probably never amount to any good. That is who I am: a plugged-in, working person!
Thank God for my staple spinach pie, saved at the fridge, following mil's example who cooks in bulk and saves in the freezer. Some cheese and a Greek salad, and we were done for lunch!

This Sunday F sits the first part of her English exam. We'll be cheering her along, praying the Paraclesis and pacing up and down a posh hotel in town among tens of other anxious parents, from 8.30 to 16.00, with brakes for a chocolate milk, biscuits, an apple and a sandwich. Please keep F in your prayers, tomorrow/today (time difference keeps puzzling me after all these years).


Have a beautiful weekend.