Back home!

Hello, dear friends,
We are back home after spending some ten days by the beach.

Thank you so much for your messages. I received some very nice e-mails, too, thank you, thank you, including a brilliant message of self-esteem for women that I shall share with you, so expect to receive an e-mail from yours trully one of these days and expect me to share some meditative moments with you.

A lovely fragrant Thank You for the beautiful card that a very gentle soul sent me; it's right next to my bed and adds a magic tuch to my every day.

We had a nice time during our vacation. It was rather different from previous years. During our summer vacation I am usually very eager to do things that I could not do during "regular time", like painting or writing, or swimming a certain distance every day and so on.

This year we were all very tired, it seems. We first spent a couple of days in beautiful Thessaloniki, up in the North, visiting friends.


Then we headed West to the Ionian Sea. This is the sea between Greece and Italy whose share is called the Adriatic. We spent the first few days simply sleeping in the morning. Then C would take children to the beach and I'd get to do some reading.

We had home made lunch and then slept some more! In the afternoon the girls stayed in, listening to music and reading, while I got to do some cross stitching and C and J went fishing. Sometimes I read both in the morning and the afternoon.

Corfu town was lovely as always. We enjoyed walking around and appreciated the beautiful architecture.



But nothing compares to God's natural beauty...


I hope to post some more about our vacation in the next days. I hope the last days of summer are nice for you. Sending best wishes. See you soon!

With my mind elsewhere~UK

This is fiction author Kate Thompson. Her latest book is The Kinsella Sisters . See her idea of heaven?

Can you sense I need a summer holiday? Yes, I do. And it might just look like this! What is your idea? What would you really like to do right now?

After Thanksgiving

Oh we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Greece. We are currently fasting for Christmas. But we did have lunch (only I can't get the pics out of my camera, right now) and gave thanks for our family, our lives and our faith. I hope you all had a lovely loving time with family and friends.

(Pictures above from Kelli).

Weekend in Review-St. Demetrius and National Holiday

On October 28th Greece celebrates one of its two national holidays. It commemorates the refusal of the then Prime Minister, Governor Ioannis Metaxas to allow the Italian Army to pass through Greece. It was October 28, 1940.
We also celebrate Virgin Mary as the protectress of the Army and our nation. My late grandfather used to tell me stories about soldiers seeing Virgin Mary ahead of them , guiding them into the battle. It is no doubt a continuation of the belief of the Greeks in the protection of the Gods: Remember Odysseus and goddess Athena?
Two days earlier, we celebrate a religious holiday, St. Demetrius (280-305 A.D.) He is the patron saint of Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece. Thessaloniki was liberated from the Turkish occupation on the 26th of October 1912, the day of its patron Saint.
There are school celebrations, with songs, poems and a parade.
However as with everything that is traditional and meaningful, there are voices against these celebrations.
Especially this year there was an intense campaign against marching.
Our D was part of the parade this year. She had on a traditional costume and she proudly walked in the main street with her classmates. J put on his traditional costume, too.
As we went into town I was mesmerised by two cross stitching magazines. They are so expensive, double the printed price. (sigh).
We then came home, had lunch and watched 13 turning 30. Then I began packing our summer clothes and bringing out the winter ones.
A nice week end.

Menu Plan Monday

Hello Food lovers,
By the time you read this we will hopefully be on a Greek beach, lazing under the sun. As we shall be camping this year, our cooking is going to be quite challenging. Never fear, though. Nature is so abundant, even when people are greedy. So here is what we are planning to feast on this week.

Monday 13 to Wednesday 15
The Greek Orthodox Church has a fast from August 1st to 14th, in honor of The Dormition of Our Lady. We haven't been fasting this year, first because I have been lazy and did not insist enough, and second because of our trip to Thessaloniki, where we indulged ourselves to some local delicacies and to the loving family cooking of our hosts.
Anyway, as of Friday 10th, we are not eating meat, and on the 14th we won't be having dairy so that the kids can receive Holy Communion. I am so moved, because they agreed by their own free will and probably by God's works.

So we will be eating lots of Greek salad, seafood and watermelon.

Then on Wednesday, our daughter D who celebrates her nameday on the 15th, will be offering us brunch after the church service. We usually have a full tourist breakfast which includes bacona nd eggs, orange juice, bread, butter and marmalade and tea or coffee.

Thursday 16th to Monday 20th
Our routine consists of cereal or bread, butter and honey or marmelade for breakfast.
Fruit on the beach.
Sandwiches, Greek salad or tuna salad for lunch.
Spagghetti when I cook. Grill when C cooks. Souvlaki for take away. Mousaka and pastitsio for dinner when eating out.

As an appetizer for our Greek cooking, I am posting some pics from our recent trip to Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Northern Greece.

Come on in, the table is set by the sea.

Mussels, a local delicacy from Thessaloniki. A saganaki with olive oil, onion, peppers and lemon, and a risotto with mussels.

And help yourselves to Greek salad and tzatziki, ouzo and a cold lager!

For more Menues, head over to Laura's at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Have a lovely week. Keeping you in my thoughts.

This and That...

It's been HOT here 40C all morning in the past few days, and the temperatures will be on the rise till the middle of next week.
In the evening I open the doors and close them tight in the morning to keep the heat outside. Not very much help, but still better than having the sun coming in.
C usually does not complain about and does not wear sunblock when he drives, but he told me last night that he wants me to put a sunscreen in the car for his arm that he keeps keeping outside his window.
Fortunately the air condition preserves our sanity at work. Next week I am going to put my first advertisement in a local glossy. I am slightly nervous about it, but I am trying to push myself out of my comfort zone.
I am rather sleepy, actually, as I don't get to sleep before the early hours of the morning, I have to get up at 7 a.m. and then indulge myself in freshly baked pastries on the way to the shop. Wrong, wrong , wrong, this is the time to stick to fruit, but apricots and grapes are not out yet, and this was not a good year for cherries. So, I'll have to make do with refrigirated apples.

Anyway, today, after we close the shop for the weekend, we are heading West to an island called Lefkas. Onassis' little island of Scorpios is nearby, so it has had its past share of glory. Then right next to it there is Cephalonia where the Korelli film was shot some years ago. I'd love to go on a cruise along the coast. There have been some archaeological finds recently, suggesting that what is today Cephalonia was Homer's Ithaca (and not the island that is now called Ithaca).
We have been to Lefkas before but we do not go there often because it is a long drive, and who wants to drive for hours at midday?
But we thought we'd camp overnight and leave tomorrow afternoon. I will keep you posted and try and get some nice pictures for you.

I am t-h-r-i-l-l-e-d, because I got an award (wow, me?!). Thank you so much Annie. I cannot tell you what an encouragement this is, your visiting me and all. I am like a child jumping up and down!
I promise to nominate my favorite rocking people to pass the torch. I just want this time to think of people I do not visit very often , but do impress me as rocking!

With God's grace I'll post Weekend Reflections and Menu Plan on Monday. Enjoy the weekend!