My ability to record my blog is being severely challenged at the moment as neither of our rather elderly laptops is particularly well. One will start up when it feels like it, the other now has a missing 'A' key, won't charge unless we have something heavy jammed up against the power lead and is missing rather a lot of pixels on the screen. Unfortunately laptops over here are rather expensive so we will struggle on for as long as we can - this might of course mean trying to make out the words with a missing A!
We had a bit of a eureka moment with my craft supplies which currently take up the top shelf of the fitted wardrobe and I have to ask John every time I want something down - or I manage to get something down and then shove it back up precariously so it falls on his head the next time he ventures in there! We have a box in the conservatory that houses beach towels (self explanatory), flood defense towels (used to stem the tide when the heavy rains decide to come in under the front door) and winter throws so we decided to do a swap so that the craft goodies live in the box and are therefore much more accessible to short-ass me and the towels and throws go up in the wardrobe - brilliant - all I need now is to wait for my amazing space craft room to be built and I will be happy!!!
I decided to donate a couple of throws to George and Pam just in case they do venture back next Easter - knowing just how cold they found it this Easter I thought they would appreciate some extra covers. I popped them round only to find that they had water coming from the overflow of their tank - it turned out to be a sticky ball-cock so John managed to stem the flow but it will need a more permanent fix.
I walked to art this morning - it is warm but there is a feeling that maybe there is a storm brewing or something. Ron Jeremy is now tethered - I don't know if that means he has done his stuff but he is very protective of his companion mare- at least now I don't have to worry that he may take a dislike to me and start charging as I am walking past because, as you can see, he is a stocky muscular beast and I wouldn't want to get in his way.
If the early morning rolling mists or cooler evening temperatures didn't give it away there are now clear signs that it is autumn in these parts.
Some of the trees have lost their leaves and the soil is about as parched as it can be - one lot of good rain and it will be green over again as those pesky weeds are just waiting to make their return. I know this because just under the gazebos where the condensation drips down I have seen a fine line of green appearing - it is better to wait until they are a bit bigger before pulling them out otherwise you get the tops and leave the roots behind to appear again.
Some plants are having a second flowering now that it is not so very hot. Some of the Gazanias and Osteospurmum are flowering again not massively but enough to add a bit of colour to the garden. It is easier to keep things under control now - a once a week haircut seems to be enough for most things.
There are still figs on the trees and I do miss George and his early morning fresh hand-picked delivery. Now they seem to be taking longer to ripen and the skins seem tougher. People seem to have tired of them so they are rotting on the trees and giving the birds and insects a fair old feast. The purple one had my name on it so I managed to pick it, give it a quick rub off, then eat it en route to Sheila's.
In the village we have a weaving museum - to be fair it is only one room with a few nicely arranged exhibits but it is quite interesting and as a number of us are going on a government-funded craft course soon I thought I would pop in and see what was in there. I was really looking for examples of the baskets we are hoping to learn to make but guess that they are more in evidence at the Basket Weaving Museum in Inea.
Well we think we are doing basket weaving but it remains a bit of a mystery save that we are all supposed to be attending on a number of afternoons. I really don't mind what I do except I don't want to do the gourd decorating again and I hope that Kelly will be a the same course to act as our interpreter! I also called into the post office to check to see if we had any post. Filippos has an eclectic mix of postcards available - I really must see if I can print some of my local photographs as postcards and ask him if he wants them as I am sure tourists would like to send a card depicting where they are staying rather than a day-glo orange watermelon!
There was very little talking at the Knipps house this morning as Sheila was concentrating on a new picture she was painting of two dolphin and she is also working on a very nice pastel pencil picture of a tiger's cub. If any of you are interested in charting the progress of the tiger's cub then you can do so on Sheila's Blog (Follow Me and My Life in Art).
Progress on my picture seems to be slow - today I finished the inside of the shutter where there is a representation of an olive tree, bowl of cherries and pot and I have started on the tree which takes up the top right of the picture and is causing me some angst! There was a lot of sighing going on by me particularly when I realised I had forgotten about the hanging basket!
Mornings pass by very quickly when you are concentrating hard and I shall soon have to think about what my next picture is going to be.
I walked home because it was a lovely day. It was quiet in the village and apart from Despina in the coffee shop talking to two tourists I saw no-one.
When I took Elena's children to their piano lesson last week Lola the Superstar told me that she was learning karate in the village. I had seen the sign at the window of what has been a long abandoned building opposite Christos's taverna but hadn't realised it was actually taking place there - looks a bit grim from the outside so I hope it is better on the inside!
As you know I take lots of pictures of the properties in the village because there are some fascinating ones.
I really like the ones that have a hanging Juliet style balcony although having inspected quite a few there aren't many I would be willing to stand on!
This one on the main road home looks like it is inhabited and has been well looked after shame the same cannot be said to the one next door with the rusting metal door and broken glass!
When I got home John was working through his list of 'things to do' and was busy changing the light fittings in the kitchen with the new ones I had got off of the internet.
We had two sets of four spotlights up there previously but they didn't light up the whole of the kitchen and John didn't really like them anyway. I have ordered some special LED bulbs but having used normal ones just to test them out we reckon they are going to be too bright!
This afternoon I was spending some time with Amoura to show her how to use I-Tunes and load new songs onto her i-pod. She was my grade A student - she just sat down, watched, asked a couple of questions and had it sussed immediately!
It was a chance to catch up with Elena and say goodbye to her Mum who is returning to the UK today after weeks over here - as she is leaving later this evening it is unlikely that Elena will be coming to belly dancing with us this evening. On the subject of Elena she is off to oncology tomorrow for a regular checkup - we have everything crossed for good news - she looks so damn well at the moment it is hard to believe anything could be wrong.
So week three of belly-dancing, sadly Elaine couldn't make it either but the remaining four of us gamely danced on finding it even harder this week - so it has to be doing us some good surely? Sadly any good it might do is negated by the fact that John and I and Diana and Rob descended upon Fitos for some tea afterwards! And what a fine meal we had too.
I decided to donate a couple of throws to George and Pam just in case they do venture back next Easter - knowing just how cold they found it this Easter I thought they would appreciate some extra covers. I popped them round only to find that they had water coming from the overflow of their tank - it turned out to be a sticky ball-cock so John managed to stem the flow but it will need a more permanent fix.
I walked to art this morning - it is warm but there is a feeling that maybe there is a storm brewing or something. Ron Jeremy is now tethered - I don't know if that means he has done his stuff but he is very protective of his companion mare- at least now I don't have to worry that he may take a dislike to me and start charging as I am walking past because, as you can see, he is a stocky muscular beast and I wouldn't want to get in his way.
Some of the trees have lost their leaves and the soil is about as parched as it can be - one lot of good rain and it will be green over again as those pesky weeds are just waiting to make their return. I know this because just under the gazebos where the condensation drips down I have seen a fine line of green appearing - it is better to wait until they are a bit bigger before pulling them out otherwise you get the tops and leave the roots behind to appear again.
Some plants are having a second flowering now that it is not so very hot. Some of the Gazanias and Osteospurmum are flowering again not massively but enough to add a bit of colour to the garden. It is easier to keep things under control now - a once a week haircut seems to be enough for most things.
There are still figs on the trees and I do miss George and his early morning fresh hand-picked delivery. Now they seem to be taking longer to ripen and the skins seem tougher. People seem to have tired of them so they are rotting on the trees and giving the birds and insects a fair old feast. The purple one had my name on it so I managed to pick it, give it a quick rub off, then eat it en route to Sheila's.
In the village we have a weaving museum - to be fair it is only one room with a few nicely arranged exhibits but it is quite interesting and as a number of us are going on a government-funded craft course soon I thought I would pop in and see what was in there. I was really looking for examples of the baskets we are hoping to learn to make but guess that they are more in evidence at the Basket Weaving Museum in Inea.Well we think we are doing basket weaving but it remains a bit of a mystery save that we are all supposed to be attending on a number of afternoons. I really don't mind what I do except I don't want to do the gourd decorating again and I hope that Kelly will be a the same course to act as our interpreter! I also called into the post office to check to see if we had any post. Filippos has an eclectic mix of postcards available - I really must see if I can print some of my local photographs as postcards and ask him if he wants them as I am sure tourists would like to send a card depicting where they are staying rather than a day-glo orange watermelon!
There was very little talking at the Knipps house this morning as Sheila was concentrating on a new picture she was painting of two dolphin and she is also working on a very nice pastel pencil picture of a tiger's cub. If any of you are interested in charting the progress of the tiger's cub then you can do so on Sheila's Blog (Follow Me and My Life in Art).
Progress on my picture seems to be slow - today I finished the inside of the shutter where there is a representation of an olive tree, bowl of cherries and pot and I have started on the tree which takes up the top right of the picture and is causing me some angst! There was a lot of sighing going on by me particularly when I realised I had forgotten about the hanging basket!
Mornings pass by very quickly when you are concentrating hard and I shall soon have to think about what my next picture is going to be.
I walked home because it was a lovely day. It was quiet in the village and apart from Despina in the coffee shop talking to two tourists I saw no-one.
When I took Elena's children to their piano lesson last week Lola the Superstar told me that she was learning karate in the village. I had seen the sign at the window of what has been a long abandoned building opposite Christos's taverna but hadn't realised it was actually taking place there - looks a bit grim from the outside so I hope it is better on the inside!
As you know I take lots of pictures of the properties in the village because there are some fascinating ones.
I really like the ones that have a hanging Juliet style balcony although having inspected quite a few there aren't many I would be willing to stand on!
This one on the main road home looks like it is inhabited and has been well looked after shame the same cannot be said to the one next door with the rusting metal door and broken glass!
When I got home John was working through his list of 'things to do' and was busy changing the light fittings in the kitchen with the new ones I had got off of the internet.
We had two sets of four spotlights up there previously but they didn't light up the whole of the kitchen and John didn't really like them anyway. I have ordered some special LED bulbs but having used normal ones just to test them out we reckon they are going to be too bright!
It was a chance to catch up with Elena and say goodbye to her Mum who is returning to the UK today after weeks over here - as she is leaving later this evening it is unlikely that Elena will be coming to belly dancing with us this evening. On the subject of Elena she is off to oncology tomorrow for a regular checkup - we have everything crossed for good news - she looks so damn well at the moment it is hard to believe anything could be wrong.
So week three of belly-dancing, sadly Elaine couldn't make it either but the remaining four of us gamely danced on finding it even harder this week - so it has to be doing us some good surely? Sadly any good it might do is negated by the fact that John and I and Diana and Rob descended upon Fitos for some tea afterwards! And what a fine meal we had too.
Thank you for the kind remarks about my art. Hope others enjoy looking at my pictures.
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