Birthday Present From Afar...

I've been so busy these last few weeks, working at night, but also 2 of our favourite friends from Cornwall came to visit for 2 whole weeks..
During that time, I had a birthday...eek! So, we had even more adventures...and some presents..for me...
I had the trilogy by Stieg Larsson beginning with ' The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.'..very good it is too!!
I also had Victoria Hislop's 'The Return'
I had some fat quarters, a table mat and a cookery book all the way from an Amish farm in Philidelphia ( thank you Heather and Gareth!)

But...but!...but!!...look at this ...look!!.... it's a bowl, not just any bowl.. but a bowl brought all the way from Cornwall.
I used to make bowls and ceramics is still close to my heart...so when this beauty was brought, by hand, by my friends, all the way from Cornwall I was stunned (clearly not into silence!)

Look at the tones, the colours, the lines...don't they remind you of Cornwall? I can see dry stone walls, hedgerows, the sea and sky...yes, I can...
Can you tell I love it???
And to add to all the excitement...I know the woman who constructed this bowl...
she lives in Mabe Burnthouse, which is very close to Penryn where I lived for over 20 years.
Her name is Charlotte Jones, she lives with her husband and boys in a converted chapel. Her husband Ron is equally talented and I advise you to go and check out both their websites now...without further ado.... it's well, well worth it....
Thank you Julie and Mark...you know I love it!!

The Island...Revisited!

I discovered another 'The Island' film set a couple of weeks ago, this time in Pano Elounda
I had heard some friends of mine had been 'extra' extras so I asked if I could incorporate photos of Sybil and Mike into my post.
In addition to that, I also received a photo of the author of The Island, Victoria Hislop, as an extra too..she's the woman in the above photo sitting on the wall. My friend Sybil is standing below the wall on the right.
Above is a close-up of Sybil's make-up, she was acting as one of the unfortunate lepers that lived on the island of Spinalonga...

There's Mike in the middle standing and Sybil is sitting in the middle..

Sybil told me it was very cold and uncomfortable on the island that day and they filmed the scenes of the last day when everyone was taken off in small boats..she said it was very emotional and a fantastic experience.

Now look at Mike...eek!! Isn't that effective?? Obviously lesions from the condition..

Sybil also said she was so entranced my Mike's make-up she didn't notice that they'd shaved Mike's beard off..

Locals have been wondering why so much of the old buildings have had to have been covered and rebuilt with plaster of paris and fibreglass 'fronts'

As you can see from these photos the surrounding buildings are very similar...and more authentic as they are covered with detritus, stains and aging..

Obviously, one of the reasons was to hide modern day pieces, telephone kiosk, meters, wires etc.

I still find it very interesting though..I'm very glad I found this scene and I'm grateful to Mike and Sybil for allowing me to use their photos..it helps to make it more personal..Thank you!!

String-Along Round Up and More...

As March ends, so does the String-Along 2010 Challenge held by Mousybrownshouse and Rattling On.
I've thoroughly enjoyed joining in as it dragged me out of my comfort zone screaming and shouting... The above string bag was crocheted and I had to follow a pattern...successfully!I was disappointed by the size though, it's more hand bag size than shopping bag size, never mind I'll still use it..

I do have a collection of reuseable shopping bags as you can see ..

They all come in handy when I shop for veg from the mobile veg. van which comes around the villages twice a week. Here he's in Limnes, a neighbouring village to us..I always forget to take a camera when I go down to shop. You know when he's reached the village because of the very loud greek music he plays.

Here's a very bad photo of the finished ear-rings I designed at the bead shop last week. Geoff took the photo...

but to show he can take a very good photo just look below.

This is what greeted us last week when we opened the balcony door early one morning...stunning isn't it?

I've bought some plants to pretty up the exterior of the house for Easter so I thought I would share this gorgeous fuschia with you.

We're all getting excited about the coming weekend. As you may well remember Easter is a very big deal here....and the weather is going to be great for bbqs and outside eating.

Finally, thought I'd point out a new blog on my list. As many of you know my daughter and her husband live in Saudi Arabia and J is a friend of Bethan's, explaining some of the realities of life as an ex-pat in Riyadh. I find it extremely interesting and thought provoking..

Take care.

My Wednesday

This is the tale of 2 country bumpkins......

trying to be 'cool' in the "Big Smoke" of Iraklion

We ooo'd and aar'd at the architecture

Looked like tourists..taking photos of Lion Square......

and bumping into people as I took photos of the magnificent pods??

slurped gelato before they melted.........

wondered whether we could hitch a lift to Athens.........

designed earrings..

tried not to get run down crossing the road..

had coffee in the Talos Centre.......

The concept of paying ( 2 euros) to park your car still hasn't arrived in Crete...the Greeks prefer to park haphazardly within 2 steps of where they are going...

so we get the car-park to ourselves virtually.......

Most importantly, we laughed and enjoyed ourselves...looking at clothes, shoes and best of all ...people!!!!

String-a-long 2010, Week 3.

Here it is...ta da!!
My knitted string bag.
I'm rather proud of it!

It's small but strong and as you can see, holds rather alot.

Because I had to print the pattern I didn't have photos to check so when it came to joining the rim to the handle I was rather flumoxed..
A quick email to Rattling On and I was delighted how easy the whole Kitcheners technique worked..

As there's only one more week to go on this challenge I'm not sure whether I'll complete a whole bag but I'm jolly well going to try.
This lovely little bag will used to carry produce from the kypos..(allotment)

You can see more string bag knitters on Mousy Browns House.

Thanks you 2 for arranging this challenge, I've enjoyed it,

Grow...Baby ..Grow!!

Hello,
Look at this little thing,,,dropped on the road..covered in ticks!! No, we didn't pick it up, my neighbour Leonie has taken him in.


Here's the 50 odd year old donkey that was treated a fortnight ago, he's looking well, taking in the rays in the olive grove..
I was on my way down to the kypos, to see how things are growing.

Our usual 2 eggs were there..

...and just look at these!!! in March...strawberries..yummy!

I spied some broad beans tucked away

We planted some artichokes this year, we probably won't get any this year but the spikey plants are huge and very sculptural.

My parsley is prolific...I can freeze that.

The tomato plants are thriving

Some courgettes are ready and waiting to be transplanted (or is that a cucumber? ek! Lost the label!)

There's some mandarins on the furthest tree whilst the one closer is flowering..

The vines are sprouting..gorgous colour, so vibrant.

Dewi, waiting ..patiently in the shade.

The sky was a wonderful colour and it's been warm today..this is a redundant windpump, it's such a shame that they've been left to collapse.

The field gladioli are in bloom under the olive trees, just a glimpse of colour.

A huge 'pithoi' left in the undergrowth..

Oh dear....our potates are rearing their heads out of the ground but my photographs were so out of focus I couldn't use them...so you'll just have to believe me when I say we've got rows of spuds too...