Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Rainbow





On this leap day just a pretty picture of a view from the bedroomwindow.




Saturday, February 25, 2012

Back at last

After two weeks of big city Thessaloniki and spending some time with my sons and doing all those things you do while in a city. No, not only shopping. I also went to a felting seminar, strolled through the ancient ruins that are in the middle of the city, stocked up on lots of herbs and spices from the most quaint little shop in the old centre and had a very nice sunday lunch with the lovely and hospitable Ariadne and her family. Ariadne also took me to the theatre. Unfortunately I didn't have to the time anymore to see her and her husband perform in the play they were doing this week.


I was greeted back on the island with lots of blossoms and flowers trying to bloom in the middle of weeds and overgrown bushes.

Almondtree in full blossom


Daffodils trying to keep their heads up in between weeds
So the last two days I have been getting my hands dirty in the garden.


Thursday, February 9, 2012

Finally on my way!

This morning the heavy winds had stopped and the ferry boat left the mainland which means it passes the island again in the afternoon on its way back to the mainland. And I made sure I was on it! Now I am killing some time at the busstation waiting for the coach to take me to Thessaloniki.. And there is internetconnection at the busstation. O yes, modern times.
So it is a good opportunity to tell some more about the island as Lisa had some questions in yesterday's post.

First of all a picture from high above:

This is it, our little diamond in the aegean.
The white line on the left side is our airport landingstrip and it is about 1700 metres long. The runway is from the south to the north side. At the top of the runway, which is the south part of the island, and to the right is our town with approximately 5000 inhabitants. 
Our main road is from the town to the end of the island, at the top right side of the picture,  where the famous Koukounaries beach is. This road follows the southcoast line which on the photo is on the top. This road is about 15 kilometers long.
All along the south side are beautiful sandy beaches and on the north side which is more barren is the famous lalaria beach which you can only reach by boat.


Koukounaries beach


Lalaria beach which is entirely of white stones.


  
Typical Lalaria beach stones
So much for the geography. 
About the mall..... I can be very quick.....there isn't one. Over the last few years 2 bigger supermarkets have opened but they are tiny in comparison to the big supermarkets elsewhere, although you can actually use a shopping cart. But my favorite shops are the little family owned shops where you leave your basket and shopping bag (with wallet) at the counter and walk around the shop finding the items on your list whilst talking to the owner and exchange the latest news and maybe pick up some gossip as well.




Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Stuck on the island!

My bags are packed, I am ready to go since monday. I was looking forward to leaving -not on a jet plane but by ferry- to go and visit my boys in Thessaloniki. But it is not happening. The weather has changed again dramatically and heavy rain and storms have stopped all the ships and so I am stuck. I hope to get to Thessaloniki at least by friday because that will be my eldest birtday and it will be his 20th!


View from above at the jetty in the harbour
(photo taken by Skiathosbooks)
In the meantime I am working on an update of our taverna's website, which I have neglected for too long. I want to make it as blog so it is easier to update.


Tuesday, February 7, 2012

It was great!

The day of the party arrived and we were very lucky. The sun was shining, all the snow had melted and it wasn't very cold. My dear husband had offered us the use of the taverna and of course this is a summer beachtaverna so not very easy to heat up with only two gasbottle-heaters and plastic windows.

We were very worried we wouldn't be able to sell all our tickets. After all, these are difficult times and  fundraising for a volunteer recycling project is not on the priority list when you have to be very careful with your budget.
 But I am so happy to say that our project is so well received and many, many people wanted to attend to give their support. So many that we had to say no to quite a few people who wanted to attend but there simply were no more chairs.
There was good food, plenty of wine, fantastic music, a bingo game and lots of dancing.

A real greek night! And here are the pictures:

Some more plastic bottle decorations
Lucky for us (and our guests) some of our husbands stepped in and helped

in the kitchen

many hands make light work



A full house

Everybody had a good time

A lot of dancing

also in the kitchen



Bingo





Saturday, February 4, 2012

almost there

I should most defenitly not be at my laptop right now because I should be getting dressed for tonight. In just a few hours our guests will arrive and hopefully have a wonderful evening.
We have worked really hard to prepare this evening and now we just have to pray it will all work out.


The taverna is ready and most of the kitchenwork is done.







One more plastic bottle creation. Doesn't it look nice?


Ok, now I have to prepare a little speech, scary!
Tomorrow I shall post about how it all went.



Friday, February 3, 2012

Tomorrow is the big day

And I am very excited and nervous. It is going to be a very special fundraising evening with diner, dancing and live music. In order to raise the money we so desperately need for our recycling-project we are doing everything ourselves and that is quite challenging. Cooking, serving and entertainment for 150 paying guests plus coping with a "waiting list" of more than 50 people who wanted a ticket as well but were too late as we are completely sold out.

We also have been making all kinds of decorations out of plastic bottles like these candle holders:


I just hope all will go well and everybody will have a great time.  Wish us luck!


Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Will the snow affect our party?

This week is preparation week for our big Green Fox fundraising dinner-dance party on Saturday. It has been a year exactly since we officially introduced the Green Fox to the island. It has been a very good year. Lots of work, lots of bottles but very fulfilling, we managed to send of 33 tonnes of plastic bottles directly to the recycling plant on the mainland. Plus we have more than one tonne of aluminum cans ready to be shipped.

A good reason to celebrate and an opportunity to make some much needed cash. We are still renting a press but we have to buy one and that is a big investment. The cost of the project is not covered by the income of the sale of the plastic. One of the reasons is that the transportation costs are so high. So we rely on sponsorships and collecting money with all kinds of happenings.

The weatherforecast for this week was: WINTER and how right they were.

Yesterday morning it was snowing but not strongly enough. It was very cold though!


This morning the snow is falling in big flakes and is here to stay!
Any other time I would have been very happy with the snow but not this week! Every time I look out the window, the flakes are getting bigger! I am worried..... Lets keep our fingers crossed that we have no suprises like powercuts.