Wedding bells are ringing

No, I am not getting married. Actually this week was the anniversary of my weddingday which took place 19 years ago. You see, this time of year is always very popular for weddings. Today there will be two on the island. One of them has their weddingparty at our taverna tonight . So I have been busy this morning trying to make it look pretty and a little bit romantic as well. I enjoyed the peace and quiet and set the tables, folded napkins and those things that need to be done.

What do you think, doesn't it look nice?

It will be quite a different picture tonight when 130 guests are having a good time eating and dancing. And although they will probably never read this I want to wish them a long and happy life together, but of course I shall wish them this tonight.

ok, I am back

Well, this was a longer break than I had planned. Somehow it is difficult to get into winter-mode after a summer of concentrating on work only. But since last night the weather is helping just fine to get in the right mood for winter. It has been raining non stop and strong winds are coming from all directions and the waves are crashing against my garden wall.
Perfect weather for curling up with a nice cup of tea and some crafting. And that is exactly what I am going to do now.
My first new project will be knitting some socks with this wool that just arrived from Rita in Austria.

(I love etsy)

And that is only the beginning. There are many projects waiting to be continued and finished.

I am looking forward to a winter full of crafting and many other fun thngs to do.

CoCo love

Last month my blogfriend artist Rawqueen from Ila Blu, in far away Jamaica had her first give away and I actually won.......my first prize ever!

So this beautiful pendant with necklace traveled from one island to an other. It arrived yesterday and is as lovely as it looks on the photo.

It was so lovingly packaged as well. I am really happy with is and will wear it very often for sure.

Thanks Stephanie!

About flags, balloons and filmstars

Next year the Special Olympic World Summer Games 2011 will take place in Athens. Prior to the games the athletes will spend a few days in various places throughout Greece.
Our island has the honour of being the host town for the British delegation and today there was a special ceremony in the harbour where a memorandum of cooperation was signed.

Children dressed in white and holding white balloons filled the harbour.

Speeches where being held by all the officials. Amongst the guests of the event was also a famous couple, miss G. Hawn and mr. K. Russell. They were here not as Hollywood filmstars but as holiday makers with a special love for the island (they have been coming to this island for some years now) and for the Special Olympics.
Impressive was the British ambassador who spoke in perfect Greek.



Our fantastic choir sang, accompanied by the local brass band.

A delegation of athletes came from the mainland to present the official flag.

The flag was raised

and the balloons were set free.

Now we have a year ahead of us where we can make plans to make this stay unforgettable not only for the athletes and their companions but also for the local community.

Summer is here

Aah, things have changed since the last, weather related, post since we are now in the middle of a heat wave. It is only early morning but the temperature is already 33 degrees celsius and no wind.

I find it hard to keep up with blogging now that I am working full time. There are so many other things to do and sometimes I don't open the laptop for days which I have to admit is not necessarily a bad thing because I do get carried away once I start clicking around the world and come across so many sites and blogs that I like.

A little update on our Skiathos Cat Welfare Society that I wrote about in another post:

The visitor's centre

They have now a proper visitor's centre where people can get informed about their actions and buy some various cat related (and not only) items to support the charity.

That bag looks familiar!
I just love to make them.

I also left some of my seaglass pendants there to be sold.

To my big surprise quite a few people have already bought a pendant before I even took them to the visitor's centre! I find it is not so scary to sell something that you made when it is for charity but it is still quite a thrill when they actually buy it.

I haven't found any good quality pieces of seaglass lately. Maybe it is because it is summer and there are many people on the beach? I don't know. So even I would have time, I have to stop my production line anyhow because of lack of material.

Enough already!

Almost from the moment I pushed the "publish post" button last night, where I ended the story with the remark about raining cats and dogs, the skies have opened and it has been pouring like I have never seen before.

Thunder and lightning, rain..... such angry weather. Possibly one of the worst rainfalls I have ever experienced even though we had another really bad one just last year in july as well. Luckily it was over by about 10 o'clock this morning when we could start taking stock of the damages and get out shovels and brooms etc. The beach was half gone, water came down the little roads like waterfalls, our mainstreet looked like little Venice and there was mud everywhere.

But now, about 8 hours later and after a beautiful sunny day things start to look better. There is still quite some work to be done to get our beach back in shape but we will get there.

One more time nature proved to us how unpredictable and powerful it is. We were lucky, in many places in the world people are not so lucky and my heart goes out to them.

Cats and dogs

Earlier this week some Danish customers in the taverna asked me if I knew where the dog shelter was. I was happy to explain to them and show them on the map. They had seen a tv program about it on television in Denmark and were very impressed by it and wanted to visit the shelter.


Also this week there was a charity veterinarian visit from England organized by the Skiathos Cat Welfare Society. Many cats were looked after and treated and quite some neutered as well. It was also a good opportunity to take Rollie -our little dog- to the vet. She has had a little mole on her back that looked like a tick but wasn't. The vet removed it and now she has a little bold patch with stitches on her back and she is feeling a little bit sorry for herself.

And to complete the story, last night, after a long period without any, it really rained cats and dogs.