a break

"The child must know that he is a miracle,

that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been,

and until the end of the world there will not be,

another child like him."

Pablo Casals

In times of tension, I need to remember this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm taking a break from blogging for a while.

Life's been calling my name much too often lately

and there are so many new things I need to tackle.

I may drop by your places every now and then when time allows.

Take Care!

xxx

my today

While packing her bag in the morning, she remembered that it was Wednesday and there would be some free time between classes to unwind. The novel she was reading was the perfect choice to take along with a cup of coffee at the school yard bench.

12.35. She rang the bell for everyone to go inside after recess and went upstairs to get her book and make some coffee. Just then, she remembered she had promised a colleague to look after his sixth graders while he took care of an unexpected emergency. 'They are good kids', she thought. 'I'll let them play outside, while I read'. Out in the yard again, she looked at the bright sky and thought it was the best possible weather; sunny but not too hot because of the breeze. The boys had already started playing hide-and-seek but the girls seemed quite indecisive as to what to do. They were all lying on the grass, looking at her. 'What are you reading?', one of them asked her. 'The Violets of March, a novel', she replied. 'Will you read to us?' After pondering over it for a moment, she recalled a little extract she had underlined the night before. 'Sure, why not. Just grab me a chair; the grass is a bit too humid for me'. They all got comfortable, using each others' legs as cushions, some closed their eyes, some looked straight at her, waiting for her to start reading.

"Hello, girls!" she said, walking toward the kitchen. In her hands were a bottle of wine and a bouquet of purple lilacs wrapped in brown paper and tied loosely with a strand of twine.

"They're lovely," Bee said, smiling. "Now, where on earth did you find these this early in the season?"
"In my garden," she said as though Bee had just asked her what color the sky was. "My lilac tree always blooms before yours." She said it with an air of amicable competitiveness that only a sixty-plus-year friendship could bear.

After the necessary translation, there were a couple of comments about the two characters' friendship. The girls were amazed at it and two of them looked at each other with warm smiles on their faces. They probably had the same thought of them being still friends in their eighties. 'Go on. Read us some more. What happened next?' the girls asked their teacher. And she went on, reading about a secret diary, or novel. They were mesmerised. When it was time for their next class, they asked her if she could tell them what would happen next, once she'd read the rest of the story. 'I will most definitely do', she promised.

~~~~~~

~ extract (the middle part of the post) from The Violets Of March

~note to self: always have a camera with you! You never know when you'll want to capture a moment!

December 9th - grateful for ...

{ the blanket stitch }

The best thing about doing needlepoint for very small children is that they are so uncritical. They don't say things like, "I see you've missed some stitches over here on the leg, was that intentional?" or "Was this creature blinded in a fight?" They will clasp it in their little arms and love it besottedly, inseparably as the thing becomes more and more rancid.

~Carole Berman and Jennifer Lazarus

~~~~~

I think today's choice needs a bit of explanation; you see, my sewing machine broke down on Monday, leaving me with a whole list of projects to be completed by the end of the week, presents mostly. I was quite miserable after that until of course I came to my senses and realised it was not the end of the world and there are always alternatives. There's no way I'll manage to do everything I wanted to but , well, c'est la vie!

(and yes, there's a reason you only see part of what I've made!)

Take Care!

xxx

The Simple Things - School Project

( if you aren't familiar with 'the simple things idea'

you may read this and this and this if you like.)

~~~~~~

Oooh! I'm so excited! Totally over the moon.

About a month ago when Christina organised another 'simple things' day

I pondered about it a little:

"finding happiness and beauty in the little things

is actually huge; being grateful for what you have,

not taking anything for granted,

learning to appreciate whatever surrounds you,

makes you a better person.

These are values I'd like my students to have.

In a time and era that they have everything they want,

I want them to be able to look around and find joy

in the little things."

So I asked Christina if it was ok with her to use her idea with my classes

and of course she said yes.

At first they were a bit numb.

"what's our new grammar and vocabulary?

will we be tested on this material?"

"No,no,no. Now we're talking about you.

We're using this foreign language we've been learning

on a real-life project"

And then they got it.

We talked about it as a class -there was a handout with ideas to get them started;

then they made their personal lists,

and finally, working in groups, they made posters with a couple of ideas from each student.

I brought this idea to four of my classes-

students aged from 10 to 12, third and fourth year of studying English.

They loved it!!!!

They were so enthusiastic about it and so proud of their final lists!!!

and they made me happy oh so happy.

There were 'computer games' and 'TV' of course

but there were also things like

'helping friends' and 'a warm hug' and 'books' and 'a colourful picture'...

And can you see the little drawings? Aren't they cute?

I'm telling you, they loved it!

I love every single idea they wrote,

the colourful posters they created,

all the fun they had...

But most of all I love that I got them thinking about what really matters.

I bet they all were a little more grateful for the lunch they ate with their families

when they went home after that.




xxx

Dear God...

Well, equipment or not,

I'm just grateful he did make them
and gave us all this light
to brighten our days and nights.

* * * * *
Visit Scattering Lupines for more fun!
Details on the book here.
* * * * *

Clown In The Moon by Dylan Thomas
My tears are like the quiet drift
Of petals from some magic rose;
And all my grief flows from the rift
Of unremembered skies and snows.

I think, that if I touched the earth,
It would crumble;
It is so sad and beautiful,
So tremulously like a dream.

* * * * *

After The Sun Comes Out by Emily Dickinson
After the Sun comes out
How it alters the World --
Waggons like messengers hurry about
Yesterday is old --

All men meet as if
Each foreclosed a news --
Fresh as a Cargo from Batize
Nature's qualities --


* * * * *

Have a wonderful weekend!
xxx

Dear God...

... please?

(details on the book here)

Take Care!

xxx

Happy Thought

HAPPY THOUGHT

The world is so full of a number of things,

I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.

R.L. Stevenson

A Child's Garden of Verses

While I was looking for another book in my bookcase I came across this little treasure. I had totally forgotten its existence; I don't even remember when and where I got it from. It's a 1994 edition with yellowish leaves and a great smell. I read most of it at one go. This is a little poem that I liked; it reminds me to always be grateful for what I have. There's one on autumn at my sidebar. I may share more on the following days.

Have a lovely Sunday!

xxx

October

Happy October everyone. This is my birthday month; I'm forty. Wow! Forty! (now I sound like my son here.)

Anyway, more on that in two weeks.
Now, you may wonder why I'm posting these pictures here. Well, October began with a cold out of nowhere - I wish I was asked by the little fellow- the cold that is 'Is it a good time for me to pay a visit?'. 'No, it isn't', I would answer. 'I've a 4-day weekend ahead and lots of housework planned, plus a long-delayed visit to the hairdresser'. But no; colds appear unannounced!!! How rude!
Anyway, after spending two hours in bed -don't be misled by the photos; I only read a couple of pages before falling asleep; it took more time to take the photos- and after taking a painkiller for my awful headache, I was up and about ready to spend some time with little one.



I've been looking for something to decorate this box with for ages. It's got the perfect size and depth for all his crafts and gifts from his first pre-school.

And then I remembered this decorative roll of paper I bought a couple of weeks ago for his room. (see what a good nap can do to absent-minded people?) So I used it to cover the lid (is this the right word?) while little one was looking through his crafts for the100th time.

Here are some of the things they made. Lovely Mrs Sophia and lovely Mrs Ritsa were wonderful; extremely creative and so imaginative.

These cards were gifts from his teachers on his birthday and name-day. They have a photo of him inside. Click to see the details- they're fantastic.

An Easter card and a Mother's Day card

A May wreath, a poppy, a cloud, a swallow, a bird (some details are missing-can you guess why?)

So, what do you think? Do you like their new home?

Have a fabulous month!

xxx

Snapshots from an Ordinary Saturday

Sunday morning. We just had breakfast; toasted bread, butter and homemade plum marmalade or honey, yellow cheese, juice, coffee (if you eat four slices, every combination is possble). Hubby prepared breakfast and I'll do the dishes later. For now, I've let the boys play with little one's Legos -no, I hear a Christmas (!!!) book being read and came to the study to finish my coffee.

So, yesterday was a Saturday pretty much like many others. Just one small difference: I decided to take it all in; to make it memorable. I can't wait for special days to come to my life. I'm making each day special.

Come along. I'll give you a tour of "Saturday at Yiota's".

I started the day by airing the bed linen, even before my morning coffee. It was a crisp morning with some rain later on. I'll spare you the boring details of cleaning-you all know how that is done, anyway :) Let me just tell you that I had regular blogging breaks, visiting 'friends'.

This is little one's bed, fresh linen and all. I had hardly taken my pictures before he jumped up and enjoyed making a mess with it. Never mind, as long as he's having fun...

This is my bed with a knitted white blanket hubby's grandma made (click to enlarge) which I had forgotten that existed (the blanket, not the granny!) It stayed like that all day long, which is a miracle considering my son likes playing hide and seek in our bed!

"Why is Bunny-bunny" hanging from the handle on the bathroom door, dear?"

" I spilled some water on it and put it there to dry". Oh, well...

Little one's favourite pastime: looking at the crafts he made at his first pre-school; he's holding a card for Animal Rights Day.

"Mum, let's play with Thomas". Ok, you're entitled to some time with mommy. Toot-toot.

Time to make some lunch.

What do you make with...

a bowl..

... eggs and seasoning...

... veggies and tomato sauce...

... boiled pasta...

...and a baking pan?

An oven 'frittata'!
I got the idea from here.

Some zucchini fries and a beetroot salad (forgot to take a picture) and an unexpected early return home by our daddy made it a great lunch.

Just before the supermarket closed I decided I wanted a few things.

Came back with goodies for little one...

... and the ingredients for a lemon cake.

Turned out the dosage was for a tiny baking tin, which I didn't have.

Flat though it was, the cake was delicious. We ate almost half of it as soon as it got out of the oven. I'll definitely do it again but double the dosage!

By that time little one was fast asleep, just in time for a movie evening. Dirty Dancing was on as a tribute to Patrick Swayze (I'm quickly skipping this part as I'm still too sensitive on cancer issues) so I had a shower, put on my lovely pjs and joined hubby on the couch. I hadn't seen the film in years; it was wonderful!

See? I told you it was nothing special but it was so very special to me.

Take Care!

Have a lovely week!

Art

( click on the pictures to enlarge)

Can you guess how these were made?

Ok! Here is the answer: (I added another image that makes things clearer) it's a simple drawing paper, only blue, with tons of children's glitter! We were painting with brushes with my son and he spotted the little jars with glitter in his cupboard -the cheapest material you can imagine. So he took the blue paper, emptied all four little jars on it and mixed everything together with the brush. The smell was so intense I took it out on the balcony 'to dry' I told him, 'to throw away at some point' I thought. I couldn't believe my eyes the following morning when it was all dry and 3-dimentional from the huge amount of paint on it! I'm planning to frame it and put it up in his room.

Thanks for playing along ladies! Some good guesses there!

PS. Note to myself: buy some wooden pegs!

Two Books and a Film

This is a board game. Right? Wrong! Well, partly anyway. It's at the back of an amazing book. The title could be something like '15 happy and crazy stories around the world'. It's a lot of fun and educational, too. The best way to learn some geography!

The illustrations are fabullous!

That's the cover of the Greek edition. I saw it about two years ago and just HAD to buy it for my son. I put it away and now that he's old enough to understand it and learn from it we started reading it. We both love it!!!

I searched and searched the net for a link in English but couldn't find anything. Sorry!

The original (French) title is ..."15 histoires pour les vacances autour du monde". This link is to the Greek publisher.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Meanwhile, I finished reading this book. Finally! It's the first book I've finished this summer!!! Please don't judge me; it's been too hard for me to concentrate and not without a reason. You see, my mum passed away in June after being sick for two and a half years. My family, my friends, blogging and ... this book helped me to focus on the present, so I'll always cherish it.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I watched this film last night. I saw it in the past but I was probably too young and ignorant to appreciate it. What great performances, amazing directing... but most of all, the atmosphere created but the fantastic photography and the music...ahhh, the music. I'm still enchanted!!!

Talk to you soon and thanks for your lovely comments.

xxx