December 25th - grateful for ...

{ His Birth }

~ El Greco ::The Adoration of the Shepherds ~

~~~~~~

Troparion for Nativity

Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath given rise to the light of knowledge in the world. For they who did worship the stars did learn from them to worship thee, the Sun of Justice, and to know thou didst come from the east of the Highest. Glory to thee, O Lord!


~~~~~~

Kontakion for Nativity

The Virgin brings forth today the omnipotent, and the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable. Angels give glory with shepherds, and the magi journey with the star, when for our sakes was born, as a new babe, He Who is from eternity God.


~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~

May you all have a blessed Christmas!

xxx

December 16th - grateful for ...

{ art }

People discuss my art and pretend to understand as if it were necessary to understand, when it's simply necessary to love.

~ Claude Monet
~~~~~~~
I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.

~ Claude Monet

yesterday...

there was....

a birthday card for a friend made by little hands

a happy, cosy mess on the kitchen table

a little quilt and a tiny pillow made for a special bunny

a simple meal of spaghetti and tomato salad


a mum-son movie night ...in (a bit of furniture rearrangement made it more exciting)- Garfield was fun but I slept half way through, anyway

plans made over afternoon coffee;

we'll be leaving tomorrow morning

to go find a new (temporary) home here.

~~~~~

Happy Days!

a visit to an art museum

A couple of weeks ago,

we visited the Teloglion Foundation of Art

for a children's event.

I thought I should post a link here in case someone's interested.

~~~~~

My mosaic shows postcards from paintings exhibited at the museum over the years. I bought postcards of five paintings two from each. Some of them are scattered around my place, and some around the world

(via snail mail)

~~~~~

The photo below shows a team project (a collage) made by a group of 5-year-old kids who attended a workshop.

"Our Solar System"

It's huge and really impressive. I took the photo with my mobile and it doesn't do it any justice really!

~~~~~

And here's the result after I played a little with crayons.

I've been painting/colouring a lot these past few days, spending time with my son.

~~~~~

Take Care!

xxx

something from the past

back to Friday...

as I told you, I bought a couple of things I'm very pleased with.

On my way to the bus stop, I spotted a little shop with a collection of finds from the past on sale.

What had drawn my attention was this vintage hanger with the lovely flower drawings, calling my name from the small window display.

I bought it instantly and turned my attention to the books.

I left the shop with two volumes of the

Reader's Digest Condensed Books.

I love the flowers on the hanger! (more painted flowers; a coincidence?)

I love the book covers!

And their smell! Oh, what a great smell of old books they have!

They were published in 1968 and if you want to read the titles click on the above image.

There are drawings, pictures and even a map inside and I can't wait to start reading.


~~~~

Take Care!

xxx

at the city centre? physically, yes - mentally, no!

Going to the city centre

~ by bus

~ in the summer
~ for boring paperwork business...
is simply out of the question...

unless...

...

...

there's some kind of lure;

for me that's two words: shopping + coffee.

...

...

So once the boring business was out of the way,

I got myself some eye-candy (see picture below)

and headed towards my favourite cafe.

It's on the first floor (second if you are in the States)

on the busiest street,

and there are plants on the windowsills to keep the city out!

I know the pictures are lame - I took them with my mobile- but I wanted to show you this little poem that was written with pencil on the windowsill; apparently, this girl saw someone she liked there and started going back again and again in case he appeared too but she had no luck and expressed her disappointment by writing a poem there. The last line is:

"I came...where are you?"

The cafe has a collection of books and magazines if you want to read something while you're there -I did prefer my magazines though today-

and often hosts art exhibitions.

Today, I found these wonderful flower paintings there

which made my day!

Having coffee with a magazine full of countryside images and flower paintings all around.... bliss!

As for the shopping part,

I made some purchases I'm very happy with,

but this has to wait for another post.

~~~~~

Hope you all have a gorgeous weekend!

xxx

arts united

~ nature's art

~a famous painter's art (Monet)

~ my 'art'

~~~~~

I took these pictures this morning.

We're having a slow Saturday after a wonderful Friday evening -

it was the end-of-the-school-year event yesterday at my school;

lots of fun.

One of my classes performed a little play in English;

I'm very proud of them - they did great!

Another class gave me a little plant (see pictures above).

We (teachers and our families) went to a taverna afterwards.

I really can't remember the last time I had so much fun!

~~~~~

Now I need to see if my pastitsio is ready to get out of the oven (yum, yum!)

~~~~~

Have a beautiful weekend!

xxx

~ surprise ~ mail

from Christina...

I was expecting a note

and she sent me a gorgeous photo together with other goodies.

I love her photography and I love tulips.

The sight of the parcel alone made me skippey-happy!

Can you imagine how I felt when I saw the contents?

'swoon' as Christina would say!

~~~~~~~

from Jane...

Jane had told me she would sent me a thank you letter
because she'd won my giveaway.
It turned out, I was the lucky one.
Look what she's made for me!
It's all handmade!
Do enlarge these pictures to see all the details:
stamps, buttons, snippets of maps;
and all the flowery fabrics!
But that's not all!
There were surprises in all the little pockets!


My favourite one is the little sachet with a photo of a rose I had posted here on one side and one of her roses on the other, printed on ... fabric!
I love it all!

~~~~~~~
I'm touched and overwhelmed by your generosity ladies.
I feel I can't thank you enough.
Blogging is one thing that I enjoy but real mail that I can touch and carry around with me is happiness smiling at me!

xxx

seven books and a painting

On Saturday and Sunday,

little one and I went to this fair.

We spent all of our time at the 'children's corner'.

There were lots of events for book lovers,

mostly book presentations, some of which included

introducing children to famous Greek painters, drawing, dancing, singing,

a bit of acting...

We had a great time and got back home with...

seven (!!!!) children's books and a painting little one made.

These are some of the illustrations...

...and my angel's art.

~~~~~

In case there is no other post this week,

here are a couple of photos of my latest blooms

to welcome May with.

~~~~~
Thanks for all the beautiful words you've left me.

edited to add: a wonderful woman needs our help. Please read.


Take care!
xxx

The Four Seasons!

If you like books, cats and/ or classical music

this is a post for you.
Last night I read my favourite children's book to my son.
There's this series of books with stories inspired by classical music.


We've got 'Swan Lake', 'The Nutcracker' and
'The Four Seasons' and there's a CD with each book.



The story in 'The Four Seasons' book was written by Marco Simsa
and there's a CD with Vivaldi's masterpiece.
I tried to find an English edition on the internet for you, but failed.
Sorry!



In this story, we meet Minca, a little cat, and read about her life in her village through the changes of the four seasons with an emphasis on the sounds she hears.
Son and I both love it! We've been reading it since he was two, and now he can continue telling the story (the exact words) if I stop reading.


The illustrations are fabulous, don't you think?
The ones I chose to show you are -of course- from spring.

And now I'll let you enjoy the music.

~~~~~

Do you feel all refreshed and happy?

Good! Because I have a winner to my giveaway to announce:

Jane, you'll be receiving a parcel full of flowers from me soon!

Congratulations!

seeking colour

We've been playing hide-and-seek with the sun today.

At a grey moment, I found myself craving for colour ~

I mean really noticing colour.

Here's what I captured:

Do you want to see where these details come from?

Here, take a look:

...and here's a snapshot of the hide-and-seek with the sun.

Have a great weekend!

xxx

edit to add: I see you like the quote I have in the frame a lot, so I must tell you that it's something I read on a blog and found to be me through and through; unfortunately, I don't remember where I saw it. sorry!

Interested in a giveaway?

Hey you!

How have you all been this week?

I've been quite busy here and haven't visited many of you but I'm here with you now, as a tiring day is nearly over. I just hope I won't fall asleep with my book in my hands again as I do want to see how The Secret Garden ends.

Anyway, there was a parcel for me in the mail this week.

Well, not for me really but for my friends;

the ones here in my everyday life

and the ones from all over the world: you!

I was so excited to get it and when I opened the box I saw this

rainbow of little packages!!!

Don't they look great?

I just had to take a picture!

Do you want to see what was inside?

A collection of writing paper, envelopes and cards all with the same theme:

nature

and....

these gorgeous notebooks,

each with a unique wildlife theme

...

from...

Starfish and Mermaids...

...to

The Universal Known (my personal favourite)...

...to

Shells and Snails...

...to
Lagoon wildlife


On each page there's a different drawing from animals, plants etc that can be found in Greece
(I don't know about the mermaids though!! :) )
I love them!!!
Well, if you'd like one of them to be yours,
together with some of the stationary you see in the second picture
and...
some surprise 'girlie' things,
all you have to do is tell me which one you like best - simple, right?
I'll draw a name at the beginning of the following week (and send the winner the notebook of your choice).

Edit: the draw will take place on Wednesday as there's something else to blog about on Monday and Tuesday is usually a very busy day.

Hope you like them!

I'll visit you over the weekend.
Take Care!

xxx

ONE LOVELY NOTEBOOK HAS NOW FOUND AN OWNER. THANK YOU.