Freshly pressed

Proudly flaunting his freshly ironed shirt ironed  by mama's own fair hands....

( thought I'd exert myself as he was getting his diploma.... :0)..)
 Photo nicked from one of his pals......( many thanks...it makes excellent blog fodder...   you know how i like to have a pickie at the top..)

Days have passed so quickly since i last wrote in here.... i guess that means I'm having fun....  which in my case means I'm happily exploring new things.. and as i do so realize i have in fact been standing still for longer than i thought...

 Here we are in September..  and i've practically forgotten what a blog looks like...
I think its good to take a break sometimes...
( well that's my excuse....!!!! )
...if nothing else it will have given my voice a rest....  and for for those of you who may have thought i wish that woman would give it a rest.. it will have been a pleasant respite...

 Deliver us from evil..? Oh surely its not been that bad.. but one drone sounds pretty much like another i guess...

Maybe we should consider awarding a medal for bravery to anyone...  who happens to come this way....

Apologies to Elaine..  who has been trying to comment i've probably switched something off i should have.. will see if i can fix it.. thanks for  remembering me... :0)

Had a lazy day today art wise..  though on the positive side at least it gives the paint time to dry.. so shall attempt to fling myself back into it tomorrow with great gusto..

I'm now sat here in the dark.. as the sun has run across the sky and left me still sitting here...

and i have to get up early tomorrow.. so am not sure whether I'll be going to bed at all before that.. it may be easier to crash on my return..  rather than sleep a little and then try to drag myself out of bed...

All for now...

Shall try not to leave it so long next time... xxx

Thanks for the new bed ma'

I've soooooooooo been looking forward to showing you this...

Behold the above photo showing my new ironing board..  truly blessed by the worshipful pose of my beloved cat Jo..(  alias Josephinaki )

So far the only thing the new ironing board had been used for is a bed..and the iron is still in its box though i did peep at the instructions today...

Summer is drawing to a close at least i hope so... the weather the past few days..has been heavy... so am really hoping it breaks soon...

Alexander collects his diploma on Monday..  So my younger son Ari has wandered out into the depths of Athens to find out where exactly it is... so far ...i've managed to discover that its in the center in the national gardens and the actual building itself has quite a few rooms ( almost 30..) so it would be a good idea to find out which room we're supposed to go to..  then we dont have to poke our head around every door...

Its one of those affairs where they wear a cap and gown.. ( which one rents for the day for a small fortune...  So I'm envisaging him resembling something out of Hogwarts..  so yes we will be armed with a camera....  though am hoping there will be professional ones done too.. as its not something you do very often....

We're still waiting to see what happening with Ari this coming year... where he will be going...  what he will be doing.. i suppose that applies to both of them...

I still have a collection of things out on the balcony... the weather here has been dry for months.. which is why they're still out there..

When it rains here it really does pour down.. so its only a reprieve.. sooner or later the skies will open.. hopefully i will notice  and will drag everything inside.. if not well i suppose i shall just have to leave it out there to dry.... xxx

Happy Days

Greetings all

Its feels   to have been a a hectic few months... what with one thing and another...  i could have done without the bug invasion... but the bright side  was that it has given me the opportunity to do some space clearing that i wouldn't have got round to otherwise... 

Happy to report that the visit  from my nephew went well...   ( see the above picture..)  and a fun time  seemed to have been had by all.

Its a national holiday here today ( Monday..) which means the shops are closed.. but hopefully the fridge  has enough in to sustain us all until tomorrow..( otherwise i shall have a very stroppy cat on my hands....)

Feels hot and stuffy here today.. and I'm just about to do some painting... a breeze would be welcome  but i dont suppose I'm going to get one....  I'm enjoying doing the background and seeing what its going to be.. of course it can change from one day to the next,,  though it does seem to have rather a celestial... ( I'm sure Dad would love a pair of wings  :0)..  but i dont think I'll go quite that far.....)

Today is now Thursday...  and for the past few days i've been engrossed in browsing e books.. its like being in a candy store...unfortunately i could do with having more than one pair of eyes to read them all..

Was greeted this morning by the news that irons  were on sale..  and we ought to go and get some...  we meaning me and someone to help me carry it.. so off we trotted   though not till later on... and came back with a pretty pink iron.. ( needless to say i have left it in the box till its a little cooler here...)
Glad to have one.... as the last one shifted its mortal coil a year or so ago... and some things do look a little better with a quick press.. ( maybe i should get training the lads..:0)..)

August

Time i wrote something in here before it becomes extinct...  Its easy enough to start a blog but the challenge lies in keeping it going..

I have three large hairy lads here at the moment instead of the usual two as my nephew is over from England..I tend to let them get on with whatever it is that lads tend to do these days...

They stay up late and sleep late.. and usually go out somewhere and do something..I seem to have amazingly sensible kids..so dont worry about what they're doing.. as they're probably safer on the streets of Athens than I am!

However has it got to be August...The wheel of life just keeps on going.regardless of whatever else may be happening...

Kitty has been a bit off colour the past few days...stomach troubles..( both ends..) right in the middle of me sweeping the dust under the carpets in preparation for the vist!!  after a year of avoiding normal cat food i tried her on some , she really enjoyed actually ate it all by herself from a saucer and ate every little bit of it...she liked it so much she has probably had too much.. ( hence the poorly tum..)

So she's on the colds turkey treatment at the moment  or rather cold chicken.. uncooked chicken breasts  so hopefully that will correct whatever it is..  she's not been sick today...so that's progress...

Did some painting earlier..working on the detail of the face.. which i always feel is the most important part for if that's  not right then the whole thing is wrong.... 

Then afterwards scanned some old photos  some of which needed doing 3 or 4 times... as they were rather curly.

So now I'm foot looses and fancy free.. but its the time i go and watch TV with hubby dear.. 

Past midnight now so into another day...  Have just watched a rather strange film called` Heavenly creatures..' must have been good as i sat and watched it for 2 hours..  although it led up to a murder...it was quite shamanic in parts... as the girls slipped into another reality.

Its rare i get to watch a film..as my husband tends to flip the channels  but i got lucky today he fell asleep.

Buuuuuugsies...

Looks like i haven't posted in here  since the bug invasion... which thankfully seems to be over.. at least for now..

though it is a common problem over here

 At the age of  9 ( i think..) my kitty has discovered that she can eat off a saucer  ( depending on how keen she is to eat  whatever it is of course...) After a year of abstinence i have re introduced a little cat food back into her.. dare i say   diet... I hesitated for a moment..  as i'm afraid she has my habit of nibbling..  and has ways of forcing me to do her bidding... ( which anyone who has a self willed cat will be familiar with..)

Today was a good day in that at last i found  enough personal space  to lose myself in working on the portrait again.....  so deep does it take me..  that on  pausing for the day... there is a sense of awakening... and it takes me a moment or two to recall what day it is.... its very like awakening from a dream.

The positive side about the bug visitation... ( pause as i wonder if they might perhaps be alien beings... but were never perceived as such  due to our preconceived ideas.. of what one should look like.. well after all they're small  un green..  and the space ship evaporated on contact... many eons ago when the Trolls roamed the earth...singing tip toe through the tulips...

Ooops i digress... back to positive side.. well thanks to the bugsies..  the apartment is now much tidier.. and cleaner   than it previously was..  which has in a way saved me a job.. as we're looking forward to a visit from my nephew Robert.... so at least he wont have to wade through the debri to find the lads bedroom...  though the bedroom itself still reminds me of wandering through the jungle...  though am told this is a common feature of the rooms of young adult males..

Bed... before i  start sleep talking... if i haven't already.... xxx

More Chat

Sat here munching  french toasts  and getting crumbs in the key board as usual... what is it about sitting in front of a computer that makes food taste so goooooooooooood..

.
I suddenly realize I'm scratching my ankles  which can mean only one thing unless its a vamp with a foot fetish..

( pause for dramatic music.... ) the curse of the Mozzie beast strikes again...... wanders over to draw the curtains though i fear it is a little late for that....

An hour later semi stuffed with melon. ( again!!!..) this is getting to be a habit.. I've just cut it up and put it in the fridge  so couldn't resist having a nibble... ( you'd be amazed how easily it slips down my throat..)

Funny how those  words remind me of the troll under the bridge... waiting  to snack on the three Billy goats...

Guess it wasn't his day either   i've forgotten exactly what happened in the end.. through I remember the troll didn't have his wicked way...

The canvas is still at my side.. i work in the same room i sleep in.. that's where the computer is too.. convenient huh isn't it...   once my eyelids start to droop i fling myself on the bed behind uttering genteel snores... :0)...

Although i've progressed from sketching.. to using the oils.. it is still in black and white or should i say black/grey/white... hopefully  tomorrow i will get to experiment with skin tones..

Thats if the Mozzies dont suck me dry tonight...

Jo in a box.

And my offspring are in hiding.... 

Perhaps because there's a camera in my hand and they know I'm on the look out for a new blog picture.:0)

So i guess I'll have to go hunting for buried treasure in the depths of the computer..
( guess who I found... :0) )

Friday always seems busy somehow..possibly as its my last shop before the weekend..  so nothing  more done at my canvas..  though did do quite a lot the day before and maybe its not a bad idea to let the paint dry a bit... unless i want to get it all over me...  NOT that there's great dollops of anything on it yet...:0)  

The day started well by chasing a few roaches... have seen more in the past few days than i have all year must be the heat... have sprayed a few vulnerable area's ( dont like to overdo it lest i asphyxiate myself..  though the sprays are much better than they used to be...) so fingers crossed that will be enough...

4 am .. better go to bed before the birds start tweeting...

Sweet dreams all...xxx

Comfy Jo...

Here we see Jo having a well earned rest... ( it was hard work playing with that mouse...) they have a way of making themselves comfortable dont they.... :0)  by they i mean our furry feline friends..  that like to let us think we're boss...  ( wisely understanding that the human ego is a fragile thing...) :)

The Sun is just starting to creep around this side of  the apartment which means I'll soon have to close the curtains.... as the sun here is so strong it fades anything that it rests upon for too long.. i suppose it could be said to have a similar effect on humans.
Its not a problem in the winter months.. i suppose because it goes darker so much earlier..

Portrait 2.. is starting to look like i need to think about some background for it..  heres where i start to get paint all over me....

 Speckled paint reminds me of dad..( he used to do all the decorating when he was younger...).. and I can see so clearly how the paint would speckle  on his glasses.. and hair.. and whatever bit of him it could find...  Pretty much like what it did to me last time i did some here..  which is a few years ago so we're defiantly ready for another lick of paint....  though as i have a different kind of painting in mind.. I guess the apartment will have to wait...

Today's excitement was buying some paint brushes.... thought I'd better as I'd nothing suitable for doing background with... and no one in their right mind would attempt it with a teeny tiny brush  :0)

Hope the weather cools off soon. as i hate the shut in feeling.. that having the air conditioner working always leaves me with....

Fingers crossed within the next day or so....

July 18th Happy Birthday to Dad... XXX

Happy Birthday to Dad..  its now after midnight here  ( well more than a little...)  but it will still be the 18th for me till i get up tomorrow...

I am reminded of a couple of lines from a funeral poem

Do not stand at my grave and cry...

For I am not there... I did not die...

Not that i am living under any kind of illusion...   but when you carry someone in your heart they are always with you..  and so in that sense live on ......

Sat here with the air conditioner on.......... freezing to death.. there's no happy medium..... mind you I'm right in the line of fire...  despite my moans its a problem that's soon fixed i just put something on  ( hat.. scarf.. blanket  .. even a pair of gloves sounds  good..)  even the tip of my nose has gone cold...  like it does in the depths of winter...  

But the kitty says thank you .... the poor thing has been flat out with the heat for the past few days...  If it becomes too cold i switch it off for a while... feels to have been a busy day... running hither and thither...  so haven't really had the space to do anything Art wise...  should have more time tomorrow as i wont be going out anywhere..

I'm hoping for a nice lazy day.....

Des.......

Well.........  the last stroke was yesterday................ i've sent it to a couple of people so thought I'd post it here too...

Its special to me.....  but i didn't draw it to hide it away...  but because it was something i could still give him... 

Its just that I'm not sure where i feel happy about posting it yet..  how public i want it to become...
This perhaps more than the others which will follow is very personal to me.. i miss not doing it already....  so i will have to settle on something else soon... before I wear a hole in the carpet.... :0)

Hot n sticky here... its also a full moon....which probably explains the very vivid  and lovely dream i had this morning... dad was in it... being his usual dad self.. and I felt incredibly loved  when I awoke....

I'm not terribly good at recalling my dreams.. partly i think because the cat disturbs my sleep to feed her..

This morning i'd gone back to bed and slept heavily..  I only ever remember vivid dreams such as todays was..  so strong was the desire not to let it slip away....  that i grabbed a pencil and paper and quickly jotted down key points before any other thought could enter my head.... because it felt as though in many ways that I'd been given a gift...

XXX

We're having a heat wave ♫ ♫....

Here we see Mum  and Martin.. ( this was before eating.. I'm sure we looked much wider afterwards....)  Martin is the Eldest of my two brothers I'm lucky that way i have two... :0)

I've just tried posting the blog without my usual photo at the top but it looks much too drab.. with the back ground being dark it needs a flash of color somewhere...

Portrait talk...

Oh oh oh..............  just a little more... each day there is less and less to do.. I'm torn between wanting to keep it just for me.... and wanting to share him with you.. that feeling of closeness...

Dads Birthday is on the 18th of July... so it will be ready for his special day... I dont need  to ask if he likes it I know he does..for every stroke is done with love... :0)

Today I'm feeling the heat.... ( Oh for a slave with a loin cloth and a large palm leaf  to waft me with....:0) )
We had the  air conditioning on earlier.. but its always a relief to be able to open the doors again..

( Pause as the kitty walks past mewing  with a large white toy mouse in her mouth... its something she's started to do since being neutered... I wondered what it was at first but she's obviously very proud of it... Awwwwwww....) :0)

I've just found this on Youtube.. its so beautiful...

Fairy Ring.....

Feels hot here this evening.... but i think i keep the Balcony doors open...  and hope I'm woken by a lovely cool breeze...

Feeling sleepy.... zzz.....  so just a quicky today  xxx

•✫• ƸӜƷ (¸.´¯`•.✫ Sweet ⋱❤Dreams✫.•´¯`•.✫

Count Ari....

I've just been playing with a photo of Ari.. not wanting to play favorites and post one and not the other.....

I've cropped it and that's improved the look of it slightly  but he still bears a strong resemblance to Dracula... ( CastleVania Version..)
used to be more so when his hair was longer...

Whats suggesting it in the photo is the chandelier light fittings at the side of his head...  which reminds me of the Counts castle....:0) ( all he needs is the cloak...)

What else have i been up to....?

Well...last night i spent an hour or so  trying out different blog designs... and eventually settled..( ar least for now..)  for the plain old black.. as it gives a  good back ground for the photo's  though it meant i had to edit the  font colour of all the blogs I'd done so far.. which lucky for me wasn't many..

I dont know how often I'll write in here.... probably not everyday Lol as my life isn't that exciting...

Spent a couple of hours drawing this afternoon...  each day it gets nearer and nearer to what I'm trying to capture.. although I'm nearing the end of this one.. in many ways its only the beginning....
 I know this is a special case because its for Dad.,.,..  but while doing this i realize that memorial portraits...  is something I would probably be very suited to...

Oops almost 4 am...  so time i took myself to bed... and i need to set the table for Chris' breakfast...  before then   so i shall call it a night..

¸. ♥´ ¸.•*´¯) Sweet Dreams  xxx. ♥
(¸.•´ (¸ .•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`♥

Smile.............

The lovely couple are ...( as some of you know..)  Helen and Richard  taken at the same time as the photo on me and mum..( or if i was feeling posh.. mum and I... :0).. ) we got some good photos that day...

I'm glad ...... as photos play such a big part in keeping our memories alive....
I'm over so rarely it seemed important to make the most of every moment....

Have spent most of the day thinking that its Saturday...
Pause as realize that it infact now really is...... Saturday... Just goes to show everything comes to she who waits....  ( so sayeth the mozzie  who sits and waits at the side of my pillow... licking its lips in anticipation  or would do if it had any..)

Today i got lucky  the Cherries were big and Black... so i got a couple of kilo's... which will keep Chris happy till  Monday  i also got half a melon though trying to find room for it somewhere.. when the fridge is already full was an 'interesting ' experience.... :0)

As i've been writing i notice the crickets  have at last fallen asleep...listening to the fountain one could almost imagine  it was was raining.,. but i know it isn't....( no such luck..)
I think the temperature is around 35 C.. and rising.... the poor cat has been flat out all day.. cant be much fun in this weather when you're wearing a furry coat....

What else have i been doing....?
Well.........the portrait of Dad  is now in what i think of as its final stages... the funny thing is that i've been staring... at the image i'm copying from for at least 3 weeks.. and only yesterday noticed that part of what i was looking at was actually a hand... 

:0)  I did mention didn't i ....that its not clearest of things to be copying from  but i'm hoping that will work to my advantage and give perhaps a softer look... than my work sometimes has...

So there's always a bright side..... the challenge is i suppose seeing it there's always always something positive..... if we look hard enough...

*♥(¯`♥´¯)♥*•*¨`*•♫
(¯`♥´¯) Happy  Weekend…
*`.¸(¯`♥´¯)♥*•*¨`*•♫
** ♥ ` .¸ .´

Teethies

Off to the Dentist again tomorrow..   (oh Joy! oh delight!  Ho! Ho!  i dont think so  :0) )  well in truth it wont be too bad as its not long since i've been and its only for an X ray.. to check that nothing is amiss...:0)

Though as always I'll probably be there a couple of hours.. I dont quite know how she does it but everyone waits a couple of hours..  the good thing is its within walkable distance.. she's very good and she's very nice... and................. i've been going there for years...( so have got wise and take a book to read..)

You can always tell who the newbies are as they're the ones cursing under their breath...:0)

Normally it should have been Alexanders appointment.. but his services  as`minder'  were required to take Chris to an appointment in the center...  He goes once a year to visit the heart specialist... Of course it would be on the same day... so Alexz has been postponed till September..

Today i think I will post a photo of Alexander flaunting his new beard..  which is a great improvement on what he usually does with it.. which is nothing.... normally its a case of me chasing after him with a pair of scissors saying ... 'come here and be groomed....'

Looks like my french toasts have been sat upon by a herd of elephants again... they looked perfectly okay in the shop  so maybe i bonked them on something carrying them back... doesn't seem to be affecting me eating them though....

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´
¸.•´¸.•*• ƸӜƷ
(¸.•´  Sweet Dreams........

XXX

No Cherries

Today was a case of shall I?... shan't I ?  Oh why not...  any excuse for a natter...

I hesitated I as wanted an image for the top...  not that i have to use one of course.. though I tend to feel that if the contents are dull  they do at least provide a distraction... for the reader....

Its been one of those muggy days... hot  and cloudy... i was fighting off a mozzie last night until the daylight came...  so took an antihistamine.. and slept till after noon with a break at 9.30  to feed Jo.. 
( she's not an easy cat to ignore.... but then none of them are..)

The other great excitement of the day was the usual excursion to the supermarket....( it being Monday...)  where i found someone had snaffled all the cherries of any decent size... so came back with only a handful..

We have quite a lot in the freezer.. enough to keep Chris happy through August.. ( when it will be so hot over here that they'll have disappeared from the shops..)

When summer comes i always wish we had a bigger freezer as by the time i get his cherries in there there's not much room for anything else...  but for a long time we didn't have one at all... so am just thank full that we have one...

I've had a slight back problem since my flying visit to England... you start to wonder if it will ever return to normal... but for some reason  it seems a bit better this evening... though i cant imagine  what i've done any different... so fingers crossed it may at last be on the mend...

Sweet Dreams All xxx

._________[]_
/__,-.____.-.__\
|░ [_] /o\ [_]░|¸.•.¸.•*¨ƸӜƷ
|_____|_|____| ̡̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡.̡̡̡ı̴̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡.
`”`´”`´/ \ `”`´”`´”``´
╬═╬╬ /...\ ╬╬═╬═╬╬

Happy Families

Heres another photo  taken at the same time as the one of me and mum.. I'm behind the camera.. but there's mum again.... my two brothers Martin and Richard and my lovely sisters in law...Margaret and Helen..

( who will probably get round to reading this sometime when i give them the link..)

Waves in their direction....:0)

We'd gone to the place where they'd celebrated my parents diamond wedding last year.
Circumstances  at home made it difficult for me to be there..   so it was nice to see where it was... and put a place to the photo's..

 This is probably the first family photo  that doesn't have dad in it.. at least visibly.. but he will always be with us in the ways that count....

I'd rather like this blog to be like a nest  .... just a comfy place to be..

Wolf at the door

Happy to report that the vote in Greece went the way we hoped it would so we wont be thrown to the wolves just yet... :0)

Its been one of those days when i appear to have got very little done.. as we've spent most of it killing time waiting for a doctors visit..  unfortunately by the time she'd been it was too late to go to the supermarket... so its on my list for tomorrow...

Kitty had an upset tum last night  but seems to be okay again now though i;m keeping my eye on her...  she probably just ate too much... ( i did think to myself that she was putting it away rather... she gets more pudding like every day....)

I remember hearing the poor dear making retching noises from the depths of some dream or other......  but am afraid i was too lazy to leap out of bed to see what what the matter... deciding it would wait till morning...

Its been a fairly dull day today  but no rain.. mind you we are almost into July so am not really expecting rain and some slightly cooler weather is a nice break from the heat... though summer isn't quite on us in full heat yet  though dont suppose it will be long..

Here we are again....

Nice to see you.. to see you nice..  as Brucie used to say..  and probably still does though its been years since i've seen him..

As some of you know this isn't the first blog i've made.. but as I've a new Google account that is in conflict with the others.... it seems more trouble than its worth to try to re activate them...

So here I am once more out into the cruel cruel world... wondering what on earth i'm going to prattle about in here but i dare say I'll find something...