The Summer Effect: Happy July

I'm afraid I'm not much of a contributor as I was quite unable to cover for Constantinos these last two months. As per usual, May and June were quite hectic at the school as I had to organise final reviews, prepare final exam papers, mark them and issue end-of-year reports. But now it's the time to forget about work, at least for the next two months.

July is here with all the happy connotations of sun, sea, sand and , generally, a brighter mood. Since the end of June, I've been under the Summer effect doing things I haven't done in a long time such as water sports, spending time on the beach, tidying up my flat, my computer and my electronic home on TypePad or reading some unread books they had piled up.

July also marks the beginning of the sales which started earlier this year, probably because of the financial crisis. I haven't had time to go to the shops yet as the beach which is only 4km from home is much more alluring than a shopping spree. Yet, while lying on the beach the other day, I had time to look through the British issue of Harper's Bazaar. I love the new summer trends like the bright colours and patterns, the sophisticated swimwear or the long floral sun dresses.

July is probably the ideal time of year to spend a few days on a greek island where you can bask in the sun contemplating the infinite blue of the greek seas and feeling a world away from everything. Greece and the Greek Isles have always been my most favourite holiday destination and I have often fallen under their magic spell.

Have you ever been to the Greek islands? If not would you like to spend a holiday there? Which island would you choose and why? Can't wait to hear your views and - why not - your holiday experiences.

From Anastasia

Passion

In dictionary.com, passion is described as any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate. So passion has both a negative and a positive aspect. It can be the driving force that makes you creative or successful but it can also be the destructive force that can ruin your life. Personally, I believe that passion has really nothing to do with romantic love unless it supplements to strengthening love.  I must admit this is very rare but I only judge from my own experience of love and passion. According to Brian Norris "Passion shapes our existence, fuels the fires of inspiration and makes the heart and mind open to changes all around us. It is food for the soul, a spark that reilluminates our purpose and mission for being here."

It's also that great song by Irene Caras


What's passion to you?

Some Good News and Reasons to be Thankful

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time"- Thomas Edison

The last few months have been quite exhausting both physically and mentally in my effort to save my company from bankruptcy after the severe economic crisis in Greece. The good news is that after many negotiations, the eurozone approved the loan for Greece and things are getting better. Naturally, there's still a lot of work ahead but most of the problems have eventually been resolved.

I can at last take a few days off work and enjoy Easter with my family-especially with my children that I have neglected a lot recently. I would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart for their love, their support and their understanding. The time has come, at last, to smile again and hope for better tomorrows. The truth is that I have gained a lot out of this tough time. I have learned never to give up however black the future may look and I feel I have become stronger and wiser.Life, after all, is too short to spoil it with negativity and miserable thoughts.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my great friend and contributor to this blog, Anastasia, for giving me an encouraging hand when I needed it most and for her wonderful posts on My Blog.. True friends are always there and stick together through thick and thin.  And Anastasia is one of them.

The Greek Revolution - 25 March 1821

Happy Greek Independence Day! Xronia polla se olous tous Ellines.

Spring Ramblings

Springtime is the season in which nature wakes up and starts to grow after the long sleep of winter. This season as it progresses becomes a noisy but colourful affair. The first signs are the early spring flowers emerging out of the ground. Snowdrops are a sure sign to everyone that spring has sprung but other early flowers such as Dogs Mercury can be seen as the first indication of spring. Later on in the season, other wildflowers like Lesser Celandine and Bluebell will sprout and fill our countryside with colour. In addition, there will be a surfacing of spring fungi. Trees too come to life in spring and their buds begin to swell. The almond tree is a tree which blooms early in Cyprus. It is found mostly in the mountains and its very first bloom occurs in February even in the snow. To me it's a kind of Edelweiss, the only difference being it's small and pink , not white. By early March, our almond trees are in full bloom! Over the coming months, all our tree species will come into leaf, giving our woodland life and colour in preparation to spread their pollen and produce seed in autumn. Wild birds will start to eagerly construct nests ready for their clutches of eggs. Swallows to begin with. They are the first Spring birds which build their nests under our roofs. Hence our saying: "One swallow does not bring Spring!" Yet we know that Spring is in the air! Then small birds such as Robins will find a hedgerow or a bird-box to nest in while Crows and Jackdaws will be seen collecting twigs for their treetop homes. The Blackbird, especially the males, will be seen and heard desperately defending his territory and trying to entice a female. In June - July, the nightingales won't let you sleep in Platres! Other animals including insects, amphibians and mammals will too commence their courting behaviour trying to impress mates. This will result in many different colourful and noisy displays. The 8 cats of my neighbourhood, for instance! You may hear the howling of foxes up in the mountains and the croaking of frogs around this time - especially in Ayia Napa! Remember, while out spotting all these wonderful plants and animals follow the countryside code and do not disturb any wildlife or pick wild flowers and fungi. It’s best to take nothing but memories and leave nothing but footprints.

Learning to Cook

Souvlakia me patates tiganites - Greek kebab with chips I used to hate cooking and considered it to be a great loss of time. The kitchen was my least favourite room in the house. And when Alkis, my husband, asked me to marry him, I made it clear. He shouldn't expect homemade food from me. He was only 26 then, a young student at the Hotel School in Switzerland, so he smiled at me and said: "I'll cook for you! I'm learning to cook at the hotel school in a very professional way." And he kept his promise. Whenever we entertained, he'd do the cooking and all our friends were impressed! And when he didn't have time to cook for us because of work, my mother did that and ...yes she sent the food from Nicosia to Larnaca where we lived. That's how Alkis fell in love with our traditional bamies me kotopoulo(okra with chicken) which I have only recently learnt to cook I've recently decided to learn to cook. I started reading cookbooks, writing out recipes from Breakfast TV or surf the Internet to discover more recipes. And , of course, I started out with Greek cooking as both Alkis and I adore Greek food. In less than 2 years, I think I've made quite a progress. Now I find cooking is an art but I've still got a lot to learn.

The Economic Crisis in Greece and Problems at Work

I know it's been quite some time now I haven't been around much but to be honest, problems at work are responsible for my long absence in blogging. As you may know, the economy in Greece was going from bad to worse and resulted in a serious economic crisis. When the global financial crisis struck, Greece was badly prepared. Hosting the expensive Olympic Games  in 2004 and failing to rein in its spiralling public debt, Greece is now in financial trouble. Help seems to be on the way in the form of a eurozone bailout and hopefully this will save Greece from total economic disaster.

However, many businesses including mine are severely affected and are threatened with bankruptcy. Neither the new Prime Minister nor the European Union will save my business. Only me. And I haven't fired anyone yet under the excuse of redundancy. As the Captain , I need to work 20 hours a day in order to steer my ship off "reefs". I also need to travel a lot for that all over Europe, so there's hardly any time left for blogging and commenting right now. My friend  Anastasia and my contributor on this blog will be replacing me in the next few weeks to come. She has her own blogs - three or four, I think - and a very limited free time, yet she didn't hesitate to tell me : "I'll make time for My Blog".  And I want to thank her from the bottom of my heart.

Meet my Dogs

Soon after my divorce in 2006, I had to make a very hard decision: leave the dogs at the house with the children.  I also thought it would be better for the dogs as that was their home and taking them away would make them unhappy. Besides for about 2 years I lived in a flat which was far from being a suitable home for them. Melina was only a puppy then and she still needed her mum who passed away last year.

This is Melina the beagle. She was born on April 7, 2006. She is playful, lively but obedient and apart from dog food, she loves to eat souvlaki and lamb chops.

This is a picture of Nefeli taken about a year ago in my daughter's bedroom. Born on May 22, 2001, she is a fine labrador retriever and our guardian angel. She generally gets on well with Melina and loves to eat chicken and ham.

Happy New Year!

The last two months of 2009 have been terribly busy at work and occasionally hectic, so I apologiize for taking me so long to post. On Christmas eve I worked till late at night and was too tired to party. But I did have time to relax over the Christmas weekend and enjoyed spending time with my children - especially my daughter who I don't see very often as she is at university in the UK. She flew back home a few days before Christmas and despite my loaded schedule at work I have tried to spend most of my free time with her. After church on Christmas Day, we all gathered together at my brother's for the Christmas lunch. It was nice and cosy as all the family was there including my aunt, uncle and cousins who live in the USA. It was great seeing them again after a very long time.

But time seems to fly and here we are only a few hours away from 2010. Looking back, I realise that there is a lot to keep and a lot to leave behind from 2009. I will certainly keep the good things which are now treasured memories, like the positive changes both in my personal life and consequently in my work. Throughout 2009, I have learned to be a positive thinker and lead a more spiritual and less material life. This helped a lot to improve my self-esteem but also my relationship with my family - especially my children. I will leave behind mistaken decisions which resulted in a lot of stress and unhappy moments, mostly in my personal life and I will try not to repeat the same mistakes in 2010. I wish everyone good health above all but also faith in God and wisdom to deal with hard times. May the new year materialize your expectations and make all your dreams come true.

A Story: The Shout

Thank you all for joining the fun and for contributing to writing a gripping tale! Here it is put together.

The shout penetrated my sleep, but I soon made it part of my dream. It fitted perfectly into the odd sequence of events which at that moment seemed to be passing before my eyes. The war, the invaders, children screaming, soldiers marching and shouting in a language I could not understand…I wasn't sure if I was still dreaming or not. Oh yes! And those alabaster hands hanging in the air like a curse…I woke up from this nightmare in a cold sweat. “Geez! What the heck!”

All of a sudden, still sweating all over, I knew…I just knew that shout was not part of my psychedelic dream. But right now I could only hear the clock in the living room ticking away the hours... Four o'clock! Now the shout rang out louder than before. This time it was impossible to deceive myself about it. I sat up in bed with a start. After a few seconds had passed, I dimly realised that someone was shouting in the street.

It was the shout of a woman, an angry woman or so she sounded. I ran to the window. Now that in the early morning it was covered with snow, the street looked like a great white page waiting for the imprint of future footsteps. The writing of the past - the torn autumn leaves, the marks of countless hurrying feet had been washed away.

It was still snowing when I looked out of the window. The street was empty and silent, yet I was sure that shout wasn't part of my dream! From the corner of my eye, I could now make out the figure of a woman dressed in a large overcoat. A hat was pulled down over her eyes and very little of her face could be seen. Her angry shouts had now given way to loud sobs. I felt a sudden urge to go up to her and give her a big hug. But that was only a crazy thought, so I went back to bed.

Soon it was day-time again, and people went about their work as if nothing had happened, as if that shout had never pierced the night. It was still snowing when the alarm went off. Not a sound could be heard. I tried to go off to sleep but could not. I dreaded the moment I'd hear that shout again.

Then, as if I had made up my mind about something, I passed into a deep slumber. I was determined to forget all about the shout and that strange woman sobbing in the middle of the street. Yet that weird sequence of events would haunt me again- children screaming, soldiers marching and a galloping horse which had stopped somewhere, reared on its hind legs, and instead of whinnying, it had shouted.

"Xo! Xo! Xo! Merry Christmas, sleepy head!" James shouted out joyfully. Only then did I realise that it was Christmas Day and I had been suffering from a severe hangover, with all its unexpected consequences, since the party on Christmas Eve!

Written by:

sand_dune

Lakis I

Christiana P

Katie

Lisa A

Stefania

Olga

Anastasia

Constantinos