Spending Time with Visiting Friends and Making Some New Ones!

I am sitting comfortably on my balcony writing up this post and reflecting on these past weeks.  It’s the middle of October and it’s a gloriously sunny and warm day.   October appears to be making up for the disappointing weather we had in September, as it has been like this for most of the time so far.  During September I had 2 ‘no sales’ days because of the weather.  On one particular day I went down to set up my stall only to find the sea had flooded the centre of Almyrida!  Consequently and for various other reasons, September sales were as disappointing as the weather. Continue reading

August is Always a Good Month for Sales

We have been very lucky not to have experienced any further serious heatwaves since I last wrote in this blog.  I know other parts of Europe and particularly Spain, have suffered with very high temperatures during August.  For the most part though, I have been comfortable on my selling days at the edge of Almyrida beach and this is all due to the constant breezes coming off the sea. Continue reading

The New Norm – Learning to Cope With Frequent Heatwaves

We are in the middle of a heatwave being experienced all over Europe and other parts of the world.  It seems to be dragging on and on…  My heart goes out to all the people and wildlife affected by the wildfires raging across the Greek islands and other parts of the world.  Sadly this is going to be normal from now on, as the direct consequences of mankind’s total abuse of our planet and world governments’ refusal to do anything or make the necessary changes – despite knowing about climate change for many many years. Continue reading

An Old & Dear Family Friend Comes to Crete for a Visit

It’s no surprise that I had a really lovely time in the UK.  The first week of my two week visit  I stayed with Emma, Ash, Ralph and Neve in Thirsk, Yorkshire.  The weather was OK this time – better than last year with more sunshine and higher temperatures.  The weather I left behind in Crete was still very unsettled and unusual for the time of year.  So I was most pleased and surprised that for the duration of my two week visit, the sun shone for most days and we didn’t get any rain! Continue reading

My Blog is Now 10 Years Old.. But I’m Too Busy Living my Life to Write About it!

It’s been a good long while since I last entered a post and the best excuse I can give is that I’ve been too busy living my life to find the time to write about it!  Apart from when I first set up this blog in 2013 and wrote many shorter but more frequent posts, my life here on Crete is so chocker block full that it sometimes feels like a chore that needs to be fitted in somehow, like cooking and cleaning.  I can’t believe I’ve been writing about my wonderful life on Crete for 10 years!  The thing is that once I start recalling the events of the past weeks, it’s like I am appreciating my life all over again.  Believe me when I say that I am always grateful… Continue reading

Putting All the Hours into Creating my Art

We were so lucky with the weather in January.  It was sunny and mild for the whole month but in the first week of February it turned cold and stormy with lots of heavy rain – even hailstones!  And suddenly the mountains were full of snow!  This lasted for about two weeks and now, for the past week the warm sunny weather has returned. Continue reading

Enjoying Wonderful Warm Sunny Weather This October

These past few weeks we have been enjoying some wonderful weather, especially for October and it is such a contrast to this time last year.  We had a really bad rainstorm in mid October which caused severe flooding on parts of Crete, but luckily not near me!  For the rest of the time it’s been lovely and warm with sunshine all day long! Continue reading

Making More Memories with Family & Friends This Summer

As predicted, August has been mega busy sales-wise and I sold 51 Seashell Mosaic Paintings from my beach stall and 3 more from the Gavalochori Gift Shop.  This is over double the sales I had for this period last year.  Demand has been so high for certain designs that I have not had the time to make more. Continue reading

Having Lots of Fun Playing with the Grandchildren!

Emma, Ralph and Neve returned to the UK almost 2 weeks ago and I have been so busy with my art business that this is the first opportunity I have had to write a post about their stay with me.  We had a rather worrying start to the holiday with Neve being poorly and Emma unsure whether she was well enough to travel. Continue reading