Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Summer

It's like I blinked and we're home again.  Vacation over, springtime gone, and the heat of summer is upon us.

While I'm happy to be home, it is a chore to get the house back in order.   It's so strange to have flannel pjs in my laundry pile.. it was still cool at night before we left, and now it's too hot to even think about flannel.
I was inspired by so many things in Greece, one being hanging laundry out to dry.  I think many Americans take their clothes dryers for granted, running them all year for the convenience.  Today I hung my clothes outside, on two folding hangers, with clothespins I brought back from Athens.  It was really amazing how quickly they dried and how simple it was to change my habits.  I'd love to get a clothesline for the yard, but I still haven't found one that seems reliable.  My requirements: strong enough to hold a wet quilt.  Is that too much to ask?  Do you have any recommendations?
A clothesline would of course be useful for photos of dry quilts as well..but for now, I'll just share this one that I took of Merrill and I this morning during our playdate. 

I think, for both of us, the end is in sight.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Paros

I better write my Paros post quick,  before I forget how wonderful it was.

What can I say?  It was amazing, quite possibly the best vacation I've ever had in my whole life, and I came home feeling totally relaxed. (or, well, I came back to the hectic yucky mess that is Athens but for the first time, I was so happy I didn't even care).

We stayed at the Anezina Village Hotel in Drios, which I highly recommend (should you ever find yourself needing a vacation in Greece).  When we got in the bungalow, I found this sign in the kitchen:
What?! Composting at a hotel?  I was in love.  Turns out they have their own gardens and grow all their own produce.  Totally cool, not to mention delicious.
We visited before the tourist season really started, and for the first few days, it seemed like we had the island all to ourselves.  The beach anyway..  It was very peaceful and relaxing. 

We would spend a few hours at the beach (Costas windsurfing, George building sand castles, me-- quilting, of course!) each day and then after a nap, head to one of the small cities or towns to walk around. 

I read Jennifer Chiaverini's Cross Country Quilters at the beginning of the trip and it put me in a good mood all week.  It had been so long since I read a novel for fun, I forgot how captivating they could be.   And then, bizarrely enough, it turned out that one of the women staying at our hotel was also a quilter, from Idaho!  (Hi Colleen~)  She noticed me piecing stars while watching George on the playground and we got to talking.  It was fun to connect over quilts in the midst of a non-quilt-related vacation, hehe.

I want to sort through my photos and write another post about the quilting I did while I was there.. soon, I hope.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Same old, same old.

It's been 10 days, I bet you're wondering how my trip to Athens is going..

Really, it's not as glamourous as it sounds.. a little food,

a little social unrest,


a lot of family,
(woops, guess I didn't upload those pics off the camera yet.)
and some quilting in the car during naptime. (yes, i forgot the tripod, sorry for the dusty dashboard)


Tomorrow though, we're headed to Paros.  I'm sure I'll get some good photos, but I won't have any internet access to share them!  Please check back in about a week when we'll be in Athens again..

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