Thursday 28 July 2011

Took this photograph in a house in Greece. Nice contrasting
patterns between the curtains and the iron work. Hot sun
did the rest.

Tuesday 26 July 2011

Open Gardens



Not many Open Gardens in the yellow book scheme include
vintage tractors but when the village of Dunlop opened
several gardens at the weekend that's precisely what
visitors found. Two tractors in perfect condition
in one of the gardens. The sun shone and
hundreds of people attended. Great day. No
event in the area is complete without
Lime Tree's ice cream. If you haven't tried
it you haven't lived.

Monday 25 July 2011

Poppies



Poppies spread throughout the garden create wonderful
colours and shapes. I just let them grow wherever they
want.

Friday 22 July 2011

The Millennium Wood

Back in 2000 the village planted a Millennium Wood and everyone
had the opportunity to buy a tree or maybe two or three.
We went to have a look at one of our trees yesterday and boy has
it grown. The wood now feels like a wood rather than a collection
of saplings.

Thursday 21 July 2011

I like these roadside shrines. So many different
shapes and colours.

Tuesday 19 July 2011

Photo of Pili

When I was downloading photos of Greece I found some
which were totally black. I must have accidentally flicked the
settings when I was walking about in the heat. At first I thought
I'd dump them in the trash but then I thought I'd play around
in photoshop and see if anything could be rescued. It was such fun
and each and every photo was rescued to a degree with great effects
like this one. Looks like an old postcard.

Monday 18 July 2011

Candili



This is Candili. It is an estate on the island of Evia in Greece.
Once the great Achmetaga estate, it was bought in the 1830's
by Edward Noel, a relative of Lord Byron and the family still
own it. The current owner is an old friend and, as is the way
with great estates, he has to find ways of it paying for itself.
So you can rent it. This week a wedding party has rented it but
mostly it is yoga groups. There is a huge great yoga room
which is very peaceful. They also accommodate painting,
music and, well anything you want really. We stayed there
after Athens and just missed a yoga group so we had the
place to ourselves for nearly two weeks. It really is beautiful
with two plunge pools and a large swimming pool.
The cook Ioanna was wonderful...just as well we weren't
there any longer, the waistline had expanded quite enough.
I'm hoping to run a painting course there next summer so
if you are interested do get in touch with me. If you are
interested in renting the estate check out their web site:



Friday 15 July 2011

A little pause to reflect upon the garden.
This was yesterday.

Thursday 14 July 2011

Syntagma Square Athens 30th June





Just got back from a couple of weeks in Greece and I dedicate
this post to a local follower whom I met this morning. He said
'I knew you were away, I've been logging on and if I see that
bl---y bicycle one more time...'
Anyway, we arrived in Athens on Wednesday the 29th of
June and the apartment we were staying in was on Asklipiou
which is not at all far from Syntagma Square. The street was
full of riot police waiting for whatever and fires were burning
in nearby streets with smoke drifting around but everything
was, at that time, reasonably calm. We found a small
restaurant a couple of streets away and settled down to
our evening repast only to find that things were kicking
off and the sounds of nearby rioting accompanied our
Greek salad. By the time we reached our main course
things were definitely getting out of hand and the noise
levels rose dramatically then suddenly there was the sound
of gunfire...rather, the sound of tear gas being fired.
In minutes the rioting ceased and people scattered.
The next day we went down to see what was going on
and found ourselves caught in patches of tear gas that
had hung around. Did you know it hangs around?
Stings like hell..noses, throat and eyes. What it must have
been like to face it as soon as it's fired goodness knows.
Must say we enjoyed all the anarchist graphics.
We are told by Greek friends that on that night the police
used chemicals other than just tear gas...sounds ominous.
The Greeks are quite shocked at that. Interesting times.