Adios

So it is time to leave Skyros... The stones have been sold, the yoga circles badly painted and the dog has a home. My work here is done. 

It wasn't the holiday I imagined it would be for me this year. I never quite found my swing....But 

I will miss getting up to this beautiful view.

enjoying the wonderful company of Ferogia bar.

 

And lovely Magazia beach - so many happy walks I took with doggie there.

I didn't take many photos overall though this year and hardly any with me. But here's one of me enjoying a drink with a  new friend. 

And doggie of course...my raison d'etre!

Some stones along the way

Happy Sylvester!!!

No. It's not new year ...not yet anyway...just the name of a cat I finally got to meet.
Last year when I was on Skyros I met a very lovely woman called Souzanna who asked me to do a stone portrait of her cat Sylvester which you can see here. Anyway Souzanna and I reconnected this year back on the island and I finally got to meet her gorgeous boy. Isn't he wonderful? He's very talkative but never raises an angry paw. Sorry, did someone say that I need a pet urgently?

Musical peace

Yesterday was Alex's Nameday (Alex owns Ferogia, the bar where I am staying) so he invited some of his pals around for a traditional songfest. I have to say there's nothing like a gang of swarthy, hairy Greek men turning up with their lutes to sing a few old favourites under a moonlit night. Sublime really and I felt very honoured to have been invited to their intimate soiree.

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It began around nine o'clock when suddenly out of the dark came all these local Greeks bearing plates of  food: octopus spaghetti, eggplant surprise, olives, grilled feta, oven fresh bread, onion dips... There was the man who ran the local supermarket, a fisherman, the local backgammon champion, all descending onto Alex's bar to sing lilting songs about love and the moon. I adored it and  was grateful for it too.I had been feeling a bit dislocated from the people after the whole experience with Hara and  seeing their gentle, joyful side was reassuring for me. I met an Athenian couple who told me they would have loved to have had Hara but they thought she was mine (although the man did righly point out he wondered why I let her sleep on the road sometimes.) I told them her story and they were glad she was home.  It was nice to meet them though and to know there were other options out there for her.

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One a side note someone pointed out to me the other day that my eyelashes have turned blonde from the sun. I think it is definitely time to leave the island.