magic

there is magic in the air tonight
the moon is bathing the land in night
owl eyed Athena is looking down on me
faces stare at me
a warrior
a priestess
i am reading the iliad it is time

dogs,flokati,boy sleeping

making do

this is my favourite olive tree

 she is young and this year she produced her first "serious" crop

 they don't stop giving, ever, and they live for many many years

 new branches thrust towards the sun

 pretty, isn't she?

needed a longer leash for Argos

so I made one

Since Amsterdam(long and heavy)

o dromos

The road had its own history

someone wrote it on the wall, with a color
it was only one word, 'freedom'
and then they said that it was written by kids

And then time passed and history went on
it passed easily from memory to heart
the wall (now) said 'unique chance!
inside are sold materials of any kind!'

On Sundays from early in the cafes
and then, football, bets and fights
the road had its own history
but they said that it was written by kids

since Amsterdam we read the whole of the Odyssey in the street. 2 days, more than seven hours each day. It was an epic endeavour, filling our souls with the magic of the greatest storyteller ever. and we want to do it again. and we will.

 Pup Argos is growing, he is older that I thought, he is nearly 5 months old. He was malnourished and parasite ridden- the contest for food at the sheep pen must have been fierce, and the other dogs look like small lions...I am gently training him, with rewards only

 I've been experimenting with old tshirts, I have tons of them
encouraged by alabama chanin who uses cotton jersey

it works..I'm looking forward to making some clothes..

 Birthdays came and went, I wasn't in warsaw this time. hard.

Telemaco asked me to take him to Athens so he could place a flower on the memorial for the students who were killed in an uprising against the Dictatorship on the 17th of November 1973.

 Every year since 1974 there have been memorial/protest marches on that day, sometimes with very violent riots.  The central slogan then, and now is bread-education-liberty.
I did take my 12 year old, because he asked to do it
we went in the morning, before the demonstrations. There were tears in my eyes the whole time we were there.
for the youths who gave their lives believing they are changing the world
for the memories of my youth. I never missed a march until I had children.

for my sons who are youths in these troubled times

and because now, so many years after the sacrifice we are still looking for ways

what was amazing is that this year there were many many families with children of all ages who went to pay tribute

 time passes, and the pomegranate tree is showing off

 puppies grow, dreaming of fighting with wolves

this guy was lonely, jumping fences, mooing for attention. we were harvesting olives for a neighbour, and the calf made a lot of noise until he figured out a way to come close. he had two brothers, there were three, now there is one. People around here are raising animals for food, again. Not enough time has passed to forget how it is done, the traditional way.

There were many people sleeping in the street in Athens. Workshops start and end earlier now because it is not safe to be out late.

Amsterdam

 I was greeted by our prime minister (the previous one, now) on a giant television outside the airport

 I didn't see much of the city, only from afar, but I did see the old shipyard. got to know it a lot, walking up and down

 some rehearsing, a little music, telling, meeting people

 and a flag..Greece was on my mind a lot, since we are being turned inside out by political powergames

 a greek question mark in one of our singing bowls

 colours on walls. the grey sky seems relentless, just as I suppose our sun is to people coming from grey skied countries

 language learning outside the mens rest room. looks like broken english..I know its the other way round. And, Martine, do women need telling?

 bench floor patterns during nightime

swans in couples
saw a raven
and fat self satisfied seagulls
ducks, and black ones that I learnt were called coots


I didn't spend much time in Amsterdam, but I saw people, met some I'm glad to have met, hung out with members of the pack, told and listened to stories
a good trip
maybe another time I will see the city, and, who knows, a blogging friend or two....

on the road (again)

 in the middle of the olive harvest
done as the people of this land have been doing for thousands of years
(image from here)

I am leaving, to play for Gilgamesh and to tell the story of Odysseus in Amsterdam..

this little guy, named Argos, will be waiting for my return, keeping Luka and telemaco company. when he grows up he will look more like a lion than a lamb..he is a greek sheepdog, now little soul, psychoula, as we say

   the country may be falling to pieces, or not, but these dreamers are reading our founding tale aloud in the streets of Athens, to comfort, to dream, to find a way, to not be silent, to continue

nightime storytime dreamtime

This is the ultimate storycloth 

an

unnight cloth

it holds our stories
it holds our dreams

 and then it lets them go

 they escape through the unstars

Luka says hello

we read a book of the Odyssey at a tea shop on Sunday. Aloud, but not too loud..for a while all was quiet, they even stopped the music.

if you are on facebook check out the group mythologue, I post explanations in English..we are organising a reading of the whole Odyssey on the street, in the centre of Athens



I found the sheet on the street, in Athens.dirty but not odious. went through the longest hottest wash twice..it is strong cotton, lovely for storycloth. I do like the moment when it is just a blank screen- it could still be anything...

october

I do not know what the right path is. My mind is foggy. I envy the cypress for its certainty.
Moonrise.


a gentle slope, a young olive grove waiting for the moon to bless it
I've been making inks. Rhamnus, (persian berries), walnut, and the queen: pomegranate
my city looks like this a lot lately

September

September is a bit like the new year..

saying goodbye to the summer

I went to spain for a few days to see this young man who is already taller than his dad. My son Antonio who is now living in Warsaw.

Telemaco, second son, in the blue shirt, on the first day of school. it is his last year in primary school. He is growing fast too.

I am jobhunting, reading ads for childminders. I have made some tentative efforts to actually get a job, but it seems I'm not quite decided yet..but the time is getting close, when I'll absolutely have to find a means for making money..

In the meantime I made a cloth for Leonidas, my cousins son, a cloth which actually got made! I had started a bigger one for him, but it wasn't getting finished any time soon, so i decided to make something that he could hold while still a baby.. it took about 15 hours to make.. with finishing it as the main aim





and I like it.