The stories of my life on a little island in the middle of the Mediterranean sea ... and my occasional adventures beyond these shores.

Monday 28 September 2009

Ruby Tuesday: Simply Cherries


This is my first Ruby Tuesday post. I am a bit excited to be joining a blog party (I hope that's what they call it) for the first time. Ruby red just has to be my favourite colour. It conjures up so many images: blood, passion, love, life... the list is endless and so are the photo possibilities. For my first post I wanted to share some pictures of cherries. I love cherries but, for some reason, they are very expensive here and I do not buy them that often. So when I do, it is an absolute treat to eat these:


sweet temptations




crimsons morsels




edible rubies



For more Ruby Tuesdays go over to Mary at Work of the Poet.

Thursday 24 September 2009

Award Time

Whenever one of my blogs gets an award I feel like something very special has happened. The truth is that I am proud of my little blogs. And I cannot tell you how much I appreciate each and every one of your comments. I know how hectic life is these days and the fact that you stop over and say something positive means a lot to me.

The Best Blog Award and The Lovely Blog Award

Which brings me to the main reason for today’s post: my dear friend Icy BC from Reach Beyond Limits has passed on the following awards and I would like to share them with you and pass them on. Now I have a bit of a problem with passing this first reward on because I only have 30 followers and some of these blogs are award free. So how can I pass it on to another 15 blogs? Well I guess I will pass this award on to whoever would like to pick it up and pass it on. The rules for the Best Blog Award and Lovely Blog Award are as follows:



1-- Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2-- Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
It seems I am breaking rule number 2 on this one but I will try to follow the rules on the next award.
Honest Scrap Award



The rules for this award are as follows:
1-- Say Thank You for the award and give a link to the presenter.
2-- Share 10 honest things about yourself.
3-- Present the award to 7 other blogs
4-- Tell them of this award and the rules
Thank you Icy BC for the award and for your constant support for both my blogs. This time I would like to forward this award to a few new blogs I have discovered which I think you will enjoy visiting and also to some of my 'old' blogging friends.

1. Angie at Reflections
2. Diane at Desert Colours
3. Jientje at Heaven is in Belgium
4. Wanda at Moments of Mine
7. Polly at Angels in My Garden
Although I have only mentioned and passed on an award to the above 7 blogs, please note that all of you are special to me and that without you, this blog would be a very lonely place.

Ten Honest Things About Me

1. I can eat chocolate even when I totally have no appetite for anything else.
2. I love Italy and would gladly live in Rome. It totally suits my personality. I’ve been there 4 times but it’s never enough and every time I leave, my heart sinks in my shoes. I know though, that I one day I will go back for a long, long visit.
3. Sunsets are my favourite time of day.
4. The awesomeness of the sea never ceases to enthrall me (and I constantly seem to be mentioning it in my posts).
5. I am an only child.
6. I had a number of dwarf rabbits as pets. They are adorable.
7. Writing is my outlet and my passion. I think I can gladly pass a day by myself as long as I have the necessary equipment for writing, whether it is a journal or a PC.
8. I have been described as a loner and it is more or less true. I do like being surrounded by people but I can live with just myself as company. Maybe that’s a bit sad but that’s the way I am and this is about being honest, right?
9. One of the craziest things I ever did was to ride the roller-coaster on the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. Considering that this was my first time ever on a roller-coaster and that I am more or less terrified of roller-coaster rides, I sometimes wonder if the desert heat really got to me that day. It was either that or the feeling of being newly engaged :)
10. I am a sandal junky. No matter how many I have, it never seems to be enough.

Sunday 20 September 2009

Book Meme

I was about to pass on some rewards tonight but I felt too tired to do all the linking that goes with them. So, like a spoilt child, I have decided to do something easier.
A few weeks ago, Jientje from Heaven Is In Belgium, posted a meme about a book which I thought would be am easy and interesting little post for a late Sunday evening. The rules are as follows:
1. Collect the book that you have most handy.
2. Turn to page 161.
3. Find the fifth complete sentence.
4. Cite the sentence on your blog.

Well I will follow all the rules except the first one since the books that are most handy right now are boring books about pharmaceuticals from my college days. So instead, I have gone with one of my most favourite books: Daphne du Maurier's 'Frenchman's Creek'.

And here is the fifth sentence on page 161:
"You are thoughtful, Dona," said Rockingham, and she, looking across at him, saw that he had laid his book aside and was considering her, his head upon one side, his narrow eyes unsmiling.

Now I am supposed to pass this on to five other bloggers but if any of you want to pick up this meme just go ahead and do it for the fun of it. 'Frenchman's Creek' is one of those books which I have read and re-read. It has a certain appeal and I love du Maurier's style. As for my sentence, did it pique your curiosity or have you all read the book? If you haven't and, like me are a hopeless romantic, then I think that you will enjoy it. It would also be interesting to use that sentence and start a story of your own, especially if you have never read the book. I am sure most of you would come up with some very interesting ideas. So if some of you have nothing to do this week, I have given you two great ideas to fill up your time :) I hope you all have a great week.

Friday 11 September 2009

The Day That Changed the World


Eight years have come and gone since 9/11. Eight years ago the world stood still and all eyes were focused on America. Like all those old enough to remember, I can tell you where I was on that fateful day. I had just come home from work when my dad told me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. For those first few minutes it seemed as if it was just another terrible plane crash. But then the second plane crashed into the second tower and my heart just froze. It was then that I knew that something more sinister was going on. We all know the story and have heard countless tales of tragedy and bravery. Our thoughts are still with those that faced personal loss. This post is to commemorate those that paid the price for terrorism. This post is to make sure that we will never forget.


Tuesday 8 September 2009

The Summers of my Childhood

I sense a slight shift in the air. It is still hot but the season is fast burning itself out. In two weeks summer will be officially over. The weather will start to break and cooler winds will soon start to blow in. In three weeks the schools will re-open for another scholastic year, the beaches will empty and all that will be left are echoes of laughter, shadows of a season past…



Summer has always been a season of nostalgia for me since I finished college. I recall my childhood days spent playing hide and seek or hopscotch with my friends until the sun went down. Those were the days when I never tired, when there weren’t enough hours in a day for our little adventures. They were days of lazy afternoons playing on golden sand and cooling off in the deep blue sea. Computers were unheard of. All our games were about imaginary heroes. There was less cars, less pollution and a magical aura seemed to hang in the air. Every nook and cranny held a mystery of our own making. Fairies lived in the carob groves and the valleys were peopled by giants and brave knights. Like all children, we searched for an explanation for everything. And when none was forthcoming, we made up our own. In our imagination the early summer fields of red clover were battlefields running with blood. Every small noise in the dry grass was a dragon lurking in the shadows. Every bird that flew was a mighty eagle ready to take us for a ride on its wings. We were friends with the butterflies and, like them, sucked on the nectar of the honeysuckles. Life was innocent. Life was sweet. There were no phantoms lurking in corners; no monsters under our bed. If there were any ghosts, they were friendly ones and angels of radiance surrounded us. They were days of sunshine, of laughter, of fun, of innocence – the summer days of my childhood.

Looking back it seems to me as if my childhood summers were like golden moments in my life that passed way too quickly. Sometimes I wish that I could turn back the clock and re-live one of those summer evenings spent staring at the sky, watching the moon rising and the stars come out; to play a game of hide and seek that went on for hours and to eat peaches straight off of the tree. Those were the days when time was not a commodity because I had so much of it; so much of it, in fact, that I was bored of all the free time wishing I would soon grow up to be able to do other things. And, alas, here I am now, with not enough hours in a day and wishing that I could have back just one childhood summer day.

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