SO THIS IS IT !

Well, I guess it's about time I come around and let you know a little about my trip to Greece. Not a lot of photos. We typically don't do a lot of sight-seeing--been there, done that quite some time ago. Although we did do a bit more this year when our daughter and son-in-law were with us for a few days. They have the sight see-er photos.

So I guess I'll just show you how we spent a bit of our time. My husband is quite pleased that he planted a lemon and orange tree. Now for those of you and the west and Gulf coasts, this is no biggie. But for this Midwest implant to East Tennessee, it's a bit of a novelty. He's planted several times before and (since we're not there much of the year to care for them) has lost the trees to frost or draught. This time, though, they are in front of the house instead of in back, so they'll have much more protection. Additionally he says that he is "going to insist" that they make it. Sure hope so!

That's the lemon tree on the left (already a couple little lemons on it) and the orange tree barely visible on the other side of the roses.

Yes, I did do some quilting while I was there. Most days it was done on our front veranda -- with this view. Well, OK, the sheep weren't always there, just occasionally in the afternoons when the shepherd brought them by before taking them to their shed for the night. I must admit that this my favorite part of the day; being beckoned outside by the sound of the bells that the several of the sheep wear around their necks.

And to prove that I did finish the quilt (a block exchange) , here it is:

I used flower stencils on the large squares. First time I had used stencils. The powder I had was white. Now you know why I did most of the quilting OUTSIDE. I needed the light. White pouncing powder on cream fabric is NOT the easiest way to go!

That's our olive grove in the background. The olives were already harvested and oil milled by the time I got there, so no work for me involved there. My only work was to enjoy cooking with the best, freshest olive oil ever.

So fresh, in fact, it smiles back at you when you pour it in the pan!

And now to get back to some January birthday knitting!