A COMPOSING DAY

"Shoe" pictures are here

Quilly's Alphabet is here

Today I will do like him i.e thinking, composing and then write my post about Greece and put the pictures on my travel blog. When it is ready I will inform you of course.

Now I have my doubts ! If he is not thinking but just calling his girlfriend ???


and I have my doubts here too !

But for that I am sure, I would not include my cats in my travel descriptions about Greece.

SHOW & TELL FRIDAY

is here


Quilly's Alphabet is here Today letter W = Walls




More participants here at Kelly's Show and tell Friday

On Sunday I wanted to make two Pizzas with the Crisp and Grill program of my microwave. Suddenly the inside stand in flames and I just could open the door and extinguish the fire ! Now I was there with my Pizzas ! I have no oven so I put them in the fridge and ordered two at the Pizza service.

First thing on Monday morning was to buy a new one and I immediately found what I wanted



a microwave who does EVERYTHING ! It cooks, grills, crisps, bakes, heat up plates has air propulsion, can steam cook, etc. The only thing it doesn't do is cut the vegetables and put the plates to be cooked inside and then serve them on the table. Therefore in my opinion, it is NOT (yet) perfect ! But I am happy with it, I have to say that microwaves have improved a lot ! At least now everything is cooked and hot everywhere and not only in the middle or outside.

As I just came back from my roundtrip to Greece, I wanted to know a little more about the Greek gods of the Greek mythology and I remembered that I have got a book about it, when I was a child. It had belonged to my father and it's quite old, from 1920 !





as you can see it is still written in Gothic, which had been the official scripture in Germany until 1945, when it had been forbidden, because the occupants couldn't read it. I have never learned it in school, but my parents and grandparents and it happens that I find letters or pictures with this handwriting and cannot read it ! Printed like this book is readable for me.


Everything in Greece was very expensive and there was also nothing special to buy. This is the only souvenir I bought because I find it cute. The cats of Greece !

THURSDAY THIRTEEN - GREEK GODS

Quilly's Alphabet is here. Today letter V = Vacation





13 Gods of Olympia

On my recent trip to Greece I also visited Olympia the place where the Greek gods used to live.


1. Athena was the goddess of wisdom. She also was the goddess of handicrafts and strategy. She did not like to fight, but when forced to, she always won. She hated Ares and took pleasure in thwarting him on the battle field.

2. Zeus was the king of the gods. He had affairs with 8 goddesses other than his wife, Hera. He also had affairs with countless mortals and nymphs. Therefore, he is the cause of many myths. Zeus was also the god of the sky. His weapon was the thunderbolt. Still another job of Zeus's was the god of hospitality.

3. Hera was the queen of the gods. She was very jealous, but with a husband like Zeus, who was with other women six days a week, who could blame her? She was also the goddess of married women.

4. Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty. Most stories involving her are about two people getting married. She was very jealous, and anyone who thought and announced that they were more beautiful then her often felt her anger.

5. Apollo was the god of light and music. He also drove Helios' sun chariot across the sky. He had an even temper. He preached moderation in all things and owned an oracle at Delphi.

6. Hermes was one of the messengers of the gods, the other being Iris. Hermes also had a number of other jobs, which were god of travelers, shepherds, thieves, and merchant. He also conducted dead souls to Hades in the Underworld. He wore a winged cap and sandles, which enabled him to fly. In addition, he was very clever and invented cards, card games, the lyre, and the alphabet.

7. Poseidon was the god of the sea. He had an extremely irritable temper and was known for creating the horse. Being the god of the sea, he also controlled storms. His weapon was a trident.

8. Cronus was the king of the gods before Zeus took over. He was a cruel father and swallowed five of his children because he was afraid that the prophecy would come true that he would be de-throned the same way he de-throned his father

9. Rhea was the mother of six of the more recent gods. Her only true role was to be the wife of Cronus. When five of her children were swallowed, she saved Zeus and helped him to de-throne Cronus.

10. Psyche is the goddess of love and goddess of the soul. She has a very interesting relationship with Eros.

11. Eros was the god of love. Unlike Aphrodite, he was the god of pure love. He has made his way into modern day Valentine's Day celebrations. Eros had arrows which could infect anyone pierced by them with love.

12. Hephaestus was the god of the forge. This means that he was a blacksmith. He was the only god that was "ugly". He was crippled at birth, when Hera threw him off Mount Olympus because she was appalled at his ugliness.

13. Nike was the Greek goddess of victory. Little is known about Nike. In fact, there are very few stories about her, and the ones that do exist are often about the Greek word "nike", meaning victory. But Nike nonetheless survived and found her way into modern-day life. A certain shoe company happens to be named after the Greek goddess of victory. Hmmm...

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Quilly's Alphabet letter U is here

COMPILED NEWS

Quilly's Alphabet is here
Today T = Greek Temples

As I just came back from my roundtrip through Greece,



here are the latest compact news from Greece. For those who want to read it click here

Mozambique cops 'too fat to run'

All Mozambican policemen will have to undergo fitness training
Mozambique police officers are to undergo a compulsory physical training programme, because some of them are too fat to run after criminals. Ah ! that's the first time I read that people (even if they are policemen) in Africa are too fat !! Are they getting food from the criminals to look "away" ?

Cat and mouse blamed for blackout

Albanians may have found a new villain to blame for the frequent power cuts that have been blighting their lives.The country's main electricity company says a cat chasing a mouse caused a 72-hour blackout in parts of the capital, Tirana. It wasn't my Arthur !

Like a bull in a china shop, but worse

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German family were stunned when a rampaging bull burst through the back door of their house, charged around the living room, and then left by the front door.

"The animal basically did a tour of the hall, the kitchen and the living room before leaving the building," said Paul Kemen, a spokesman for police in the western city of Aachen on Monday. "It came in the back and went out the front."

None in the family were injured, but the bull laid waste to furnishings, causing an estimated 10,000 euros ($15,600) of damage, police said. The bull left after the owner of the house opened the front door for it. Lucky family ! the only strange visitors I have are neighbour cats and they never did any damage and I have never been in the Newspaper for that !

MANIC MONDAY - PLAY - GREEK THEATRE

Quilly's Alphabet is here today : letter S = Greek Statues




More participants are here







The Epidaurus (Greece) theater, where plays still take place today

This huge theater is famous for its symmetry and beauty, which is used once again for dramatic performances, the ceremonial Hestiatoreion (banqueting hall), baths and a palaestra. The theater was designed by Polykleitos the Younger in the 4th century BC. The original 34 rows were extended in Roman times by another 21 rows.

The theater is marveled for its exceptional acoustics to all 15,000 spectators, regardless of their seating. Tourists standing in the middle of the stage clapped in their hands and it could be heard all over the place. Pavarotti sang here too.

FUN MONDAY - COLLECTION

Marieposa says : For some reason or another we all collect something and we collect it for reasons that will definitely make for good reading. So on Monday, I want to see your collection.

(sorry for those who saw my cat collection already in Show & Tell)

I really don't know how, when and why my cat collection started ! But certainly more than 35 years ago. I think somebody offered me a little ceramic cat ...... and look now !!

When you come into my house the first thing you will see is this glass vitrine where some of the small cat items are shown. They are coming from different countries all over the world. My friends use to buy them when they go travelling or when they find a special cat somewhere.





These little chinese once are very special, they are of porcelain and very old probably beginning 20th century. I got them from a neighbor whose nephew was working in China in 1919.



See the one on the toilet covered with the bandages ? My son bought it for me when I was sick !
The little cats out of glass came from Venice (Italy)



This little watch is one of my favourite cat items. The cats are carved in horn. The watch doesn't work anymore of course. I found it in London in Portobello market.






Cats are like Russian dolls, you can put them one in the other

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The one beneath is very special. I found it on the Chrismas market in Waterloo. It is made out of pasta. If you look right you will recognize different pasta forms. For example the wings are made out of "farfalle" (butterfly form), the body of a macaroni, and the arms also in a small noodle form. The whole angel had then been painted in gold.








These cats I got from American friends. One says "Husband and Cat missing - Reward for Cat" and the other says "If you hate cats you must have been a rat in your former life".



A cute blue ceramic cat I received from friends in London





In my kitchen too I am watched by different cats.



This cat can shake its head when you move it and I use it to put some fashion collars in it.



I love these wooden cats because they have such an elegant shape.



These little cats look almost real but they are sitting in a treasure chest.
A friend of mine brought them from Poland.




A lemon transformed into a cat.



and this tall cat has the size of a four or five year old and watches over the living entry.

I think I better stop here otherwise in a year I am still busy with Fun Monday's collection !

SOME MORE ABOUT MY TRIP TO GREECE

The past week I spent mostly in a bus travelling through Greece to see the most important sites of Greek mythology and history. But I also stayed two days in Athenes.

These nice paintings I found on the wall of two houses, make them bigger the inscriptions are quite funny ! As it is in English I suppose it had been painted by some english speaking taggers.

For the first time I was quite unlucky with the choice of our guide. (see post beneath) She rattled her

explanations about the sites like a machine gun and obviously had learned everything by heart. The result was this :

A "just married" American couple from San Fransisco slept during the whole trip and only woke up to climb out of the bus. But before they read in a book what they were going to see ! I always woke them up when the stop was approaching and we had a lot of fun !

When she started to quote her texts in English and French, people stand or walked around, taking a sunbath, or cleaning their fingernails like our old 84 year travel companion behind the guide. We all had decided to complain about her to our respective travel Agencies.

The tip of the top then was when approaching Athenes and the end of our trip, she proposed us some "Greek" music. We all expected some nice and light music to get some funny ambiance, but she spoiled us with some melodramatic opera songs so that we all had the feeling to attend a funeral. Suddenly almost everybody had something in their ears, Ipods or other helpful means, I opted for some tissus which I put in my ears. Finally somebody asked her to stop the music and from this moment on she sank in a offended silence and didn't speak to us anymore.

Nobody got a "good bye" or a "have a nice trip back". She didn't even leave the bus and left us without any explanations in Athenes !