Diary
This has been a good week for Christine.
She was invited to a one woman show in the Kentro Istorias in the center of Thessaloniki which will open Friday March 5. The exhibit is called Byzantine Ceramics: A Modern Approach. She was also invited to exhibit pieces of her work in the Vlassis Art Gallery with SKETBE in the Ladadika – a popular area in the center of Thessaloniki. A call went out to the 70 exhibitors to participate in a demonstration evening and Christine was one of three to respond.
She took a bowl of dried clay and demonstrated how she decorated it with a Byzantine design, inspired by the works seen in Museums. Even I was amazed at her skill in completing a complicated design freehand in no time at all while explaining her technique and answering questions. One of the audience afterwards invited her to participate in an exhibition that she organizes each summer in Hortiati.
This week Christine was also invited to talk to the students at the American College of Thessaloniki (ACT) about her work and 30 signed up for a seminar over two weekends. ACT is a very fine educational institution that attracts students mainly from Greece and neighboring countries but also those who wish to spend their college year abroad in Greece or obtain an American college education at a fraction of the price paid in America. It is accredited in the US and validated by the University of Wales in the UK. Information is available at www.anatolia.edu.gr
The week closed with another phone call from Mr Anetopoulos from Pelion inviting Christine to do a demonstration on Byzantine Ceramics in September at his annual International Ceramic Symposium.
Garden
In the garden most of my time has been spent up to my elbows in manure. All the trees now have a generous helping and I have mixed a combination of manure and home-made compost for parts of the vegetable garden. When I get to the gardening section of book reviews I will review The Rodale Book of Composting.
The weather swings from snow and cold winds one day to warm weather the next so plant life is not sure whether spring has arrived or winter still lies ahead. We were advised not to prune our olive trees yet but after studying The Royal Horticultural Society’s Step-By-Step Gardening Techniques decided to prune back the roses. The roses have also been given a good mulch of well-rotted compost and manure.
The base of half the prunings were pushed into hormone powder and then put in pots with sand. The other half received no hormone treatment. I will keep you informed of the results. Hopefully roots will grow from the base of the stems and produce new rose bushes.
Book review
My next book review will be From Age-ing to Sage-ing: A Profound New Vision of Growing Older. Zalman Schachter-Shalomi was approaching his 60th birthday, had a feeling of futility, and realized he was growing old. Feeling alone and vulnerable, he feared becoming a geriatric case following the predictable pattern of retirement, painful physical diminishment, a rocking-chair existence in a nursing home, and the eventual dark and inevitable end to his life. “New questions began assailing me. With an extended life span guaranteed by medical advances and our health-conscious lifestyles, could I convert my extra years into a blessing rather than a curse? In 1984 I took a 40-day retreat. I was on a Vision Quest, an ancient shamanic rite of passage in which the seeker retreats from civilization, goes to a sacred place in nature, and cries for a vision of his life path and purpose. I realized that I was sloughing off an old phase of life that I had outgrown and was being initiated as an elder, a sage who offers his experience, balanced judgment, and wisdom for the welfare of society.”
