It was so cold on the 1st May that there was fresh snow on the mountains.  I didn’t see any Greeks picking wild spring flowers, as is their custom on 1st May and it was officially ‘the coldest start to May in 70 years!

Fresh snow on the mountains in May, as seen from my balcony

This year I planned to start my selling season in May instead of June.  This is because for the last few years I have returned to the UK for the Whitsun school holidays in May/June.  So consequently, I wanted to fit in as many beachcombing days as I could before I started selling.

Part of the enclosure of the castle at FrangoKastello

Debbie, Lisa and I have been back to Skaleta and we always choose warm sunny days for our beachombing, so it was indeed a lovely day to collect seashells from the beach that keeps on giving!  We also returned to FrangoKastello and were pleased to see that they had opened the castle to visitors and tourists.  Debbie has never been inside and was really curious to see it properly.  I’ve been with friends a couple of times over the years.  But we were disappointed to discover that the seahells weren’t on the beach below the castle this time.  This is the nature of beachcombing…you cannot guarantee the ocean will give up its treasures on the days you happen to be there!  Despite this – we had a wonderful day  as it was really sunny and warm – so warm that Debbie and I burnt our feet as we were wearing our flipflops!  We walked several beaches along this southern coastline of Crete and enjoyed our picnic on one of them.  Debbie and I have also been beachcombing at Falassarna – which somehow nearly always has an abundance of beautiful seashells on its beaches.

Tourists from The Netherlands took this photo of the Donkeys artwork they purchased from my stall & display

My first selling day in Almyrida was a bit of a disaster… I think I picked the wrong day!  Since the start of May the weather has been very unsettled and although I had repeatedly checked all the forecasts for the day – no one can predict the sudden gusts of wind that are commonplace here on Crete.  Everything was ok until about 1pm when a sudden dust storm from the south erupted out of nowhere! It blew down the display board leaning against my car and I had to lower the parasol as it would have just blown away.  Dust and sand were everywhere and the temperature went up by about 6 degrees. I had no choice but to pack up my stall there and then.  Unfortunately a customer asked me to keep an artwork she had purchased from me, until she collected it later and so this meant I had to hang around at Francoise in Almyrida for over 2 hours before I could return the artwork to her.  I have learned that in future I will have to take a mobile number for any tourist who does this in the future, in case I have to pack up early due to sudden unsavoury weather conditions.

Sold from my stall in Almyrida this week – Seashell Mosaic Collage Painting – 30x50cms

That Monday morning was the only day I managed to sell last week because high winds prevailed pretty much every day.  I do sometimes wish I had a more sheltered space to sell as the wind is my biggest enemy.  Breezes are wonderful and welcoming in the heat… but the winds of Crete can be devastating.  Luckily my art is built to last – strong and durable, so there was no damage done to any of the artworks that were blown onto the ground that day.
I have recently spent the extra free hours I had on creating a new Nautilus Shell Seashell Mosaic on Sand, which I am confident I will sell at some point during the summer season.

Despite the ongoing unsettled weather in May, this week I was able to sell both days but it certainly didn’t feel that warm sitting at the edge of the beach.  However I was pleased to have made sales at the new increased prices.  Everything keeps going up and so eventually my art had to follow suit.

Nautilus Shell in Seashell Mosaic on Sand – 30x40cms

I have had problems with my Etsy shop and am seriously considering closing the online shop altogether.  Etsy asked shop owners to confirm their details and then wouldn’t accept/verify my identity, so they have suspended my shop.  Aparently this has happened to hundreds of Etsy shops.  I am not alone when I think Etsy is useless!

It has been fairly busy on the social front.  My dear friend David returned from Scotland for a week and I enjoyed a lovely dinner with him at Dimitri’s in Almyrida.  It was great to catch up and learn all about his new life in Scotland and to know that he has settled in well and is happy there.  But I do miss him.

Some of the buildings inside the enormous Rethymnon fort

Occasionally I will take part in the Wednesday quiz at Vangeli’s and I nearly always try and get out on a Friday early doors and treat myself to one of Vangeli’s amazing burgers.  I’ve also enjoyed quite a few lunches out lately as Solveig returned.  It was Debbie’s birthday recently and so Lisa, Debbie and I spent a whole day in Rethymnon.  We went to look around the old fortress in Rethymnon and were amazed at how expansive it is when you enter inside the fortress walls.  It took almost 2 hours to see everything and although it was quite windy, (no surprise there!) it was sunny and warm throughout the day.  We enjoyed refreshments in the old town and browsed the shops for a while until we had a late lunch at one of the charming tavernas in the old town of Rethymnon.