Hillarious ~ Katherine Tate

Congratulations Natalie

After 4 years of hard work I am proud of my Daughter getting her degree in English , she really has worked hard and not only had to cope with the studying of her course work and homework etc but she went out and worked a few different jobs to finance the necessities of life , food accommodation etc. she really has made me proud.
I have to be the first to admit I was very doubting of her when she announced she was wanting to go abroad to the UK and study after leaving school in Cyprus , mostly because she never seemed to care about school so much ,like most teenagers I guess the friends ,nightlife and socializing seemed to be more important back then and I just had some visions of a wasted couple of years that would cost a lot of money , I was wrong, Natalie you have proved me wrong and I am very proud of you , well done and from both Chester and I we wish you a very healthy happy enjoyable future, and I know one thing for sure the Angels are looking after you especially one ( x )
Σ'αγαπώ πάρα πολύ

Congratulations JM

Yesterday was surely a very very sad day for all who witnessed or were directly involved in the Terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and my thoughts and prayers would surely go out to all.

However on a much brighter happy note I want to congratulate my son John Michael on flying his first solo flight in a Cessna 172 N35111 , he had flown solo previously to that in a glider but never in a powered aircraft so he was feeling very proud, hopefully he will continue to learn and make progress to complete his studies and one day be a fully trained commercial airline pilot,
from Chester and I "well done " Johnnie ( :

Our trip to Savannah

Recently Chesters mom Jane sadly passed away and we had the task of dealing with her estate, I know this isnt an easy task for anyone in general, and with us it was made just a little more difficult as we had to travel all the way from North Carolina to Georgia to empty a Storage shed of the furnature which had been stored there since 2004 which was the Date Jane left there to come and live up here in Grandy , NC.
Jane had intentionally planned to bring the furnature just a few months after she arrived here in Grandy but due to unforseen circumstances she never did ,so the result was her belongings had been nearly five years stored in the shed , we really didnt know if the stuff would be ok or damaged due to the climate being very humid and damp in those parts of the country.
Anyhow we set off to go and find out, fortunately we had the help of good family and frineds Dennis and his wife Bonnie and Chesters cousin Art and his wife Anita , so last week we set off in Dennis' car altogether with Art and Anita behind in their truck and made our way along the long highway to Savannah , its takes around 7 hours so we made sure we packed some food and drink goodies to keep us fuelled ( : Dennis like my sandwiches and Brownies and couldnt wait for a rest place to eat them so had some on route !


Fortunately we got there in good time and even though we were all so very tired , we made a start on hauling and unloading the shed of its contents, it was so hot and we really had a hard time doing it , sweating like bulls ( perspiring for the ladies )



We all really did work very hard , my job was to hold the parasol over Chesters head so he didnt get too hot and bothered ( wink ) it was sooo hard a job , think I worked the hardest really (another wink )and my kisses he said kept him going ( :


Eventually after a good few hours graft we got the storage shed empty and loaded on to the truck and into Arts trailer, we just say got the last piece fitted in ,then it was off to our motel for a long shower and sleep !
The next morning Dennis was so kind and took us all for a fantastic delicious breakfast to Deni's cafe we all filled up on bacon and eggs , and Chester chose a traditional breakfast of sausage biscuits ( for the Brits who read this -not our type of biscuit, its a bloody scone !!, crazy americanos ) ( another wink )



After that it was a case of having to get back on to the road and head home, so off we went to fill up the U -Haul with juice and hit the road,

I couldnt say the journey home was very easy , poor Chester was doing great until maybe half way when we hit severe thunder storms and the rain made the driving treacherous, but I have to praise my husband for staying calm and conscientious and he drove like a pro, you would think he had been a trucker all of his life ( :
Arriving back home late we just parked the haul and headed for the shower then bed, the next morning we were up at the crack of dawn to start unloading , its took us nearly 3 more days to unload and sort it all , but at last we have completed the job , its really sad Jane wasn't able to be with us and enjoy seeing her furnature again ,but we have of course kept some of it and I know she told us many times during her illness to make good use of it if she wasnt here with us , the best treasure we found was a scrapbook made by Chesters Grandfather which had so many interesting snippets and photos in it dated back to maybe 1920's or even earlier ,some parts of it were in a state of disintergration but Chesters skills with the pc he was able to enhance a few of the photographs ,amazing , im sure he will make a post on his blog and show some of them off later.

Well all in all the trip to Georgia was a tiring but we accomplished what had to be done and we have a houseful of memories of Jane , we miss her a lot .

Remembered with Love

The Best Eyecandy yet .

My Eyecandy ( :

633 Squadron Theme

The theme music from the movie of the same name 633 Squardron , released April 1964, music by Ron Goodwin.

Life in North Carolina - my new home

Here I am in my 4th month of living in my new home town of Grandy North Carolina , oh its been a huge change for me moving to a quiet little town with a population of approximately 2,000 people in the County of Currituck with a population of 24,000. its been somewhat of a huge change for me leaving my previous adopted town of Limassol that is having a population of 201.257 from an Island of a million people altogether and wow have I felt the change , some of the changes have been wonderful but I have to admit to some days of wanting to pack my bags and my precious loving husband and return to Cyprus.

Arriving here to USA in the middle of winter I guess wasn’t the best time of the year to be settling in , mostly due to the area being a bit of a tourist place , it was very very quiet , especially where our house is situated , its unfortunate that I haven’t been able to drive yet due to me having to re-sit the drivers test and have to be having the immigration papers all in order to do so ,I’m waiting for my permanent residence status being processed right now and hopefully that will be soon, then I’m sure I will start to explore the are a lot more, work and make friends.

I have met only a couple of the neighbours around here up until now, I have to say a big Thank you to my immediate neighbour Dorothy and her husband Colon who have been so very very kind to me since my arrival, she has taken me shopping many times , taken me for lunch and entertained me at her home more than once , thank God for Angels , she has been so wonderful to me, not only me but to my son who came here on a short visit during his spring break from Uni. he was over the moon to be taken to see the Wright Brothers first flight memorial ,especially as his goal in life is to be become a commercial pilot .

Dorothy ,Colon and my son John Michael.

I did get to visit a few very nice places that I intend to visit again when I do eventually get my drivers permit sorted, I got to experience a good old English Tea house in Elizabeth City where I enjoyed the most delicate Cucumber sandwiches !! and strawberry cream scones

mmm..I want one now

Apart from this kind of trip out and filling my stomach with goodies I have also enjoyed the by now many trips to Maple Park that Chester has been mentioning in his blog , and instead of my stomach being fed I took along lots of bread slices and some of my less than perfect Hot cross buns from Easter and fed them to the Geese and ducks that I have found there ( I am very fond of ducks ), well I hope I didn’t kill them off with the hot cross buns as when we went to the park last time the ducks were no where to be found ! Here is 2 of the cutest ducks I have ever came across , so comical and very tame in comparison to the geese who are quite nervous and dont come too close to us

Maple Park definately one of my favourite places to go and feel relaxed, Chester told me it was actually constructed on top of a garbage dump ,but they sure did make a good transformation of it and its a real pretty area where there are lots of benches to sit and quite a few pergolas with picnic tables and handy grills for folks like us that like to eat outdoors often , we had our first Easter there together and cooked our lamb kebabs there , shame it was a freezing cold wind blowing but all the same I loved it .

This week there was a few days of mild weather so I had taken a walk along the main road running through Grandy where there are a few shops , I noticed a small Thrift shop called Classic closet consignments and decided to take a look , the girl who runs it is called Becky and was very nice and soon started to chat to me , well it was interesting as she told me that she had another Brit friend who lived in Grandy and proceeded to call this friend up and introduce her to me , well to my surprise Lyn lives but at the bottom of out Street !! since then we have had a couple of coffees together and chatted , Lyn has lived here in US for over 34 years and told me she felt exactly the way I did when she arrived all those years back but reassured me that she soon got used to life here in North Carolina and now loves it , well I feel better already finding someone who I can have a chat and a coffee with on a regular basis I really do miss all my pals in Cyprus ,well I still chat with them on Skype or by e.mail but its not the same as a face to face , so I am sure Lyn and I will become good friends also.

Not only did I find a friend in Beckys shop but I found the cutest cruet set for the kitchen table , a pair of ducks !! brand new and costing not even a dollar so I snapped them up instantly ,here they are

Well thats enough for now on my life in North Carolina , I think I am gradually liking it more here, of course it doesn’t matter where I am as long as I am having my Mr G next to me life is perfect

Happy Easter Everyone

Chroniá Pollá! - Easter Wishes

This will be the first year since 1984 that I havent spent my Easter weekend in Cyprus and to be honest I think I am going to miss the Orthodox Easter celebrations and activities, I am of course just so happy to be with Chester here in North Carolina USA as we have always just wished us together anyway wherever we are and thats the main thing , but Easter is just a very special celebrated event there in Cyprus and there are some very nice events and foods to be enjoyed so for sure I am wishing us both back there to participate.

well let me tell those of you who are not familiar a little about ' Pasxa '( Easter ) as its called there in Cyprus ! :

The holiday is usually never falling the same time as the Western world as different calendars are used to determine the dates Greeks using the Julian calendar and the western world uses the Gregorian one ,anyhow in Cyprus this year it will fall on 17th 18th and 19th of April
Starting with the Good or Great Friday all government building fly the flags at half mast to mark the mournful day and each individual church around Cyprus starts early in the morning to make an Epitaphios of Christ, this involves decorating a kind of wooden frame with fresh flowers , its kind of a little competition I think to see who makes the best one and over the years I have seen some very attractive ones and its always a hard decision to say which is the best ,here is a photo of one I took the last year before I left Limassol.
This Epitaphios when done is kept in the church until evening when they hold the service and then carry it out into the streets in a procession to be viewed by all the people .

















Decorating the Epitaphios




Next is the Easter Saturday , apart form the families preparing the various easter specialities to eat , things like 'soureki ' ' and 'Flaunas' which are types of breads , eggs are coloured and after that the families are wanting to get their best clothes and get dressed ready to go to the churches to be there for 11pm they take along various styles of candles ( Lampada) ready to be lit at midnight when the bells toll to announce that Christ is risen , and the echos of the words 'Christos Anesti ' can be heard everywhere as everyone greets eaqch othere with the message , the response to this greeting is ' Alithinos Anesti ' which means the true lord is indeed risen. Fireworks are set off and huge bonfires are lit and the atmosphere is indeed joyful.

After the families get home , tradition calls for everyone to enjoy home made soup made usually only at easter ( Magiritsa ) its a kind of creamy ,lemony soup made from lamb sweetmeats ,and also some of the breads I have mentioned , and also the classic Ouzo or red wine is there to add to the enjoyment and contribute to the merriment !! usually this celebration is going on until early hours of the Sunday morning.

The big Sunday of course is again spent in rejoicing with family and friends and the grills and spits are turning all over the island barbecuing the Lamb/kid Souvla pieces which the Cypriots love to eat, along with a hundred other dishes and goodies , hotels on the Island have very reasonable offers for the local who want to travel to another part of the island to spend the weekend , I had the pleasure last year to stay at the Sunrise Beach Hotel ,my friend was visiting from UK so we headed of to the town of Protaras and had a wonderful time, she loved the traditional Greek dancers who entertained us with their show at the Sunday Lunch .





This year will be special just the same even though Chester will be working all of the weekend and instead of going to visit the Epitaphios at the church we are heading off to the Immigration offices in Norfolk to have my biometric finger prints taken to proceed with the process of me getting permanent resindency , not so exciting but a must all the same , maybe we will manage to still bring some of the traditions of Cyprus to the house here in Grandy and I can download some Greek music and Chester can don his white thermals and his huge homer simpson slimppers and dance a zorbas or something around the back yard whilst he cooks some American style burgers ...ha ha ha ha ha

Best wishes everyone for the coming weekend , and lets keep the real reason for Easter in our hearts and be thankful for Christs ultimate scrifice of his son who died on the cross but rose again,

Kalo Pascha from both of us .

Corny old jokes ...that made me laugh ( :

1. How Do You Catch a Unique Rabbit?
Unique Up On It.

2. How Do You Catch a Tame Rabbit?
Tame Way, Unique Up On It.

3. How Do Crazy People Go Through The Forest?
They Take The Psycho Path

4. How Do You Get Holy Water?
You Boil The Hell Out Of It.

5. What Do Fish Say When They Hit a Concrete Wall?
Dam!

6. What Do Eskimos Get From Sitting On The Ice too Long?
Polaroids

7. What Do You Call a Boomerang That Doesn't work?
A Stick

8. What Do You Call Cheese That Isn't Yours?
Nacho Cheese.

9. What Do You Call Santa's Helpers?
Subordinate Clauses.

10. What Do You Call Four Bullfighters In Quicksand?
Quattro Sinko..

11. What Do You Get From a Pampered Cow?
Spoiled Milk.

12. What Do You Get When You Cross a Snowman With a Vampire?
Frostbite.

13. What Lies At The Bottom Of The Ocean And Twitches?
A Nervous Wreck.

14. What's The Difference Between Roast Beef And Pea Soup?
Anyone Can Roast Beef.

15. Where Do You Find a Dog With No Legs?
Right Where You Left Him.

16. Why Do Gorillas Have Big Nostrils?
Because They Have Big Fingers.

17. Why Don't Blind People Like To Sky Dive?
Because It Scares The Dog.

18. What Kind Of Coffee Was Served On The Titanic?
Sanka.

19. What Is The Difference Between a Harley And a Hoover
?
The Location Of The Dirt Bag.

20. Why Did Pilgrims' Pants Always Fall Down?
Because They Wore Their Belt Buckle On Their Hat.

21. What's The Difference Between a Bad Golfer And a Bad
Skydiver?
A Bad Golfer Goes, Whack, Dang!
A Bad Skydiver Goes Dang! Whack.

22. How Are a Texas Tornado And a Tennessee Divorce The
Same?
Somebody's Gonna Lose A Trailer

Wedding pics!

more to come soon! :)

Redneck Couple

Annie Ali get your gun

Tradgedy

I know it happens many times over that people make thoughtless silly mistakes in life that can and have ended in tradgedy , but somehow I got so upset when I heard this Sherrif Bob Bratton take on such a mean attitude when discussing the loss of life because of the fishermen not heeding warnings and advice issued to them beforehand , the first words he uttered were about money, yes he did say he was sorry about the deaths ,he just didn't sound it ,I am sure the families of the poor guys who lost their lives feel so bad without having to hear one mans unfeeling comments about their loved ones acting so irresponsible being broadcast like that , there is a time and place for everything to be said and in my opinion he should have shut his mouth in this instance .
My heart goes out to all the families involved with the loss , we all make mistakes and unfortunately those fishermen made one that cost them thier lives.

Countdown

Just to update everyone,
Chester and I are going to have the first of our two planned wedding ceremonies, the first one being a very romantic private service with only two witnesses attending , we have to have this service to oblige the immigration visa rules , but still we want it to be very special and it will be of course , saying I do to the man I have loved and adored since we met on Christian Mingle Singles site 3 years back , who would have thought 2 people could fall in love without ever meeting face to face .....We did and its felt so perfect since day one.
The second ceremony we plan to hold around end of May or beginning of June , its not easy as we really would love to give the chance everyone including my relatives and friends to attend, not an easy task being across the other end of the Ocean ,but hopefully things will work out , having kids studying in different places and doing different things is one of the things to consider , and its a big expense nowdays to fly across the sky, oh to win the lottery and pay everyones tickets !
It really is feeling very exciting to me now , I feel like a young teenager again , I am so in love and so ready to become Mrs Weikel ( :
this Valentines day is going to be Very Special and I cant wait.
As soon as we have the second date confirmed we will inform everyone so be ready and watch this spot.....

luv ya my Cowboy

Lunatic in the snow ( :

Transcending: Words on Women and Strength by Kelly Corrigan

Dedicated to all my friends

Before and After

One month living in North Carolina and my footwear and feet seem to be on the decline , well the saying goes , when in Rome do as the Romans do...... hey im a Redneck gal already ; )