Purple haze and tiny kittens...

Hello folks! Not posted anything for a while 'cos we've been super busy recording demos of the songs we've written for the film since we arrived in Crete. Things are going well and the music has a cool 70s vibe (the film's set in '72) - Matt's even started growing some hilarious sideburns!

Anyway I just wanted to share some photos taken with my iPhone and the Hipstamatic app. You can buy loads of cool add-on films and lenses and flashes for it and these are using the Pistil film, Roboto Glitter lens and the Berry Pop flash - and don't worry, Matt's not really turned into Violet Beauregarde from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it's just a trick of the light!

Oh, and the photos at the end are of the tiniest kitten that thought I was his mum for the day until Matt got fed up of him trying to scramble up onto the sun lounger - then I nearly wet myself laughing as Matt tried to lead the kitten away. He ended up walking in circles around the apartment complex with the tiny kitten trailing behind obediently - it was like the Pied Piper!

See ya soon...

I love love this one of Matt emerging from the sea - Daniel Craig? Pah! One of the best pics I've taken on my trusty iPhone I think!

This was during one of the music theory lessons that Matt's started giving me - it's brill, and I'm making things all the more appealing by writing everything down using rainbow coloured pens in a rainbow coloured book!

Spinalonga...

Last Thursday we visited Elounda on the north coast of Crete and then took a boat to the old leper colony Spinalonga.

Mary and I have both been reading the Victoria Hislop novel, The Island, which is about the everyday life of people on the island around the time of the second world war so it was very eerie to step foot on the island. It's so strange to think about the people who were sent there and the supposedly normal life of school, cooking, drinking in the cafes, bartering at market and going to church that went on there, despite all the inhabitants having this awful illness. One of the cruellest things is that it is so close to the village of Plaka on the mainland that the lepers on the island would have been able to see normal life going on but not be able to be part of it.

The island itself is beautiful and after walking for about 10 minutes we came across this lovely little jetty with the most amazing crystal clear water and lovely trees. 

We found out that the author of The Island has made a deal with a Greek TV network to make a series based on the novel so hopefully that will make its way across to the UK soon enough.

Our visitors are now back home and we had a lovely time with them. We still have four weeks left here and we are working like bees to record demos of all the songs we have written so far so we can show them to the director/writer of the film we're writing the soundtrack for. The script is superb folks, so we'll let you know as soon as it hits a cinema near you!

Now I'll leave you with some snaps - enjoy!

Here's Captain Mattos on the boat!

And the view of the island from the water; the land behind it is part of the mainland that stretches round in a big curve

Here are some houses on the first street you see when you come through the big tunnel that separates the jetty area from the rest of the island

A little shaded courtyard bit

Look how beautiful the sea is:

Here are the two Kassells having a little rest - always happy to pose for a photo!

Now this was taken at 'Dragon's Den' restaurant (Dragon's Cave really) and from here you can see the whole town of Makrigialos where we're calling home until October. (and as usual, Matt's doing the 'dog face'!)

An update!

Good afternoon from Crete folks. Hope you're all well. Sorry for not posting for a while but we've been having so much fun with our visitors that I forgot to write!

So here's an update followed by some more lovely Greek eye candy...

Monday: As soon as Mike touched down on Cretan soil, his first thought was, 'MEAT'! So on Monday we went to some local supermarkets and the Greek-speaking only butchers in town where Mike managed to have a full conversation with the butcher even though neither spoke the other's language - bonding over meat, eh?! Then Mike proceeded to cook a fantastic meal and he let me be his trainee potato chef. We also went to the 'secret beach' and jumped in the waves (well, I did, until I saw two of the tiniest fish ever and then I jumped out and ran for my life up the beach...)

Tuesday: Mary and Mike tackled the walk into town and totally breezed it - fit as fleas they are!

Wednesday: We took a day trip to Sitia and had a big stroll up to the old fortress on the top of a very steep hill. We watched fish in the harbour, had a couple of drinks in seafront bars, looked at the fruit and veg and fish markets and then came back to the apartments for a swim. Mike got in a fight with a lilo and then we went out to Zorbas for a traditional Greek meal. The guys in Zorbas put on their usual excellent show of Greek dancing and even managed to drag Mary mouse up for a spin round the room - she was very good!

Thursday: M&M went to the beach for the day but poor Matt has an ear infection from the pool so he stayed at home.

Lovely lovely pork for tea and I was potato chef again!

Friday: Matt went to a very traditional and stern Greek doctor about his ear who was very thorough and gave him a bag full of lotions and potions to take for it - why can't they all be like that?!

And as I write this, M&M still have not returned from their two hour gorge walk that they set off for 4 and a half hours ago...so I'll keep you posted!!!

And as promised, some pics - enjoy :)

Happy Hillman...

Just thought I'd show off my tan a bit, hahahaha!

Mary and Mike landed here yesterday for two weeks so I'll blog with an update about them shortly - right now, we're off down the 'secret beach' so see ya later! x

Calling all astronomers...

...we really ned some help!
Last night, as we were standing outside the apartments watching the sun go sown behind the mountains, we saw this strange light in the sky. It looked huge, not sparkling white like a star and much bigger than that anyway. It was kind of pale orange and almost perfectly round and moving slightly too.
We decided to get in the car and look for it, and as we got closer the shape of it seemed to change until we saw it was one big red glowing light with a kind of vapour trail coming out behind it, kind of like this artists impression I made on photoshop:

We ruled out planes and helicopters and Chinese lanterns. Our minds then started racing with thoughts of asteroids and UFOs!

Then the glowing red bit kind of fizzled out, went black and the whole thing disappeared... And that was it. 

So was it something dead exciting or was it just a flare in the sky? Astronomers, we need your help! Or maybe my mum will know... :)

Bye for now xx

Happy Birthday Frankie!

Hello Frankie, and a very happy 8th birthday to ya! We hope you have a great day and are sorry that we are not there to have a bit of your birthday cake! See you soon when we are back in Barrow. Hope you like your present.
And now, what could be better than your sister and brother in law making complete fools out of themselves to bring you a birthday song...?!

Power cuts...

Morning folks. I have to keep looking at the clock as I write this as we have a discovered a cool baker man from town comes in his little van to the apartments where we're staying to sell bread and spinach pies and other goodies at around this time - we don't want to miss him!
On Sunday there was a big power cut to the whole apartment complex and to the whole of the town and beyond. It just all went dark and silent - it was quite romantic really, nice to get back to basics. We couldn't even light candles as it was too windy so we just sat on the balcony and looked for shooting stars in the sky and played brain games (like the one Matt makes me play on long car journeys, oh joy: one person has to  think of a person and tell the others the first letter of their surname. The others have to guess who the person is just by asking yes/no questions like 'are you male', 'are you famous', 'are you fictional' etc. Hours of endless fun - Matt was once 'D' all the way from Norwich to Barrow and it turned out he was 'Toilet Duck'!)
Anyway, the power and water and internet seem to come and go as they please here - oh well, it keeps things interesting!
I was very sorry to miss my brother Frankie's birthday party on Sunday (only 'cos I missed my mum's awesome egg sandwiches) but I hear he had a good time. Keep your eye out for a special post coming tomorrow for your actual birthday Frank...
Yesterday we discovered an immense cake and coffee shop in town - we didn't have cake, don't worry, but it was amazing just to look at the fridges upon fridges filled with such intricate, beautiful cakes, they were like works of art!
Then we hung out by the pool, went swimming, read our books, Matt had his siesta etc.
Today we are heading off out for the day to take Sunny to the airport as his holiday has come to an end. It was really great to have him here and to catch up properly.
So, be sure to check the blog tomorrow - until then, see ya!
Rose x
Oh and on Sunday we had a little trip to Irepetra so I'll leave you with this photo from the day! (Please feel free to add your own caption...!)

On top of the world...

Good morning from Greece! It is seriously windy here, feels like a massive storm is brewing but it is still 39 degrees! 

Yesterday we took things easy, swam in the pool, walked to the local beach (which we now know is in fact a nudist beach - weyhey!), and went into town for a beer last night. There was a group of Cretan children and one over enthusiastic and reckless dad setting fireworks off on the beach. They were going everywhere and us Brits, who grow up with serious fire safety messages about fireworks were in shock but the Greeks didn't bat an eyelid. No health and safety at all (they could do with you out here uncle Rog, you'd sort 'em out!)

The day before that we decided to drive up and over the mountains to get to Sitea on the north west coast. On the way we stopped at Prasisos, the remains of an ancient settlement. It was terrifying driving to it as all that was between us and a hideous drop down the mountainside was a very flimsy fence. When we got there, there wasn't much to see, but it is one of the most important sites on the island as the settlement was the last enclave of the Eteocretan ('true Cretan') descendants of the Minoans. The view was spectacular though - wow!

Then we headed into Sitea for the afternoon, which is an interesting town - we had a nice stroll through the old town, watched the little shiny fish swimming around the harbour and ate some dinner by the sea but we found out that the whole of the town closes between 3 and 6pm for a mass siesta and there was nobody about apart from some cats who seemed to take a shine to Sunny!

That's all for now folks - apparently it's football day for the lads today and they're off to town to watch a few matches...I'll take my book!

Locusts, night swimming - and James Bond in Crete...?

Ahhh, another lovely couple of days in Crete. Our friend Sunny has come to stay with us for a week so yesterday we set off to pick him up from the airport. He wasn't due to land until 9pm so we stopped off at Agios Nikolaos for the day to check the place out. It was pretty nice, we strolled around the harbour, had some lunch, lost the car, found the car again, saw a massive ferry and a pretty little cove and then went to pick the lad up from Heraklion airport. One thing made me angry though - they have at least 3 fur shops in the town. FUR SHOPS? I mean, come on, it's a ridiculous concept anyway but even more ridiculous as the temperature was 43 degrees! I don't get it, but there you go...

Anyway we picked Sunny up, headed back into Ag Nik for some tea and then drove to Makrigialos where we're staying.

Today we went to the beach, went shopping, Sunny cooked us some lovely grub and then we went night swimming in the pool by the light of the moon - it was lovely!

So here are a few photos from the past few days...

This guy has started showing up on our doorstep and I'm really not sure about him. He kind of jumps and flaps about a bit which is pretty unnerving as he's about four-blimmin-inches big. Hmmm...

 Oh, and look Mary mouse, some apartments just for you!

 This was an amazing mosaic in Ag Nik - it was so intricate, such tiny little pieces...

 And a rather lovely flower:

 Oh, and the view of Ag Nik's 'bottomless lake'! Pretty, eh?

 Here I am:

 Ahhh, some sunlight glinting off the water...

 Now then, if this doesn't make you want to rush out and buy some Lemon Fanta then there must be something wrong with you! He makes a good model, the lad.

 And look, it's 'the Matt with the golden gun'...bye for now folks! xx

Butterflies, bees - and dragonflies as big as dinner plates!

Hello to all the folks back home! Thought I'd drop in for a quick update. All is quiet here in our little corner of Crete. We are writing songs and reading books and listening to our iPods and swimming most of the day. I've just come in from watching the sunset whilst lying on a lilo in the pool, which was pretty lovely!
I have also been on butterfly/dragonfly/big black bee watch. It's amazing, the butterflies are as big as my hand and the deep turquoise dragonflies are huge, as big as garden birds back home. They've been skimming across the pool and I've been trying desperately to get a photo but no luck so far. I snapped these shots of a butterfly on my iPhone but I will be stalking them with my proper camera until I get the perfect picture. Does anyone know what type they are?

Oh, and the bees... They are huge. And all black with shiny green-ish wings. And very scary looking but they seem to fly away when they see you coming. I think they are quite wimpy bees as I saw one today clinging to a leaf for dear life.
Over the past few days very, very hot African winds have been blowing in off the sea. They are pretty brutal and have been blowing some big dust clouds up in the air. Nothing too major though and although it's like having a hot hairdryer pointing at you all day, it's quite nice to have some kind of breeze - it is 36 degrees after all!
Although the diet is going well for the slightly porky Hillman/Kassells, I did have the most amazing ice cream I've ever had outside Italy last night, just as a one off, mind. We'd gone into town in the evening and when we returned to our car, some Greeks had hemmed us in with their 4x4s. So while Matt got into a bit of a flap and a panic thinking we'd be stuck there all night, I went into the shop and bought an ice cream called, wait for it, 4x4! It was delicious.
We are very excited because our friend Sunny is coming to stay for a week - we go to pick him up from the airport tomorrow. I may even let him write a guest blog entry!
And one final thing - I found my first grey hair today...that's what living with Matt does to a girl! I'm just telling myself it was really a blonde one...

Sunset behind the mountains - and a concert!

Hiya! Hope you're all doing well - Matt and I are suffering from pretty bad sunburn after yesterday so we stayed inside most of the day. 

The sun is FEROCIOUS. It's been about 36 degrees today. Matt let me drive the hire car around the car park but the steering wheel was too hot to touch!

When the sun was going down though, we walked along to our most local beach, about 5 minutes away. It's supposed to be a nudist beach so we went prepared to avert our eyes, but there was no nakedness to be found, only a man with a beard smoking his pipe and meditating and a Greek family having a BBQ.

So here is the beach - look at those mountains, it's like being back in the bloomin' Lake District:

Here's Matt.

And he used my camera and took this one - not bad, eh?!

Here I am swishing about in the waves!

I love this one, it looks like an acrylic painting to me - blimey, I love the sea...

And right now, as I type this, there's a bonkers concert going on at the little amphitheatre at the apartments. It started out with a few youngsters playing piano and guitar, then a pro clarinet-piano duo came on and right now it's turned into a full-blown trad-Greek fest with Iyras and Bouzukis - cool! We'll have to see if we can get ourselves booked to play a gig there!

Well, for now, it's 'καλή νύχτα' from us - goodnight xx