Miranda and Meryl, Prospero and Pierce

I have always loved Islands and the sea, and I am a lover of Literature, so when last year I was part of an exhibition at the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, I combined the two and made these 5 panels illustrating Calibans Speech from 'The Tempest' by William Shakespeare, set on an Island, where Prospero and his daughter Miranda have been shipwrecked.
I embroidered the text from the speech onto the silk paper seascapes.

The isle is full of noises
Sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt notSometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears, and sometimes voices That if I then had waked after long sleep will make me sleep again;
and then in dreaming the clouds methought would open and show riches ready to drop upon me
That when I waked I cried to dream again'


(Apologies if you have already seen too much of these last year on flickr)

I am also obsessed with Greece. I went to Greece as one of a gang of students over thirty years ago. We arrived in the middle of a sleepy fishing village near Kavalla with our tents and our noise, and our summer dresses. The only women we saw were swathed from head to foot in black. We had a great time but I suppose in the eyes of the local people our behaviour (Although very restrained by todays standards) was scandalous. Certainly the young men of the village were very entertained.
In an innocent way I must add.
A few years later I went alone, and visited a friend who had moved to Athens. I visited Delphi and Sounion and the usual sites. I loved it.
That was 1976 and it wasn't till 2006 I went back to Greece with my husband. I'd been afraid of flying for all those years, and afraid of finding it was too busy and commercial and not the Greece of my imagination.
We found a company called Laskarina who specialise in smaller more 'Greek' islands. We went to Skopelos in 2006, I shed a tear when we landed ..not relief..but happiness at being in Greece again.
Then Laskarina closed, so we were very brave in 2007 and booked our own holiday, to Symi and Tilos, much hotter than Skopelos, further south and east, and the water was like this:

Heaven.
I am a late learning swimmer and now I find it hard to stay out of the water, especially from a boat moored on an uninhabited island.

Back to Skopelos..our first Greek Island.

There were lots of beaches but this was the quietest, Kastani,the one we liked the best.

No facilities and just look at the crowds....
and that little dot in the sea is me.
I have just discovered something about Skopelos. Click Here and here and I'm sure on any other search results for 'Skopelos' you will see what I mean.

Now go back and read the speech again. This Island was not full of noises when we went there, but I fear it might be now.

Perhaps not.