October turned out to be a very busy month. Apart from writing four serial chapters and starting a new short story, it was a month I spent looking for a new home in Cyprus and exploring some exciting archaeological dig sites run by the World Heritage organization. I had just qualified as a contributor to Shutterstock, one of the best stock photographic supplier concerns in the world. All of this would normally have given my ego a real boost but looking for a new home kept my feet firmly on the ground. A good friend had advised me, once she knew I was on the move, that the winter months were the best time to look for a new flat as rent rates lowered in off season periods, especially when some landlords wanted to attract long term renters. After several visits to a variety of properties, I found what I was looking for. I have a ground floor flat, nicely decorated and equipped, owned by an English lady. There is a swimming pool, and the whole enclosure of eight flats is clean and tidy.

I will be back to full working capacity soon and hopefully able to visit a few villages in the hills as well as some shoreline walking. I love walking during the winter months. It is far too hot in the summer to go walking very far. Someone made a comment that once I had taken pictures of the shore and the ancient ruins or local scenery, there would be nothing left to picture. In photography, there are always pictures to take. As in writing a series of detective stories that take place in New York, so pictures can be taken so many times of the same subject matter at different times of the year and from different angles. That’s why I love writing and photography. Down each of these creative paths, the stories and pictures are always changing in color, mood, and meaning. In writing, we try to create a picture in the reader’s mind while in photography, we try to tell a story the viewer can see through the photographer’s eyes.

Last year I was living up in the hills, and there was little to do unless I drove down to the coast. Now I can walk to the shore and Paphos harbor where there are several cafés open for a welcome ‘tourist free’ break. I love the summer season and most of the tourists, but during winter, even though I have only been here for two years, I get to reclaim a nearly deserted shoreline as my own. Unlike Malta, where the place is always busy, noisy, and cooking everything with chips, on Cyprus, one can enjoy a quiet meal of Greek origin and a bottle of excellent Cypriot wine.

Walking the shoreline here is an invigorating experience. The views across several bays and peninsulas can be stunning, and at this time of the year, with dark clouds on the horizon and white crested waves crashing into the rocks, my camera will be at the ready to capture some great moments.

Surrounded by many archaeological sites of ancient Greece and the Roman and Byzantine Empires, I cannot stop wondering what life was really like here all those years ago and marvel at the building skills and artistic treasures such as mosaic floors that were created. Next month I’m going to start showing you around some of these sites, one each month. I hope you’ll join me.