In my latest post to Substack I take a look at the unusual Greek novels of E.F.Benson, the art of Vaso Katraki, and the glories of Greece cheese. Something for everyone. open.substack.com/pub/johnkitt...

Expansive skies today above #Scalby Ness, north #Scarborough.

I got back from Greece in time for #YorkshireDay today. In celebration of God’s Own Country here are some photos from this year’s York Mystery Plays: a glorious community production on wagons that happened on the streets of #York and in the shadow of the incomparable Minster.

My great “find” of this trip to Greece is the Vaso Katraki Museum at #Aitoliko. #Katraki (1914-1988) was one of the greatest European print engravers (off wood and sandstone) of the 20th century. As a Leftist she was internally exiled by the Colonels and on Gyaros taught #Ritsos to paint on stone.

Gorgeous terracottas from the sanctuary buildings at #Thermon, #Aitolia.

Λίγη ευλάβεια σήμερα στην ιερά πόλη του #Μεσολογγίου μπροστά στον #Βύρωνα και τον #Άστιγγα. A little veneration today in #Mesolongi, a sacred place for Greeks because of the heroic and tragic history of the siege, in 1826. Statues of #Byron and #Hastings in the Garden of the Heroes.

Το ελληνικό καλοκαίρι! Γύρισα στην αγαπημένη μου Ελλάδα. The Greek summer! Back in my beloved Greece.

Sad to hear of the death of David #Hockney. His 1966 collaboration with Stephen Spender and Nikos Stangos is a landmark in the English publication of #Cavafy. A great man, a great Yorkshireman.

Melrose I was able to admire on the ground and from a very high vantage point on the roof of the south transept. Stupendous. 2/2

Devotees of St #Aelred cannot but admire the career, ambition and religious policy of #King_David_I of Scots. I had the pleasure today of exploring his #Augustinian and #Cistercian foundations at #Jedburgh and #Melrose respectively. 1/2 Jedburgh

Heavy snowfall on the Yorkshire coast. Encrusted with snow. #BleakMidwinter

A simple font holding its own with dignity amid the jolly clutter of parish life. St Mary’s #Brandesburton, Yorkshire. #fontsonFriday

Neither church was open, so I will have to return to see the interiors. But it was easy at #Dalton to identify the windows from the outside. Wonderful to have a full scheme in this remote location. Here (L-R) St Peter, St Paul, the Annunciation, Noah. 4/4

St John the Evangelist at #Dalton is twenty years later: built as a memorial to #Dawnay by his widow. Unusually, #Butterfield turned to Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. for the glass. An early (not the earliest) example of the company’s work in Yorkshire. 3/4

St Cuthbert at #Sessay was the first of #Butterfield’s churches for #Dawnay—late 1840s. A handsome composition, with broach spire, bridge and lychgate, and neighbouring school and schoolmaster’s house. It all feels timeless and properly rural—not qualities often associated with Butterfield’s work.

Last church-crawl of the year continued my exploration of Wm. #Butterfield’s churches for Wm. Dawnay, 7th Viscount #Downe. Headed to the edges of the vales of York and Mowbray, to visit #Sessay and #Dalton. 1/

Rood and canopy in 2008.

Brilliant to get @mptmagazine.bsky.social’s latest issue focusing on the poetry of Greece and Cyprus. Since its foundation in the mid-1960s by Ted Hughes & Daniel Weissbort, MPT has been hugely important in bringing Greek poetic voices to an English-speaking readership. Great that this continues.

The Church’s year draws to a close, with what is known in English tradition as “Stir-up Sunday” and is widely celebrated now as the Feast of Christ the King. Here the collect for the day and an icon of Christ as King of Kings.

A lovely window for #stainedglassSunday by Harry Harvey at St Mary’s #Brandesburton, #Yorkshire. The parable of the seed that fell on stony ground.

Much enjoyed this highly innovative and stylistically poised novel, “Brandy Sour”, about the #Cyprus problems, by #ConstantiaSoteriou in an elegant translation by #LinaProtopapa. It focuses on the #LedraPalace Hotel, caught now in the Green Zone between the 1974 lines. Recommended!

I will never forget what it was to celebrate Holy Week and Easter in 1984 on the island of #Aegina. My current trip to Greece ended yesterday with a return to the island and calls on friends, living and dead.

My pilgrimage in #Athens continues. I spent the morning in the wonderful #Cavafy Archive, newly housed by the #Onassis Foundation. For me it was the first opportunity to consult actual manuscripts of Cavafy. A truly moving experience.

Maria Komninou giving an excellent intro to the short retrospective of #IrenePapas at the Greek Film Archives in Athens. Tonight we saw her star in #Cacoyannis’s #Electra (1962): a magnetic performance in a great film of #Euripides’ tragedy.

Day #7 of the Anglo-Greek pilgrimage. Books & art. Caved into temptation at Politeia bookshop. Then the wonderful #Goulandris Gallery. An astonishing private collection, open to the public. Much French and, of course, Greek art. But Mr and Mrs G found space in their lives for #Bacon and #Hepworth…

Day #6 of my Anglo-Greek adventures. Back at the #Benaki’s historical archives, completing my examination of the Ritsos-Stangos correspondence. Two excellent books of translations by #Stangos of #Ritsos’s work emerged from often angry correspondence—conducted in very different styles of handwriting.

Day #4 of my Anglo-Greek decameron. Having reached #Athens yesterday, I spent the day in the wonderful historical archives of the always hospitable #Benaki Museum, exploring #YannisRitsos’s collaboration with #NikosStangos and #PenguinBooks.

Day #2 of my ten Anglo-Greek days. A great morning at the 9th Greek-British Symposium, in #Cambridge, where I heard a thought-provoking keynote by Greek Defence Minister, Nikos Dendias, and a stimulating if gloomy panel discussion on geo-political trends.

Day 1 of 10 intense Anglo-Greek days. A talk by David McClay of @britschoolathens.bsky.social, hosted by John & Virginia Murray in the historic home of John Murray publishing: 50 Albemarle Street. Here, Thos. Phillips’s great painting of Byron, above the fireplace where his memoirs were burned.