Branches like hands or hands like branches?

Is this statue in the garden around the Yugoslav Drama Theater imitating the tree's branches, or is the tree mimicking the statue? You decide!

Branches for sale

This photo was taken just before Serbian New Year's Eve, which was January 13th. I love this little lady's face, with all its wrinkles that reflect her life. She's selling pine branches, which some people decorate instead of a tree. Not a bad idea; I hate to see trees cut down, and the potted ones I used to buy somehow don't survive.

OAK BRANCHES

 This is not an oak tree, but you do see here two bunches of oak branches. On Serbian Orthodox Christmas on January 7th, it is the custom to burn a bunch on your terrace on in your yard to ensure good health and prosperity. Some people don't have a yard or terrace and so, because the bunches should never be discarded as yrash, they are returned to Nature, as seen here. 

SKYWATCH--gnarly branches

Not the best Skywatch photo, but I'd left today open for a baby photo....my daughter-in-law was to have her baby today, but they rescheduled her C-section more toward the real due date, and the baby will make its appearance on.....April 1st, no joke.

In the meantime, here are some gnarly branches that, if you are a long-time reader of my blog, you might recall seeing the likes of way back here.

See other skies on SKYWATCH.

Daily Haiku

Limbs twisted with age

Angrily try to straighten 

And be young again   

Christmas is coming....

It's time for Christmas Round Two. Serbs celebrate Christmas on January 7th, according to the Julian calender, and so tonight is Christmas Eve.  Oak branches as above are being sold all over, since on Christmas morning they are burned (sort of like a Yule log), and while they do, people say, "As many sparks, as much money." (Toliko žara, toliko para.)

Merry Christmas or Srećan Božić to all of you who celebrate tonight and tomorrow.

Daily Haiku

Christmas morning dawns

Crackling burning oak branches

Each spark is a coin

 

Truncated trees Part II

In an earlier post here http://yankee-in-belgrade.blogspot.com/2008/04/truncated-trees.html , I had shown how the city annually chops off its sycamore trees along some major boulevards, since their branches often interfere with trolley lines. This photo was taken about two weeks ago, and you can see the new little branches are coming right back! They grow very fast, and this same tree is sporting new tufts in addition to these.

SKYWATCH--through the branches of winter

The steeple on Belgrade's main church, seen through nearly bare branches on a cold day....

See other skies on SKYWATCH.

Daily Haiku

Things we could not see

Are often revealed to us

Imperceptibly

  

Easter bells and willow branches

Since Serbian Orthodox Easter falls on April 27th this year, today is Palm Sunday or Vrbice, the last Sunday before Easter when willow branches (vrbica=Vur-BEET-sa) are carried or worn as wreaths by little children, who hang little bells with Serbian tricolor ribbons—red, blue, and white—around their necks and parade three times around the church.

Purple Rain?

Not sure this is what Prince had in mind when he wrote Purple Rain, but there's not an umbrella in sight here. These balls are part of an advertisement for Komercijalna Banka, a Serbian bank founded in 1970, with 251 branches all over the country. These purple and white spheres are actually large stickers on the bank's window, and what you see behind the balls is actually a reflection of part of Belgrade's recent annual Flower and Plant Show.

HOME SWEET HOME

 This is 'Home sweet home' if you are a sparrow. A bird lover who lives near me 'built' this home from branches and twigs, since apparently sparrows love such a construction. I was only able to photograph one sparrow who was sitting on a branch; the others darted in and out too quickly.  If you can find it, you've got good eyes.

SPRING IS SPRINGING

 It had to happen, whether you thought it would or not, given the sad state of world affairs.

Blossoms!  They seemed to have popped out of their branches overnight.

Keep 'em comin'.

NOT BELGRADE

 Today's photo was not taken in Belgrade, but by my daughter from her balcony that overlooks her magnificent magnolia tree with branches sreading gloriously over half the yard. Photos cannot do it justice. 

Burning the Yule branch

The badnjak (BAHD-nyak) is a central feature in the traditional Serbian Christmas celebration. It is the log that a family solemnly brings into the house in the evening of Serbian Christmas Eve (January 6th), and puts on the fire. The tree for the badnjak, preferably a young and straight oak, is felled and stripped of its branches early in the morning of Christmas Eve. The burning of the badnjak is accompanied by prayers so that the coming year may bring plenty of happiness, love, luck, riches, and food. The ideal environment to fully carry out these customs is the traditional multi-generation country household. Since most Serbs live today in towns and cities, the log is symbolically represented by several leaved oak twigs that can be bought at marketplaces or received in churches.

My son and I burned ours on our terrace on Serbian Christmas morning (January 7th), as you can see in the photo above.

PALACE OF SERBIA

 The PALACE OF SERBIA,whose official name is the Palace of the Exdcutive Council, is a sprawling building in New Belgrade, and once represented all of Yugoslavia. It is surrounded by a huge green area with trees and bushes. I often cut through that area with my dog either going toward the Danube or returning from.

Today, much to my surprise, I stumbled accoss a makeshift bee yard, surrounded by a crudely-made fence of fallen branches. I think it may be some sort of unofficial cooperative of local apiculturists. I could only get one shot at one hive where I saw bees coming in and out, but I think the other hives should  be active very soon.

Truncated trees!

Belgrade has several boulevards and streets lined with plane trees (platanus), which are very similar to those known in the US as sycamores. They grow to great heights, and in cities their extensive branches often interfere with phone, power, or trolley lines. Hence the reason why Belgrade amputates its trees every spring...believe it or not, these trees will be quite full by summer's end, and a lovely autumn photo will be waiting! (I don't see any such lines near the trees on the right---maybe the goal is symmetry on this heavily traveled boulevard.)

Trees on tree

I'm really tired of stark trees, cold weather, and snow. I am beginning to understand why people move to warmer climates.... So, since I can't do that, I try to look at starkness differently. Did you notice that these are not really trees, but small branches growing sideways on the trunk of a tree. Tilt your head to the right and look...

SKYWATCH--the birds on the tree in the sand

Little birds on bare branches on a tree in the Deliblato Sands, about an hour's drive from Belgrade.  You can read a short explanation of the Sands and see some more photos on my Flickr link.

See more skies at  SKYWATCH.

Daily Haiku

Sky before sunset

Chill winds blow across the sands

Silencing the birds