Windows 99

Hmmm...I Googled both composers, and this bust sort of looks more like Beethoven, but am not sure. Bach seems to have had longer, curlier hair... I don't think anyone lives in this house anymore, but our musical friend stands guard.

Notice the tape traces of X's on the windows. During both World Wars, Belgraders X'd over their windows with tape so they wouldn't break from the reverberation of explosions. Many did the same during the NATO bombing in 1999, and such windows were dubbed "Windows -99"!

Wine to Remember

This is Petar, a retired doctor who lives in a small town near Negotin in southern Serbia. He has a weekend house, and there he makes full-bodied red wine. He's holding two bottles of his last year's production, and my husband and I bought them when we visited him last July.

Today would have been my husband's 62nd birthday, but he passed away suddenly last August. I posted a tribute to him right here and hope you will take time to read it. We are all still so very, very sorry. We will toast his memory this evening with a glass of red wine.

Skywatch--Never a Moment's Rest

The statue of The Victor that stands in Kalemegdan Park never has a moment's peace. Birds in his hand all the time, and the occasional bird on his head, shoulders, or above him.

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Giddy-up!

Caught this fellow last weekend. He was warming up his ponies for another day of cart rides along the Sava River. Although it looks like he's whipping them hard, he's not. Just a little snap in the air. This fellow also has ponies to ride, and they appear to be very well cared for.

ABC Wednesday -- "S" is for "Sequined Sneakers"

When I was a kid, only boys wore high-top sneakers, and those were pretty much the black, All-Star kind. I wore Red Ball Flyers or US Keds, and waited patiently for summer when I would get my new pair. Some were the classic lace-up ones, others were slip-ons, and some had a Mary Jane T-strap. But none of them were as fancy as these, worn by a student of mine, who kindly lent her feet for this photo.

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Vera and Barni

This is my neighbor, Vera, and her dog Barni. Barni is a Shih-Tzu, and absolutely loves Bibi (Bibi's very sexy). I think Barni's fan-shaped white streak on his forehead is perfect.

Happy Birthday

Josip Broz "Tito" was born on May 7th but celebrated his birthday on May 25th after he became president of Yugoslavia. His birthday was institutionalized as the Day of the Youth in the former Yugoslavia. I took this fellow's photo the other day on Branko's Bridge. I've seen him many, many times all over the city, and he's a bit of a legend here. I haven't been able to find anything about him, but next time we meet, I'll see if I can get him to stop.

"Shades" of the past

If you think this photo looks familiar, it may remind you a bit of this photo that I took a short while ago. Check out the other one---almost appears as if the other girls had gotten a new look at the hairdresser's.

Brick Marks

These bricks, now making up a sidewalk in a small town not far from Belgrade, bear the marks of their manufacturer.

Skywatch Friday "Love is in the Air" or On the Wall

Skywatch again. I liked how the sky's colors were picked up by the large advertisement for VIP, a cell phone provider.

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Cross your carrots!

Here I am playing with my food again. Actually, this carrot was never eaten, since you can see it had been lounging in my vegetable basket for too long.... I talked my son into lending his fingers for this photo. See another unusual carrot here , and see how else I play with my food by clicking
right here. Remember, you don't stop playing when you grow old, but you grow old when you stop playing.

ABC Wednesday "R" is for "Rollerskating"

These girls help each other on their inline skates. And who says it's only drivers who text while they're in motion...?

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Just fooling around.

I love cacti, but if I buy the tiny ones, they never seem to make it. I brought this bigger fellow home and decided I'd have a little fun with him. He's ogling the geraniums on my terrace and sports a šajkača, a typical Serbian hat that you can see here.

A View from the Bridge

Last Friday a romantic young Belgrader wanted to do something special for his girlfriend of one year. With the help of a friend who owns a restaurant, he arranged for that friend to set up a small table and two chairs on Branko's Bridge from where this photo was taken. The friend was to serve the surprised young lady and her boyfriend dinner from his restaurant while they both enjoyed a view of the sun setting over the Sava Bridge that you see here. True love never runs smooth, and a concerned motorist called the police when the restaurant owner was setting up the table and chairs, assuming he was going to jump (?). The police put a damper on the boyfriend's plan, but not the romance, and the two lovers + the owner headed to his restaurant. (Sorry for the blur, but despite my having used a tripod, there's a lot of vibration from traffic on Branko's Bridge!)

Roof tiles

Came across these carefully stacked roof tiles in a town not far away. They're waiting to be put back on the roof of a house that's having some repair done. I like it when people make an attempt to keep the original building materials on old houses, insofar as possible. Thrifty and pretty at the same time.

What do you believe?

This graffiti is on one of the side entrances to Saint Marko's church downtown, and reads, "What do you believe?"

Dear Readers, I apologize that I had to change my settings not to allow anonymous comments, since I've recently been visited by a rant-and-raver. The Internet's a wide territory, and I'm sure that person will find another outlet to vent his/her dissatisfaction. These City Daily Photo blogs are for enjoyment and fun, and are not to be used as a soapbox.

Skywatch -Three Cranes and a Rainbow

A few weeks ago we had a major rainstorm, and this is the rainbow that appeared over a still dark sky afterwards.

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Red!

Frequent readers may think red is my favorite color, but it isn't. I am just fascinated when I see people wear it well. This lady was strolling down Belgrade's pedestrian street, oblivious to the looks of passers-by....well, maybe she was enjoying the looks of the passers-by.

ABC Wednesday 'Q' is for 'Quite a fork!'

A weekend trip to the country yielded this photo of 'quite a fork'. A hayfork, I believe!

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"I'm lovin' it!"

She must be lovin' it with so many fishing rods.

Le Rouge et le Noir

Nothing at all to do with Stendahl's novel 'The Red and the Black' other than the title. These two young women were attentively listening to an animal rights group's speaker downtown on Sunday's Europe Day celebration. Serbia is not yet a member of the European Union, but would like to be. To do so, Serbia has to meet EU requirements, and one is the humane treatment of animals. Although both of these girls appear to be wearing leather boots and perhaps a leather skirt (the speaker was ranting about not eating meat or wearing leather), one has a faux-fur purse!

And yes, I couldn't help but photograph still another redhead!

Give me back what's mine!

Can you imagine owning a home or property, then having it confiscated by the State? This woman most probably had parents to whom such a thing happened, and as their descendent, is protesting the fact that only Serbia has not yet adopted laws regarding the return of property that is rightfully hers. This photo was taken at yesterday's Europe Day Celebration in downtown Belgrade.

The Network for Restitution (NFR) or 'Mreza za Restituciju' as it is known here, is a non-profit citizen's group that offers support and free legal advice for Holocaust and Communist terror survivors trying to regain confiscated homes from the W.W.II era.

In Serbia, the only country in Europe that did not return to its citizens' property confiscated by the communists and the Nazis, there are around 500,000 people waiting to get their property back.

Restitution of property to the rightful owners is not just the righting of a historical wrong. When foreign investors inquire about buying land in Serbian cities, they encounter serious problems with land ownership rights.

'tis the season....

Strawberry season is starting up, and you can find more and more of these juicy berries on Belgrade markets. The imported ones have been around for a while, but the homegrown ones are soooooo sweet and juicy. I absolutely love strawberries. I eat them with just a teeny bit of sugar, or slice them over homemade shortcake. Yum. Currently, a kilo of strawberries runs around 180 dinars or about $2.50 (about $1.25 a pound). Prices will rapidly drop with the onslaught of more berries.

It's four-fifteen, honest.

Yes, it's four-fifteen, not three-twenty, as it might appear. This clock is on a tower on the fortress overlooking the Danube in Novi Sad, a city about 70 kms from Belgrade. The builders decided it was more important for passing ships to know the hour, not the minutes, so they made the long hand the hour hand. See the full view of the same clock here .

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Here comes the fuzz!

If you're looking for the cops, there aren't any in this photo. Here you see the leaves and young shoots of the White Poplar tree ('topola' in Serbian.) The young shoots are covered with whitish-grey down that eventually loosens and blows off in the wind to such an extent that sometimes it looks like it's snowing. This 'fuzz' is really annoying. It flies in your nose, in your mouth, in your plate if you're eating outdoors, and in your windows. If you're wondering why 'fuzz' is used as slang for the police, here's what Wikipedia says that the word may have arisen "as a term of contempt for police based on the use of 'fuzz' or 'fuzzy' in other items of derogatory criminal slang of the period. To be 'fuzzy' was to be unmanly, incompetent and soft. "

ABC Wednesday "P" is for "Perfume"

I'll bet you haven't seen a place like this for a while, if ever. This little shop on King Peter's Street in the Belgrade neighborhood of Dorčol (DOR-choll) makes creams, oils, face powders, hair spray, hair creams, eyeshadow, lipsticks, and perfumes. This shop has been around at least since I came to Belgrade 32 years ago, and was closed when I went by this time. I've always been curious about it...though I'm not a big user of any of the above except perhaps perfume and lipstick, I just might go back out and find out more about the store. Stay tuned.

Don't you just love all the little bottles, especially the Eiffel Tower one?

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At the Snail's

This facade in Zemun has attracted me for such a long time. Originally I had just passed along the right side of this building, and had photographed the rooftop (saving that for another post). Recently, I looked up at the part facing the corner, and discovered the inscription "Kod Puža" or "At the snail's". I have no idea of the history of this building. I Googled it, but nothing, so I will have to return to ask around. It is such a beautiful facade, and I hate to see it falling apart. Notice the initial "E" on the right of the top photo. Was the original building's owner named "Escargot"? :<)

I was originally going to save this for ABC Wednesday's "P," since 'P" would not only have been for ""Puž," but also for "Pekara Petrovic" (Petrovic's bakery) written in Cyrillic below. I have a fragrant "P" for you tomorrow.

Composition in Blue

This one is for Virginia at Birmingham Alabama Daily Photo, who I believe inadvertently started a 'table and chairs' meme (I guess that's what it is; Google says a meme is "An idea that, like a gene, can replicate and evolve.) In any case, this is another contribution from me. I liked the colors and the geometric patterns.

Faculty of Drama Arts

Belgrade's Faculty of Drama Arts is a leading high education institution in the field of theater, film, radio and television, and is a part of the University of Arts. This eminent educational, artistic and cultural institution, founded in 1948, is Financed by the government of the Republic of Serbia. This is only one section of the Faculty, I believe a newer one, and I thought I'd show you how some of the students have decorated part of the facade!

For more info on the Faculty, check out this link .

Ah-CHOO!

Common ragweed, or ambrosia, as it is known here (ambrosia artemisiifolia ) is a member of the sunflower family. Curious why such a bothersome plant would be named for the food of the gods, I found out that the generic name is actually derived from the Greek'ambrotos' (άμβροτος), "immortal". In ragweed's case, this refers to its tenaciousness, which makes it hard to rid an area of these invasive weeds. Sure enough, this tall ambrosia stalk is growing in an urban area in New Belgrade. There used to be fields of it on the other side of the street you see here, but now most of that land has been developed into office space, much to the relief of local allergy sufferers. You can probably guess I'm not allergic to it, since I managed to get this close for the photo!

THEME DAY--Shadows-- 'Roses in Shadow'

This isn’t a recent photo. I took it a year and a half ago, in very dim light, at the wedding of the daughter of a close friend. I’ve made an enlargement, which hangs on my wall, and while still attractive, it lacks a bit of the luminosity that you can appreciate on your screen. Shadows and light; this is also a foreshadowing of my own daughter’s upcoming wedding in September.

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