Reflections Weekend--three glasses

Taken during a lull in the conversation....

Check out more reflections on Reflections Weekend.

SKYWATCH--rooftop 'gusle' player

Last April I showed you this 'gusle' player and now here is another, perched under a bright-blue sky with a companion (who is eyeing me) atop a building downtown.

Check out other skies at SKYWATCH.

The Happy Clock

Many times I've passed this building downtown, but never from this angle. I'm not sure how long this 'happy clock' has been there. I like how the air conditioners make two eyes.

Can you tell what time it is?

ABC Wednesday "B" is for "bending butt-to-butt"

I'm not a gardener by any means, but I am fascinated by the devotion many show to their gardens. The above couple is planting (gosh, what is it...carrots?) in the blazing hot sun and occasionally carrying buckets of water for their thirsty crop.

Check out other B's on ABC WEDNESDAY.

The Big Day

The Big Day was last Sunday for my son and his bride. Above is just a sample from the many photos I took. You can see one photo taken inside the church, with the bride and groom wearing crowns, symbolizing their 'king and queen of the household' roles. The best man and maid of honor hold candles behind the couple. The church where they were married is new and the inside walls are not yet covered with frescoes. Later on, in addition to regular live music, a gypsy band made an appearance at the reception, just after the newlywed couple shared their cake with the guests.

It was tons of fun, but we're all tired....

Persistence

If you were expecting a wedding photo, hang in there for one more day!

I saw this very persistent thistle on a sizzling sidewalk downtown the other day. Just goes to show you 'where there's a will, there's a way.'

Sunday Bridges - Bridging the generations

I know there's not a real bridge in this photo...but I hope you'll understand. Today my son is getting married and I'm short of real bridges, so I stretched the meaning of 'bridge', hoping that Louis will understand.

This is a 'bridge' photo. The old cookbook, the one that's falling apart and stained, is my copy of The Joy of Cooking that I bought before I came here 33 years ago... You can see it's been and is still well-used. On the upper left is my measuring cup, equally as old, as is that wooden spoon.

The new book is one I bought for my soon-to-be-daughter-in-law, joking with her that now my son won't go hungry!

So, stretching the use of 'bridge' a bit, these book-bridges span the generation gap.

Next week I'll show you a real bridge...

Check more bridges at Louis La Vache's Sunday Bridges.

Retro cups--REFLECTIONS WEEKEND

For me, these aluminum ice cream dishes and tumblers visible in the background mean both summer and my childhood. Although these are not the original vessels from which I enjoyed frosty drinks and cold desserts, they still bring me much pleasure. I love the frost that forms on them when they're filled with something cold.

Check out more REFLECTIONS on Reflections Weekend.

SKYWATCH --Night kitty

I see cat.
Cat sees me.
I take photo.
Cat appears on SKYWATCH.

Turkish coffee

I'd mentioned before that the Turks had occupied Serbia for 500 years and left many traces behind in the language, music, and overall culture. Turkish coffee, still referred to by that name, is what you'd most likely be served right off the bat when you visit someone. The coffee is boiled in a little dzezva (DJEZ-va) like the one you see here and served in small cups. I'm not very good at making Turkish coffee, so the typical and desirable foam you'd see on the top is absent in my cup! On the little plate are Turkish Delights, also still popular. Read more about Turkish coffee by clicking on that link!

ABC WEDNESDAY "A" is for "artisan"

Meet Jan Nemcek, an ethnic Slovak, who lives in the village of Kovacica (Ko-VA-cheet-sa) about an hour's drive from Belgrade. Kovacica is home to several artists and artisans. Mr. Nemcek has been making violins all his life, maintaining a tradition in his family of several generations. That long instrument is a kind of Slovakian flute.

His wife also creates handicrafts and pottery. If you'd like to watch a video, you can check out this Youtube site and you can also look at his site (in Slovakian...but there are photos.)

See other A's on ABC WEDNESDAY.

More street art, literally

Last Wednesday I posted a zebra crossing and promised you more street art, literally on the street. Here's a crosswalk decorated with several Belgrade monuments and surrounded by the Danube and Sava rivers. The red statue on the left is The Victor, which stands in Kalemegdan Park. At the top is Saint Sava's church, and in the center is the statue of Prince Mihailo downtown. The yellow monument on the right is the newly-rebuilt Avala Tower that had been totally destroyed during the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999. My fellow Belgrade blogger, Vlada, recently posted two terrific photos of this tower that you can see on his blog.

Window washing

This is what I did this past weekend...only not so high up. My daughter and son-in-law arrive today for my son's wedding this coming Sunday, so I had to tidy up. I sure am glad I don't have this many windows to do.... This trio is washing windows on a building in New Belgrade that you can see and read about right here.

SUNDAY BRIDGES--an archway and a bridge

This a photo from last spring, but I need to 'shoot' more bridges... This is an archway in Kalemegdan Park on the other side of which is a wooden bridge. You can see its railing on the left!

Check out other bridges on Louis La Vache's Sunday Bridges.

Reflections Weekend--rakia bottles

This little bottles filled with Serbian plum brandy are called cokancici (CHO-kan-chee-chee)and will be favors at my son's wedding on July 25th...perhaps many will be downed before being taken home. I filled about 160 of them and touched nary a drop, since I don't care for brandy! Pass the wine!

See more reflections at Newtown Daily Photo's Reflections Weekend.

Skywatch--View of part of New Belgrade

It's nice to have friends in high places. I took this view of part of New Belgrade from a friend's tenth-floor window. The large building in the foreground is the municipal building and across the street is Saint Demetrius of Salonica's church, where my son will be married on July 25th.

Check out more skies on SKYWATCH.

The latest laptop bag....

If you're tired of the run-of-the-mill laptop bag, you might want one of these bags created by EthnoNetwork, an organization created by USAID to help women in villages find sources of income. I was asked to do some photos for them, and so this is one of their many beautiful products that you can see on their site above (not my photos on the site; this was a different project.)

ABC Wednesday "Z" is for "zebra crossing"

Some artist used his or her literal sense of humor to create zebra crossings in front and beside Vuk Stefanović Karadžić and Dositej Obradović's museum downtown. I've noticed a couple of fancy crosswalks downtown, so perhaps I'll show you more.

Check out other Z's at ABC WEDNESDAY.

Summer's finally here and it's hot....

Summer's finally here and even the art is hot. Couldn't resist this very happy purple whatever, with steam coming out of his ears.

Peace, brother.

Lunch near Leskovac

Hungry? This is what my friend and I had for lunch in Southern Serbia, in a small village near the town of Leskovac, where a rostiljijada (ro-schteel-yee-ya-da) or grilled meat festival is held every year in September. I've said before , for example, right here that Serbs are big meat eaters. I'm not, but enjoy it from time to time.

Those are not scoops of vanilla ice cream flanking onions (another Serbian favorite), but rather balls of kajmak (ky-mak) that you can read about if you click on the "right here" link above. Also pictured are a pair of Serbian homemade sausages with serving of smoked pork and a grilled pepper, tomato, and garlic salad. And the warm, crusty bread.... Leskovac is known for its spicy cuisine, and you can see that instead of ground black pepper beside the salt and toothpicks on the table are red pepper flakes...

If you're interested in seeing more food from Eastern Europe, I've just added this blog to my blog roll.

Sunday Bridges - on Sava Bridge

I've shown you this bridge before, even twice, from a distance, but this shot was taken when I walked across the bridge itself. Its real name is Savski Most (Sava Bridge), but many people call it the tram bridge, since that form of transportation is mainly what crosses it...plus cars, buses, motorcycles, bikes....and pedestrians. That's the main church and patriarchy you see in the distance. And hey, in the background there's Branko's Bridge that links old and New Belgrade.

This post is for Louis La Vache's Sunday Bridges meme.

Reflections Weekend---Since 1973...?

I wonder if this fellow has been a fisherman since 1973... :)

See other reflections at James' Reflections Weekend.

SKYWATCH FRIDAY --Mama stork cools baby

This is a mother stork who appeared to be cooling her baby (babies, perhaps; but I only saw one) by beating her wings furiously above their nest. Storks are said to bring good luck to the house they nest on.

See other skies and perhaps a bird or two at SKYWATCH.

Lenin's pears

Unlike the rest of Eastern Europe after War II, Yugoslavia fell under the leadership of Marshal Tito and remained independent from Moscow. It became the only country in the Balkans resist pressure from Moscow to join the Warsaw Pact and remained "socialist, but independent" right up until the collapse of Soviet socialism in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Tito prided himself on Yugoslavia's independence from Russia. Despite this, many people did side with Communism in its original sense, and admired such leaders as Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, whose bust I came across at the village house of the now-deceased parents of a friend I visited recently. The pears come from the garden beside the house. I don't know if Lenin liked pears, but the bust and the fruit made for a nice still life.

ABC Wednesday "Y" is for "Yikes! I've been shot!"

It had to happen. I knew I'd been taking chances...photographing ladies in bikinis, people unaware in the bus, sleeping in the park....and now I've been shot.

The story is this: I was attracted to the Perrier 'bush' (it's plastic) and went to take a photo. Then I thought it was ironic that the sign says "I love juice," which of course Perrier is not. That was to be my photo.

I get home, upload the photo, touch up the contrast, adjust the lighting, and lo and behold, a sniper!

He must have been shooting blanks...didn't feel a thing.

But, just between you and me, don't you think it looks like Eric?

See what others have been shooting at ABC WEDNESDAY.

His poor foot

If this photo looks familiar, it is, since it was accidentally posted on Theme Day for a short while. That is what happens when you try to use scheduled posting late at night...

This foot belongs to an old fellow seated on a bench next to where I was sitting. I think he should soak his foot and pumice off the dead skin, since here so far there isn't anything like what Jilly of Menton Daily Photo posted the other day. Click and see!

The lady in black...

When this middle-aged lady got on the bus, everyone turned to look at her, some discreetly, some not. Little did she know that when she sat next to me, she, or at least her arm, would be captured....

It was around 11 a.m. and she was not dressed as if she were in mourning (she was wearing make-up and this jewelry, for example). I especially like her gloves, which I think are practical. I always hate to hold onto those grimy poles. But I think she wasn't concerned with hygiene; she simply looked as if she were from another era.

And speaking of poles, the silhouetted black figure on the red sign is not doing a pole dance. It's a warning not to stand on the bus steps with your back to the door....

Sunday Bridges--A sunken bridge

Last Sunday, Kim of Seattle Daily Photo showed us two floating bridges. Not to be outdone, I now show you one sunken bridge! Recent floodwaters have submerged this bridge that leads to the fisherman's society boat in Zemun. There are people out there, so I guess they ferry back and forth!

This post is for Louis La Vache's Sunday Bridges meme.

Happy Fourth of July to those of you in the U.S.!

Reflections Weekend

This has to be one of the wettest summers ever in Belgrade. I'm tired of seeing 'Water, water, everywhere....'

This is for James' of Newtown Daily Photo's Reflections Weekend.

SKYWATCH -- The sun sets

The sun sets on Serbia's participation in the World Cup, having lost to Australia on June 23rd.
The sign draping the left side of the Genex Tower reads "Go, Eagles!", referring to the Serbian national team.

No victory, but they can still enjoy a beer.

Enjoy a beer and view other skies on SKYWATCH.

THEME DAY: Reflections--Turkish Pastries

Serbia was under Turkish rule for 500 years, and many traces remain in the language, music, overall culture, and of course the food. Turkish pastries are still appreciated, as seen from these sweet yummies in a shop window. Others are stacked in a tray visible in the reflection.

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