Sunday, July 31, 2011

Sunday Bridges--from my window

Sometimes you really don't have to go far for a photo. Yesterday I posted a Reflections Weekend photo from my window, and now, lo and behold, here is another of....a bridge! I had no idea I could see the Pančevo (PAHN-cheh-vo) Bridge from my window, until I peeked out with my 300mm. (You can just see its trestles.) The Pančevo Bridge is currently the only bridge over the Danube (the others are over the Sava). It was named after the northern Serbian city of Pančevo, which lies about 16 miles over the bridge. Vehicles and trains pass over this bridge, which is up for renovation soon.

I'm not sure if the building marked "Takovo" is for The Takovo Insurance Company or the SwissLion-Takovo food company.

See more bridges at Louis La Vache's SUNDAY BRIDGES.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

REFLECTIONS WEEKEND--wet and slippery

It's raining! I'm not sorry either, for it had been really hot and now the air is cooler. Took this photo out my window with a long lens last evening....

See other reflections at James' WEEKEND REFLECTION.

Friday, July 29, 2011

SKYWATCH FRIDAY--traces...

A statue on the Republic of Serbia Government Building looks at the ruins of an army headquarters building, destroyed during the NATO bombing of 1999.

See other skies at SKYWATCH FRIDAY.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Back to the kafana....

Been a while since my friend Olja and I visited one of Belgrade's kafanas, like the one back in February before my US trip, but we made up for that today. Zora, (Dawn) is an excellent place to sample good Serbian food, and it's located right downtown off the main square. My friend's dish was a "Hunter Steak" with mashed potatoes, and I had grilled chicken with oven-baked potatoes. We shared the fresh salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, and fresh shredded cabbage..

P.S. If this seems like deja vu, it is...I forgot ABC WEDNESDAY was yesterday, so I moved this photo to Thursday..

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

ABC WEDNESDAY-'B' is for 'Belgrade bovines'

It's Belgrade's turn to do cows. I like this cloudy cow that matches the sky.

(If you visited me earlier today, you saw another photo....I'd forgotten it was Wednesday--that photo will be back tomorrow!)

See other B's on ABC WEDNESDAY

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Another addition...

While waiting with my son for my daughter-in-law to appear with Baby Mila to go home, I caught these Gypsy or Roma kids with their grandmother. They seem to be waiting for their mother to bring them their newest family member. Pensive group... What are they all thinking?

Monday, July 25, 2011

Eco-friendly and practical

When I was a little girl, my grandmother in Pennsylvania used to hang our laundry out on a clothesline and hold up the line with long poles (clothes props). I used to love to watch the wind billow the laundry and the poles would sway back and forth.

That was long ago and in our yard. Now pretty much everywhere, although not that much here, people have clothes dryers. I have one, but only use it when I really have to. My son has one, too, and he shares my opinion of saving electricity. We both use these 'dryers'. I love to hang laundry on this apparatus.

Do you have something like this? How do you dry your laundry?

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Sunday Bridges--a room with a view.....

Not much of a view, I'll admit, but we had other things to look at! This is the view from my daughter-in-law's hospital room. We were all looking at Baby Mila (see this past week's photos)...except me once when I took this photo.... The bridge is a Serbian-Chinese joint venture.

Oops! Goofed on who's making the bridge. See Vladimir's comment below.

See other bridges at LOUIS LA VACHE'S SUNDAY BRIDGES.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Reflections Weekend--fiddling around

Hard up for a reflections photo, so I grabbed what was at hand: a candlestick.

See other and probably better reflections at James' REFLECTIONS WEEKEND.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Skywatch--the moon and the stars

Not real, of course, but this is a sky my little granddaughter, Mila, (see last week's photos) will see when she actually can focus on things! These stars and moon come from TWILIGHT TURTLE, a wonderful toy/nightlight I'd bought for several people and now for her. Those of you who know me won't be surprised to know I also bought myself one....

And of course I think of the romantic song by Robert Flack, the first stanza of which takes on a different meaning for me now:

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and stars were the gifts you gave
To the dark and the empty skies, my love,
To the dark and the empty skies....

Little Mila makes us feel like this.

See other skies at SKYWATCH FRIDAY.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Rip 'em up!

If you are a new father celebrating your baby's birth in Serbia, please don't wear your best designer shirt to the party.... This is what it will look like, since it's customary for male guests to shred a new Dad's shirt. My son wisely wore an old t-shirt and brought along two other old shirts....to be ripped by friends who arrived a bit later.

See photos from Monday of this week about little Mila....

Don't you just love the guy's expression in the background?

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

ABC WEDNESDAY "A" is for 'angels"

Little Mila (see yesterday's photo) is in there somewhere.... Some things haven't changed here, and you can see that the babies are swaddled (but a couple seem to have their arms free) and stacked like little loaves of bread to be delivered to their mothers at feeding time. They did it like this when my kids were born, too. Mothers at home don't swaddle as a rule; I think this is just hospital efficiency!

Little angels.

See more A's on ABC WEDNESDAY.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

A little sooner than we thought....

Baby Mila (MEE-la) arrived a bit sooner than we thought, weighing in at 2.8 kilos (6.2 lbs) and measuring 48 cm (19 inches). Isn't she cute?? And it you think it's cute how they write the baby's name on the diaper wrapping, wait until you see tomorrow's photo....

Monday, July 18, 2011

Back in Belgrade!

Back in Belgrade, just in time for a big event, which you can probably guess at from this photo of my daughter-in-law's belly. Sometime before the end of the month, our family will increase by 1. And we know what it will be, but I'll keep you guessing for a little while.....

Sunday, July 17, 2011

SUNDAY BRIDGES--Open wide!

Woo-hoo! Three-in-one! Thanks to the Duck (see Wednesday's post), I was able to snap this photo off Lake Union of the Aurora Bridge (foreground), the Fremont Bridge, and waaaay in the back, the Ballard Bridge.

See other bridges at Louis La Vache's SUNDAY BRIDGES.

Tomorrow....back in Belgrade.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

REFLECTIONS WEEKEND--Needle in the windows

The Space Needle reflected in the windows of the new Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's windows.

See other reflections at James' REFLECTIONS WEEKEND.

Friday, July 15, 2011

SKYWATCH FRIDAY--skyline

Not at all original, I know, but again I am experimenting with my new tripod (old one had a screw loose, literally, and couldn't be repaired) and cable release.

See other skies at SKYWATCH.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Not a building, but a boat!

Yesterday's photo talked of Riding the Duck, the zany land/water tours. This post may be even zanier, and we have Captain Tristan Shout (see yesterday's post) to thank for this bit of info. On Lake Union there are houseboats, floating homes, and some buildings along the shore. The Lake Union Crew Club in the middle looks like a permanent building, no? No! It's a boat! Its owner installed propellers in the rear, and to maintain its boat status, it has to be a boat once a year, i.e. break away from the shore and sail over Lake Union. That would be fun to see....

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

ABC WEDNESDAY-"Z" is for "zany"

Ride The Duck! That's something I always wanted to do, and recently my daughter and son-in-law treated me to a zany tour of Seattle on this amphibious vehicle. We had the time of our lives, guided through Seattle's neighborhoods and over Lake Union by Captain Tristan Shout..... (Shake it up, baby!)

If you ever have a chance to ride a Duck (there are many cities that offer these tours), please, please go! You'll love it. And buy a 'quacker', too, and toot (quack) as you wave to passers-by.

See other Z's at Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC WEDNESDAY.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Fish and chips!

No trip to Seattle is complete without sampling Ivar's famous seafood! And we did. Clams and chips, regular fish and chips, and Cajun-style fish and chips.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Sidewalk sonnets?

Took Bibi the other day to the vet's to get her travel papers. While walking her nearby later on, I came across this poetry box...wonder who reads the poems and who put the box there?

Sunday, July 10, 2011

SUNDAY BRIDGES--the viaduct

Still here in Seattle, but leaving soon. Here's a photo, perhaps the last one I'll ever take, of the Seattle viaduct, which is soon to come down. In the background you can see the domes of Safeco Field and Qwest Field. Actually, now that Centurylink has bought out Qwest, it's now Centurylink Field. Hope I got that right.

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

Saturday, July 9, 2011

REFLECTIONS WEEKEND--two bits in the water

Actually, it was two bits (a quarter) several times over by the time I got this shot of a water splash. Placed the glass on a mirror with black velvet behind reflected in the mirror.

See some other reflections at REFLECTIONS WEEKEND.

Friday, July 8, 2011

SKYWATCH--before the fireworks

While setting up my camera to get ready for the fireworks (finally managed to make some decent shots, thank you, cable release and tripod), I spotted this sky over the Olympic Mountains. Nice little moon, too.

See other skies on SKYWATCH FRIDAY.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

The Three Amigos

Had some Mexican food the other evening when Seattle was blessed with warm weather, like it is again today, hurrah. These friendly mariachi singers played for us and were pleased with my baby Spanish...which was much improved after my second margarita...

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

ABC WENESDAY - "Y" is for "Yakima"

Yakima, a town in Eastern Washington, produces some of the best cherries I've ever tasted. And here they are! I must say that in the time this photo uploaded, these cherries were history....

What's your favorite fruit?

See other Y's at ABC WEDNESDAY.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The texter

Not the same hands as you saw right here," but there's some similarity in the tattoos! Who's he texting? His buddies? His girlfriend? His mom...?

Monday, July 4, 2011

Three cheers for the Red, Blue, and White!

He did it! Yesterday Novak Djokovic won at Wimbledon, making him Number 1 in tennis world-wide.

Congratulations to him and to Serbia, whose flag is three stripes of red, blue, and white, and Happy Fourth of July to my American readers, whose flag is red, white, and blue!

And to the English as well, since Wimbledon is in England, and their flag is those same three colors, too!

I'll be returning to Belgrade very soon, but not soon enough to greet Novak upon his return.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

SUNDAY BRIDGES All in the family....

Isn't this a great shot? Nope, not patting myself on the back. This shot from under the Aurora Bridge was taken by my son-in-law with his new D90. Pimped a little in GIMP, a photo imaging program.

Not bad, eh?

See more bridges at Louis La Vache's SUNDAY BRIDGES.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

The Lotus, Part II

A touch of the East in Seattle's Green Lake. Do you remember the lotus I showed you from India?

See more reflections at James' REFLECTIONS WEEKEND.

MOTHER AND SON PIZZA

When hunger strikes...