ABC WEDNESDAY - "G" is for "Geppetto"

Remember Geppetto, the shoemaker who created Pinocchio? The shoemaker I snapped late one evening downtown reminds me of him.

See other G's at ABC WEDNESDAY.

Hanging out the laundry...er...linoleum

I've seen rugs hanging on these bars in apartment house yards or private ones. People often still beat their rugs here, and sometimes these poles are used to wash rugs, too. But linoleum...? First time I've seen this!

"On the street where you live..."

Like some photobloggers, I often get requests to take a photo of some special place. Last March when I was in the US for an extended stay, Diego, a young man from Bogota, Colombia, wrote to say "...Two years ago I met a girl from Beograd, she lives in that street (Admirala Geprata 9), she is the most wonderful girl I've ever met...". Now that I'm back, I'm finally able to honor Diego's request with this photo of #9!

And just who was "Admiral Geprat"? Here's what I found: Emile Paul Guepratte was largely responsible for the reorganization and transport of the Serbian army from Greece in WWI. The Allies planned to relocate the Serbian army and all patients from field hospitals in Corfu --9,710 of them--in order to provide better care and recovery in hospitals in Northern Africa, France, and Corsica. In 1916, a total of 7,459 patients and 2,458 recruits, along with 1,500 refugees, totaling in all 11,417 Serbs, were transferred, largely thanks to Admiral Guepratte, whose kindness earned him the nickname "Serbian Mother".

And for you, Diego, here is the song from My Fair Lady, On the Street Where You Live.

SUNDAY BRIDGES--The Old and New railroad Bridges

These two bridges (in the distance the Old Railroad Bridge, 1942) and in the foreground the New railroad Bridge (1979). This photo was taken from Belgrade's newest bridge to be opened later this year, and which I showed you here.

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

WEEKEND REFLECTIONS--birds of a feather

Not many feathers on this lady nor on her friends, but in this gallery nudes do seem to flock together. Safety in numbers, I guess.

See other reflections at James' Weekend Reflections.

SKYWATCH FRIDAY - the saved shot.

One of my rules is to never, never, okay almost never, delete a photo in the camera. I was going to junk this one, but didn't. I fiddled with it in Photoshop and here is the result. Not too bad.

See other skies and perhaps some more serendipitous photos at SKYWATCH FRIDAY.

Give blood!

They say you can't get blood from a stone...but can you get it from a statue? These terra cotta figures were waiting to take their place at an exhibit, not to give blood. No one came out of the blood truck to ask them to come in...

ABC WEDNESDAY "F" is for "Fun!"

I was envious of these Romi or Gypsy boys having a great time in a public fountain just off of Knez Mihailova. It's been really hot here... I wondered if they would give their sister a ride, but I couldn't wait to see...too hot.

See other F's and maybe more fun on ABC WEDNESDAY.

Gone...but by no means forgotten...

Symbols seem to pop out of our surroundings, sometimes to give us a sign, or at least that's what I think. Today marks the three-year passing of my husband, who was taken from my family and me much too early. I found this heart yesterday on a nearby street.

He is gone, but by no means forgotten...and in some ways, I believe he is still here. My love for him is.

Cheerful!

Unfortunately, it's not often that you see really nice individual mailboxes here. Only one of these cheery red mailboxes seems to have suffered some damage.

Such a bright red! Might even make getting a bill fun...or maybe not.

SUNDAY BRIDGES--that bridge again....

Here we go again. Another take on Belgrade's newest, almost-completed bridge that the city let people walk over two weeks ago. It was really hot, but you could get great photos of places along the river that otherwise you couldn't. I showed you this bridge here and here.

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

WEEKEND REFLECTIONS--Say "cheese"!

When reminded of Winston Churchill's comment on France, "How can you govern a country with 300 cheeses?" Charles de Gaulle retorted: "There are at least 350."

Here in Serbia there appears to be, at first glance, one kind of cheese: white cheese, or 'beli sir". However, as white or cream-colored as the cheeses are, there is actually quite a variety: younger, older, salty or not, spreadable, creamy... I've never counted and doubt if there are 350, but you never know. In the photo above, you can see only a few of the cheeses available here. Visit any outdoor market and you'll see lots more. I'll see if I can scrape up a photo for you. The little clay pots contain yogurt, and the plastic white ones are filled with heavy cream.

See other reflections and maybe even more cheese at James'

Weekend Reflections.

SKYWATCH FRIDAY--red sunset over the Sava

Big, fat, red sun on its way down over the Sava River in New Belgrade.

See other skies at SKYWATCH FRIDAY.

Daddy's little helper

"Welcome to the Ice Age," reads the sign on this Costa Coffee window. And it's a clean window, too, thanks to this little girl and her father.

ABC WEDNESDAY--"E" is for "eternal"

Some people believe that nothing is eternal, that nothing lasts forever. It's true that material things, no matter how indestructible they seem, one day will fall apart, erode away, disintegrate; in short, disappear. Sooner or later people disappear too, no matter how much we want them to be with us forever. Today marks the day my husband suffered a stroke that led to his leaving us much too soon. I'd like to think that it was only his physical self that is gone, and that he is somehow still around. Part of him lives on in his baby granddaughter, Mila, who by coincidence, turns one month old today. Above are my son and daughter-in-law's wedding rings, dangling from Mila's toes. May they, and my daughter and her husband, all live long and happy lives.

See other E's at ABC WEDNESDAY.

Airing the clothes

Nothing like airing out your clothing to get them sweet-smelling....and perhaps full of cat hair.

Red against Red

Do you walk against the red light sometimes? I do.... Now that many people are on vacation, this normally very busy street has less traffic.

Sunday Bridges--A Cultural Bridge

There exist cultural bridges that come in all forms, from institutions to online websites like Serbia's Ambassador to the World," and of course, people, like my friends and I above in 1968 when we were students (that's our director) there, too, in Aix-en-Provence in 1968. I am on the right. We all met up in Napa, if you remember from a couple of photos like this one taken last summer. All of us pictured, including our director now in his 80's and wife, who kept up with all of us are, like you photo bloggers, cultural bridges.

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

Weekend Reflections--Ingenuity

Near the same market where I snapped this other Reflections photo, I came across this ingenious new windshield wiper! Soft, easy on the glass. But what I like best is the little sign to the right that reads, "Autolinea Auto Parts", along with an address. I think I'll hope right over and get myself a pair of these.

See other reflections at James' Weekend Reflections.

SKYWATCH FRIDAY--sky over the newly-renovated park

I've shown you Tasmajdan Park downtown several times before, but it has recently (and thankfully) been renovated, making the entire park much more enjoyable. New walkways, fountains, a small dog park, chess tables, playgrounds...wonderful. There are two new statues. The one in the foreground is of Milorad Pavic, a rather unorthodox writer, style-wise, who passed away at the age of 80 in 2009. I've never read his books, but what Wiki says about his works is intriguing:

• Dictionary of the Khazars takes the form of three cross-referenced encyclopedias of the Khazars, a semi nomadic Turkish people. The book was published in a "male" and "female" version, which differ in only a brief, critical passage.
• Landscape Painted with Tea mixes the forms of novel and a crossword puzzle.
• Inner Side of the Wind – can be read back to front, each section telling one character's version of the story.
• Last Love in Constantinople has chapters numbered after tarot cards. The reader is invited to use a tarot deck to determine the order in which the chapters can be read.
• Unique Item has one hundred different endings and the reader can choose one.

The other statue is of Heidar Aliev, the third president of a Azerbaijan, who also passed away at the age of 80 in 2003. Azerbaijan financed part of the renovation of Tasmajdan Park.

See other skies at SKYWATCH FRIDAY.

From a fairy tale...?

Yesterday's post put me in a fairy tale mood. Which fairy tale character(s) inspired this house, upstream a bit from Belgrade on the Sava River? Note how it's been built high, in case of flooding.

ABC WEDNESDAY--"D" is for (Goldilocks') DILEMMA

A dilemma indeed. Not sure Goldilocks would have sat in any of these chairs, used by street sweepers at a nearby market to sit on while they take a break. On the other hand, I can see a sort of smile on the back of the chair on the right...maybe she'd have sat there.

See other D's on ABC WEDNESDAY.

Shedding some light

These lamp posts in Kalemegdan (view of New Belgrade across the river) look like acorns to me...or earrings...or...? What do you think?

Teetering....

I watched this lady take teeny-tiny teetering steps in these high-heeled platform shoes. She did not seem at ease at all. I know I wouldn't be; one misstep and it's off to the orthopedic clinic.

Lady readers, do you wear or did you use to wear such shoes? And remember the pointed-toe shoes....? Much damage done from those, too.

SUNDAY BRIDGES--same bridge, new color...

I gave you such a dismal shot of this bridge when I posted it not long ago, I thought I'd take it from another angle and jazz it up a bit. Up, up, up it goes! And you get a view of a couple more bridges, too...

See more bridges, jazzy or not, at Louis La Vache's SUNDAY BRIDGES.

REFLECTIONS WEEKEND--Eat here in confidence

I haven't tried this place yet, but the name sure intrigues me.... No health issues for sure; the pizzeria used to be a pharmacy!

See other reflections at James'Weekend Reflections

SKYWATCH FRIDAY--Sweet sky

Isn't this a great shot? No, not bragging, for this photo was not taken by yours truly. It's the work of my friend Nena's niece, Ema, who has just bought a Nikon D3100.

Judging by some of her other work I've seen, I think Ema has a good eye and lots of imagination.

You might remember this photo taken by Nena that I published a while back.

See other delicious skies at SKYWATCH.

Guess who's (not) coming to dinner....

I can't say I blame the passer-by for not wanting to come to dinner...the family looks quite bored and disinterested.

If you walk along Belgrade's pedestrian street, Knez Mihailova, and a few surrounding ones, you'll see reproductions of paintings from the city's National Museum, which, unfortunately has been closed for repairs for quite some time and is scheduled to reopen in 2012. If you'd like to read more about this (the translation isn't so good, but still...), click here. The article dates from 2009....

ABC WEDNESDAY "C" is for "cartoon"

A long line of big political cartoons! This post goes out to Daryl of Out and About in New York City and her husband, Toonman. I hope both she and he will enjoy this post. Marko Somborac has a daily comic strip in a popular newspaper here. I am not into politics at all, but even I 'get' what he writes. I took my good old time browsing and laughing at all these cartoons... What fun.

Note: These changing panel exhibits in Kalemegdan are extremely well-visited.... I took this photo in the very early a.m., walking Bibi! I revisited the same evening, but couldn't have gotten this shot because of the crowd.

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

Safe from the birdie...

Was sitting at a cafe with some friends the other day and looked up and saw this sparrow's feet. Good thing the canvas was between him and us...just in case he, uh, did something....

THEME DAY: postcard-worthy

HDR-ed this one, but since the Theme Day is 'postcard-worthy' and postcards are often retouched, so....

This is part of an outdoor museum in the small town of Sirogojno, a couple hours' drive south of Belgrade.


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