THE GREAT SERBIAN DESERT

 

Not yet a desert, but if the current climate holds for a few more years, I may never wear heavy clothes here again. Temperatures have been in the 90s for a long time now.

TRACES...

 Smoking is alive and well here and its traces linger on this coffee shop tablecloth.

PAMPERED PUSS

 This kitty is making a fashion statement.

WELCOME!

 Had lunch with my son yesterday at a local restaurant. The greeter was happy to see us. No idea of the story behind this unfortunate wolf.

MUCH-LOVED, BUT FORGOTTEN

 A much-loved (by its appearance) teddy sits on a bench in the park....loved, but forgotten.

WASTED WATER

 You would think that the extreme heat here (and elsewhere in the world) would alert people to save water. Alas, no, we are too selfish and abuse its availability. This tap in a local park is in a lamentable state. Its better-looking faucet was removed because kids would put balloons on the end, fill them with water, and throw the balloons at each other. Sounds like fun, and  is, but they were not educated to pick up the burst balloons, which were scattered around for 'someone else' to pick up, or worse, for birds to swallow them. In the latter case, the popped and stringy rubber can get caught in a bird's or other animals digestive track and kill them. So, dare I say rightfully, the park people turned off the water and removed the taps. Not to be outdone, some enterprising parent of older kid fashioned a new tap, which is very hard to turn on and off, and often runs all the time. It saddens me to see water wasted.

JUST ONE YEAR OLDER

 Just noticed that the coffee I buy came into being just one year before I arrived in Belgrade. 

DOG-TIRED

 The 'L' on the first word and the 'ST' on the last are cut off because I couldn't frame the photo well. The words on this pet shop window mean Love, Friendship, and Responsibility. The dog, unfortunately, is a stray, but appears well-fed.

URBAN ABSTRACT

 

Abstract in red and yellow; that's it.

G.O.A.T.

 G.O.A.T. spells 'goat,' but this billboard pays homage to Novak Djoković, the tennis player whose wins make him the world' s Greatest Of All Time. Note the flag neck scarf and the tennis ball.

RETURN FROM VACATION

 This plane is heading to Belgrade from a southernly direction, perhaps from Greece, where probably some of its passengers spent their vacation. Not me, alas; I am going to India in a couple of months.

PEOPLE, NOT PROFIT!

Thanks to my friend Gorana for this photo, taken last evening at a huge march of people protesting the goverment's allowing Rio Tinto, a mining company, to destroy acres of land to extract lithium.

The sign reads "For a foreign country and profit, you would betray your country. Ask the people."

 

TOO HOT TO SIT

 Yesterday I showed a lucky frog lounging in the water. No such luck for any strollers todat. Too hot to sit.

WHERE I'D LIKE TO BE

 Would love to immerse myself in cool water like this frog.  (Forgot to credit my son for this photo!)

LOST

 Some child lost his toy. I remember as a child losing Whitey, my beloved small stuffed dog, in a movie theater about 12 miles from our house. My grandfather drove back and retrieved it. I was ever grateful. Hope this little guy makes it home.

I'D MOVE IN

 I posted this place quite a number of years ago when I lived not very far away. On a recent visit to my old 'hood, I was pleased to see it still standing. Don't know the details, but when it would be fixed up, this villa would shine. I would live therr.

THIS IS NOT A PUB (Apolgies to Magritte's 'Ceci n'est pas une pipe')

 Another expat in Belgrade, Andrew L., posted this in a local group, wondering what the P.U.B. stands for, since it does not look like a pub! I was curious, too, since I have often noticed the P.U.B but have been more interested in t he wooden dome above and behind it. A reader answered about the P.U.B., that it is an acronym for a long-gone Czech bank.

As for the dome, it is much more part of the building than it looks, but what EXACTLY it is, I cannot find. It was used in part of a 1967 Yugoslav film entitled "The Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator" starring Eva Ras.

THE WATCHER

 I had a feeling I was being watched, and there she is.