LADY BEHIND THE WHEEL

 I am surprised I got this shot. Took it with my phone very quickly. You don't see many lady bus drivers here (in trams, yes) and this one stands out!

YESTERYEAR

 Some parts of Belgrade are timeless. I took this photo from a bridge after exiting a bus that connects New Belgrade to the ols part of the city.

WINTER

 My little Christmas gnomes keeping snuggly warm inside while outside....it isn't really snowing and that's not my living room. Winter wallpaper on my TV!

BOTTLE OF BUBBLY

 No, not the champagne-bubbly, but rather a green plastic bottle of a local bubbly mineral water that sits on my sill. Refrigerator is overloaded, and it's cold  outside. While walking through the room, I noticed the cool (no pun intended) reflection showing areas or my neighborhood with snow that fell on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Sadly, it is now slush.

ROOF PROBLEM SORT OF SOLVED....

The other day I posted a photo of my gingerbread house made this year and complained that the rear roof had fallen in. No chance of repairing it, so I was left with a gaping hole.

Here is WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE BEFORE (although rear roof not visible) and and above is how I solved the problem, inspired by EDWARD MUNCH'S THE SCREAM.

 

THE ROOF CAVED IN....

 Well, not the entire roof. Just the back side, which is not visible here.

Every year I make a gingerbread house. Notice I said 'made,' not 'assembled,' since it is my own doing, not a bought one.

I do this with various degrees of imperfection. This year, the back roof caved in. Later I am either going to use some red and yellow crinkly cellophane  to make 'a fire,' or else find some slim balsa wood to make planks on top of which I would place some toy roof repairmen. Gotta find those too....or maybe a Santa and sleigh who made a bad landing? Possibilities are endless. This could be fun...

STILL RACING AND WINNING

I bought the Rubik's Race game several years ago for my granddaughter when she was around nine. Now she is still playing and honestly, unbeatable. Adults have tried, kids her age have tried (Grandma has tried....), and now her younger brother (9) is trying. But she is incredibly fast. The game is based on the popular Rubik's cube.  

You can read all about RUBIK'S RACE right here!  It is available just about everywhere. You will not regret it....but you might be disturbed you can't solve it before your kid partner does.

A fellow blogger, ROKINON LTD read a former post of mine about it and bought one. I think he'll agree that it is quite a challenge,

A CAMEL AND TWO BUDDIES

 A flashback to my recent trip to India. I need to replenish my stock of Belgrade photos, but the holidays are getting in the way.

While editing my India photos, I cropped this photo to get the green parrot and the camel, but lo and  behold, there's another bird buddy there that I had not noticed when I too the photo. It is also very unusual that the white feathers on the bird perfectly align along the camel's neck to look like they're part of the wall.

SVETI NIKOLA'S DAY

 

According to the Serbian Orthodox church calendar, today is Saint Nicholas's Day. It is a very popular 'slava' and it is said that half of Serbian Orthodox believers have this feast day and the other hslf attends. This is a lean slava, so here are my meatless 'prebranac' (pray-brah-nahts) or baked beans.

GRANDPA AND GRANDSONS

 Another black and white from Jaisalmer, India. This man saw me, but smiled before I took his photo, and did not strike a pose. Natural!

MANY BAD APPLES...

 

The saying goes that "One bad apple spoils the whole barrel." To alter this a bit, here it seems that many bad apples did not spoil one apple (the yellow one on the left. It really wasn't spoiled. I turned it over, then returned it to its original position.)

THE JEWELRY SELLER

 Still editing photos from my trip to India, a country that literally bursts with color. However, I like this one 100% better in black and white.

UPSIDE DOWN

 Last of my 'bored at the border' photos, taken while endlessly waiting at the Serbian-Romanian border. A reflection of a nearby tree on the roof of the car beside our bus.

WET ASBESTOS

 Another landmark bites the dust, joining several iconic restaurants and cafes here in Belgrade. It will sorely be missed. Actually, the structure would have come down faster, but eco groups alerted the public that if proper precautions were not taken, a large amount of asbestos would be released. You can see a 'proper precaution' being carried out here. There is one person with a firehose squirting water on the place where the excavator is demolishing a section of the hotel. Ha. So now we have wet asbestos.

Here is A LITTLE BLURB about the hotel 'back in the day'. 

VRSAC GRAPE WINDOW

 Vrsac is known for its fine wine. If you want to know more, have a look at THIS LINK. Of course you can always just stroll around the town, admiring some of its SECESSIONIST AND BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE. This facade is a favorite of mine.

See the grapes?

STILL THROUGH A BUS WINDOW

 If you've been reading me, I waited along with 30+ other people at the Serbian/Romanian border for our bus to get its turn. Endless wait, so a group of us took a minivan and turned back...after a three-hour wait.

This lady couldn't take it and exited three times for a puff. 

THROUGH A BUS WINDOW

 Another shot from my failed bus trip to Romania (soooo many buses at the border, would have waited for many hours). Not to make the entire trip a failure, I did get a few shots. This is one!

VINKO LOZIC OF VRSAC

 During my three-hour wandering in Vrsac (near the Romanian border) last Saturday, I came across this statue of Vinko Lozic (VEENko LOWzeech), a ictional character and dear to the hearts of people from this region. Here's what Wiki says about him:A monument to Vinko Lozić, a humorous character by Jovan Sterija Popović, who has the role of mayor during the "Grape Harvest Days" festival. 

This area is known for its quality wine.

THE BELLED BULL OF VRSAC

 Went on a road trip the other day and spent several hours in the lovely town of VRSAC (vur-SHATS). In front of the town's largest hotel stands this bull. I have no clue, and I did ask, why he has been (pardon the pun) emBELLished with a bell instead of part of his privates.

UNUČIĆI --oo-NEW-chee-chee

"UNUČIĆI" means little grandsons.  But not always. It is also slang for miniature bottles of strong alcohol (vodka here), just enough for a few nips. Sadly, these bottles were discarded here and not in a bin.

MUSTACHE MAN

 Couldn't resist posting this photo of a door guard at MEHRANGARH FORT in Jodhpur. I loved his mustache. Not a Belgrade post, I know, but I am lacking just now in current photos.