SPRING IN WINTER COLOR

 This puffy white bush's flowers reminded me of a large snowball. Just a few more days now until Spring. 

MAN, MONEY, AND A CIGARETTE

 Another market shot. Money, man, and a cigarette.

GOTTA LOVE THOSE HEELS

Her heels remind me of the type I wore to the senior prom as did all my other girl friends. You'd buy them white and the shop would match the to your dress!  I never held on to mine, but I guess I could have kept them for a dress-up car wash.

BACON, SAUSAGE, AND A MAN

 At a local market yesterday.

DOWN AND OUT AND UNDERGROUND

The musician in the background is often playing his guitar and I imagine he earns something in tips. The sleeping person is only one of a number of people who claim this mattress as home in an underground passage.

SALVADOR AND FRIDA

 Frida Kahlo and Surrealist Salvador Dali only met once in the 1930s, when Surrealism was reshaping the art world. Frida rejected the movement, but Andre Breton, the French writer and poet and co-founder of Surrealism, described her as a 'natural surrealist.' In any case, both are featured in the window of a bookstore downtown.

SKYWATCH--the crow

 I haven't participated in SKYWATCH in quite a while, so here's a sky photo for you.

LOST

If you've ever lost a favorite toy when you were a child, you know how this little bear's owner must feel. I hope he has found its way home. 

LOOKING UP CONTINUED...

 Yesterday I showed you a photo of a flower delivery man looking up. 

Here's what he was looking at:  BELGRADE'S WESTERN GATE or GENEX TOWER.

LOOKING UP

 A delivery man was waiting for his customer to pick up the bouquet of tulips he's holding on International Women's Day on March 8th. 

Tomorrow I'll show you what he was looking up at.

URBAN STILL LIFE

 I have taken lots of photos of 'things' on the street that don't always fall into a particular category, and so I call all of them 'urban still lifes'. Here's another!

WHERE'D CLIVE GO?

 Anyone remember the Clive the Talking Leopard commercials for Schweppes circa 1998?  Clive is gone, but his tail remains.

HAPPILY RETIRED

 My dog's tennis ball is really happy it's retired. 

TIME TO BE FIXED

Here is our brand-new, 9.5 meter high, 7.5 ton clock, installed right smack in the middle of two main streets that drivers had no trouble navigating. Now drivers must drive around the clock to get to the same place.  

And, ha, it was installed just over 10 days ago and is now not functioning. Here is what Danas, a reliable newspaper, has to say:  The new symbol of Belgrade on  Republic Square has lost its purpose after only ten days. The Belgrade Clock, which cost 10 million dinars (of which about five million dinars were spent on the "most modern mechanism"), not only does not show accurate time, but it no longer even has a hand. The City Administration is silent for now, and Danas' interlocutors believe that the situation with the clock is a reflection of the city government's decision to pay too much for something that will not work, and they emphasize that citizens have the right to know who is responsible for the shortcomings, which are financed from their own pockets."  Ten million dinars is nearly $100,000.

HAPPY IN THE BUS

 This photo brings a smile to my face. The woman is oviously happy, but the pup looks unsure, as if he fears someone will ask him to get off the seat!

LIPSTICK ON HER SKIRT

 LIPSTICK ON YOUR COLLAR by Connie Francis was one of the first teeny-bopper songs I liked.  This girl has lipstick on her skirt!

TEXTING ABOVE THE 'TURKISH' MARKET

A young woman sits texting above what ex-pats here call 'the Turkish' market, though I haven't a clue why. If you're interested in reading about the history of this section of Belgrade, CLICK RIGHT HERE. I learned a lot.

MARCH 2026 THEME DAY--WHITE

 What is white about vanilla? Yes, there is vanilla ice cream, but vanilla extract is not white, although the vanilla flower is. The yellow packet contains about a tablespoon of vanlla sugar, which some cooks prefer instead of the liquid. I'm stretching the theme once again to present to you one more person of color I had NEVER heard of. His name was Edmond Albius, born in Reunion in 1829.  PLEASE click THIS LINK to read about him. He took the last name 'Albius' (white) from the color of the vanilla flower.

Check other interpretations of WHITE RIGHT HERE.

SHOEFITI

 While walking last night, I came upon this dramatic view of pairs of shoes thrown over a power line.  All of us have seen this somewhere in the world. I looked up the significance of shoe-throwing and it varies from the innocent (if you can call 'playing' with power lines innocent) to the more aggressive, i.e. from creating SHOEFITI to asserting a gang's presence in a certain area.

BLONDE JOGGER

We've had some good weather recently, clear and crisp. This isn't a terribly original shot, but I took it with my 50mm lens at a distance and cropped it down. Still sharp.

PAW PRINTS ON RED

A photo from a bicycle path. You can see what appear to  be skid marks or at least tire marks from bicycles and paw prints from a large dog that have darkened over time.
 

HAIR ACCESSORIES

I love to browse the stalls at local markets. You can find just about anything there--clothing, shoes, socks, undies, jewelry, and hair accessories like these that I photographed from the other side of the canvas panel where they were displayed.

COMPOSITION IN RED, WHITE, AND BLUE

 The chair on the left now looks more orange....oh, well. I like the combination of thse colors along with the yellow wall.

TEAPOTS

We visited my favorite Serbian restaurant yesterday, and I took a shot of their one window (actually there are two like this) that faces one street. Someone either donated their entire collection of teapots, cups and saucers, sugar bowls, and creamers to the restaurant. They are all beautiful. This is just a close-up of one window.
 

MY FAVORITE SERBIAN RESTAURANT

This restaurant, RESTORAN VUK (pronounced 'vooook),') is my favorite Serbian restaurant. The link is only in Serbian, but you can check out its interior in color and drool over some of its cuisine. Classic, and I hope for many more years, an excellent old-world dining experience. 
 

PRETTY IN THE BUS

 Up to my old tricks again with my 16-50mm lens, usually set at 16mm. This young woman was lost in thought and totally unaware of me sneaking a shot, my hands gently folded over the shutter button. Thank you, Nikon, for a completely noiseless shutter.....

A TOUCH OF SPRING

As I sat in the bus at its beginning stop downtown waiting for the driver to hop  back in and roll on (he'd been on a break), I noticed these tulips in the window of Hotel Amsterdam. The hotel itself is very unappealing from the outside, but I've just checked ITS WEBSITE, and the rooms are top-notch. Not bad tulips either.

TWO SHAVED HEADS

I was attracted first by the hairdo on the woman in the foreground, but when I looked more closely after taking the shot, there's another shaved head person walking away. Click and view this photo. She' got tattoos and lots of rings, too.

ON THE PHONE

 On the phone....and who isn't these days?  This elegant gentleman is engrossed in a conversation, but at least seems to watch where he's going. The lady in the background is checking her phone, too. I am guilty from time to time, but never walk while on the phone.

DARN GROUNDHOG

There is no custom here of a groundhog seeing its shadow on February 2, most likely because the groundhog is a North American animal. Be that as it may, in Pennsylvania Punxutawney Phil, the town's resident groundhog did indeed see his shadow. Seems like he's working internationally now for yesterday we got more snow.

LAST EVENING'S SUNSET

 I guess I should call this 'Essence of Sunset, ' since the sun itself is out of view. Its lovely colors filtered through my curtains. 

YORKIE DRESSED TO THE NINES

This little fellow was dressed for a photo shoot, haha, and he had his hair done, too. I looked up the expression 'dressed to the nines,' and couldn't find its exact origin, though most sites point to Scotland.
 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

 Remember lovle locks? Around the world they were tokens of couples' love for each other, but soon became a pain in the fence for cities. Most were taken away along with the fences that had to be replaced = $$$.

I saw this one lonely heart on a fence in Kalemegdan Park....Not sure how long it's been there, but it's all alone.....

Like other holidays, Valentine's Day is familiar to most Serbs and kitchy love junk is hawked here, too. 

THE SOCK SELLER

 I took this photo last Monday at the open market. Open markets are notoriously empty on Mondays, but this fellow thought he'd give it a go. Not sure he had a lot of business, but he did help me out with a photo.

MARKET ART?

 I can across this 'piece of art' on a wall at a nearby open market. I am wondering if it was intentional or not.

RED TRANSPORTATION

 "That's a real cherry bike," they would have said in admiration when I was in high school. Indeed it is bright cherry-red like the bus in the background. I was rather surprised to see a red bus, because most now have been painted blue.

FOGGY AND OVERCAST

 Double weather whammy with gray skies and fog, too.

MONDAY MURALS ---STILL NOTHING....

 I think I have photographed this area in the large park next to government building quite a while ago.  It appears that something was started there, but never finished, and probably won't be.  Someone took advantage of the wall for a mural.

See other murals on MONDAY MURALS.

ŽUĆA

 There is a fair number of street dogs here in Belgrade. Some have it rough, having to scrounge for food and shelter. Others have the good fortune of being informally adopted by a neighborhood. This is the home of Žuća (ZHOO-cha), which roughly translates to 'Goldie'. She is old and has lived in this house for years. Someone pimped it up for the holidays. Žuća wasn't in when I took this photo. I found her waiting in front of the local butcher shop around the corner. 

A SPLASH OF COLOR

I know it's early for spring. I glimpsed some forsythia near where I live, but otherwise I am surrounded with drabness. However, today downtown I came across these tulips in a window that made my day.
 

TROMPE L'OEIL

I did a bit of a double take when I saw this bike leaning against a wall....but it isn't leaning; it's painted on the wall.

THE ACCIDENTAL ARTIST

Yesterday I caught this lady hanging out her laundry; folded-over sheets or curtains, not sure. She is the accidental artist OF THIS PHOTOGRAPH that I coincidentally took in black and white at this time last year. That 'seize the moment'photo is one of my favorites. Click and see.

SHARED WITH NEW FRIENDS

My birthday's gone for this year and I happily shared the rest of my homemade cake with two new friends from Jordan who traveled back to Belgrade with my son from his recent trip!

FROM SCRATCH

 No boxed mixes for me. Made for a special occasion yesterday. 

STILL THERE

 I just checked my past posts because, although I've photographed many cats, this one doesn't show up. He (I think it's a he) always sits in the same place down by the river, high up and away from dogs. So, today is this kitty's day!

OAK BRANCHES

 This is not an oak tree, but you do see here two bunches of oak branches. On Serbian Orthodox Christmas on January 7th, it is the custom to burn a bunch on your terrace on in your yard to ensure good health and prosperity. Some people don't have a yard or terrace and so, because the bunches should never be discarded as yrash, they are returned to Nature, as seen here. 

APPLES

 I don't eat as many apples as I should, but I love to photograph them. 

NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING

The dog and its owner stood fairly still for my photo, even though they were oblivious to my snapping a shot. I was on my way home from downtown where I had been cruising the streets for photos. Nothing came of that, so you get this one!

NOT PAYING ATTENTION

 Had lunch with a friend at a very good restaurant yesterday. Their food is excellent and so is the service, but yesterday the latter could have been much better. Had to call the waiter 3 times, he never dropped by to see how everything was, forgot the sugar for our espresso.... But I am sure he got his text messages out of the way. 

FILM NOIR

My urban neighborhood is often used for filming. Above is just a passer-by, but the whole scene reminded me of something from a FILM NOIR.