Little Mila again, fervently pulling my son's (her father) chest hair. I spared you his pained expression.
Are you confused? My recent photos have been of Seattle, and of course you can see that this one is of Baby Mila at bathtime, here in Belgrade. In cyberspace, I'm still in Seattle, simply because I don't have time to flit around the city now taking photos. The hand in the foreground belongs to my 87-year-old mother, whom I've brought back here with me. Health care is very expensive in the US, and here for a quarter of the price, she has the same care, and is only a phone call away.
Don't these cups of ground chestnut with whipped cream look good? They sell for around $2.00 each. Not a bad cake with peanuts and ground walnuts either....and that chocolate cake would be just the thing for my son's birthday today. Happy Birthday!!!
....aaannnd "celebration," since today, lest you have forgotten, is my birthday! Enjoy a piece of "cyber cake" (more c's!) Take your pick!
How time flies; a cliche, but so true. The older I get the more I realize you have to treasure each and every moment. Today is my daughter's birthday and much time has passed since this photo was taken of her with her big brother. I get all teary and nostalgic when writing posts like this, so I'll just end before I start, with a Happy Birthday to my (always) little girl. I love you.
I have no green thumb. The only plants that do well for me are those that need either a lot of water or no water. I am always pleased when one of my cacti blooms like this one did. If you remember, I 'deflowered' one of my cacti last year when my tripod fell over on it. I took no chances with this one; used a long lens and no tripod.
Regrets, we all have them. This is one of mine. Above is a pair of shoes my husband constantly wore around casually, and I hated them. They were run-down at the heel, the front part of one was becoming detached, they were all scuffed and smelly, and I only half-jokingly kidded him that they made him look like a bum. I threatened to throw them away so he would buy new ones, but didn't. Now, they are a dear, dear reminder of someone I loved and who would have been 63 today; he was too young to have left us at only 61. He was wearing these shoes in this photo, I'm pretty sure. If he were only here, I'd let him wear these shoes everyday, forever, and never nag again...
...and to the little boy on the right, who shares a birthday with him! This is my 3rd grade English as an Additional Language class (the 3rd grade is bigger; these are just the kids who come to me.) Their current theme unit is on 'expression,' and what better way than to learn about van Gogh, who expressed himself so well through his paintings? I invited a stand-in for Vincent, who would have been 147 today. The little doll is part of a series called Little Thinkers that you can read about by clicking on that link. They're fun gifts...and Vincent has a removable ear...
Well, guess what the weather is...again. I decided to take advantage of the snow to make my friend Marianne in NYC some cupcakes for her birthday. Lo-cal for sure.
Nothing more decadent than a lot of chocolate...and a few marzipan friends. Here is a sample of some cakes that my son and fiancee brought to me on Friday night, since neither could be with me on my actual birthday (Groundhog's Day!). The three of us each got our own marzipan buddy (I got the frog) and shared the rest. There's still some in my refrigerator, but for how long, I'm not sure....
If these look a teeny familiar for you longer-term readers of mine, you saw them all in blue right here. Passing by this shop the other day, I saw these seltzer bottles in different colors, with the sun reflecting through.
...but fortunately not 'deeper in debt,' as goes Tennessee Ernier Ford's song, "Sixteen Tons." (Just saw on Wiki that he was an Aquarius, too; Feb. 13th!)
Yes, it's been one year since I first posted my number one entry at Yankee-in-Belgrade. Many things have transpired in my life since then, good and bad, but among the good are you, my many cyberfriends I've met through this blog and visiting others. In your honor, I invite you to have a glass of (cyber) wine on me.
Having grown up in the US, I remember the poppy seed rolls that my grandfather used to bring home to accompany our Sunday dinner. That was the extent of my poppy seed experience. Here in Belgrade, they're put to a different use in the form of poppy seed cake roll like the one pictured above. Sometimes raisins are added, too. My husband LOVED this cake very much, but I never acquired a taste for it, since poppy seeds for me are for dinner rolls, not sweets.
At 31, my son is hardly a baby anymore, but as all mothers who read this know, we always tend to think of them as "baby boy" and 'baby girl". Above is an arrangement I made for my son's birthday, similar to the one I made for my daughter last October. You can see his first bunny, tiny moccasins, a cat/fox (never could tell), his much-loved Curious George (original nose was chewed off), a soap carving, a carved owl, a dragster, a Swiss Army knife, and a little Serbian boy candle, all arranged on his first knitted blanket. Gosh, how time flies. Happy Birthday, "Baby Boy," and many, many more. Your sister and I love you, and I know your father is with us all today.
Today my daughter is....older than she was yesterday! Because she's living in the U.S. and can't celebrate with her brother and me, we gathered together some of her childhood friends. The little fellow in the blue pyjamas is Edward, named after a friend's son who was born about the time she received the doll as a present. Edward was/is much loved; his left eye doesn't close anymore, and his body bears marks of a bout with a ball point pen. The little Cabbage Patch girl in the middle (ashamed to say I have forgotten her name...) was selected because my daughter liked her lips. On the right is Hospital Baby, dating from the time when my daughter was hospitalized for bronchopneumonia when she was only two. The only doll she could take with her was one that could be washed easily. Edward is holding my daughter's favorite spoon, which used to be mine when I was little. They're all sitting on a small patchwork I made for her when she was born. Each patch tells a tale, too. Happy, happy birthday to my little baby. Mama and big brother love you, and we know your father is looking over you too, with love.These were full cases of beer, a sign that summer is in full spring, and that it's still darn hot. I imagine the grocery store's fr...
