Roof tiles

Came across these carefully stacked roof tiles in a town not far away. They're waiting to be put back on the roof of a house that's having some repair done. I like it when people make an attempt to keep the original building materials on old houses, insofar as possible. Thrifty and pretty at the same time.

What do you believe?

This graffiti is on one of the side entrances to Saint Marko's church downtown, and reads, "What do you believe?"

Dear Readers, I apologize that I had to change my settings not to allow anonymous comments, since I've recently been visited by a rant-and-raver. The Internet's a wide territory, and I'm sure that person will find another outlet to vent his/her dissatisfaction. These City Daily Photo blogs are for enjoyment and fun, and are not to be used as a soapbox.

Skywatch -Three Cranes and a Rainbow

A few weeks ago we had a major rainstorm, and this is the rainbow that appeared over a still dark sky afterwards.

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Red!

Frequent readers may think red is my favorite color, but it isn't. I am just fascinated when I see people wear it well. This lady was strolling down Belgrade's pedestrian street, oblivious to the looks of passers-by....well, maybe she was enjoying the looks of the passers-by.

ABC Wednesday 'Q' is for 'Quite a fork!'

A weekend trip to the country yielded this photo of 'quite a fork'. A hayfork, I believe!

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"I'm lovin' it!"

She must be lovin' it with so many fishing rods.

Le Rouge et le Noir

Nothing at all to do with Stendahl's novel 'The Red and the Black' other than the title. These two young women were attentively listening to an animal rights group's speaker downtown on Sunday's Europe Day celebration. Serbia is not yet a member of the European Union, but would like to be. To do so, Serbia has to meet EU requirements, and one is the humane treatment of animals. Although both of these girls appear to be wearing leather boots and perhaps a leather skirt (the speaker was ranting about not eating meat or wearing leather), one has a faux-fur purse!

And yes, I couldn't help but photograph still another redhead!

Give me back what's mine!

Can you imagine owning a home or property, then having it confiscated by the State? This woman most probably had parents to whom such a thing happened, and as their descendent, is protesting the fact that only Serbia has not yet adopted laws regarding the return of property that is rightfully hers. This photo was taken at yesterday's Europe Day Celebration in downtown Belgrade.

The Network for Restitution (NFR) or 'Mreza za Restituciju' as it is known here, is a non-profit citizen's group that offers support and free legal advice for Holocaust and Communist terror survivors trying to regain confiscated homes from the W.W.II era.

In Serbia, the only country in Europe that did not return to its citizens' property confiscated by the communists and the Nazis, there are around 500,000 people waiting to get their property back.

Restitution of property to the rightful owners is not just the righting of a historical wrong. When foreign investors inquire about buying land in Serbian cities, they encounter serious problems with land ownership rights.

'tis the season....

Strawberry season is starting up, and you can find more and more of these juicy berries on Belgrade markets. The imported ones have been around for a while, but the homegrown ones are soooooo sweet and juicy. I absolutely love strawberries. I eat them with just a teeny bit of sugar, or slice them over homemade shortcake. Yum. Currently, a kilo of strawberries runs around 180 dinars or about $2.50 (about $1.25 a pound). Prices will rapidly drop with the onslaught of more berries.

It's four-fifteen, honest.

Yes, it's four-fifteen, not three-twenty, as it might appear. This clock is on a tower on the fortress overlooking the Danube in Novi Sad, a city about 70 kms from Belgrade. The builders decided it was more important for passing ships to know the hour, not the minutes, so they made the long hand the hour hand. See the full view of the same clock here .

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Here comes the fuzz!

If you're looking for the cops, there aren't any in this photo. Here you see the leaves and young shoots of the White Poplar tree ('topola' in Serbian.) The young shoots are covered with whitish-grey down that eventually loosens and blows off in the wind to such an extent that sometimes it looks like it's snowing. This 'fuzz' is really annoying. It flies in your nose, in your mouth, in your plate if you're eating outdoors, and in your windows. If you're wondering why 'fuzz' is used as slang for the police, here's what Wikipedia says that the word may have arisen "as a term of contempt for police based on the use of 'fuzz' or 'fuzzy' in other items of derogatory criminal slang of the period. To be 'fuzzy' was to be unmanly, incompetent and soft. "