I have no idea....

....what this is. There was no text anywhere to be seen, and it seems to be a sign left over from a shop that was below it...nothing there now.

Any ideas?

Peeking over the fence

I love to scrounge through flea markets and thrift shops, and I also am a bit of a Peeping Tom (Tomasina). You won't find me leering through your window at night or armed with binoculars from my terrace, but if something is nearly within view over a fence, for me it's fare game!

Such was the case for this serendipitous find on an old street downtown.

But where's the artist...?

White hollyhock

It's still very warm here...warm enough for flowers to keep blooming. Near where I work I saw masses of yellow crocuses.... Here's a hollyhock for you, and a little ant that is still around to walk over it.

Pancakes....or crepes....or 'palacinke'

Another yummy photo for you. Here are two palačinke (PAH-lah-cheen-keh), or Serbian crêpes that I enjoyed with a friend (we had two each....) the other day at an outdoor cafe.
Palačinke are traditionally rolled with jam and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. A variety of different fruit sauces chocolate sauce, hazelnut-chocolate cream, walnuts, fresh fruits, sweet cottage cheese and raisins, cocoa powder, poppy seed, or any combination of can be used.

These palačinke are different from the traditional ones in that they are not rolled, but arranged like little sacks. They're filled with a cooked apple filling, seasoned with cinnamon, very similar to an American apple pie filling. They were good...

Skywatch Friday---Saint Sava

Not a fabulous sky, but I like this photo, since it is a hand-held one that turned out! This is a statue of Saint Sava, standing in front of the large Serbian Orthodox church which bears his name. Please click on the link for more info about him!

Join others at Skywatch Friday.

Gotcha.

I wonder how many of you saw this "naked lady" on the portal and clicked just to see what it was. This painting, along with many, many others, is part of an exhibit of One Hundred Years of Serbian Art at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, one of the most eminent scientific and art institutions in Serbia. It is also one of the oldest (founded in 1886) and largest academies in South-East Europe.

I attended the exhibit, which is free to the public, and was very impressed by the paintings, especially those of the Impressionist period.

ABC Wednesday "L" is for "Lonely and lugging."

Where are your friends when you need them? I was really puzzled by this poor guy, who had some sort of cast/brace on his foot, who was limping (another L) along, lugging something obviously heavy in that black bag. What's inside? Water skis that may be responsible for the cast/brace? I'll never know.

Join others on ABC WEDNESDAY.

Gimme that chocolate!!!

Snapped this shot the other day while in the bus going downtown. It's another ad like this one for Milka chocolate, and the ad reads, "One bite and you're there."

At first I was tempted to crop the photo so that it would really be a trompe l'oeil, but then I realized you can see not only one but two of my previous posts off to the left.

Red, red, red.

Some of you are probably going to think I have a 'red' fetish, since I've often photographed, for example, several women here who have brilliant red hair. It's now fall, and in Serbia it is the season for making ajvar , (EYE-var) which you can see in the jar and on the plate. It's made from roasted ground, eggplant, sweet red peppers, and garlic, and is eaten as a spread, an addition to roast meat, or just by itself. Yum. If you like it hot, add a hot pepper or two when you grind it.

And the red tablecloth has been in my family since I was a kid, and that's a long time ago...

So...which one was it?

This sign that advertises an outlet center says, "Every second person at this bus stop didn't know what to wear this morning."

So....was it the guy or the gal?

Bad bubbly, but who cares!

Since I've given my blog a new banner with glasses, it's only fitting that one of the first posts be one with a glass...of Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin. While my 'kids' were on their honeymoon, I opened a bottle of this champagne that my daughter and son-in-law had bought at the duty free shop on their way here. I wanted to share this bottle with some dear friends who'd flown over for the wedding, both of whom are wine connoisseurs.

"Cheers,' we wished each other, and took a sip. My tastebuds told me that something wasn't quite right, but it wasn't so wrong either...I just imagined I was in a wine cellar drinking champagne, for there was a distinctive musty scent and taste. My friend was sniffing the cork, and I knew what was coming: "Cork taint," she announced. "It happens now and then."

Although she decided not to drink anymore, her husband's first question was, "Will it hurt me?" Upon receiving a negative answer, he and I finished off the bottle....

Wiki says this: "Cork taint is a broad term referring to a wine fault characterized by a set of undesirable smells or tastes found in a bottle of wine, especially spoilage that can only be detected after bottling, aging and opening. Though modern studies have shown that other factors can also be responsible for taint – including wooden barrels, storage conditions and the transport of corks and wine – the cork is normally considered to be responsible, and a wine found to be tainted on opening is said to be "corked". Cork taint can affect wines irrespective of price and quality level. The chief cause of cork taint is the presence of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) in the wine. Corked wine containing TCA has a characteristic odor, variously described as resembling a moldy newspaper, wet dog, damp cloth, or damp basement."

I'm none the worse for it...