Snoozing by the river

No comment, apart from "Sweet dreams!" And also to say that this was taken just a couple of weeks ago, when we were still in summer....

FLASH! The Flintstones Visit Belgrade!

I'll bet Fred and Wilma pimped their foot-powered car and drove it to Belgrade, where I had the great fortune to photograph it, though the Flintstones were nowhere in sight. This little eco-friendly beauty has it all: air conditioning, spacious trunk, great visibility, padded seats and headrests, plenty of headroom, and space for the family dog...or small dinosaur. Its easily-readable gas gauge tells you at a glance how much fuel you have left, and entering and exiting is a breeze (literally). Best of all, spare parts are never a problem, and I think Fred and Wilma were probably out shopping for headlights. (I was wondering if those green ropes are seatbelts... )



P.S. This actually is a car that is regularly driven by Romi, or gypsies, as they make their rounds throughout the city, picking up old newspapers, metal, or odds and ends.

The Family Founder

Went to a really interesting lecture the other night at the National Bank of Serbia, where a well-known Serbian archeologist spoke about the Lepenski Vir culture. Lepenski Vir is an important Mesolithic archeological site located in Eastern Serbia, consisting of one large settlement with around 10 satellite villages. The first excavations were made in 1965. Evidence suggests the first human presence in the locality around dates from around 7000 BC and reached its peak between 5300 BC and 4800 BC. Numerous sculptures and peculiar architecture are testimony to a rich social and religious life led by the inhabitants and the high cultural level of these early Europeans. It was only in 1967 that its importance was fully understood when the first Mesolithic sculptures were discovered. The excavations ended in 1971 when the whole site was relocated 29.7 meters higher to avoid flooding from a new artificial lake created in the Iron Gorge, where the Danube flows between the Carpathian and Balkan Mountains. This little guy is called "The Family Founder."

ABC Wednesday: "J" is for "Just snoozing?"

Kind of a weak "J" this week... This photo was taken not long ago in Vranje, a city not far from the Bulgarian border about 3-4 hours' drive from Belgrade. (5+ hours if you take the intercity bus as I had...never again.) The sign says "Beware of the dog," but this guy hardly raised his eyelids when I snapped the shutter. However, maybe he is interested in tasting fingers through the gate if given a chance, since he's chained, rather than running loose. It's a dog's life.

Bad marketing strategy?

Being in the right location is a key ingredient in a business's success. To me, it looks like this fellow who's selling nationalistic souvenirs would do better on one of Belgrade's downtown streets rather than beside a corn field just next to a toll booth on the Belgrade-Novi Sad highway. On the other hand, if he's willing to sit there in the hot sun, I imagine he must have some sort of steady clientele! Note: took this photo a couple of weeks ago before the rain, which has somewhat dimnished, but it's coooold...!

Picnic Time!

I've joined Muse-swings' (http://muse-swings.blogspot.com/) cyber picnic to celebrate the first day of autumn. This is my contribution, a photo I took a short while ago at a History of Bread exhibit downtown. My favorite roll is the one on the left of the basket, which has the same taste as a soft pretzel. There's a pretzel there, too. There's still time to join the picnic! What will you bring?

Romeo, oh Romeo!

A blushing bride on a balcony, perhaps waiting for her groom. Actually, I think she is going to wait a while. She looks kind of scary...

Happy Brush

Wikipedia says that the occupation of chimney sweep "is considered to be one of the oldest in the world," along with, I guess, the other obvious one that comes to mind. Wikipedia also says that in parts of Great Britain it is considered lucky for a bride to see a chimney sweep on her wedding day. It is also considered good luck to shake hands with a chimney sweep or to be blown a kiss by one. Here it's considered good luck to rub one of your buttons if you pass one in the street. This fellow was selling little key chain brushes (100 dinars=$2.00), so I bought one. And he let me take his photo, though he didn't blow me a kiss, darn.

Note: "Srećna" means both "happy" and "lucky" here, so I think his shirt should really be translated "Lucky Brush," since chimney sweeps bring you good luck...or maybe he really is just happy when people buy a keychain brush from him...

Sky Watch Friday--gray sky, orange houseboat

I have a fascination for the houseboats that dot or sometimes even line the riverbanks here. Owners express their individuality without having to strictly adhere to building codes like condo owners often do. This is a pretty spiffy little houseboat, complete with an additional terrace. Cute. I'd like to live here.

Gray rainy days...

It's been so cold and rainy. I don't like to drive downtown from my side of the river, so I often use public transportation. Bus tickets cost 32 dinars each (roughly 54 dinars - $1.00) and there's no system of transfers here, so you need a new ticket each time you change buses. Those who work, elderly, and students qualify for a reduced fare. Anyway, I digress...this is a "camera-placed-on-knees-and-snapped-photo" shot, but I think it turned out rather well.

ABC Wednesday--"I" is for "Ivo Andrić"

Ivo Andrić (1892-1975) was a writer of Serbo-Croatian novels and short stories whose literary career spanned some 60 years. He was awarded the awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961. A Croat by birth, he became a Serb by choice. Ivo Andrić lived and died in the former Yugoslavia, and after his death and the collapse of Yugoslavia, a squabble developed about to whom Andrić belongs. Andrić was of Croatian origin and in young adulthood declared himself a Croat, and the bulk of his early work was written in Croatian. However, the majority of his later works were written in Serbian, and he was influenced by major Serbian cultural icons as Vuk Karadžić and Petar Njegoš. At any rate, Andrić's work is now in the official curricula of Croatian and Serbian literature programs.


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