Romania

Last weekend a friend and I went on a tour of two cities in nearby Romania, Timisoara and Arad, both of which have a large number of Serbs living in them, and are birthplaces of several well-known Serbian historical figures. I haven't been a fan of organized tours, but I must say this one was really well done. Aside from taking in a great deal of both cities in two days' time, we tasted some of the country's fine wines in two renowned wine cellars, and gobbled down lots of local specialties, including a very spicy (fine with me) goulash. The tour also left us lots of time to wander, which is what I did, photographing both cities' spectacularly beautiful facades and doorways. This doorway wasn't a particularly great beauty, but this little boy wanted me to take his photo so badly, I couldn't refuse.

Big-eared George

Just after I took last Friday's Skywatch photo in Kalemegdan park, I came across this "ancient" carving in a stone on a nearby wall. It says, "Big-eared George," and indeed this fellow with the nickname Djoka for George (Djordje) does have big ears, or at least one, as far as I can see. This carving reminds me of one you can see here that I posted not long ago. But that one is for real!

PUPU lingerie?

Well, if you have to come up with a brand name for lingerie or almost anything else for that matter, PUPU (poo-poo) probably isn't the best one you could think of. At least in English.

No fair pushing!

Of course this magpie didn't really give his buddy in front a shove, or did he?

Skywatch: An eye on the horizon

Not much of a gorgeous sky, but the sky IS most of the photo! In its long and tumultuous history, Belgrade had often changed names and rulers. When the Scordisci (a Celtic tribe) set uptheir stronghold Singidunum at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers in the third century, the city at the "crossroads of the worlds" had been already been conquered by the Byzantines, the Gepidae, the Sarmatians, the Eastern Goths, the Slavs, the Avars, the Francs, the Bulgarians, the Hungarians, the Ottomans, the Austrians, the Germans... each of whom gave the city their respective names: Singedon, Nandor, Fehervar, Nandor Alba, Alba Graeca, Grieschisch Weisenburg, Alba Bulgarica, Taurunum... However, its Slavic name Belgrade, meaning White City, has lasted the longest. The British Encyclopedia of Cities mentions that Belgrade has suffered the greatest number of battles waged for it, and is also the city with the greatest number of symbolic names: The Hill of Battle and Glory, the Hill for Meditation, the House of Wars, the Egypt of Rumelia, the House of Freedom, the Gateway of the East – the Gate of the West...take your pick!

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Barbie and Ken go Serbian!

I've seen many a Barbie and Ken in national dress of countries where I've traveled and now Serbia is no exception. (These actually are most likely take-offs of the famous couple!) They were proudly displayed in a shop that rents Serbian folk dance outfits. I like the handiwork on them all the way down to their intricate leather shoes called 'opanci," (OH-pahn-tsee). Check out more 'opanci' here .

ABC Wednesday "P" is for "Pig"

Recently I've been in a "look up and admire facades" phase, and have taken scores of photos of statues, decorative heads, and stonework in various states of disrepair. Sometimes a building's artwork is in good shape, as the little naked girls here who are fearfully looking down from their fifth floor ledges. But there's a pig up there, too. An unusal addition, to say the least, and I've asked around, but have no explanation for its presence on this apartment building. On the ground floor there's a pharmacy that's been there for ages, but who knows---perhaps long ago the building belonged to a prosperous pork butcher...except that the pig's floor looks like a relatively recent addition to this older building.

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MOOSH-moo-lay!

Bet most of you don’t know what these are, and I didn’t either before I came here. They’re medlars, locally called mušmule (MOOSH-moo-lay) and they grow on shrubs or small trees. They’re very hard and acidic and become edible after being softened by frost or in storage. Then the inside is reminiscent of apple sauce. They can then be eaten raw, or used to make jelly, wine, and medlar “cheese," similar to lemon curd. The medlar is native to Persia and was also grown by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Medlars were very popular during the Victorian era. Since it’s a fruit that is ‘rotten’ when it is ripe, the medlar was used figuratively in literature as a symbol of prostitution or premature destitution. One of Geoffrey Chaucer's characters laments his old age, comparing himself to the medlar. I never cared for them, but I tasted some of the ones I bought for this photo, and they're not bad after all.

Mutt Show!

Yesterday an International Dog Show was held at Belgrade's Fairgrounds. Classy pooches from all over Serbia and the surrounding area came to strutt their stuff and show off for the judges. But that's not the part of the show I went to see. Held at the same time in the same large arena was ORCA's (Organization for the Respect and Care of Animals) Mixed Breed Show, which has proven to be very popular over the years and gets better and better each time. There were categories for the shaggiest, the most dispobedient, the loudest barker, the most beautiful tail, the sweetest, and so on. I was asked to hand out the awards. Fortunately a panel of judges chose the winners; I'd have been hard-pressed to choose. Why me, you ask? Because I have written three children's books here (two editions of each; one English, one Serbian,) and two of them have to do with stray dogs. ORCA uses one of them in its education campaign in schools. But enough of tooting my horn. This is Tamara and her friend Andy. Tamara and Andy represent the Green Battle for Environment and Animal Rights. I have a weakness for dogs with a visible underbite.... Bibi thought he was cute, too. (Don't you just love the positioning of Andy's leaf?)

Hard times for many all the time.

With the world's financial crisis the way it is, many people are justifiably worried about their savings. But there many others who, for whatever reason, have never known what it is to save or even be able to save or live a comfortable life. I've seen these homeless fellows downtown for a long time. They're always in this same place, and for them it is their home. In the dead of winter they disappear, most likely to one of Belgrade's shelters, but always return.

THEME DAY--BOOKS: One of my favorite books

One of my best-loved books is Walden, by Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American author and philosopher. Walden is a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and simplicity and self-reliance were Thoreau's goals. He made clear in this book that his cabin was not in the wilderness, but at the edge of town, not far from his family home. Mama Thoreau undoubtedly often brought him goodies, but that’s what mothers are for, after all! Thoreau did not intend to live as a hermit, but rather to live at a distance from society in order to raise his awareness of how one's life is lived, materially and otherwise, and how one might choose to live it more deliberately, mindful of the present moment. He put into practice the Transcendentalist belief that one can best transcend normality and experience the Divine through nature. Some say he was the precursor of American Buddhism, since he was perhaps the first American to explore the nontheistic mode of contemplation which is the distinguishing mark of Buddhism. One of my favorite quotes of his is: “Our life is frittered away by detail—simplify, simplify!”

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