ABC Wednesday "I" is for "Inspire"

Have to brag a bit on this ABC Wednesday. About a year ago, I got a phone call from a publishing company that was launching the Hyatt Regency's new magazine, Inspire. The editor had seen my articles and some photos in a local newspaper I used to write for, and asked if I was interested in doing a Belgrade Patchwork for the magazine. I was, and I've done a patchwork (10 photos plus text) in each of the Inspires so far, the fourth is due out in a few weeks.

If you click right HERE and click on the second image under Inspire 1, and then click again, you'll see some photos (from my blog, of course!) you might find familiar.

It's been lots of fun...and inspiring, too!

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Say what?

I'm afraid there's not much respect for public property here, as can be seen from this monument dating from 1961, when it honored the first conference of non-aligned countries. It was restored in 1989 for the ninth conference, but since then....

Let's clean up Serbia!

That's what this sign promoting campaign to do just that says, from recycling to fines for littering. However, it should be subtitled "Plan Ahead," since those who hung the vinyl/nylon sign neglected to notice they were covering up someone's window.... It looks like the tenant found a solution, though.

And Novak Djokovic looks pretty good with a broom, too!

Fading beauty

Kosančićev Venac (KOE-sahn-chee-chev VAY-nahts), with its cobblestone streets, is practically the oldest section of Belgrade outside the walls of the Kalemegdan fortress. From this point the new Serbian town, as opposed to the old Turkish one in the fortress, began expanding in the 1830s along the right bank of the Sava River. In 1971, Kosančićev Venac was officially named a cultural monument because it is the oldest Serbian settlement and the first developed administrative, cultural, spiritual and economic center of the city.

Despite that, this facade has looked absolutely the same for the entire time I've been here, and that's a long time.

Two wooden shoes, two boots, two chairs, and a hat

A side trip to the charming village of Maradik, not far from Belgrade, yielded this photo taken in a restored farmhouse/museum. Note the walls that have been decorated with a rubber roller dipped in paint and just rolled over the walls.

Skywatch Friday -- Hyper-real

This fraction of a moon looked so pretty in the sky in real life, but turned out not so well when I uploaded it. I was about to delete it after I'd finished adjusting the brightness to sort of normal, but Picture Perfect (Nikon's software) had a mind of its own, and kept darkening....and this is the result.

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Two Faces

Did you find the second one? Both faces are quietly contemplating the street below. My guess is that the elderly lady on the balcony has lived in this building a long time, perhaps she was born and raised there. Though the building's facade is in dire need of repair, at least someone has installed air conditioning for her, which she has undoubtedly appreciated during Belgrade's hot, hot summers over the past few years.

ABC Wednesday "H" is for 'Hedgeapple'

I've been kicking these round, green, brainlike fruits around the yard for quite some time, without knowing what they are. Bibi chases them, but her mouth is too small to pick them up. So I Googled "round, green, brainlike fruit" and found out they are hedgeapples, just in time for ABC Wednesday's H. How about that?!

Do you have hedgeapples where you live? You can read about them right here.

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Urbanism devouring a tree

I guess that's what this mural could be called. I'm not sure if it officially has a name, but here's how it was created:

In order to reestablish murals as artistic forms and to facilitate development of art in public places, BELEF (Belgrade Summer Festival), the Telenor Foundation, and the Platform for Contemporary Art have introduced project "Super Wall," which treats Belgraders and visitors to several murals, created by prominent Serbian and European artists, in various locations around the city. This particular mural was painted by a young Italian artist, BLU

Playing with my food again

I did play with my food again, just as I did last October, but this time I had the patience to wait until I was all done with it. Here on my plate is an artistic arrangement of the remains of some small, fried fish called girice (GEEr-eet-say) that I enjoyed in typical American style with a glass of Coke. I looked up girice on the Internet, and they seem to be called picarel, or whitebait smelts. Google those words under 'images' and you'll see. Whatever they're called, they're good.

A Touch of Italy in Belgrade

Yesterday I treated you to a bright yellow wall and window, Mexican style, and now we have here a display that reminds me of windows/walls I have seen on back streets of some Italian cities I've visited. Once again, these windows come to you courtesy of Belgrade's adjacent municipality of Zemun.