Moving van

This car is a moving van wannabe, with the sofa balancing precariously on its roof, and a washing machine stuffed into the trunk. Watch out for those speed bumps!

All the news that's fit to print

"All the news that's fit to print" is the motto of the New York Times. Not sure if the text on this bra and panties was taken from the NYT, and I wonder if anyone will take the time to read it.

SKYWATCH FRIDAY--Pink streaks!

Days are getting shorter and shorter... Recently from inside a restaurant I snapped this photo of the trails two airplanes had left on the violet sky.

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Things go better with Coca-cola!

...or should that be "Cars go better with Coke?" I had to pull over at a distance from this parked car last weekend to take this photo. The gas and motor oil on the roof reminded me so much of how gasoline was sold during the sanctions imposed on then Yugoslavia, and the subsequent bombing of Serbia. Gasoline was more than scarce, and was smuggled in from neighboring countries. It was possible to buy it as you see it here, by the Coke bottle, but more often such bottles were advertisements that more of the brew was available in larger quantities. Gasoline 'merchants' even provided home delivery, and people kept large canisters on their porches. This made me very uneasy, since Serbs smoke big time, and often flick cigarette butts off their balconies...

This lady (yep, a lady's sitting in there) probably has a steady clientele. By the way, I hadn't realized gasoline is pretty much colorless, and it's the additives that give it color. Don't know what the red one is.

ABC Wednesday--Q is for 'Querent'

Actually, the 'querent' is not in this photo. The querent took it, since the word means, 'one who asks a question' (another 'q'). I asked the lady selling this enormous pumpkin how much the entire one weighed. "About 25 kilos," she answered, which is about 55 pounds.

One of these wedges, which baked, will make about 3-4 pumpkin pies. I make mine from scratch this way.

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"Minjoni" for Katarina in Canada

Today's photo fulfills a request from Katarina in Canada, who wrote the following to me:

"I am a Belgrader by birth who has been living in Canada since the age of 9. I love your blog and read it almost every day! One of the things I miss the most about Belgrade is minjoni, and the Petkovic pastry shop on Takovska (number 18, I think) makes the best ones!! The little pastel-coloured fondant squares in the little crinkle papers bring back so many memories to me and I make sure to have them every time I go back to BGD..."

I was more than happy to oblige Katarina, and as you see, I bit into one (just for the sake of art, of course, so you could see the inside...), and by the time you read this, the 'petits fours' called minjoni (MEEN-yo-nee) here, will be history. I've eaten these little cakes before here in Belgrade, but Petkovic's bakery really does make good ones. They're not overly sweet, and the crust is just crunchy enough.... (Minjoni most probably got their name from the French word "mignon," meaning cute, or in the sense of filet mignon, "dainty.")

Anyone have any other requests???

The Berlin Wall in Belgrade, or 'Gone with the Wind'

Like many other cities in Europe aside from Berlin, 'Berlin Walls' were constructed to be torn down today, November 9th, on the 20th anniversary of the real wall's fall. In cooperation with the Goethe Institute here, German artist Frank Betler constructed a heavy cardboard 'brick' wall on Republic Square over two days' time. It was 40 meters long and three meters high. On this link you can see the artist at work, on a bright sunny day. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans for the wall, and right here you can see the result of strong winds and snow that hit the city on November 3rd. At that point, the wall was not completely damaged, and would have stood until the 9th when the rest would have been knocked down, but (and this is unofficial, but reasonably reliable), there were reports of late-night hooliganism that involved leaping over the wall and knocking it down.

So here you see the wall all packed up. Under the plastic are the remaining flattened cardboard boxes, and the poster panels are lying beside them.

Addendum: I'm adding this after the 8th comment. This morning I saw that now instead of the collapsed wall will be a 'Berlin Museum' that will be opened this evening by the German Ambassador. In this small 'museum' will be photographs of the original Berlin Wall and other memorabilia. If you want to see it, go:here.

Women's rights

With several of my past photos having been taken out my automobile window, you must think I spend my waking hours in a car. I was actually a passenger when I took this photo. Belgrade Boys are a particular group of Red Star soccer team fans gone bad...hooligans in the worst sense, but this blog isn't the place to go into that. Google if you like.

Not a group to emulate, and I can only hope that the 'girls' simply wanted a voice.

Serbian Orthodox "All Souls' Day"

Today is All Souls' Day for members of the Serbian Orthodox faith. It's actually called Zadušnice, which doesn't really translate as All Souls' Day, but the idea is basically the same, except zadušnice happen (the word is a plural) four times a year. These are days when when people visit the graves of loved ones, light candles for the souls of the dead, and offer food and drink at the graveside. These days always fall on a Saturday, usually on a second Saturday before the beginning of the Lenten season (Easter and Christmas, since Orthodox Serbs avoid fats during those periods), the Saturday before the Holy Trinity Day, (12th October), and Saint Demetrius Day (8th November).

This photo was taken looking away from my husband's grave that my son and I visited.

Skywatch Friday--Serbia from the Heart

Not your typical Skywatch for sure, but there are two skies in this photograph. One is idyllic, with a beautiful Serbian girl and bucolic scene proclaiming "Serbia from the Heart".

The scene below, with a hazy sky, depicts what I call 'the fringe factor' of New Belgrade's flea market. The actual flea market is behind the blue fence and back a bit. It is not a flea market in the true sense, but rather sells new goods, some real, some fake. If you wish to sell there, you need to rent a stand.

However, just outside its gate, stretch along the boulevard and under the railroad overpass, you will find masses of people, trying to make a few dinars selling what you would find on a true flea market, but not nearly as valuable. You can literally find the proverbial kitchen sink here.

(Did I say I took this from the car again while stopped at a red light...?)

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What do you do in the bus?

Or perhaps you don't take the bus? Sometimes I do, and sometimes I take my car, like I did when I snapped this photo at a red light....I do this a lot.

The gentleman is reading a newspaper while another passenger reads over his shoulder. The lady in front is pick...uh, scratching her nose, another lady appears lost in her thoughts, and I can't make out what the silhouetted mystery figure is doing.

Perhaps she is watching me.