Meet the Gourds

"Meet the Fockers", "Meet the Flintstones", and now it's time to "Meet the Gourds"!

Daily Haiku

Gourds dried and hollow

Old, fragile, but can still be

Pleasing to the eye

 

ABC WEDNESDAY "M" is for "Moving on"

Meet Mr. Djordje Stefanovic, whose little bookbinder's shop appears on the left of the bottom photo.  The shop has been in his family for over sixty years, but now, sadly, there's no one in his family who's interested in carrying on the trade.  I've come to him several times to have books rebound, the last of which was my son's favorite (and now little Mila's; I've ordered one for my grandson, Luka), Dr. Seuss's Old Hat, New Hat, which was showing the signs of much love from my son.

Djordje's going to retire after the first of the year....  I wish him well, and now don't know where I'll go....

See other M's on Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC WEDNESDAY.

Daily Haiku

   We turn life's pages

Like those in the books we love

Until we reach the end

High Street

 Not a scene from London's High Street, to be sure. This scene, an unintentional still life, caught my eye while strolling in the adjacent community of Zemun.

Daily Haiku

We don't often see

Until all of a sudden

We open our eyes

  

After so many years....

This past weekend I had the honor and great pleasure of the company of a former student of mine.....from 30 years ago!!  Arzu, from Turkey, was in grade seven at the International School of Belgrade when I taught English as a Second Language. She knew not one single word, but made excellent progress throughout the school year. Sadly, she left Belgrade, along with her brother Cem, at the end of that year.  We wrote for a while, then as often happens, especially in the pre-Internet/email era, we lost contact.  Thanks to Facebook, I found her again a short while ago. I was so happy when she wrote to say she was coming to Belgrade, "just to see me".  And we had a great time.  We were teacher-student, now we are friend-friend.

 Arzu, I know you're reading this, and I will, will get to Istanbul in the not-so-far-off future, and that's a promise.

Daily Haiku

Thirty years gone by

Time stands still for no one

We will meet again

SUNDAY BRIDGES--that bridge again

A gloomy and grainy photo of the Bridge On Ada, with the tower from the Old Belgrade Fairgrounds (later turned into a concentration camp during WWII) in the foreground.

Weather's a bit clearer now, but last week it looked just like this at times.

See other bridges on Louis La Vache's SUNDAY BRIDGES.

Daily Haiku

Mists of times gone by

Blend with shadows of the new

Nothing ever changes

  

Weekend Reflection--How many....?

Me reflected in some sort of fancy pot in the window of the Zepter Museum in downtown Belgrade. And there are a lot of other reflections, too.  How many?  I was lazy to count....

See other reflections at James' WEEKEND REFLECTION.


Daily Haiku

What we think we see
Can sometimes be reflections
Of a deeper truth   

SKYWATCH--sunset in Trebinje

My son has been working for a while in Bosnia, commuting back and forth.  That of course isn't fun, but seeing sights such as this make it worthwhile, at least a little.  Trebinje (TRAY-bean-yeh) is a town in Bosnia-Herzegovina that lies about 11 kilometers from the Adriatic Sea, and is quite a tourist spot.

Read more about it here.

See more beautiful skies on SKYWATCH.

Daily Haiku

We take for granted

That the sun rises and sets

But if it did not?   

Classic beauties

Some people would be afraid to drive such classic beauties on busy city streets, but these two cars sat unharmed in downtown Belgrade.  I'm not a car person, but they were so 'cherry', as we used to say in the sixties....

By the way, the shop visible behind the car in the top photo is the pastry shop where these little delights come from.

Daily Haiku

Sit behind the wheel

For a moment feel the thrill

Of classic beauty 

ABC WEDNESDAY "L" is for "lastiš"

"Lastiš" (LASS-teesh) is a game once played by many young girls here in Serbia, though I must admit I haven't seen any demonstrations in a long, long time. My daughter, now just over thirty, used to love to play. I'm not quite sure of the rules, but it's played with a long stretch of elastic (Lastiš) and somehow vaguely reminds me of jump rope.

This photograph comes to you courtesy of this site and you may find more information there.

 See other L's on Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC WEDNESDAY.
 

Daily Haiku

Jump rope, hopscotch, jacks

Hide and seek, tag, and four-square

What games did you play?

THEME DAY--details

Today is City Daily Photo's Theme Day.  Details it is!  These are raindrops on a round window in my apartment.  The rest of my windows sported many more....rain all day, cold, too.

See other details right here.

Daily Haiku

Like a witch's tears

Tiny drops of cold chill me

To my very core

The butterfly lady

I think she's beautiful anyway with all that gorgeous red hair, even without the painted butterfly.  I snapped this young woman at the Belgrade zoo two weeks ago. In addition to seeing the animals, my son's family and I also enjoyed the presence of various youth performers, including dance groups, magicians, and acrobats.

I didn't see anyone doing face painting like this, but maybe they had fluttered away....oh, that's baaaad.

Daily Haiku

Their powdery wings

In colorful camouflage

 Vanish before me