WINTER

 

I have written about the Serbian poet Desanka Maksimovic before. Here her statue sits under a cover of snow.

I did find one poem she wrote about winter, but couldn't find an English translation. Here is another that at least mentions snow!

DEATH OF A RAVEN

It's the last day of the old raven.
His turn has come and soon a pall
Of darkness will cover him up. But for now
He suspects nothing at all
As he plods along over virgin snow
Like a peasant, flits up and alights
On a bush, shakes the ice
From a branch, rubs his beak on his claw…
From behind the blue mountain a moon is emerging,
Colder, more vast than ever was seen hitherto,
As though slowly a door were opening
To let the old raven pass through.

WHEN'S THE NEXT BUS?

 

That's a question that has long been left unanswered for Belgrade citizens. Upon my return, I was pleased to see that these signs are now at every bus stop. Here it says #10 is 22 minutes and 15 stops away. No clue about the 2, 5, and 79... They must be really out of range. I didn't hang around to see.

SWIM FREE ALL SEASON!

 That's what the sign says: free entrance to all Belgraders for the summer season.

Those are going to be very crowded pools. One more reason I avoid public swimming pools.

VERY IMPORTANT SNOOZER

 

I am tired from jet-lag from my return from the US.

I don't know why this young person is sleepy. Her lapel pin reads 'Važna Osoba,' meaning 'important person'. 

DANCING HOUSE, BELGRADE STYLE

 This building downtown sprouted up in the last three months when I was in Seattle. I rather like the lines and the building reminds me of Prague's famous DANCING HOUSE..

SPRING'S NOT AROUND THE CORNER

 

My last post from Seattle was of a bud and was entitled Spring's Around the Corner. Well, my friend in Friday Harbor, Washington sent me this stunning shot of window frost...it was minus 12 degrees....brrr. That bud will take a while to bloom...

JUST AROUND THE CORNER

 

Around the corner is where I took this photo of a new bud and its trees dead leaf. Not sure if spring is around the corner though.

COVID EFFECTS

 One of COVID's lingering effects is that many downtown shops in Seattle (and elsewhere) have lost business and have had to close. Such is the case of the one above.

BEFORE THE CLOUD COVER HIT....

 Happy New Year, everyone!  May this be a much better year for us all than the last.

This of course is a shot of the Space Needle (hand-held) here in Seattle around 10 p.m. There was a spectacular light show with fireworks, music, and special effects at midnight....but any decent shots from Queen Anne Hill were next to impossible to catch given the low-lying clouds that rolled in. Mind you, other local photographers with equipment much fancier than mine and good tripods were able to capture some of the show from various vantage points.

The Needle is pink because of T-Mobile, who sponsored the event and whose color is this Pepto-Bismol pink.

LEFTOVER

 

 I came across this huge pumpkin on someone's doorstep while walking the dog last night. A Halloween leftover, albeit not turned into a jack o'lantern.

NIGHTTIME....could be daytime.

 I took this black and white photo the other night downtown.  Given the weather nowadays here, it could very well have been in color....