Welcome...

...was written on a rock when we arrived at the hut after four hours of trekking. Prehodavci is called that part of the Alps where we started our bird monitoring this time. Our lunch was served by a girl who kept forgetting what we ordered. We woke up at 4 a.m., and started our counting about an hour below the hut. It was pleasant to have a cup of tea in the hut two hours later. Up we went, with our heavy backpacks. I will slowly learn to pack less, but I really hadn't expected such high temperatures. To tell the long story short, I am sharing here with you some photos with the comments. I visited the most solitary places I've ever been to. Beautiful places. There's still lots of snow there, we can talk about spring up there and not summer. So, here they are, the photos:

Ž near the hut. So close to the steinbocks we came. There were 28 of them. Just for the two of us. ;)Triglav, our highest mountain. Kanjavec; up there we went. Over 2500 m above sea level, where the view is magnificent. Where do we go next? Alpine Forget-me-nots. It was the first time I spotted them. After steep hills and solitary valleys, we arrived at the mountain pasture called Na Lazu, where kind people live. There we had our lunch, the food for gods. Sour milk, that is. After one more night in one of the huts, we arrived into the Triglav Lakes Valley, one of the most beautiful valleys in our Alps. For me for sure one of the most solitary ones. I felt sadness there in spite of enormous beauty. In 1991, after the war here in Slovenia, I slept in this winter hut on the photo. We haven't met one living human soul then on our two days long trek. Before arriving back to the hut where we started our mountain journey, we arrived at one of the most beautiful lakes I've seen, called Ledvica. I've seen a lot on our paths these past few days and I was thinking a lot about my life. Maybe I will have to give up things and life that I was trying to keep for the last four months. I don't know. Anyway, I have learned a lot, and I am sure that my life will be sweet again. Some day. Soon.

Feng shui

It was many years ago when I received a licence plate for my car with the number LJ-V4 44N. This was in 2002. When I saw it, I didn't really like it, but I didn't make any fuss, because it is not so easy to get the number with three equal numbers.This spring my neighbor gave me some feng shui literature when I complained that everything has been going wrong in my life since I have received the new house number. When I flipped through the pages, I was astonished to read that the three 4's bring bad luck (number four is believed to be unlucky number; lots of effort should be put in everything you do and even then you might not be successful). Alright, I am a bit superstitious, so having a chance to change the number at my next registration, I did exactly that. I am not sure that this number will bring me any luck, but I like it much more than the previous one. Looking back at my life, it wasn't really a happy one, since that day when I started to drive with the three fours on my licence plate.

It is amazing what we are able to do when we are despaired. I told you that I was a bit weird! :)

P.s.: The weather will be great next week, so I will be probably somewhere in the mountains, at least at the beginning of the week. Two days I will be there counting the birds. If the fortune wheel doesn't change direction by then, that is.

Bread of happiness

Last week I received some dough to start making a bread of happiness. Supposedly this bread comes from Vatican. It is more a kind of a sponge than bread, but it is very tasty. If you like it sweet. I didn't exactly follow the rules, because I baked it on Monday instead on Saturday. It tasted good anyway. I also gave only one third away, because everyone was on a vacation or too far away. Right, at least I gave away some of it, which is in my opinion important. I am not sure if this will really fulfill one of my wishes, but I hope it will at least bring some peace into my heart and soul. I will tell you what else I did for this in one of my next posts. I am a weird person, I tell you. :)

Among the butterflies

My computer needed a checkup, and I couldn't post the photos on my blog. So, I also didn't post any words. Words of joy and happiness, and words of sadness and confusion. It's been a hard year for me and I guess this turmoil won't be over so soon as I'd expected. Maybe I will have to make the final cut and let it all go. Soon. To set me free for a new period in my life.

I spent the days running around catching the butterflies, having a good time driving around the flatlands and hills in the NE part of Slovenia. It felt like a holiday again. Though events happened that never should have. I wish all was over already, life has become too difficult to bear. Don't get me wrong - I will survive, but the burden is just too heavy.

I hope that your days were nice and pleasant. Oh, yes, and the weather next week might permit me to go to the mountains again. I can hardly wait! :) It feels like being in the tropics these last few weeks...

Beauties in the air

I've been noticing lately lots of butterflies wherever I go. Where I live, especially one species is very common these days, you can see it on the photo. Most of them have damaged wings, which means that they have accomplished the missions in their lives. They won't live much longer, but they do bring some more joy before they perish - to the people who walk by and admire them for their lightness, litheness, beauty.

P.s.: My colleague who is doing a butterfly monitoring says that there had never been so many butterflies before. At least not in the last few years. I might be taking part in the monitoring tomorrow, so probably I will be back with some news from this part of the world again on Monday.

In my garden, part 2

I have sown turnip yesterday and enjoyed eating raspberries. Those that are ripe in autumn are much bigger, but not as sweet as these that are ripe now. I had peas for dinner and ate too much ice cream. Well, it is summer, after all. Kind of a tropical one this year. People complain a lot about the weather while I don't really care. There's always something that we can do, even if we just lay in bed and rest. My creativeness is still hiding somewhere... :) When my heart and soul will be healed completely, these pages will be full of photos of nice things. Time heals everything, they say. Almost everything.Yes, there's salad in my garden this year! Last year it was eaten by slugs every time the little plants came out of the soil. Rhubarb is finally so big that I will be able to use it. Slugs had their feast in spring. First flowers in my garden - cucumbers: It is definitely summer. The landscape has become dark green, what I can see now is lush vegetation on every corner. And yes, mosquitoes and horse-flies have come out. Lots of them. It is time to go fast, so walking is no alternative in the humid summer days where I live. No wonder I escape to the mountains whenever I can. :)

In my garden

If you visit my garden where I grow vegetables, then it will be obvious in the first moment that things in my life didn't go well this spring. Though when I came home on Sunday, I was rather surprised to see the plants being much bigger than they were three days before. Herbs finally started to grow: Eaten by slugs:In my garden, part two follows tomorrow...

By train

I spent the weekend away from home, again in the NE part of Slovenia. As it was mostly raining all the time, I had lots of time to rest and just do nothing. At my age I could say that it was a day lost, but at the same time nothing could be more pleasant than being with a loved person all day through.Birds were hiding, rain was pouring down. In spite of being in a lazy mood, I did something useful. Walking around we noticed a beetle for which the data has been collected by one of the organizations here in Slovenia. Today I sent a photo and information to them about the sighting of this beetle. It is funny how sometimes such little deeds mean a lot to us.

I hope your weekend was nice and pleasant, too.

2003 = 2009?

It is so weird because 2009 is almost a twin year of 2003 for me. Events keep happening that happened also then. April was a disaster, I hardly survived the spring months. I lost lots of weight then as well, and that year I went to the Simply Red concert. I was very disappointed, that's why I won't be there this year. This evening. I am not a big fan of music, I could easily cope without it for quite some time. Though I do sing every day to myself. My favorite music is still that one from the soundtrack of the Dances with Wolves movie. Well, also the movie is one of my favorite ones, I am sure that you've guessed that by yourselves already.

So, I do wonder if this year will have any more surprising similarities with 2003 for me. I split up with B then. I started a new job. I met Ž. It is just that I spent more time on my mountain bike that year than I do now. Though, I didn't know then that it was so beautiful in the mountains... ;)

It is a national holiday tomorrow and I will take Friday off from work, so I will be back behind the screen on Monday. Hopefully with more happy news. Thank you all for thinking of me and for all good wishes.

Be well.

Herbs

The upper room in my house has been full of fragrances lately. Elder blossoms, yarrow and camomile occupied every free space in it. There's the old belief that the camomile blossoms should be picked before 23 June. I won't use them for teas but for scenting my home during the cold months of a year. Tonight it is the Midsummer Night. If you walk through the woods and the fern seed incidentally falls into your shoe, you will be able to understand the animal language. In some places the bonfires will be lit tonight, and I am sure that some people will be able to see the beautiful fairies dancing their magical dance... :)

Enjoy your day, enjoy your night!