Who would you like to meet? Part 2

I was thinking about this question quite a while during my days off work. Indeed there are many people I would like to meet, but my first choice would be Dalai Lama. I listened to his lecture on 6th July 2002 on a beautiful sunny day in Ljubljana's Park Tivoli. His words made me think. Of different aspects in life.

A woman I would like to meet is Sophia Loren. I have one of her cookbooks and I think it would be wonderful to be invited to dinner she would cook (of course!). Mr B claimed that I looked like her but I see absolutely no resemblance between us. Funny thing is that he was not the only one who said that...

Thank you for sharing your choices with me. It would be interesting to meet all of those people that are on your list, too. Though, I am not sure I would have enough courage to invite them to dinner that I would cook. :)

Who would you like to meet?

One more question to all of you reading my blog. If you had a chance to meet a celebrity, a politician, a famous person,... who would it be? Who would you like to have a cup of coffee or tea with?

I will reveal my choice on Monday. But I know that if I could travel back in time I would like to meet lots of people. Two in particular. One is famous and one is not. One is a man and one is a woman. One is Chief Crazy Horse and one is my grand grandmother Marija. Would you like to meet some of the people who don't live anymore, too?

Kalmykia

Have you ever heard of Kalmykia? To tell you the truth, I don’t remember learning about it at school although we had to know all the capitals of all the ex-USSR republics by heart. I read an interview with the president of Kalmykia in a newspaper and I think that hearing of such almost unknown land is really wonderful. I read that at schools pupils have to learn chess. Do you play chess? I do, because my dad and my grandfather played it a lot. Perhaps that’s where my love for math comes from. Majority of people in Kalmykia are Buddhists. The republic is a part of Europe, so one of the religions in Europe is also Buddhism. It is, by the words of its president, one of the richest areas in the world.

I checked their web site and I found it wonderful that I can still read Cyrillic after so many years. I learned it at school, for just one year when I was 10 years old. Of course, having no practice I read it slowly, like five year old child would read Slovenian. Though, it is the language I don’t understand. Well, except for few words. I wish that people in Kalmykia would, in spite of the richness in natural resources and different religions, live in peace.

Past & Present

Our deeds still travel with us from afar,
and what we have been makes us what we are.
George Eliot, Middlemarch

I went to a lecture yesterday in the evening to the Botanical Gardens. The lecturer was Mr Tone Wraber, one of the best botanists in Slovenia ever. Sitting in the last row, because the room was crowded and I came late, I had tears in my eyes listening to his words. I wished I could have been his student.

I am an economist by profession but I wish I was all but that. It was my father's wish, and not only that, almost a command, that I study Economics. All right, I did. And I am the worst economist in the world. I am sure that you could have guessed this by yourself by now, reading my blog. While eating our Easter breakfast on Sunday we talked about what we would like to be. My brother would be a lawyer, my mum could not decide but it would be something to do with the flowers, my dad would be an economist (what else!), and funny, my list was the longest one. I would study Geography or Biology or Pedagogics. What is sad is that my dad looks at the study/profession from the financial side. I don't. I know that if you really like doing something, money is never a problem.

Yesterday I knew: if I had a teacher like Mr Wraber, I would have been one of those rare botanists who live for that. I was not as lucky as he was, having his father for a mentor from the very beginning of his life. I have so many interests that I will never be really good at any of them. And I still don't know what I would like doing as my job. I know that I will have to find myself something else to do because I am not really satisfied doing what I do right now. But what would it be?

So, looking back at my life I know that I would have changed many things. Deeds from the past follow me all along my present life. I just wonder why I am so lazy and not change the way I live because I know that in 10 years I will regret living the way I do right now. I am day dreaming too much because this is the most simple way to live someone's life. I suppose I should read Illusions by Richard Bach more often...

From yesterday's walk

Neighbor's girls made the snowmen on Monday and look, what was left of them yesterday. I like the girls, sometimes we just chat about all sorts of things. Both have names which start with the letter Ž (I suppose that in English it would be written Zh).
First there were traces and then it was a deer. Looking carefully at me, prepared to run anytime. There are many around, sometimes when the snow is deep, coming all the way to our houses and feeding on our gardens with the remains of the vegetables. This one was alone, usually there are more of them together.

Mr Ž saw a trace of a bear, crossing his path on Sunday on that mountain that I don't really like going onto. Bears have ended their winter sleep, so the spring must be just around the corner.

Easter reflections

I have been thinking a lot about the traditions in my country since Monday when Emily wrote her comment to my post. There are certain events that take place in our Catholic community that I am not very familiar with because I don't go to church. I stopped going when I was 11 years old. This was my wish. And it was granted.So, on a table for Easter breakfast in Slovenia should not be missing (all that food has to be blessed in church on Saturday afternoon):
- meat which represents the flesh of Jesus Christ,
- eggs dyed in red color which represent his droplets of blood (people really used to dye the eggs only in red in the old days),
- horse radish which represents the nails with which he was nailed to the cross,
- potica which represents the thorn crown he was wearing (potica is baked in special round models and it really looks like a crown then).

I think that I am over with Easter for this year. What is the next holiday we are celebrating? Labor Day - May 1, I think.

As the old saying goes...

...Green Christmas, white Easter. It was snowing during Easter holidays. When I looked out through the window this morning, I had something to see. It was so beautiful, like in some fairytale. Mist above the landscape and blue, blue sky above it. Up on the nearest mountain about 1 m of snow had fallen. I saw the photos of that beauty. I wish it was Christmas and not Easter. I hope it melts quickly, I am really longing for some warmer days and it is time to start working in the garden. I am not sure there will be some apricots this year, they've just started to bloom.1. my mom's eggs, 2. decoration, 3. my eggs, 4. decoration of eggs in the eastern part of Slovenia

I dyed the eggs on Saturday. My kitchen was all red that morning, I spilled the red dye by accident. It looked like blood. Some paint is still visible on the cupboard. Obviously it will stay there forever. I spent the afternoon in the shops, buying myself a new jacket and trousers. I need both for my 'expeditions' to the mountains. It's just the trekking shoes that are still missing... Somehow I have never thought of wearing pink but I ended buying pink softshell jacket this Saturday. On Sunday I got pink pajamas. All in pink. I started to like it, somehow.
I made a little basket for my parents that day. We give each other an egg and some sweets or some other small present. I think that we should stick to these little gifts. I hear that people started to buy expensive presents for their kids but I don't like this. In my opinion the holidays are meant to get together with the beloved ones, to spend time together with them and not to get their attention by giving them some expensive gifts. Sure, I don't judge those who think different, everybody has a right to do whatever he/she wants.
On Sunday we had brunch at my parent's house. I spent a nice morning with my family. I think that these moments are so special. I know that they will end one day when one of us will be gone forever. Once when I was still a teen, my mom was in a hospital during Christmas and I can well remember how empty the table was without her. I promised to show you a picture of 'potica', our famous roll made for such holidays as Easter and Christmas. My mom baked real delicious one this year. Before 2003 I was not able to eat the one made of walnuts because I had an allergy. That year I lost about 10kg of weight and also the allergy has been gone since then. So, now I am able to enjoy this delicious pastry like everybody else. Yum!

I hope you all had nice Easter too, no matter if you celebrate it or not!

Celebrations

It seems to me that this week is a week of celebrations. On Wednesday we celebrated the end of one of the projects at work. Having hot chocolate to celebrate. Mine was with whipped cream.
One of my colleagues at work will be leaving us the next week so she prepared a little feast / farewell party. Though, it was sunny weather yesterday and the guys were not in (I just wonder what would it be if there were no girls working here). Except one. Our boss. He joined us, sure. The food was good, and we chatted, chatted, like little chicken. I am sure it will be rain again... when girls talk too much...
So, it is Easter weekend and Monday, and I am looking forward to dye the eggs tomorrow. I bought the colors. I get those brown ones dyed with onions from my mom. No matter how everyone speaks that eggs represent the droplets of blood, I still think that they simply represent new life. It is spring, after all! Happy Easter.

Address

Once in a while people from civil service institutions make a decision to make a real mess and make us spend some more money than really necessary. Well, I agree, in a way the change was necessary but when it comes to the costs related to such changes I think they are not really crucial.

My address has changed. I moved into my house about 3 years ago and I had huge costs with changing all my documents and letting all the institutions and companies who send me letters/bills every month know about this. My number was 99a and now it is 86. I am not really fond of even numbers, I much prefer odd ones. Especially prime numbers are my favorites. But in such cases you cannot choose, can you? Also my neighbors are not happy about this. Not about the numbers but about the name of the street. We don’t like it, that is. Sure, we will get used to it. What else can we do, heh? The street is named after a creek which flows nearby and this creek is named after a priest. The creek is very beautiful but its name is not.

I used to live at numbers 14, 80, 33, 23a, 99a. And now it is 86. I hope that happy times await me under the roof of a house with this, such round number. Circles everywhere…

Do you have your favorite number?

When I look around

Just a few steps away from my house are fields and meadows. Well, there are more fields than meadows. About an hour walk from my home, there is a patch of land which was bought or leased by the organization that I work for. We try to protect this small piece of land and we actually manage it the best way we can. There are lots of birds breeding there and you can imagine that it is a bit of heaven among all those corn fields. We had lots of snow and rain yesterday and when there is lots of rainfall, our 'moor' almost changes into lake. I haven't been walking around in those boots since I was a child. It was fun to do it again yesterday, especially when I was almost glued to the mud ground. Standing there in the water I could hear Lapwings making their 'space' sounds. When I was learning about these birds, an ornithologist explained me how to remember their voices. "Can't you hear that their voices are a bit like E.T.'s?", he said. They really are. And they are beautiful birds, especially in flight with their round wings.
The observatory on this piece of land was built last year, about a year ago. It represents a nest. Well... Anyway, it is a nice spot, a bit hidden but when you are in there you can see and hear lots of different animals and plants. A wolf was spotted this winter about 4 km from here. A female. I hope it was not shot by the hunters like a fox which lived about 500 m from this observatory.

Snake's head (Fritillaria meleagris) or močvirska logarica in Slovenian is a protected flower in Slovenia. It is threatened by changing all those beautiful meadows into (corn) fields. Farmers don't care about this. They will when it is gone. I could only helplessly watch during the last two years a large meadow changing into a dump field. They are also rare in our reserve. I am always too late to see them in full bloom but this time I caught them just starting to bloom.
I think you might slowly get bored by so many flower and landscape photos. :) But it is so when spring is coming around the corner. Anyway, it will be Easter soon and then you might see the photos of my colorful eggs and decorations around the house. What I celebrate for Easter is spring, warmth, new life. And it is so nice to get together with a family at Sunday's breakfast.

Green & white

Yesterday in the afternoon I went for a walk again. I try to spend some time outside, walking slowly and trying to gain some color in my face. I was told last Friday in hospital that my face looks completely green. :) Yes, it was green week, what else could it have been!? I took photos with lots of green yesterday, enjoying my short walk.For my lunch I had this:
It is dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), which will later have those sickly yellow flowers. Not the one on the photo though, I ate it all. I have never liked it because it is rather bitter and I don't like bitter food. This time I said to myself: "Girl, you don't look only green but also yellow, so this leaves will be good for your health." I cut it into small pieces and added some pressed garlic, raisins, sunflower seeds and lots of pumpkin seed oil (which is traditionally used in that part of Slovenia where Mr Ž comes from). It was delicious. Oil actually covered the bitter taste of dandelion. I am sure I will have it more often from now on. Yesterday it was the second time in my life when I was eating it.

In the evening I went to the Botanical gardens where every now and then a lecture is given. This time it was about Patagonia. A girl who had been there in January and February showed us some really nice photos and I spent a pleasant hour thinking of where I should go on holiday this year. If no further, I have chosen to go to France or Norway. Or Estonia? I think Eva would be happy about this. I think that after 5 years of having no proper vacation, it might be time to pack my rucksack and go for a ride. However, I have learned that I shouldn't make too big promises to myself.

This morning I woke up and I was rather shocked when I looked out through the window. Snow? It is still snowing but I hope it melts quickly. Fortunately my tulips haven't started to bloom yet. White week, or what? I think I will stick to green.

Green week

Hi. I am back.
I missed you all. Lots.Well, green week is over but the green days are still here. Let me tell you about some green days of the past green week. A lonely green week.

Green Friday night and Saturday morning – in a hospital
I didn't have my camera with me but there was lots of green everywhere. Also some nice patterns. Friendly nurses, lots of laughter and lots of sadness. Lots of red, too. My blood type is AB, I finally found it out. Rather rare. Perhaps it is time to eat healthy food and then donate some of my precious blood. To save some precious lives.

Saturday – light green
Plants are changing their colors. Bright colors that I noticed when resting in my armchair for the whole day. Sleeping a lot, eating and reading. Mr Ž did the cooking, the cleaning and all the home chores. Nice.

Sunday – sunshine wonderful sunshine
It becomes very boring when there is nobody you can talk to. I got bored being alone most of the time. Mr Ž had things to do for work so he wasn't around. My parents came for half an hour rushing away soon to do their errands. They brought me newspapers and I slept for some time. Sunny day brightened long hours of rest.

Monday – lots of yellow on green
I couldn't help myself – part 1. On Friday while browsing through the blogs I found a nice picture of felt chicken. I don't remember which blog that was, I just quickly printed it out and brought it home. I did a sketch and sew little chickens. 5 until now, I have to go to the shops to buy more felt. I hope there will be some nice yellow felt available, it is so hard to get felt of nice colors. I wonder why they don't offer some real nice colors and some real nice quality felt.
I caught cold again. I hope it was the last one this winter.

Tuesday – books!
I couldn't help myself – part 2.
I ordered some books at Amazon. They arrived in a record time. I was really happy seeing an UPS man in front of my door with a package in the morning. Finally in my hands – Crazy Horse – A Lakota Life. I had looked quite long at this book on Amazon web site. It is a pity that the postage for 'Eastern Europeans' is so expensive. Anyway, Amazon.co.uk is still cheaper than Amazon.de although the postage is much more expensive. I wish that Slovenians would finally be treated as Europeans, after all we've been in EU for almost 4 years now. Perhaps one day. Hopefully. What cannot be cured must be endured.The book itself is great. Finally a proper account of the events which happened about 150 years ago. What I don't like about the book is the attitude of an author regarding Mari Sandoz's research and her book Crazy Horse – Strange Man of the Oglalas. After all, she and Helen Hinman did a nice research on life of Crazy Horse and the events of those days. It is much easier to search for data and information today when so much material is available in electronic form and it is collected in files and archives. The only setback for the author doing his research was that none of those people who had known Crazy Horse is alive today. Mari Sandoz had at least a chance to interview his lifelong friend He Dog. But how much can a man, 100 years old recall from his past, remember about the events which happened 75 years ago? I admire the memory of some people, remembering events from the past in detail. I can't boast about such memory. That's why I write my diary. And blog. Most of the time reading the book I had a feeling that the author feels rather superior, but eventually, I would ask him, how do you know that you are right? Anyway, the book is good, also because the author started his research from the beginning. I also like that it is written like a historical book. When you want the exact information, you can't rely on some romantic story that somebody makes up to sell the book. Crazy Horse was in my opinion one of the greatest people of Lakota nation. It is just scary to think how many people he actually killed. But let me end here my thoughts, I could write another 10 pages about this outstanding man.
The other book I received is about sewing the skirts. Spring is almost here and summer is approaching, so it will be time to sew. I like the book, I hope that it will be so simple to sew a skirt like it is described in that book. I will let you know.And green – seedlings of Tagetes. Only three of them came out. Growing fast.
My cold got even worse. Resting and reading for the whole day.

Wednesday – frog
I made a felt frog but its eyes are too big.
I will try to make another one. I also went out to my little garden to enjoy in the sun for a while. The wind was strong, so I was back in my armchair quite quickly. Lots of violet outside in the garden. And green, green grass. It is growing so quickly, I will have to mow it the next week. I really enjoy mowing the grass. It is funny because in my neighborhood I am the only woman who does it. It is obviously a man's job... And crocus, beautiful crocus opened its petals. I am happy every time I see their bright yellow colors.
Thursday – bread
I couldn't help myself – part 3.
Having a clean oven and buying that puffy and not really tasty bread in the shop couldn't stop me from doing some work in the morning. Work? Well, baking. I baked the most delicious bread I have eaten in about two months. It is time to bake some cookies, too. It will be Easter in one week and my mom will bake 'potica', a famous Slovenian cake/roll. I will try to take a photo of it so that you will see how it looks like. I am not so fond of the one with nuts but I like the one with curd or/and tarragon. Or with poppy seeds. Mmmm. I have never baked one myself, there's always plenty of it everywhere you go for a visit (besides nobody lets you go home without some in your bag).
And look who was enjoying his green day! Little Pikec, my favorite cat. He is so lazy but so friendly. And smart, I think. He looked like a devil with his sharp and white teeth when he was a kitten. Spoilt cat.

Friday – driving a car again
It felt great driving a car again. I like driving. I also like when I just sit on the passenger's seat and somebody else drives me around. Mr B was (is) an excellent driver; he tried to teach me how to drive well. Today I wish I was a better and braver pupil. I have never had a radio in my car but perhaps it is time to get myself one. Sometimes in life it just gets too boring singing and talking to oneself.
I had to go to the doctor and received the doctor's note for the ophthalmologist. I certainly need new glasses and probably I will get myself lenses again, too. I am shortsighted and if I could change anything on me, I would like to get my normal sight again. It is a treasure, a real treasure to see without glasses. Though, I am not as brave as Eva to have an operation. So, I will stick to my glasses and when (if ever) I am more persistent and diligent, then I will also make exercises for my eyes. Someday. The list of my promises is long...
Was there any green on Friday? No? Just the thoughts of the work that will have to be done on Monday (today) at work. At work we are organizing a conference at the end of May with some high (EU) officials taking part. Organizing the conference will be my job (beside all the other tasks I usually have to do) until June. Lots of work, lots of paperwork, lots of English.

And clouds overcast the sky on Friday afternoon, making the landscape look sad. Nevertheless, the spring is on its way! A wonderful, wonderful time. Jays are making their nest on the neighbor's tree again. They are so shy, so careful, so beautiful...So, the green week passed. One of the loneliest weeks in my life.

Green week 2

Last year I bought myself lessons with an Italian language. I thought I would have used the long winter days for learning Italian. Right, you know what I was doing during this long winter - reading. So, the box is still at the same place I put it that day I brought it from the shop. I even haven't opened it. I already know what's inside because once I borrowed the lessons from a library. I am sure I will make it one day. I will surely sit down each or at least every second day and take those lessons. Because I know how good it feels when you can speak a language or two more.I have wishes but no will. To learn Spanish and French one day. And maybe try to improve my German. I do understand some of it but I never speak it. When I was in Ikea two years ago trying to explain the lady what I want, I eventually gave up and asked her if she spoke English. So much about the languages I speak...
Btw, I don't like green color on the photo. One of the rare greens that I don't like.

Green week 1

I like the idea of 'green week' hosted by shining egg, although I joined in a bit late. I love green color. Perhaps even more now, when everything is so dull and grey outside. The tiniest green leaf makes me happy when I see it these days.

While wandering through the woods on Sunday, I took this photo:It is called tevje in Slovenian (in all Slovenian words j is read like y in a word yet) and Hacquetia epipactis in Latin. It is quite common in our woods but I read in one of my garden magazines, that it is usually grown in the gardens in the UK and that it is very precious plant for the gardeners there. It is always like this - the grass is always greener at the neighbor's garden. We want plants in our gardens which are not common for our environment. We always strive for different and new plants. Sometimes we are not aware that we are doing bad to the plants which grow around us - the natives become extinct at some point when newcomers overgrow them.

To tell the truth, I like new plants in my garden. I still have to order my seeds from Thompson&Morgan but I am glad somehow that in our garden shops there are still many seeds which don't have F1 written beside their name. Which means they are not hybrids. Which means that they are still good old unchanged seeds. I hope that I will be luckier this year with my seedlings because cats use my flower beds for lying on them. This year I will put fence around the flower beds until the little plants grow bigger. At least I hope so. I will let you know once in May and post some photos of my beauties...

Snow again

It was more than 15 degrees Celsius during the weekend and it was so hard to believe that there would be snow again. But it is. Here in Ljubljana we were a bit lucky because it wasn't snowing hard. My brother lives in my parents' weekend house which is located at about 600m above sea level and they've got much more snow. It has been like this for more than 10 years now. I remember those long winters with abundance of snow. We could still ski on the slopes near our weekend house. Today this is not possible anymore. Right, two years ago we had this 'normal' winter again but they've been really rare in the last 15 years. And it usually snows when my crocus start to bloom. Every year. Or at least it starts raining then...I just wonder what we are doing with our planet and eventually with ourselves. It is interesting that today's children have so many allergies. I know lots of children who can't drink milk or eat bread with gluten. In our days such things didn't exist. If somebody had asthma it was already strange enough. And today every second child has some problems. Today it is not even allowed for the children to bring the cake for their birthday to kindergarten or school because certain parents just panic...
Those were happy times, the times of my youth...

And with the snow also came some good news. My colleague from work gave birth yesterday in the evening to a healthy boy named Enej. This is a Slovenian name for Aeneas, the Trojan hero. He already looks a hero today, her husband sent us Enej's photo. And today there's lots of laughter in our offices. I hope it will be another pleasant day. For you too.

Weekend...

...passed quickly and I spent some nice hours outside my home. On Friday evening I decided to go to see a movie instead of reading a book. Becoming Jane is a love story, telling about a great romance between Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy. Right, as I read today on the internet, there is no proof that there ever was a big romance between the two of them. But I liked the movie. I relaxed and enjoyed the story and music. Just recently I read Pride and Prejudice. Well, it is nice to escape everyday life for a while. Though I think it was a hard time for women in those days.

I also read a book during this weekend. The Copper Beech by Maeve Binchy. I have Tara road by the same author at home, I ordered it once at Amazon but I didn't like it at all. I liked The Copper Beech mostly because all the stories have a happy ending. Just what I need right now. Otherwise, in my opinion a plain writing.

I went to help my grandmom on her Ranč (we've been calling it ranch for ages, perhaps because it is a bigger property, I don't know, that piece of land just got that name) on Saturday, together with my parents. The weather was bad (some rain) and the wind was very strong. A hurricane, I called it. We cleared up the branches from the orchard and burned them, so my grandmom was the happiest woman that day. She baked us apple strudel (yum!) and made some lunch. We talked for a while about all sorts of things. It is so nice to be with my grandparents, usually it is so relaxing, so peaceful.

Yesterday I spent an afternoon searching for the spots where Eagle Owl might live. Well, I actually joined Mr Ž on his quest. It was a nice sunny day but windy again. We have this strong wind every spring now for more than 10 years. Some people died in Germany and also Austria was hit hard. We are kind of lucky to have Alps protecting us a bit. So, later in the afternoon, just before dark, we went to listen to this biggest European owl to a spot where it was heard before. We were lucky to see both, male and female and they uttered their sounds, too. So, another tick on our list. We will go and listen at this spot again later when the youngsters will be hatched. Hopefully... Wandering through the woods, I took some photos of the spring flowers. It is still too cold for the flowers to bloom at the place were I live, unfortunately. Although we might get some snow tomorrow, nobody can't deny that spring is coming to our land.So, I wasn't baking this weekend, I was taken care of, which was even better than staying at home, reading a book, cleaning a house and cooking.