Sometimes a little bit. My food never tastes the same twice. Except cookies and cakes. This is what I cooked yesterday, the first beans from my garden this year. And huge carrots. For dessert I cooked grits in half milk half water and sprinkled it with chopped pine nuts (yes, my favorite!) and a teaspoon of honey. Today I am having eggplants, also the first time this year. It is so wonderful to have your own food fresh from the garden!
She sells her works in many galleries all over Slovenia. I might go and see myself if there is something I really like - she will be selling these beauties on Saturday at Art Market on one of Ljubljana's bridges, called Čevljarski most (Shoemakers' bridge). The illustrations are drawn on wood.
I fell for this fabric (upper one) but they don't deliver it to my country. A pity. A short trip to Paris? I don't think so, at least not right now.
I find them interesting, though this doesn't mean that I would like to have any of the objects at home. More to follow sometime...
Carrot soup - butter, wheat grits, water, salt, grated carrot, mixed egg. Lots of chopped parsley.
Fusilli with homemade pesto and some fresh basil. Later I added some whole pine nuts and salt. I am not a fan of pasta cooked al dente but I never overcook them because they taste terrible if they are cooked too long.
Salad with sunflower nuts, borage flowers, raisins, salt, vinegar, pumpkin oil and again, parsley.
Don't ask me about the dessert, I ate all sorts of sweets, everything that was at hand. :)
The myth of Zlatorog was put into verses by Rudolf Baumbach and published in 1877, becoming his most popular work. Of course, this is not the only version of the myth.
Mr Ž and I stayed in a hut at Kriški podi. I was amazed at how many Czech people were there. This time they had proper boots but in my opinion they were not dressed properly and as I could see they had inadequate maps as well. Too many foreign tourist come to our mountains insufficiently prepared. It might be a lovely trip but too many times it is their last one. True, our mountains are not that high but they are dangerous at some parts.
I climbed three peaks, Križ (2410 m), Stenar (2501 m) and Bovški Gamsovec (2392 m); the latter was the most dangerous. Not the one for people with dizziness. 
I saw rock goats/steinbocks, a rare sight in our mountains, and marmots that were whistling - telling each other that there might be danger nearby. 
I saw four magnificent mountain lakes which are result of glaciers melting. There were endless number of alpine flowers, the most beautiful ones. Pure joy.
This is my perfect holiday. No sandy beach can beat that. No prairie. No city. I read an article this morning about the mountaineers coming from the peaks sweaty and with wobbly legs but content and with bright, happy faces. Tears came into my eyes simply because I know that I am one of such people. Would you tell me what is your perfect holiday?
Tomorrow I am off to the mountains again. I wish you happy Friday, and weekend, too!
For some time now I thought of seeing a movie My Blueberry Nights and last evening was perfect day to take a ride to the movies and indulge myself a bit. Not that I really liked the movie but I felt so content while driving back home. I had plan to do some traveling this summer but I suppose it will have to wait a while. Last evening it felt like traveling, the only thing missing was radio in my car and some good music. Then it would had felt like being on a long holiday, driving around with no plan and enjoying whatever life brings.
I spent the day looking for ripe wild raspberries. I will have to come again, in about two weeks, they are still small and green. Though, I ate delicious sour milk with some sponge cake and potica, lots of wild blueberries and had a wonderful view on the beloved mountains. 
It is amazing how colors of the flowers blooming change through the seasons - now there are lots of violet and yellow flowers in the bloom right now. At least below 1800m above sea level.
On the way up to the hill called Porezen, Mr Ž and I stopped at the lace fair in Železniki, one of the towns not far from Ljubljana. Amazing work! How can you go home empty handed seeing all the beauties made by hardworking hands? 
Women are paid only 1,50 Euro per hour doing this work! A shame, really. We left lots of donation for them in a basket put next to the exhibited pieces of lace. 
It was Mr Ž who tried the cherry schnapps and I had (oh, yes!) a cup of Turkish coffee and a lemonade. 
In the evening we went to a party of little Gaja (I guess in English you would write it Gaia). I sewed a little bag and put three round fish into it for Gaja's older sister Julija. They were a hit, all children at the party put the fish into the cake and then into their mouth. Imagination has no limits! :) It was a pleasant lazy day. Well, I won't describe the steep and dangerous slopes Mr Ž lead me to - it should have been a shortcut but it wasn't... Yes, I almost cried there...
There is a child in me, always and everywhere. I have no idea why it is so but I like to play. Tomorrow is one of such days when I will be like a child again, being spoiled every and each moment of it. Because it is my birthday. A very special day in a year. I was born on Saturday, on the 200th day in a year.
On the photo from left: Jens Weissflog (he will celebrate his birthday on Monday), Matti and Pavel Ploc in 1984.
2243m above sea level - it took me around three hours to get up there and more than three to get down again (yes, flowers everywhere!). I took 610 photos (no wonder I need so much more time for the climb than it is usually written in the guides). 
The view was magnificent, everywhere I looked was something that took my breath away. And the fragrance, the strong fragrance of Sternbergs pinks (Dianthus sternbergii)! Intoxicating! 
Herdsman at the pasture invited me to stay with him... I had to laugh aloud at that offer! However, he makes delicious cheese. It was such a pleasant sunny summer day. I wish there were more like that.
The first one has arrived. Not that I get many cards during the year or for my birthday but all that I receive are from special friends (well, I don't have many anyway) and they are always so lovely.
I will be away for tomorrow; the weather forecast is good and I will be enjoying the fresh mountain air again and rejoice at the look of those tiny Alpine flowers that are in full bloom right now. What more could I wish for?
For a long time I wanted to sew a little basket but I never got so far to actually making it. I had some tutorials at home but not everything at hand. I loved the baskets made by Kristel and also tutorial found on Pink Penguin blog was very helpful - at least I got the idea of how much fabric I actually need for one such basket. It was easy and it was fun. I am quite happy with the result. I am sure it was not the last basket I made.
Visiting my grandparents is always so relaxing. I think I told you that before. I drove to their ranch yesterday in the morning and spent a magnificent day with them. They talked about the old times and I took notes. It would be a pity to forget. A day before I finished a headband with a help of this tutorial. I gave it to my grandmom to keep her hair out of her eyes and sweat dripping into them while she is working in her huge garden. She loved it!
I rarely cook coffee at home, usually when the guests arrive. I have old Ikea tea cups in which I serve the coffee. They're quite big, so when I saw these little cups at our local shop, I immediately decided they have to be mine. I somehow liked them. And they went home with me.
Who's the winner in my garden? Piki, of course. Little kittens are growing fast and they will have to find new home. At least I hope they will.
I didn't wash my hair after diving in the sea, so it smelt of salt while I was walking up the hill yesterday in the morning. I wonder why I keep coming back on Možic. Well, not that I wouldn't know the answer... It is one of the most beautiful spots that you can reach in less than one hour from the parking place. And it is so amazing up there. Flowers are in full bloom right now - it feels just like walking through huge botanical garden. 
And the view is fantastic! It was so peaceful that all I could hear were flies, bees and beetles flying around me. I will come again. If not this year then the next one.
I enjoyed swimming in the sea again. Adriatic is very salty and warm sea. Slovenian part of it is a bit dirtier than the rest of it but still clean enough to swim in it safely. 
There are no huge waves like at the coast of the Atlantic Ocean or any other open seas. We don't have any nice beaches (well, those that are nice are crowded anyway) but to cool yourself you don't need a nice beach, right? It felt good, really good, to swim in the sea again.
Sometimes I think that it is no use writing all that down (almost nobody reads this and I write my diary anyway, although with no photos) but at the same time I love reading your blogs. They are wonderful and sometimes they make my day. I found so many inspirational things in your posts, you can't imagine how grateful I am for that!
Recently I've been having problems with my Blogger. It doesn't want to make paragraphs. I have no idea why. Someone is playing with me. :) A nice game. I leave you today with a couple of photos of Ljubljana (there is a dragon in Ljubljana's coat of arms that's why you might often see it when you visit my birthplace). Happy Tuesday!
Sweet tooth as I am I baked a squash strudel (sweet, of course; and yes, it does look like a giant snake!). My vegetable garden is full of pumpkin plants and I had to pull two more out to give place to other vegetables like rhubarb and cucumbers. 
Pepperoni is ripe too and hopefully tomato will be reddening soon. I doubt I will have any this year - there is this strange disease that destroys them each year as soon as they start to get red.
Not only summer, also love is in the air. Little beauties - Azure Damselflies (Coenagrion puella) are mating (click on a photo to see how the wings of a female are sparkling). In Slovenian they have a cute name (like most of the dragonflies) - travniški škratec - in translation it would be something like a meadow little dwarf. I love summer, it is my favorite time of a year. Maybe because I was born at the peak of it... 
I remember my grandmom giving me or my brother a spoonful of homemade spruce syrup when we were little kids. I guess we were disturbing her sleep at night when we were sick for she was sleeping in a room next door.
I will leave the jar in full sun still for sometime because the sugar has to melt completely. Yum, I can't wait to taste it when it's ready!
Yesterday was one of those days when I was biting my knees again. Almost three hours up and a bit less down again. Two paths, very different ones. (On the photo: Lake Bohinj from Črna prst.) 
Clouds were chasing us and some rain fell when we were already in the hut up there. I was finally on Črna prst, a peak, sometimes called a botanical garden in the mountains. 
Mr Ž had promised to take me there four years ago. Now the promise is fulfilled. I will have to come again as most of the interesting flowers are still not in bloom. If not this year then the next one. 
(On the photo: Geranium argenteum in Latin, Silvery Crane's Bill in English and srebrna krvomočnica in Slovenian, very rare plant in Slovenia, found in abundance on Črna prst. In full bloom at this time of the year.)
