IWC 2016

Also this January I was present at the International Waterfowl Count, as always. I started to count the birds already on Friday because I was busy on Saturday morning and that afternoon I had to show how we do it to two other girls.

The Sava Bohinjka river

I wouldn't mind living in a house like this.

I am always happy when I drive to the Gorenjska region in the NW of the country, and so it was also this time. I chose to go there on Sunday, when a nice weather was promised, and indeed we had clear sky and sun shining bright on us. But … it was very cold. -7 °C might not be cold for someone from Finland where it’s around -30 at the moment but it is for us after such a mild autumn and beginning of the winter. No snow – happy me! It is much easier to walk those 4 km one way through the woods along the river if there’s no snow. I counted no less than 15 dippers this year, almost half of them were singing. Great! I have never heard anything like this before. And again, happy me! 

Winter wonderland

A winter will officially start on Friday but we already had real winter weather. I like this kind of winter, with deep snow and temperatures around -10 degrees C. And of course, with blue, blue sky. Usually I have to search for this deep blue color of the sky higher in the hills but that Sunday sun was shining also in Ljubljana. Ignoring the cold Ž and I went on a hike. It took us less than two hours to get up the hill and less than an hour to get back down. I enjoyed every minute of this hike. It felt indeed like walking in some white wonderland. I also thought of gathering some mistletoe but there was none.

Over the weekend the temperatures have risen and snow has started to melt. Thoughts about spring have started to sneak into my mind lately. It is always so when a landscape gets dull and grey.

From diminuendo to crescendo

These days are days of silence - church bells are quiet, and I noticed this last year for the first time in my life. The quietness brings peace, at least it seemed so last year. It feels like it is time to listen to the songs of nature that has awoken from its sleep. And there are many pleasant melodies to be heard.

I just love this time of year. Wishing you a happy Easter!

Frogs

Spring has woken the frogs, too. I am sure that most people who were passing by were wondering what I was doing in the middle of the river bed. Taking photos of the frogs, of course! There might be many tadpoles swimming in the puddles later in spring: Toad's spawn looks like a necklace:I hope there will be enough time over this weekend to check if the Moor Frogs have already come out of mud.

Oh, spring, you give us so many wonderful things!

Beekeeping

This summer lots of things connected with the bees happened to me. I took that as a sign and enrolled in a beekeeping course. It started this Monday and it will end by the end of this month. I like our lecturer, he is not just a beekeeper but also a person who takes care of the nature around him. I browsed a few beekeeping forums, and as far as I could read most of the beekeepers are thinking only of themselves and their profit. A pity. I thought of having my own bees just for learning something new and having some honey for myself (my dad is a beekeeper, so I don't think my family would need my honey) and friends, and certainly not for making any profit of this. Well, I will see how my life unfolds until spring when a new beekeeping season starts. The course is carried out in a beekeeping center, and next to it stands an old castle. Unfortunately it was burnt down by the partisans in WW2, and the owners were not allowed to rebuild it after the war. I also found a lovely sun clock on the wall of a church near by. There are so many treasures hidden around my country, and I am glad that I notice them at all. And yes, a blueberry strudel from the bakery in a village nearby is delicious! I think I will eat another piece of it when I am around there the next time.

Clouds

People will only protect what they love, they will only love what they understand, and they will only understand what they are taught. ~ Steve Robertson

I was told that my granddad loved watching clouds. I love watching them, too. The other day there was a big "cloud show" on the evening sky. I stood there on the balcony and admired the clouds for a long time. How could I resist?

Herbs

It is time to gather herbs. I mentioned that I brought home some linden blossoms on Wednesday. I placed them on a clean white paper to dry. Ž brought home elderberry blossoms, and they are almost dry. We will use these dried herbs later from autumn until spring for herbal teas. Linden and elderberry teas are good when having cold because they stimulate sweating. Also good for health is honey. I received one glass of it yesterday, produced by bees and my dad, as the label says. Honey made with some help from lice, too.I have also become a keeper of the bees until a queen bee is hatched in this little beehive on the picture. One more wish on my list is to be a real beekeeper one day, like my dad is. Maybe that day when I live somewhere else, in a place with meadows, not only poisoned fields.

Karma for today: Keep a record of good things that happen.

Dawn

Contact with nature is a necessary part of being human. Encounters with nature can fill you with wonder, engage all the senses and make you feel more alive.
~ Nicola Chester ~

Zarja and Zora are two girl's names (the first one is more common, especially in the last years), but both words, zarja and zora also describe the beautiful morning light. Usually this light (if it is really beautiful) means that bad weather is approaching, in opposite to afterglow which is the herald of good weather. This is how the sky looked this morning: As yesterday in the evening the sky was glowing in red, I suppose that there are at least a couple of days of sunny (or foggy in Ljubljana) days ahead of us. Enjoy them!

In bloom

I know, I know. This blog has become rather boring, but I have to share with you that I have taken it easy, because I am sure that June will be exhausting. In the previous days I was working in vegetable garden, reading a book, baking some bread, shopping. Not much to share, actually. I do cook every day, which is good, and I admire nature, day after day. The other day when I was driving back home from work, I stared with eyes wide open - it was raining, it was a bit foggy, but the meadows and the trees were so beautiful that I had to share this news with Ž who was again counting birds in SE part of Slovenia. "Oh, it is beautiful here, too", he said plainly. I had to smile.So, enjoy this time of a year, wherever you are.Karma for today: Remember that anything can happen anytime.

Spring time

Last week I spotted first two swallows flying near my home, and on Saturday I saw first stork, also very near where I live. So, two more messengers of spring are yet to be found - a cuckoo and a swift. Swifts don't live in Ljubljana, which is very uncommon.

Yesterday I visited my brother, he celebrated birthday few days ago. We also went for a walk, all the way to the meadow where I used to dream my dreams when I was in my teens. I have always liked open spaces.My brother cooked breakfast and lunch for us, and we chatted whole afternoon. A break for me. :)

On Saturday evening I joined a group of volunteers who were transferring the frogs from one side of the road to another. Another good job is done. I had lots of fun. There were only two kinds of frogs to be found - the common toad (Bufo bufo) and the common frog (Rana temporaria). Those two on a photo are from a ditch near my home. I enjoy in spring - every day there is something new outside.

Karma for today: Notice the world outside your window.

Fruits like flowers

I still haven't found how this shrub is called:Do you know? It has these beautiful "flowers" on at this time of a year.

The sound of the grass

In spite of my good intentions to hop on my bike and go on a ride, I am still wandering around on foot. Yesterday we had such strong wind that I almost couldn't hear the birds that were singing. Though, on such days I listen to the grass that moves on the meadows, for me one of the most wonderful sounds that the nature provides.The dragonfly season has begun. I will search for some ponds and lakes and go on hunt for them. One was caught in my kitchen over the weekend, the Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula). Such beauty. So small but so beautiful. They are one of the first ones to be seen in spring.

Time flies, doesn't it? I love this time of a year, time of new beginnings.

Among the fields

It was another pleasant weekend, full of hopes for the better future. There's a strong wish that this sad story is coming to an end, that better times are ahead of me. I haven't given up, but I think I will have to put a lot of effort into the next few days in order to start living happier and more fulfilling life. Who knows what will happen... Keep fingers crossed for me.

Again the train I was on passed the place where our story had begun on 4 December 2003. It was my name day that day. I always look at this church whenever I drive by. I always smile, when I remember. His sweater smelled of spruce.
We visited our friends, we had a bonfire, we smelled the freshly cut grass. In the eastern part of Slovenia spring starts a week earlier and also grass is cut earlier. I loved the smell spreading over the land, the smell of dried grass. In the most fields barley was growing, for me one of the most beautiful wheats.We woke up early yesterday, went counting the birds again. I saw my favorite bird, the Golden Oriole. I am always happy when I hear it sing. It makes me smile, always. It is almost impossible to see it, so yesterday when I spotted it flying over the fields, I was one of the happiest people around.

It is another beautiful day today. Another day full of hope.

Trees

I've been reading a book Climbing the Equator - Adventures in the Jungles and Mountains of Ecuador by Neville Shulman for some time now. I like it but it is a slow read. Yesterday I came upon this paragraph:On my hikes I keep asking Ž about the age of the trees we pass by. Some of them look older that they actually are and some don't show their age. It is live with people, isn't it? It amazes me when Ž says that a tree is about 150 years old or even older, and I always say the same: "This tree was a little tree when Crazy Horse lived. Wow!" Isn't this amazing to have living creatures nearby which have come through such rough times? One reason more to admire nature.

One day we were walking through the woods, my eyes focused on the floor as usually and I noticed an interesting colorful 'thing' on the path. I kicked it with my foot but it was just a plain stone. Ž hugged me tightly and said: "I am so proud of you." I stared at him with surprise. "You notice things that others don't," he explained. I am not so sure this is true but perhaps I notice things because I usually watch my step, shortsighted as I am. :)

I have never planted a tree. I just admire them, watch them closely. Sometimes I hug them and usually I touch their leaves. I used to climb on them and when I was a teenager I spent lots of time during the weekends on one. The view was great! Now my garden is too small for a tree but this doesn't mean that I don't have half decayed pieces of trunks around the house. Anyway, the first tree is not so far away - it is on neighbor's garden!

Frost

I was eating raspberries yesterday in the afternoon in the garden but I guess they are frozen today. It is the first day when we have frost this autumn. It was one of those rare mornings when I could actually see the stars and the moon when I woke up. It looks like Venus and Jupiter are both in the morning sky - I will have to look up in my book to see if one of them isn't some other bright planet. I saw a deer on a meadow while driving to work - I just wonder how many other people did actually see it. Nobody?
Something is scratching me in my throat, I've been drinking lots of tea and lemonade since early morning. I hope I will get better during the day, I wouldn't like to miss my course and especially not my grandmom's birthday party which will be this Saturday. She will be 80 and my granddad will be 90 in January. I would like to be there, with them again. I wouldn't be writing about the things I write today, if I didn't spend so much time with them. Granddad used to read to us and grandmom taught us about nature. We used to walk a lot and spent each spare moment outside. Time with them has shaped me. And I am grateful for that because I think that this what I've got from them is the best I have.

Bees

Bees have been dying in Slovenia for several years now. Due to the pesticides and herbicides. I read a statement of an expert who said: "After the last bee will be gone, a human kind has only four years left to live."
A bee you can see on the photo is Carniolan honey bee (Apis mellifera carnica). It is known to be extremely gentle in its behavior toward beekeepers. It originates from Slovenia and if things will go on like these past years, they will soon all be gone.

So, do something nice for the nature today. This will not be good only for the bees and other animals to survive. It will be good for you. And the people who will be living on this beautiful planet after we are gone.

Animal cartoons

When I still lived with my parents I watched TV sometimes. One of the programs I watched was Animal Planet. I don't have a TV now in my home but from time to time I receive interesting links in my mailbox. This one is fun and you might like it like I do. I love cartoons!