Purple beauty

One of those things that I hardly miss each year is this:

Meadows of Fritillaria meleagris. They keep disappearing because of greedy farmers who change marshy meadows into corn fields. They get high subsidies for those fields and our government keeps doing this in spite of repeated reminding from different organizations and individuals that they keep destroying our environment with this. It is not very pleasant to live in this corruptive country anymore where some steal and most are (literally) hungry.

These purple beauties have almost stopped flowering by now. But hopefully they will be there, in full bloom, next year again.

Photo album

When my grandmother died she left an album with photos from her youth behind. It was meant that my brother would have inherited it but my aunt had taken it and kept it for years. This spring I visited her and asked her to lend me the album. And she did. I showed you some photos from it already, and this week I received a photoalbum with all youth photos of my grandmother in it. I had it made for my dad's birthday. I really liked the album myself, and it was so much more precious when I saw tears in my dad's eyes when he took it in his arms. I wonder today what kind of person my grandmother really was. I was too young to ask her questions about herself when she was still alive. And I guess she even wouldn't reveal the secrets of her life. She doesn't look very happy on these photos, rather mysterious.This weekend I will be probably counting birds at night again. It is a beautiful spring, and I can't resist to take another photo of the meadows I pass by on my drive to work each morning. At least until the grasses don't fall... It will be also time to find some elderberry bushes and pick their blossoms for tea. Linden will also be in bloom soon... Have a nice weekend!

Fritillaria meleagris

Snake's Head. Almost in full bloom. Plant with many English names. Endangered in Slovenia. If European Union (and our Ministry of agriculture, forestry and food) will continue giving subsidies (our money) to the farmers for destroying meadows and turning them into corn fields, this plant will disappear completely. I noticed new corn fields near these meadows on my photos, and believe me that I was very angry at farmers and EU policy. Money isn't everything. Do farmers really need such huge tractors (buying them with the money from the subsidies) for their small fields? No, they don't. They need them for bragging in front of neighbors and other people. Do we really need so many corn fields? What for? Sad, sad, sad...If you have a chance to go and see them, do so now, because no one knows if they will be still here next year.Have a nice weekend!

These days before Christmas...

... were very busy. I finished editing my last issue of the magazine, and I am very happy about this. I hope some less stressful days will follow in the next few months. It is not easy to work on so specialized magazine in a country with only about two million inhabitants (and only a bunch of ornithologists).

We had lots of snow and now it keeps raining again. I wish I could move to some sunnier and drier part of the world for some time in this moment...

I also did my first bird count this winter. I am happy that I've been trusted to carry this out by myself... This means that I have learned something in these past years, but the most important fact about this is that I am able to do good things for nature by myself.

Some more photos from my folders taken in December:

Dried persimmon and present I received for St. Nicholas Day:

Interesting number in my car on a way to work in the morning:

Kaj trying to catch the last sun rays when it was -10 degrees C outside:

And finally, knitting my first pair of socks yesterday (well, I will try to finish them in the next days that come). Knitting organized by Kaaita:

I wish you a peaceful Christmas and some happy days that follow. I will be behind the screen again in January. Have a happy New Year!

Before grasses fall

I have learned the other day that hay smells so nice because of one kind of a grass, called sweet vernal grass. Also its Latin name Anthoxanthum odoratum tells us that it smells nice. I tried to find it yesterday in the meadows near my home. I can't say that I found it, but the meadows, those that are still left, looked beautiful. As soon as the soil is dry again, most of them will be mowed. Many young birds will die because of that, because of the greed of farmers. Nothing can stop them, except more money. There have been strong winds blowing lately across our land, and yesterday I spotted some people flying kites. Maybe it is time to fly mine, too. To gain some back muscles, right! :) To send some wishes high up the sky. Karma for today: Never give up on what you really want to do.

Treasure hunt

I didn't find it, although I was standing exactly on a spot where it should have been located. Alright, I will try with another cache, also located near my home. Though, it was great fun, and I suppose that if there are even more people, especially children included in this treasure hunt, it is even more fun. If nothing else, we do not spend days inside behind the screen...Yesterday I finally started to read a book that I bought a long time ago. On the cover it is written: Time fades everything. Except desire.

I am not so sure that this is so true. Sometimes even desire fades...

Find me!

A few days ago I came across a wonderful web site, called Geocaching. I tried to find one of the hidden treasures yesterday, but without success. I will need GPS to find it, hopefully today. Some great ideas came up my mind, searching for a hidden cache; maybe we will be able to realize them next year at my work. It will be a game! And I love games! Nonviolent ones, of course.The treasure is hidden somewhere in the area on the photo I am posting today. Tempting! A good exercise. Getting to know new places and history. Spending spare time having fun.

I hope today is my lucky day. And I will let you know, if I find this treasure.

Go with the flow

This influence can signify sudden events in your personal and emotional life and sudden changes in your home. You may be upset by these changes, but you should recognize that this influence can free you from characteristics that you don't need.

~Robert Hand, Planets in transit; transit valid for me from 24 August to 16 October 2009~

I went through such transit this spring and it was very stressful. I am aware now that I cannot change anything, it is better to go with the flow. I keep hearing things that I would rather never hear, but still, I hope that everything will be alright and well. I know that it will be one day. In a year for sure, though it is still a long way to go, and there are many leafless and gray months in between...

I took a photo above yesterday in the afternoon when I rode to the natural reserve where Ž was working. Today I will be a helping hand there, doing my voluntary work...

Have a lovely weekend!

Idleness

In a way I feel such urge to do something, but at the same time I enjoy these days of August doing absolutely nothing. At least it seems so to me. Going to work, work there for 8 hours, going back home, cooking something to eat, taking some water and food to Ž, flipping through the pages of magazines and books, watering the flowers, washing the dishes, doing laundry, maybe ironing if it is not too hot, watching the vegetables grow in the garden, staying at the stream nearby watching the dragonflies and water rail, chat with the neighbors ... all this seems to be so boring in a way, but it is what I do almost every day. It is my life. So time flies by and I have no stories to share... Do I?I very rarely go to the city center, although it is probably nice and lively there, especially in the evening. I am postponing a visit to the library for ages, being afraid that I will be reading so much as I did before. Somehow I often wonder if I will ever do any good for others, not only for myself. But you know, something is missing in my life to do this. Courage. Boldness. Though I do have my good days, you know. :)

Autumn on a doorstep

It could be also called high summer, but looking close, I can say that autumn is slowly approaching. Morning fog. Leaves are loosing their green color, bushes and trees are full of fruit, either edible for us, or just for animals. Some are ripe, some will be soon.Yesterday I took lunch for Ž to the place where he is working at the moment. Mowing the meadows. It is beautiful out there. All around are fields of corn and there on a reserve is an oasis of meadows. I should take time and look for summer fruit from which I will make some jam. Blackberries are ripe and elderberries are black, too. If only horseflies were not stinging so much... :)

It is happening almost next door

I should be writing about happy things here on my blog, but sometimes something just shocks me so much, that I cannot be quiet. I happened to meet a man the other day, in one of the inns near my home. He looked quite a decent man although I could see that he was a drunkard. Later Ž told me about him. Well, actually about his wife. Who was at that time when we were there chatting, lying in a hospital having a surgery. Her husband was drinking instead of staying with his children at home. He is my age and when I coincidentally spoke to another man there, he hushed me and said: "You should love Ž, he is a good man." Later when I thought about this, I realized that he had done this out of pure jealousy.

So, what's the story? His wife was raped by her dad. Not only once, but constantly, until her brother killed him. Later this poor woman had been raped by four men, who were not charged as guilty. They walk around free as birds today... Her brother died in a car accident on a day when she was giving birth to her first child. A child conceived by one of those four men. Then she got married. With the most jealous man I have ever met in my life. She has three children now and she lives in a barn, because her man spends all his money for a drink. He is not able to give her and his children a proper home. She has to stay at home most of the time because he doesn't allow her to be free like I am or you are. She has to go into the house (barn) when another man comes to visit. She is not allowed to see other men. Most probably she beats her and her children. I pray that something good happens to this woman. She deserves to be happy and free. We all do.

I cried when I heard this story. All this is happening somewhere near my home.

This land, where I live, was given to poor people about 100 years ago. For free. They just had to cultivate it. Those people who came to live here where I live today, had no flowers planted around their homes and their door were not decorated as in other parts of the country. Soulless people. Natives are still known as violent and if I look around, they are also people without any imagination. I am glad that my neighbors come from all around the county. They are normal bunch of people, at least most of them. I avoid the natives. And I am sure that I will not live here forever. It is too depressing for me, this moorland. Especially now when I know what kind of people live almost next door. Scary, I tell you.

Yesterday I was in one of the huts in the mountains again. Ž had forgotten his flip flops there. The photo of the skis was taken on the way back home. I used to have similar skis when I was about four years old. They were dark red. My first skis. I haven't been skiing for more than 15 years, hopefully this year I will stand on them again. But who knows! Life is so full of surprises.

Around by bicycle

Well, I haven't really hopped on my bike and rode up the hill, I took it easy, with camera around my neck. There's lots to be seen and lots to be heard. The dragonfly season has started, the elder blossoms' season is here. The first grass has been cut; not good for the birds, because lots of them die due to that, especially now, in the middle of the breeding season. I enjoy immensely in these spring days. Healing comes through seeing places and meeting people. I will slowly make it, I know. Especially now, when there is a good promise that I will be among the Alpine flowers again. I can hardly wait!

There's been lots of green color lately on my blog, don't you think so? :)

Floods

Two days of rain resulted in this:Floods. The fields covered by water, some roads impassable and closed. It is quite cold and we can hardly wait for the sun to warm the land, the soil. I planted the peas during the weekend and I am lucky that my garden is not covered by water like my neighbors' is. We never know what awaits us here. There are victims too, but the ones caused by human not by nature:
Volunteers keep gathering the frogs every night or morning when they are passing the roads. It is the only way that the people in the years to come will know the frogs at all.

I spent the Earth Hour on Saturday by the candle light, lying in bed next to Ž who fell asleep. It was for me one of the most peaceful moments in the last two weeks. I hope that my life will be back on the track again, because it is just too painful to live the life like I live it now. Time heals everything, they say. I guess it really does.

Floods

We've had lots of rain lately and there have been enormous floods in the vicinity of my home. As I have written before, there used to be a lake where I live now. Well, that was quite some time ago, a few thousands of years have passed since that time but it is still very wet and the remnants of that time are floods. I actually live on a bog and my house stands on wooden logs. This gives it stability, so that it doesn't sink or leans like some, poorly built do.

This is how it was on Saturday:On a photo is not a river, it is a road about 3 km away from my home. And I do not sit in a boat or canoe, I safely sit in a car.

I hope and wish that one day I will leave this place and move to some drier one. To the one where on the mornings like this sun shines. And one which has a magnificent view on the mountains near by. I am not a 'water' person. If I had to rank four elements, this would be their order: air, earth, fire, .............water. The last on the list.

There's nothing to see if you don't look closer

Landscape is becoming dull and colorful fruit and flowers are hiding among the high grass or below bushes and trees. I took a long walk yesterday in the afternoon, it felt so great to stretch my legs again. I took the loneliest paths but I met my neighbor anyway. I guess he was avoiding people too. :)