Dr. Filomena

Love of photography seems to run in our family. Here is a photo my “Aunt Vida” took of a burning tree during one of Etna’s moments of mischief. Vida has lived in Catania for the past 60+ years. More from her coming soon.

I C U

Inspired by another blogger’s account of his day, I wrote a recap of one of mine. This is Sunday, 22 July 2007. Not too dull a day. Can imagine what Adriaan’s comment will be. (Click the links to view photos.)

00h – Went out on the town. Met a group of old college mates celebrating a birthday, and ran into a couple of Brits-turned-nearly-Slovene, one of whom I’ve known for 9 years. Yikes, time flies! Almost claimed a mojito a certain sombody owes me, but the otherwise lovely Cutty Sark with enjoyable music had run out of spearmint. The improvized cocktail was Ok since the company was good 😉 With the birthday party girls, found a place to dance that wasn’t completely desolate and even had a lovely view of the city from the terrace. Belgrade native confirmed his home town being alcohol+party.

7h – Damn that bio clock that won’t sleep even on weekends! Off to Šmarna gora we go. Got a bit of sun and fresh air. This is where Ian would probably love to go (think flying). Took some photos of butterflies. And of a golden retriever (Hera) who wouldn’t let me take more butterfly pics unless she had some attention first.

10h – What does one do on a hot day? I had it from a reliable source that one goes to hell. Pekel (literally translated as “hell”) is a gorge near Borovnica south-west of Ljubljana. Rambling alert! I had never been to Borovnica before, which is not very nice since one of my grandmothers was born at its railway station. Don’t worry, this is not as dramatic as it seems. Her father was the railwayman in charge of the Borovnica station and they lived there. Literally. Just a few days ago, she was telling me how her father used to take her on rounds checking the arches of the famous Borovnica viaduct when she was three or four years old, before they moved. At the time the second largest railway viaduct in Europe was built in 1856 on the Südbahn or Southern Railway, the first railway line linking Vienna to Trieste and was considered one of the most imposing bridge structures the world had ever seen. It was destroyed by Allied air raid during the World War II. Today only one surviving pier shows where it once stood.

With a stream and a set of five waterfalls, the narrow and steep Pekel gorge protected by a mysterious, dark forest, provides the welcome freshness even on the hottest of summer days. I took more photos of butterflies, ants, insects I don’t yet know the name of and… a freshwater crayfish! This was so exciting! I had hurt my finger climbing (this is not a sprehod, P! ) up one of the metal ladders (think finger caught between metal and rock, not nice) and was chilling the pain in the water, had camera ready for a tiny butterfly and out from under the rock crawls this guy.

13h – Off to a village in Vipavska dolina to visit family. As this includes (my other) grandmother, pass on the recommended trout at Pekel this time around (where there is a grandmother, there is food… lots of food). Spent time with her sister from Sicily, a real character. We have lots in common. I will share a letter she’d been given over 60 years ago, called “Ticket to Heaven”. And a photo she took of a tree being destroyed by lava during one of Etna’s mischiefs.

17h – Knight Tournament at Predjama Castle. A colourful event with attention paid to detail in many respects. Reinactment of battles of days gone by along with the trades of that time represented by craftsmen selling everything from food to clay pots and fur. Observing the more or less elaborate yet undoubtedly effective tools and methods humans once used to kill one another left me slightly less than enthused, but the scenery and costumes were beautiful. And horses are always a nice sight.

21h – The latest Harry Potter came to town, ergo I took my cousin to see it. The book has been my traditional end-of-school-year gift to him and seeing the movie is a must. This one is LONG.

00h – Home sweet home. Thinking finger still hurts, but the photos of the crayfish were worth it 🙂
And here is another favourite: Can you see the damselfly grin as he caught his lunch?

damselfly’s happy meal

Carpe Diem

Night-Time 10 km Run around Lake Bled was a complete success. The organizers actually had to start turning down entries a week before the run so I was really glad we entered on time.

Lake Bled was beautiful as ever and this must be one of the most picturesque runs anywhere. So, while Olivier was picking up Svarun‘s award at the German CFA cat show, I was up at Lake Bled, which looks positively impressive at night as well, with the beautifully lit up fairytale castle guarding it from the tall rock.

My favourite co-runners

I’m glad Mateja and Sašo convinced me to go! I was sure I’d end up walking half way through as I’d never done a 10k before (hey I know it’s not like a marathon, but distance can be a relative thing -G-) and I hadn’t ran in 6 weeks. When we first started off, I felt exactly like that same morning on the Gorenjska road where the motorway ends. Runners had to turn blinkers on at some points to prevent chain crashes. But we soon spread out enough to be able to catch some air. Within minutes, we were enjoying a jogging pace, admiring the views. Had some problems communicating with my sister and thought the finish line was… humm… well… half way through. I was so glad to have reached the end and had actually done 6 out of 10k. Major downer.

What kept me going for the first couple of minutes afterwards were the people around the track cheering us on while having their dinners on the lake. Thanks, guys! Exchanged some energizingly fun comments. Then I started thinking I might have done better going to Belgrade like Pengovsky had done. And so time passed.

But to be perfectly honest, what really kept me going that last mile was the prize. The one and only kremšnita (Bled Cream Cake, yumm). To make a long story short, made it to the finish line without walking in a bit over 61 minutes (take 1 minute off for the slooowww start I suppose and make it a nice and round 60 minutes? -g-)

This was, without a doubt, the prettiest run I’ve ever done. Still cannot believe we ran around the lake twice. The scenery was smashing and the atmposphere matched by no other run we’ve been to. THANK YOU, Vitezi dobrega teka! We’ll be back next year!

The organizers had the original idea of giving us small forks in place of medals. Came in handy with the ever so desired cream cake…

The prize (Cake disappeared instantly so no shot, sorry)

Feeling rather good, I decided I want to take up running again and get ready for the Bohinj 12 km run on the 12th of August. Who’s game?

After having gone to bed at 2am I got up at 6.30 and dragged Ian up to Komna and Črno jezero (Black Lake) in the Alps today, which made for an 8 hour walk, but that deserves a new blog entry 🙂

I’m finally trying to recap last weekend. I was overjoyed to have received my Nikon D40 from Hannes and played around with Nikki as she’s been nicknamed a bit. So on Saturday, after lunch:

buckwheat/spelt pasta with veggies and home-grown basil

I took my bike out on the town. Stopping by at grandma’s first, I took this shot of a busy bee on wisteria:

and hortensia

and carried on to downtown Ljubljana. The first stop of course had to be our dear Green Dragon 🙂

I carried on to Kongresni trg where a group of enthusiastic folks put on a very enjoyable concert as part of the Live Earth happening, called Rock za prihodnje generacije.

One of the best gigs was the joint session of Benč & Grašič:

Thanks to all who organized the event, it must have involved so much work!

…after that, I rode my bike back home right past a Hare Krishna group,

changed it for my cutsey Micra and went South, to the seaside. Met with my sister and her boyfriend and continued with the concerts in beautiful Simonov zaliv. Still carrying Nikki with me, I took these shots of Big Foot Mama…

…and Kingston…

All of this in the best of company:

and before you know it, a new day dawned and we could all start having fun AGAIN! 🙂

Chilli @ Pomf

Miša’s doing a bit better and is taking a healing vacation at the seaside. In her absence, Sabina and I had our traditional Friday lunch at Pomf on Trubarjeva cesta, followed by the equally traditional yummm icecream at Rustika. A classic.

Ice Cream @ Rustika

Gotta love this town 🙂

Hu hu hu, Čukčev zabavnik je tu!

Jipi, Ninina najnovejša kreacija je dokončana in objavljena! Čedni zabavnik je poln zanimivih zadevic. Čukec s prijatelji lisico Mileno, medvedom Hubertom in zajcem Zvonetom v napetem stripu odkriva Bohinjsko skrivnost (bu! tole me spomni na Bohinjske kvarte), išče zlikovce na paradi in se ubada z vzroki skrivnostnih f-jev, tako da so naravnost super /superjunaki/.

Ko rešiš uganko, preveri še posebno rubriko “naši zlikovci“, kjer sta predstavljena zlikovka poletja in zlikovec, o katerem se v zadnjem času največ govori. Ne spreglej da-jev in ne-jev poštene zlikavosti in hitrih modnih nasvetov za zlikovce.

Revijo imajo v trgovinah in kioskih, če bo šlo vse po sreči, pa bo dobila tudi zimsko sestrico. Podprimo mlade slovenske ustvarjalce… Čukca v vsak dom 🙂

Unfortunately my non-Slovene-speaking friends can not yet fully appeciate my dear friend’s creation, but I’d still like to share at least the visual part of it. Among other projects, Nina writes and illustrates “Čukčev zabavnik” (Screech’s magazine), a fun publication that includes Screech comics, riddles and more. Humm, I think actually you should get a copy especially if you have not yet learned the language. You have to start someplace! 🙂

A new issue has just been published and includes intriguing stories such as the “Bohinj Mystery” (interesting, considering my Bohinj trip, right?)

The magazine is available at newsstands and in stores.

Last Friday, Sabina and I again enjoyed a tasty meal at Čompa restaurant on Trubarjeva cesta in Ljubljana centre. Just like before, we phoned in and decided on our meal and at the set time we strolled over to the cozy place where the owner makes you feel at home. We had tuna on a bed of arugula – covering up a delicious chompa of course. Yumm! Chompas are traditional baked potatoes from beautiful Bovec region. After the meal, we were treated to a “teranov liker”, a sweet variation of teran wine.

Miša has not been well. She is seriously ill and has just completed a set of treatments. We talked for a length of time today. She is the type of person who is always there for others, but now she is the one in need of support and all the power of positive thought we can muster up. It takes so little to make a big change. Miša is in a dark place and needs to know there are people out there who care. It will give her the strength she needs. If you are willing to write a few inspiring words for Miša, I will print them out and make sure they reach them. I’m selfish. I want her back on her feet soon so I can enjoy more of her great cooking! Help

Extra extra, read all about it!

Amazons take over Adriaan’s house in Srednja vas and start producing Walnut Brandy!

Wow, what a weekend. Again! Having had some very interesting real estate work on Friday (selling a flat on prime location in Ljubljana city centre makes for meeting a whole new set of people) and finishing a translation job late in the evening, it wasn’t all that easy to get up early Saturday morning, but the chore to run was a fun one. Meeting central heating system experts in Bohinj to inspect the house and come up with a plan. I learned so much! Had no idea about the heating systems in private homes being run over the internet or phone line. So you’re in Sicily for New Year’s and just before returning home you go online, set the house temperature and upon your return home, you hardly know you’re back in an Alpine country? Cool. I mean… hot!

It rained cats and dogs all Saturday, which was kind of disappointing, but did allow me to get to know Uncle Frank (actually his name is Franc, pronounced FranTS) much better. I invited him over for a cup of tea, then took him to the big supermarket that had just opened in Bohinjska Bistrica, where we had a cup of coffee. Actually, coffee and spritzer. Franc did, anyway. We were joined by a friend of his who happens to be very active in the local volunteer firefighter brigade. We talked and talked some more. These men have such abundant knowledge of so many different issues. Walking encyclopaedias just waiting for someone to let them share the stories.

Back at the house Franc cooked for the both of us. He made a delicious meatloaf of sorts. He soaks groats over night, then mixes them in with a mixture of ground beef and pork along with a touch of salt, lots of garlic, quite a bit of fresh parsley, some onions, a whisked egg shapes a loaf and puts it in the oven for about 45 minutes. Again, we had a long talk.

Late in the evening, Mattie and Joan finally arrived. It was lovely to see them both again! We visited with Franc and you guessed right, we talked forever. Franc taught us about various medicinal herbs, made coffee and served walnut brandy. The arnica ointment he had made soon was put to good use on a bruise.

My suggestion to climb Komna the next day was greeted with laughter as apparently it came as not much of a surprise. When I told them I usually start out around 6 am, the element of surprise kicked right back in, though. We compromised on 8 am.

The morning was beautiful. After a nice slow breakfast we started out at about 8.30. The first half an hour was not very promising and I was a bit afraid we wouldn’t make it to the top. But easy does it and slowly, but surely, we made progress. There were so many people walking up that path it was amazing. The now familiar path offered those same beautiful views and again, all of us were amazed at the beauty and variety of the flora. It changes with elevation with ever new flowers catching your eye and new fragrances permeating the fresh air. Aaaaahhhhh…

We reached the top in three hours. I will post photos when Joan downloads them from the camera. Had a nice lunch at the Komna cabin. I don’t think the girls has either “jota” or “mineštra” before and the “golaž” was different from what they expected. I looove jota!

Impressive

Slightly disappointed that we found no arnicas or St. John’s wort for Franc, we returned to the valley much faster than climbing the mountain. Made it back to the house around 4 pm. Joan and Mattie did some gardening. Then we all had a cup of tea together at which point Franc decided he’d teach Joan how to make walnut brandy. Oh, I made Joan stretch so as to prevent sore muscles next day and Franc wisely remained silent, but a look at his ever-smiling face was worth a thousand words. Perhaps he thought we all really needed that brandy, eh? 🙂

Joan and Mattie gardening

Uncle Franc

But first, there was another enjoyable chore to run. We drove off to a lovely place 12 km away with a house for sale that Joan might be interested in:

Pretty House with Potential

The area was lovely. Complete peace and quiet, back to nature sort of environment. The owner’s daughter who was showing us around ran the same charity race as I did – see those T-shirts do serve a purpose 🙂

Upon return to the house, Uncle Franc had us chopping green walnuts in no time.

Chopped green walnuts

After the approximately 35 walnuts were chopped, we put them in a contained and added almost two litres of brandy made by the local fruit growers. We wrapped it tightly and placed in a sunny spot where the mixture (stirred occasionally) will wait and mature for three weeks before other ingredients will be added. These include sugar dissolved in water and sage. Then with a bit of magic, the end product will be wonderfully fragrant and rather strong liquor.

Phew was that a long day or what! We deserved a nice dinner and ended up strolling over to Pri Hrvatu where Joan treated us to a delicious meal and great red wine Cabernet Sauvignon barrique over which we made plans on bottling our own walnut brandy. We have already come up with names and labels. If you’re interested, get in line quickly as this “Vrhunski Orehovec – prva letina” (top quality walnut brandy – first edition) produced by “A & A” (Arh & Amazons) will come in truly limited quantities 🙂

I drove off home to Ljubljana. I hear the ladies woke up feeling good and not broken up from the mountain walk at all (I’ll bet it was the stretching, Franc’s eyes rolling or not!). I hope they come back soon so the Amazons can go back in action!

PS: remember, clicking the images will show you larger versions, but the quality is poor as they were taken with my old cell phone. Will publish Joan’s pics when they come.

Phew what a day! Three hours’ sleep catching up on school work, then up and about trying to catch up on house chores. My cats want the place to look nice, you know. Quite demanding those little furrballs. Then the much more enjoyable part came about. Although slightly comatosed from sleep deprivation, took my cousin and went to visit an old friend. He’s originally English, but quite a man of the world. Meet William!

William

Obviously, he has excellent taste in flowers as he moved into the house with edelweiss (i.e. Planika) above the front door. We spent a lovely afternoon together admiring Bill’s gorgeous dogs. I don’t know much about Basset Hounds, but these seemed impressively strong-built, sweet and most of all happy. The puppues are too cute for words, of course.

Yours truly with some lucky person’s future pride and joy.

I will write more here later. After I’ve caught up on my zzzzs. For now, let me just say if you’re looking for a beautiful and well-socialized Basset Hound puppy to simply enjoy as a pet or to add some show fun to the obvious joy arising from sharing your life with one of these sweethearts, William is the person to contact. He has been breeding and showing them succeffully for decades, with dedication and love.

Poleg tega je William pravi naslov za vas, če bi radi izboljšali svoje znanje angleščine! Prijavite se za kakšno uro konverzacije, ne bo vam ne dolgčas ne žal.

Here’s William’s website: Bassbarr bassets

Oh BTW, if you visit with Bill around lunch or dinner time, eat a very light breakfast. His cooking will have you begging for seconds.

Proud basset mom