Dr. Filomena

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! 🙂

My sister and I are not among the most gigantic of people. To put it otherwise, she is the same height as Will Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith and Kylie Minogue and I’m just a half an inch taller than Shakira.

I’ve just gone through something I’ve last experienced in kindergarten and did not quite know whether to be surprised, appalled or indifferent.

The sales are on and neither my sister nor I could resist, so on Monday afternoon we turned shopping into a sister-bonding event. We spent some time together, got some hopefully rather cool outfits and by the time we were all shopped out, we felt like eating junk food for a change. It kind of goes nicely with the whole sales concept so we stopped at a McDonalds. It turned out we were not the only ones with that bright idea and we ended up waiting in line for 10 minutes. Which would have been fine. Maybe. Though it sort of defeats the whole point fast food? Anyway, it would have been Ok had a certified idiot not chosen to stand in line behind us and try to upset us with remarks about our heights. Well let me tell you he got his own. These two girls can make a stand. Trust me, my sister alone could take him and his friend anytime 🙂 I’ll take him on verbally and she can act as my bodyguard.

Anyway, this primitive guy whose parents I don’t know whether to pity or detest works for Mobitel. I’d say here I’m really glad my company and I have chosen SiMobil, but must admit I have some good friends working for the competition so will try to refrain from doing so. Here’s the possible future Darwin Award winner who’s possibly learned a valuable lesson in picking on those /seemingly/ weaker than him.

In any case, the guy actually made our day even more fun than it was before as we had a fresh bone to chew on (Slovenian expression I guess) and it made for great further sister bonding.

Dottie Persson made a remark about me many years ago and it sort of stuck among my friends. Today, I solomnly pass the warning on to my sister as well:

Don’t Piss off the Peantus!

Thanks to all who put on the concert! It was fun.

More to follow after the effects of this guy’s work:

fade away

Ok so hair may not be as important to some as it was to Samson, but still. Facing a dilemma right now. My hair is pretty much like this at the moment (honest):

Needless to say I need to go see a hairdresser. Question is, do I
– just trim it
– cut it short
– go blonde
– whatever

I’ve done the long-to-really-short before and Marjetica’s post reminded me of that option. Audrey Hepburn was cool! So was Catherine, actually, but that’s beside the point. Only problem here is that my hair seems to grow at slightly above-average speed and I’d end up seeing the hairdresser more often than some family members. Again.

Oh the tough dilemmas we face…

Here come my first few shots with my new toy.

Click to see originals

A little souvenir from Moscow :

My cat-friendly balcony plant

I have much to learn, but this is FUN!

She’s here! After roughly 20 years of dreaming about my very own SLR, she’s here. Her name is Nikon D40 and I adopted her from Hannes at Knauserershop in Austria. If anyone is looking to buy, I warmly recommend Hannes as not only the price was the best I could find, but the communication has been exceptional as well. My friends (Adriaan? ) know what this means to me… and I suspect some bloggers do, as well. Right, bubašvabe? 🙂

My heart jumped for joy when I emptied my mailbox (yep, the non-electronic ones do actually still exist) yesterday evening and found the note of a box waiting for me. This morning I picked up my “Nikki” on the way to work, ripped the box open and let the batteries fill up under my desk while I was busy in meetings, property viewings, traditional Friday lunch with Sabina and writing up a description of our latest investment project in the Caribbean. Perfect timing as the battery filled up just by the time I was ready to leave the office.

Here is Nikki’s very first photo:

My grandmother Kristina @ 86

I had fun quickly assembling the camera and taking the first few shots and can’t wait to get a chance to really test her and start playing with filters etc. Photography, here I come! 🙂

On a different note, seeing as I’ve heard my grandmother’s stories over and over (and over) over the years, it’s shocking that she still manages to find one I haven’t known. She is a very interesting lady. Worked in Ljubljana’s “rižarna” (rice plant) during WW II as a bookkeeper (she kept the real books for the boss, not the ones submitted to the tax officials… some things never change, huh) and supported the resistance fighters throughout the war by helping supply them with rice, knitting socks, gloves and ear muffs and the likes. What I just learned today while taking these shots is that she had also typed up the hand-written diary of Pavla Leban, the nurse in the famous Franja Partisan Hospital.

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 🙂

Photo nicked at http://www.lovechotel.com/

The “Vitezi dobrega teka”, which translates to either the Knights of Good Running or to the Knights of Bon Appetit (take your pick) are organizing a 10 kilometre race around Lake Bled on 14 July.

Beautiful setting, good company, the best dessert, this is the Race that’s become a traditional one before even the first one’s over, so what are you waiting for.

More info and entry form here.

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.