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Results For "Month: April 2009"

Gardening

Monday 20 April 2009

We’ve planted our garden. Actually, that should be plural, because we’re planting all over the place: some veggies in the back, some in the front.

Nothing we do will compare with Pani Barnas’s garden in Poland. I live rented from her for a couple of years and every summer, she had a garden that amazed me.

Cabbage
Dream Garden || September 2, 2002 || Lipnica Wielka, Poland

“One day,” I tell K, “one day we’ll have a garden like this.”

Then I go out to prepare our two small patches for planting. The next day everything aches in a most splendid way, and I think, “Why rush?”

Trabant

Sunday 19 April 2009

Nothing says communist East Germany quite like the Trabant — a plastic car with a two-stroke engine that was produced in East Germany for nearly thirty years.

A friend of mine in Poland had a Trabi for a few weeks and I had the privilege of riding in it. Winter in rural Poland is the worst time to be on the road, as snow is continually packed down into ice, making conditions less than ideal. To ride around rural Poland in the winter in a plastic car with a lawn mower motor for an engine was probably not wise.

Der Spiegel has a photo essay on East Germany, comprised of pictures taken just after the Wall fell, in 1990. It includes many pictures of Trabis, including this one:

East Germany, Up Close and Personal

It’s well worth a look.

Happy Birthday, Papa

Saturday 18 April 2009

Friday was Papa’s birthday: he’s doing 50 again. He thought about going up to 51, but I talked him out of it. “Fifty is such a nice, round number,” I argued. “Fifty-one has very little going for it. It’s not even a prime number.”

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When Papa has a birthday, there’s only one kind of cake we can buy with a clear conscience: cheese cake. The Girl liked it too, but seemed to enjoy the act of shoving it into her mouth more than actually eating it.

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Papa didn’t want to laugh — thought it might encourage her to continue — but he couldn’t keep the laughter in forever. In the meantime, he looked a little goofy.

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Afterward, it was time to play. Papa had some trouble throwing the exercise ball up the stairs, much to the Girl’s delight. It’s always fascinating to me how something so insignificant, repeated ad nauseum, can give her so much joy.

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Bubbles followed, and L followed the bubbles.

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Inside, L showed her acrobatic nature while Papa showed his, well, Papa nature.

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Catch!

Friday 17 April 2009

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Catching

Coordination is developing.

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Throwing

Strength is improving.

Spring Evening

Wednesday 15 April 2009

The trees in the backyard are slowly filling out; the sun came out today after two days’ rain. The only option was to get out in the warmth.

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Swinging is always the start. Swinging sets the stage for everything else. It often bookends activities in the summer: it’s that popular with the Girl.

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Afterward a walk — such a change from last spring’s walks.

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Baby came with us; turtle had to stay in the mailbox.

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Lonely, I’m sure.

Warsaw Village Band

Tuesday 14 April 2009

The Warsaw Village Band (“Kapela ze wsi Warszawa” in Polish) is a folk-ish band from Warsaw, Poland. Their music is more popular outside Poland, though, particularly with dance club DJs. Recently, the band released an album of remixed versions.

This is the opening track: “W Boru Kalinka.”

This is one of the CDs recently-married Kuba and Maja gave us last summer during our homecoming visit.

Kuba on His Street

The band has released a new album; a copy is on its way. Unfortunately, the package (which includes several CDs and a few DVDs) has been “on the way” for quite some time — I suspect it’s been “lost” in transit.

Easter Party

Monday 13 April 2009

Yesterday was Easter: it was time for a party. What’s a better way to celebrate anything than to be with family and friends?

Naturally, there’s a lot of preparation before hand. My job (other than smoking the tenderloin): deviled eggs. I’ll admit: it was the first time I’d made them, and I was an utter disaster when it came to peeling eggs.

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Still, they turned out well.

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K made at least a million sauces to go with the multitude of different eggs, meats, and veggies.

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First to arrive were Nana and Papa — always a good and helpful thing. It keeps L busy and out from underfoot.

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By the time all the guests arrived, there was a tremendous amount of food. After every such party, I reaffirm my conviction that there should be a simple rule with parties: when you leave, take with you what remains of what you brought.

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It wasn’t as if there weren’t enough people to eat it all. Guests in the kitchen;

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guests out on the deck.

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After all the food and libation, it’s a shame we all have to go to work tomorrow: things were cut entirely too short.

Happy Easter

Sunday 12 April 2009

Easter 2009
Three exposures (1/8, 1/30, and 1/2), f/4.5, 120mm

Blessing the Baskets

Saturday 11 April 2009

Blessing the BasketsOn Holy Saturday (called “Great [as in, big, important] Saturday”), Poles (and others in Eastern Europe) head to the village or neighborhood church to have baskets filled with food blessed.

Usually, the contents are some of the main ingredients of the Easter morning breakfast: eggs, sausage, etc.

In the States, we’ve always sought out churches that have this tradition. And it’s almost exclusively Poles who attend.

Today was no different. We were different, though: K and L both put on their finest Polish Highlander outfits for the service.


We had a brief photo session before the blessing. The shots with K were easy enough, but it was tough to get the Girl to sit for a moment for an individual picture.

She kept wanting to go dance on the manhole cover.

Before long, our friends had arrived, which meant the Girl’s friends had arrived: everyone was thrilled.

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A group picture followed, with everyone seeming to forget that we were using digital cameras: “Here, take one with mine!” “Get one with mine next!”

Before leaving, one of L’s friends had some words of wisdom to share. We’re not quite sure what he said, but it must not have been pleasant: the Girl was fussy and whiny for much of the afternoon.

She wasn’t the only one getting advice.

On returning home, K took the basket out for some pictures,

and I, with a cigar, Guinness, and Drive By Truckers in my ears while smoking meat in our barrel/smoker, felt positively conflicted.