Lipnica, Summer 2022
polska
Krakow 2001
NT
Maciej Gębacz – Heimdall Fotografia
Village Reality
Before and After
Lightroom’s “Content-Aware Fill” function is improving…
Before
After
Twenty Years Ago
Bank Book
The little deposit book I carried with me everywhere and could use to withdraw money from some banks and almost any post offices…
Winter Walk
The weather is turning cooler: I head out for an evening walk with the dog wearing a jacket and sweat pants, covering my bald head with some cap or other. In the morning, we crank our cars a few minutes before leaving so that they’re warm when we begin our journeys.
Later this week, it’s supposed to drop into the upper twenties; next week, it’s supposed to get into the lower twenties. It will only stay that way for a few days at most, though: we’re likely to get back into the sixties for a few days at some point before Christmas.
Which is to say that, no matter the date, we’ll not likely have any winter walks as we did twenty years ago.
View from Babia
Old Pictures
E will be working on a Veterans’ Day Project that pays tribute to Papa and his service in the Navy. I got to wondering what old pictures we have of Papa, so I began searching. One thing led to another and I was on ancestry.com, checking on the family tree I’d worked on in the past. And I noticed a few pictures I could add to flesh out the Polish side of our family tree.
Abandoned House
International Festival 2022
Twenty Years Ago
ulica Floriańska Edits
Krakow with Tom
My friend Tom and I had to go to Krakow on the same day, both of us having ridiculously early appointments (before eight, I believe).
We did the obvious: took the same bus, took care of our business, then met back up at the rynek for coffee and conversation.
I finished a little earlier than Tom, so I took a few early-morning Krakow pictures. It was probably the only time I was in the Old Town that early. K, who studied in Krakow, insisted that there was no better time to photograph the city.
I got one picture that’s especially significant now: the waiting room in the Krakow train station, which is no longer the waiting room for the train station as the whole station has moved. Not photographing the whole ticket area, waiting room, and platforms is one of several photographic regrets.
Most of the everyday places that made up my reality in Poland during my first stay (96-99) exist now only in memory. I have few photographs of the apartment I had — in fact, only one that I know of. I have only a handful of images of the Nowy Targ bus station, where I spent countless hours waiting for hundreds of busses. The Krakow bus station is the same — gone.
That’s probably why I have so many pictures of our children that are seemingly everyday events — nothing special. Because in a few years, they will be special: reminders of what a normal, say, Tuesday looked like in our family.
Evening Walk
Return
Five years ago, I came back a little later with the kids. On our departure day, we found a nice place to sit and wait in Krakow airport.
Today, we recreated the picture — sort of:
We made it home, though, safely and relatively painlessly.
And so our Polska 2022 adventure is over. Reflection to follow, but I’ve been up now for 27 hours, so I’m going to bed…
Final Evening
Last Day in Jablonka 2022
Here in Jablonka, we began our last day with rain and temperature keeping us indoors. It never rose above the high-50s, and it rained all morning before taking a short lunch break to prepare for an afternoon and evening of rain. Depressing weather to go with a day of mixed feelings: ready to go home, we’re both a little sad to leave the adventure here.
In the meantime, K flew out of our local airport heading to Newark for a funeral. In New York, it was sunny and lovely, and K got to see a friend she hadn’t seen for years. Still, the motivation for the trip was a tragedy. A mixture as here.
With the weather as it was, we had few choices this last day in Jablonka. We watched some television, talked, packed — and repeated it all.
And for dinner: kiszka heated on the stove Babcia uses for hot water.
Random Bit for Future Smiles
A regular during our stay here was was the Magno-Z commercial: we got to see that a few times during our month here. The Boy groaned each time it came on, but he still sang along with it.
Commercials, it turns out, are a great source for learning a language.
Bike Ride to Bory
