Bird Doppel

Let me eat my spud!

This morning, my dog Smola stole a potatoe from a basket in the kitchen and tried to eat it. Unfortunately, my mother noticed the missing potatoe and darted in the living room to pick it up from Smola's mouth. It was not an easy task to get it back, Smola was growling and its fur was bristling. Eventually, both got tired of the potatoe and Smola forgot it and left it lying around somewhere in the flat.

Deserted Wander

Snowy Dinner

Lady Of The Shroud

Not dead. Have not forgotten my dear blog. Just busy. Tired. Well, Holidays where are thou wandering about? Come to me, I need you, please.

Scratching Cat

(Click on the image)

Orange Tree

L'oranger est symbole d’amour et de chance. Il est dit qu'orner la robe de fleurs d'oranger ou les intégrer au bouquet, présage le meilleur pour la (future/jeune) mariée.

The Orange tree stands for love and luck. If the dress of the bride/bride-to-be is adorned with orange blossoms or if the bridal bouquet is assembled with the latter, it foretells a very good omen for the bride/bride-to-be.

(To me the good omen would be her husband being crushed to death by a rock. I love grim humour.)

Umbrellacopter

Bird

Snail-y Ram

A wonderful custom in the Tatras

When you go hiking in the mountains for several days, you do not see very often a lot of people on the way. However, when you encounter someone on a mountain path, custom has it that you say hello.

Macaroon Party

My mum is a genius.

You know macaroons are very fashionable and that may explain why they are expensive. I waste a lot of money in buying them and it is quite upsetting. So my mum had this great idea: why not bake them instead of buying them?

Last Sunday was the second time my mum made macaroons and they were so delicious! They did not look exactly like the macaroons found in cake shops - they reminded me of lovely tiny piles of pink shit.

I made photos before I put the jam between the layers. You can get an eyeful on them.

St Mary’s Basilica, Krakow

Wawel

Charming Wooden Houses in The Tatras

Warsaw's magnificent roofs

Mary Full of Grace

My first cake, a Rubbery Banana Cake.

I am a true mess when it is about cooking and baking. I always have been among those people who love to eat but hate to cook. Nevertheless, I muss admit that it was fun to make a cake. Of course it had to be a complete disaster as it was the first time of my life that I made such a thing. In the end, it was tasty and it had beautiful amber tones. The most important thing is that my family and my dog did not fall ill.

Beautiful Hidden Houses in Poland, Part II

Beautiful Hidden Houses in Poland, Part I

Front of a Neogothic House in Puławy (Poland)

Mushrooms from the Tatras

Back from Holidays, I LOVE THE TATRAS.

Off to ...

Tomorrow at 7AM I will be off to Poland. It is going to be a two day car journey, a tiring and quite fearsome one. It is always a nightmare to drive through Germany and above all Poland - I always get worried that it is going to be my last holiday ever, that I will never survive.

Yet, I am so excited! I love Poland so much - my land of inspiration and happiness. When I come back, I will publish a lot of photos and tell you everything as I did last year. I hope I will get ahead with the illustrations of my two fairy tales - It is very difficult to start, I am so phobic about blank pieces of paper.

See you soon Folks,

I wish you all the best.

Father's Figure

Go to Photography to see it in larger size.

Darling Poppies

The Tatras

It was said once in Poland that if someone wandered about in the Tatra Mountains, he had to be careful when after he had climbed up a mountain he came up to some clouds.

If he stood facing them and he saw* for the third time – it did not have to be necessarily the third consecutive time – his shadow on a cloud (the shadow being casted by the sun behind the person), he would eventually die.

*I lay stress on the fact that the tale is not about someone who would be 'spaced out' and who would hallucinate.

That tale is so thrilling! When I go to the Tatras, I will have to keep in mind not to encounter any cloud.

Tales From Far-Off Poland

I have been preparing myself a little since the beginning of July for my trip to Poland (yepi yeah) in about a week and I have just found out some new old tales from there. Here are some delightful ones.

Mistletoe

Two young lovers could not kiss each other unless they were married, as it was considered a sin to do so out of wedlock, except if the two lovers found themselves under a mistletoe.

Broom

People did not let anybody sweeping round them as it was said that they would never become rich or that they would lose all their wealth.

Blog's changes

The blog has changed a bit my dears:

it has a new domain st-ainolopa.com. Forget my other blog st-ainolopa-s-gallery.blogspot.com. From now on if you want to see my photos you will have to click on the button "Photography" placed on the left side bar and if you want to see my illustrations you will have to click on the button "Illustration" also placed on the left side bar.

Giverny