Dear me

Ah, summer is in a full swing right now, and with temperature rising up to 30+ I enjoy every moment of it. Well, I’d like it even more, if I had any vacation days to lazily spend by a lake or something, but since I’m just fresh out of my trial period I have none, so have to make do with the lazily active afternoons after work and weekends. And during lunch break hour, which, quite happily, recently has been just pleasantly sunny and hot with no crash boom bang to scare the sh*t out of me ;)
The other day I’ve rented a city bike and pedaled to the park in search of some cozy spot in a pleasant shadows of some trees, and I’ve found one right next to the Vilnelė river. Ah, memories! I’ve spent so many good time there. But I’m never admitting I’ve done anything illegal as a teen though. Nah, never *lips sealed and cross my heart*
I’ve totally forgotten that the Vilnelė gets this great during summer. I must admit, thoug, that the lush great meadow of a river was very pleasing to the eye. The regular inhabitants did not seem to mind the excess of greenery too.

A nice shady spot under the tree. What could be better on a hot hot day?

the Vilnelė river is as lush green as the grass on it’s banks

and it even has blossoms! just like a real meadow should have :D

Mind, these guys don’t seem to care they’re swimming and fishing in a meadow

and this forget-me-not? first I’ve mistaken it for some water plant – so close to water it grows, and only later I’ve seen my error

a lovely couple of looms. Just love to watch when they start diving

But wait, there’s more. That’s what I’ve found among my change this morning

Haven’t seen this commemorative coin before, so when I’ve first noticed this one among other coins, my first impulse was that I’d been given some foreign currency or something. Just as I’ve thought there were only 1 Litas different commemorative coins, I’ve find out there’s also Kurėnas’ edition. What else did I miss? If I’ve missed anything, I sure must some catching up to do before it’s too late, since January 1st, 2015, we start saying good-bey to our Litas and saying hello to Euros. I’m not set against EU currency like some, but I’ll sure will miss Litas.
And then today a piece of good news came to my e-mail. It started with “Dear Ms., we’re happy to inform you that you’ve been (wait for it) ACCEPTED”! Yay! All I have to do now is to make sure I’ve sufficient funds to pay for the pleasure :) Come autumn, I'm back to school, yay!

An unexpected beauty

Sometimes even a "road kill" is a piece of art :)

Colors of June

Swimming through a meadow

Through out the whole day at the office I was longing for a good ol’ walk, alas rain which started at lunch did not want to give up. While a warm cascade of summertime rain might be fun at times, and good rain boots combined with a cheery umbrella might add to the fun, this rain was of a much nastier temperament – cold, slow, and boring to the very bone. Thankfully it stopped at last, and I sprang into action at once. Since my friend who often joins me on such walks decided to pass on this one, I ventured on my own, bravely treading through some sloppy wet ground, hiking some forest paths and hitting a nowadays mostly unused due to some  road constructions tarmac road. Then I came to this meadow…

to be or not to be

On the other side of it there is a stream with a stone crossing. After a moment of hesitation and weighing pros and cons of crossing this lovely yet very VERY wet meadow, I opted to get my legs wet a bit. While where I’ve entered the meadow its grass was low and only came to my ankles, as I went further the grass grew higher and seemingly wetter. To be or not to be, I asked myself, and deciding it could not be any worse I continued soon to find myself almost literary swimming through the wet meadow. I’d say meadow swimming is quite fun, though a little bit warmer dew would’ve made the experience even more pleasant. Anyways, in the end I reach the stream, only to find that its usually shallow waters has risen a bit and some of the stones in the crossing are now under water. Plunging into a stream murky with all this excess rain water wasn’t very tempting, but it was either two steps of faith or going back the way I came. Uh-huh, one swim through the meadow is quite a limit for a day. So ahead I went into the stream.

one can usually cross the stream with dry feet. Not this time

Wet feet and clingy wet capri pants aren’t the most pleasant pf experience on a day with temperatures only as high as 17 C, but a good adventure and a gulp of some fresh air after a tiresome day at work was so refreshing :)

wet yet almost shinny clean toes :D

Taking care not to step on any of the many snails which crawl from some hidey holes after each rain I proceeded homeward bound.

Through the forest once more lay my path

 On my way I noticed this rather strange painting on a pine’s trunk:

Aliens go this way.
I hope humans are also allowed to take this road. Anyway at least I did

Do I look like an alien? I sure hope I do C: Otherwise what's the point in taking an upside down pic ;)

 I used to live on the edge of the forest. Still do, only nowadays the forest has shrunk a bit and its edge had to give way for a new road.

And finally a home stretch – a road to be

Summer time

Since on last Saturday summer has officially started, I could not waste a minute of the perfect weather and opened my swimming season. Ah, good thing that so close to my home there is a lake which I can be easily reached by foot or – if I want to get there faster – by bicycle.

just some 10 minutes of pedaling and there it is…

2 kilometers are like nothing when I’m driven by the desire to plunge into water And since the swimming season is open, why limit myself to sunny days only? Any day is a swimming day unless it’s really too cold for that.

almost some sort of a personal heaven on Earth – green and soft grass, water, and a pleasant company of two ‘guys’

Also the company on those not so sunny and not so hot days are so much better and so much quieter too

That’s what I call good company, when I’m up to enjoy some solitude Their swimming costumes are also were dashing and catching the eye

On the more serious note, I’ve switched jobs like a month ago. Since the job offer was like grab it or loose it, but in either way I’d loose by then my current job, I took my chances and plunged deep into new water. What can I say? I’m starting to dot some ‘eyes’ already, I can state that I’ve forgotten that some companies could be such… joy killers. If I cannot find at least something to enjoy in this new company, then I’ll be back to looking for something else.
Like a neighborhood where my new office is located, there is something fishy about this new company. Can’t yet put a finger on it, neither can I tell if I really can’t find anything to like about this new job, but for a while I’m still about to give it a fair shot.

One of the ugliest of new neighborhoods in Vilnius. Built on a former landfill, with buildings rising up to 12 story high – as if it’s NY or something, and with building so close to each other that some balconies come so close to each other that it seems one neighbor could climb balconies to visit another in the opposing building. Concrete jungle which leaves me rather depressed and sorry for every one living there

It's time for blue

Two weeks ago among all this snow only empty nesting-boxes could’ve given a clue it’s time for spring

Just a couple of weeks ago there was more than plenty of snow all around, and it seemed that spring is in no hurry to come. But a little bit of good ol' sunlight did the deed and the snow is gone for good and is now being rapidly replaced with the first blossoms of spring. It's time for blue and my all time favorite spring wild flower - a deep bow and welcome to a queen of spring - violet.

and now just you watch it – everything is in such a hurry to fall into blossom, that it would be easier to stop a waterfall

Though there is still more of a limp than a spring to my feet, I could not help it, and let this perfect and sunny weather to lure my outside, and step after limp I've found myself surrounded by first colors and blossoms of this rather late spring, and among many and many song birds filling the air. It feels as if nothing could go wrong. Hopefully the feeling will last as I'm going to need it. Going back to work tomorrow, and the two weeks in this job might not be all that easy. Still, I've a new job to look forward, so like in that song - I will survive. Cheers and enjoy your spring :D

One happy me with a handful of violets to make me smile. Not even a hurting feet could stop me

Happy Easter Mr Snowman

A 3 day long Easter holiday brought me some warm moments with my family and friends, but also showered with so much snow that I've joked it's more of a Chreaster time than Easter. A huge army of snowmen rolled up all over the town and the neighborhood looked festive but more appropriate for Christmas time, but that's Easter 2013 for you ;)

A dandy snowman, courtesy of some neighborhood kids

Yet another one of mine, not so pretty as the one some kids made, but still will do for an April's fool day it was made on ;)

Fingers crossed still optimistically hoping the SPRING is just around the corner. And if some one spots it, please oh please stop pouring it some good beer or it will never come.
On a side note, in Lithuania we have a tradition of paining eggs for Easter. Right before the Easter there was this show on the radio and people called in to share their favorite methods of egg painting. One of them caught the attention of my colleagues, so off they went to hunt for some natural silk and tried to paint eggs with silk. Later they shared pictures of their results, and I really like them. Maybe I'll try painting eggs with silk too the next year. Of cause if I can be troubled to do that over the more traditional and much easier and faster way we use to paint eggs in the family using some onion skins.