An unexpected beauty

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

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

Tuesday's roller coaster

My kind of a roller coaster day:
* start a day with some unsettling news at work (as if we’d heard anything good of lately)
* finally sell that trouser’s I’ve bought on-line a while ago which did not fit at a good price
* unsuccessfully step on your feet and hurt your feet so you can barely walk while taking stairs
* receive a call offering a job (Yay!)
* go to a clinic for an X-ray and sigh in relief it’s just some strained ligaments and nothing’s broken
* get ready to stay put for a week with the feet held high and trying not to step on it much – doctor’s orders
Summarizing life’s a zebra – there’s white stripe, then there's black one, then again white one. Until you get to the a**. So cheer up

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.

Lazy Sunday

The first weekend of spring is still much winter like – for the starters we’ve got a short blizzard, then some sunshine, and again some more snow. But my spirit is already high, no matter what but like in a month’s span it should start changing to the more spring like manner for good. It’s March after all, and it’s for a reason that the first month of spring bears name  ‘kovas’ in Lithuanian, which quite literary means ‘battle’ or ‘fighting’.
During my jogging session on Sunday morning I went past this somewhat angry looking woman like snowman, which caught y eye so much that I even took a picture of it.

 

Angry and lonely snowman-lady

Sometime into my jogging session, I’ve had this brilliant idea – why not make her a mate? It is spring after all, and it’s nature’s mating time. So I’ve changed my jogging direction, so that I’d go back to that snowman-lady. And here are the results.

A happy duo

Where are leaves?

As we were having a coffee break at work with some celebratory cake – after all winter is over and spring is here, a  colleague shared this little story of her daughter with us:
A girl of some 3 years old got up today, and first thing ran to the window to look outside. She stood over there for quite a while, looking in all direction as if trying to spot something in particular, until her mother got curious, and ventured to ask her, ‘What are you looking at dear?’. The girl looked back at her mom with her lower lip already trembling in a building up cry, and replied in the most hurt manner, ‘It is spring already, ain’t it? So why there are no green leaves on trees then?’ Her mom was left speechless.
How can you explain to little kids that 1st of March, and calendar spring do not really mean it is spring already, huh? And I share that little girl’s sentiment, snow be gone, give me colors, leaves and grass back

The prettiest of 'em all

Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the prettiest of ‘em all?
When I was a kid, for almost all special occasions I was made to wear this hideous pom-pom style ribbon pinned firmly to my hair. I hated the look wholeheartedly, but unfortunately my mum loved it as she did love everything ‘girly’. As at the time this sort of ruched ribbon pinned right on top of one’s head was considered a real highlight of style or something,so  she insisted on me ‘joining the club’. I hated those hideous things so much, that once in a while (or like every time I wore them) I’d attempt ‘lose’ or ruin those pom-poms for good, only for them to come back on me with a vengeance again and again and again.
Luckily this hideous look went out of fashion, and ribbons were no more.

Peek a boo or a secret life of words

Ever since I properly mastered my reading skills, I’ve joined the vast ranks of book lovers. Since then I’ve enjoyed so many  different genres and authors it would be impossible to keep track of all the books I’ve read and loved. Every single book brings a whole world complete with unique characters and places to you through the power of words put to paper, which would be just that – words on paper – if not for one crucial thing – reader’s imagination. And it’s up to imagination to make a story great; when the words on paper click with reader’s imagination the story comes to life and spans as if on its on accord, if not – then you just put the book back as boring, etc.
One of my childhood great authors’ was Jules Verne, but the problem with his books was that as an 8-10 year old I could hardly understand some more ‘technical’ parts of his stories. Remember, there was no Google back in the day to tell and show what is what, how it works, etc., and encyclopedias often provided only quite dry explanations which weren’t of much help, so eventually I’ve found it best to let my imagination roam free whenever I’ve come across such a tera incognito, and let it give these words a secret life of their own. Amazingly, in some cases I’d say my imagination would create things so much superior to the actual thing that I’d be even somewhat disappointed to learn that this previously unknown thing is just… this dull and regular thing
Nowadays I have to turn to this reading ‘technique’ mostly when I read books in languages which aren’t my mother tongue. Some time ago I’ve been reading this book set during WWII, and I stumbled upon such a tera incognito – peek a boo hair style. Ah, my experiences readily prompted me with some period appropriate hair styles to choose from, but I could not be sure which one was the right one. Later I’ve found out which one was that, but to tell you the truth the version my imagination settled with while reading the book was SO much better. Add some punkiness and spikiness to the sleek look, mix a ‘boo’ into the equation, and you might get somewhere close to where my imagination took me

A classic peek a boo

Pro tempore

Learning curve. There are some books I can read and re-read over and over again, and even though it seems I know every twist of plot by heart I each time find something new in them. There are also some books I've read once, enjoyed them at the time, but most probably will never pick them up again. And there are also books, which have to be read in their due time, that is there are some books you start reading and put them down unfinished and never go back to reading them again; yet some I put down the first time round, only to pick them up and read them some time later, discovering that a book which at first seemed to be all wrong/boring/not my kind of book now IS. Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde could be a good example of books I once thought were of god damn awful sort, but now have a blast of a time reading them. It's like some things click with you just from the very beginning and stay with you for longer or shorter period, and some must grow right, or you must grow right to enjoy them.

Politics

Even if a minimum wage increases, it will still be just a minimum wage

Politics, politics, politics. Election to Lithuanian Parliament fast approaches, and political discussions/advertising/making of post-election promises get heated. Sometimes even trash bins become podiums for statements.

Re-post. Don't get lost

Re-post