Friday, April 30, 2010

120/365: Lady and dogs

120/365: Lady and dogs
120/365: Lady and dogs, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 30th

Close to where I work, this friendly woman has a little house with a yard full of junk and extremely friendly dogs. There were also puppies! Amazing adorable fat-sausage-with-legs little puppies! :D :D Oh, how I wanted to take one home. But I have no time or money for a puppy :( Besides, they were all already accounted for.

Puppy

Puppy loves granny

Dog Family

Everyone wanted to hold one :D

Puppies!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

119/365: Twin jackets

119/365: Twin jackets
119/365: Twin jackets, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 29th

The days are getting longer now, but we left work late that day and then walked two friends home. These two jackets hung out to dry caught my eye. I wish the light had been better.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

118/365: Gratuitous Picture of Yourself Wednesday

118/365: Gratuitous Picture of Yourself Wednesday
April 28th

I'd been wanting to show off my bean plant for a while now. :) GPOYW was a good occasion.

117/365: Crash

117/365: Crash
117/365: Crash, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 27th

...and burn. I don't know what happened exactly but my flatmate who bikes this same way to work says it's been there for a few days now. It looks painful.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

116/365: Old factory on fire

116/365: Old factory on fire
April 26th

An old factory warehouse burned down today. I don't think it was being used. It made a gigantic pillar of smoke...

Old factory on fire

...but the firemen quickly took care of it, which is good because the closest building is a kindergarten. I took the first picture from the church yard next door to the factory. Everybody wanted to see, young and old alike, even though the smoke billowed far and made your eyes water.


Old factory on fire

Old factory on fire

Old factory on fire

Monday, April 26, 2010

115/365: Poor man's yo-yos

115/365: Poor man's yo-yos
115/365: Poor man's yo-yos, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 25th

Sawdust, candy wrappers, a bit of rubber...nostalgic for those of us who grew up behind the Iron Curtain. They're a rarity now, only appearing at fairs and carnivals. In this case, the Feast of St Wojciech, an opportunity for Catholic believers to gain indulgence, and for all and sundry to ride a carousel and buy cork guns and firecrackers.

It's a bit of a tradition for our core group to go to this fair. Here's last year's set.

And some more photos from this year:



The church is decorated with ribbons and flags:

Festive

We always play the garden gnome lottery and win terrible, terrible junk:

The garden gnome lottery

We have many toys

I bought many pinwheels. Here is Bartek holding them all and showing off his brand new cowboy hat:

Bartek

Oh, and here is one way of playing with the eponymous poor man's yo-yos, as demonstrated by Maciek:

Maciek demonstrates the proper use of a yo-yo

It was a good day.

The trees above us

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Saturday, April 24, 2010

113/365: Bartek's friend

113/365: Bartek's friend
113/365: Bartek's friend, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 23rd

This is Bartek and the cat in the photo is his friend. They both live in that yard, but Bartek wasn't there today.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Thursday, April 22, 2010

111/365: Fake Carnations

111/365: Fake Carnations
111/365: Fake Carnations, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 21st

Flowers pinned to a makeshift chapel in the forest. I've written about these kind of chapels before on my blog.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

110/365:Zdrowie park

110/365:Zdrowie park

110/365:Zdrowie park, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 20th

Spring has definitely come this week. This is a little canal running through the largest city park in Łódź, officially the Piłsudski Park, but commonly named after the area it lies in- Zdrowie. And 'zdrowie' means 'health', which is a very good name for this complex. The park area used to be a proper forest- it was trimmed in the early XXth century and has since acquired a sports centre, swimming pool, botanical garden, zoo, amusement park and several artificial ponds. A portion of the original forest remains fenced off as a natural preserve.

It's an odd place- it can be at once refreshing, if you wander down to the wilder forest and walk the flowered paths, or depressing if you stay close to the decrepit Zoo. The amusement park is a rusted and creepy structure, though many people visit it in the summer, while the botanical garden is full of colour.

And conveniently, the quickest path to my new job lies directly across the park. That's a lot more fun than riding my bike in the streets.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

109/365: Dead daffodils

109/365: Dead daffodils
109/365: Dead daffodils, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 19th

I bought these last week, at 10 gr apiece, which is about 3 U.S. cents- so little money for so much happiness. They wilted while I was away in Cracow for the President's funeral but I don't yet have the heart to throw them out. Their colours are still so vibrant. Where they sit, right behind my laptop screen, they stand out against the one wall of my room which I managed to paint blue.

108/365: The President's Funeral

108/365: The President's Funeral
April 18th

After the funeral Mass, both caskets are carried out of the Mariacki church and placed on gun carriages drawn by green army Hummers. These will lead the procession through the city all the way to Wawel Hill where the President and the First Lady will be laid to rest in the crypt under the Silver Bell tower. The names of all those who perished in the plane crash on April 10th 2010 will be carved into the sarcophagus.

Lots of videos documenting the funeral available here. Some 150,000 people showed up to say goodbye (which you can see in my other pictures), and though I was not a supporter of this particular president I found the experience very moving. It transcended politics- it was not about opinions, parties or loyalties, save one: that to our country. This may sound pathetic, but perhaps you had to be in that crowd to understand how pure this coming together of people was. I don't expect this solidarity to last, but for one week at least we all seemed to understand and support each other.

107/365: Non-stop Poland

107/365: Non-stop Poland
107/365: Non-stop Poland, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 17th

As I waited for my train information to come up, the ad strip on the train station wall scrolled its messages like on any other day.

106/365: The insurgent

106/365: The insurgent
106/365: The insurgent, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 16th

Inside the Sacred Cross church, the body of Ryszard Kaczorowski, our last president in exile, waits for the funeral mass to begin. The woman standing watching is wearing an AK armband. AK stands for Armia Krajowa, the Home Army, the Polish resistance movement of WW2. This frail little old lady fought for our freedom. Her armband says 'Komenda Główna', which means Headquarters. She was an officer.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

105/365:Candles in Lodz

105/365:Candles in Lodz
105/365:Candles in Lodz, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 15th

A small tribute to our late President in the Schiller Passage. In Warsaw, people placed candles by the presidential palace, but in Lodz it's not so obvious.

I am not sure but it seems these kind of jar candles are not known in the West. I remember having to explain to friends from the UK that they were burning graveyard candles on their dinner table, and now I see a question in the comments that further shows they may be a mystery to the non-slavic countries. In essence they are candles made specifically for burning on graves, or, as in this case, in a public place as a symbol of rememberance. You would not, however, place such a candle in your window even if it symbolised the same tragic event. You don't take these home. They are for the dead.

We call them 'znicze'. The word dates back to pagan times, when some Slavic religions would keep an eternal fire burning on their altar. I'm afraid I don't know anything more on the subject.

As a point of interest, the panels you can see in the background are part of a very graphic and disturbing exhibit commemorating the Katyń Massacre of 1940. The President and the 95 other people who perished in the plane crash last Saturday were on their way to Russia to attend a service honouring the 70th anniversary of these deaths.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

104/365: Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral

104/365: Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral
April 14th

Again I pass this cathedral by and have no energy to research it further. It is right by the train station. I was buying a ticket to Warsaw and then Kraków for this weekend, to attend the presidential couple's funeral. I wanted it early, there will likely be many people trying to get there.

103/365: Cemetery in spring

103/365: Cemetery in spring
103/365: Cemetery in spring, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 13th

Already in my 365 once, but in winter. It's amazing how the light changes between seasons.


33/365: Winter Cemetery

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

102/365: Life goes on

102/365: Life goes on
102/365: Life goes on, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 12th

I biked out into the countryside today. 30 km round trip. It was a good ride.

Behind the train tracks

Meal truck

Daffodils

The sled under the birch

Empty throne

Sunday, April 11, 2010

101/365: Bubbles late at night.

101/365: Bubbles late at night.
April 11th

After yesterday's tragic events, I couldn't find a subject for my 365 photo. At the very end of the day I finally decided to just blow some bubbles in front of the camera. It is as trite as anythig else. It doesn't mean anything. There isn't even any focus. I was just tired.

100/365: Mourning

100/365: Mourning
100/365: Mourning, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 10th

Our president and close to a hundred other people were killed today when their plane crashed in Smolensk,Russia.

They were on their way to honour the 70th anniversary of the Katyń Massacre. Among them were members of Parliament, heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Special Ops , elite historians, leaders of organisations for the victims of Soviet repression, our last president in exile, the head of the Polish Olympic Committee, the head of the Rememberance Institute, the head of the National Bank...some of them were friends of my family- one, an actor, was our neighbour.

An unbelievable loss for our country. So many fine men and women lost all in one blink of an eye.

The flags are out with black ribbons to honour them. We're all in shock- this seems like the plot of a sci-fi movie, and not reality. Things like this just do not happen.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8612825.stm

Saturday, April 10, 2010

99/365: The forest in Konstantynów Łódzki

99/365: The forest in Konstantynów Łódzki
April 9th

I was actually looking for some swampy terrain I knew was around here, but I didn't find it. It was a nice ride nevertheless. The thing I like about Lodz is that it is, in fact, small for being so big ;). Eight, maybe ten miles on my bike in any direction and I am out in the countryside, and can easily get home in time for the proverbial tea.

98/365: Doors

98/365: Doors
98/365: Doors, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 8th

As far as I can tell these buildings used to belong to the nearby Niciarka thread factory.

Niciarka

I wish I could say more but I can't find much information about it online. I meant to go Northwest that day, but I went Southeast instead and ended up exploring this area. There are many like it in Lodz, which was a city built around factories.

Factory housing in Widzew

Factory housing in Widzew

The desperation of the blue chair

Widzew

Laundry day

Thursday, April 8, 2010

97/365: Late on a bad day

97/365: Late on a bad day
97/365: Late on a bad day, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.
April 7th

I contemplated giving the world the finger, but then nice people look at my pictures, too...
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