145/365: Red bicycle going to Rogów

145/365: Red bicycle, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 25th

I like cycling.

The problem is finding people who want to cycle with me. I'm in that awkward bracket: not hardcore enough for most enthusiasts, too hardcore for my casually biking friends. So, when I plan a trip somewhere, I usually end up going alone.

But this time, the trip wasn't my idea. "Let's go to Rogów," my friend Kasia (in the picture) said. "Let's go to the Life Sciences Arboretum." Only, of course, the minute I said yes, the planning fell to me. And planning is odd when you can't gauge the endurance of your group. Already, there were complaints. "Eight in the morning? Why do we have to leave that early?"

"Because it will be boiling hot by 11 am, and because it's thirty miles, and I can't see you going faster than eight on average."

And because I only know half of the way there. But, I didn't tell them that.

I plotted a route, strapped my new Android phone to the handlebars for GPS assistance, and hoped for the best.

We got lost, of course. Pro tip: when the opening of a trail is guarded by a headless Jesus statue, don't follow it. It's a very, very bad trail.

The next trip I'm planning will be lonesome. Apparently no one wants to bike sixty miles to see the ruins of a gothic castle.

Things we saw along the way were a WWI cemetery hidden in the forest in Wiączyń: 

...a village called Moscow:



Apparently the local lord took part in Napoleon's failed Moscow Campaign, and when he returned, he named the village Moskwa.

We crossed a terrible slippery log bridge over a swamp:



...then cycled through the Windows XP background...



...until finally, Rogów!



...with beautiful Azaleas:



...a pond full of lilypads, frogs, and fishies:







The woodcut typography used in the arboretum signposts is worth a mention. Look at the 'transparency'!



It was a good day. Here's the map. Orange trail is what I had planned, blue is our actual route.


View Wycieczka do Rogowa in a larger map

136/365: Chestnuts

136/365: Chestnuts, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 16th

Gdańska street, Łódź.

123/365: In May? Really?

123/365: In May? Really?, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 3rd

The traditional Long May Weekend was probably ruined for a lot of people! You don't want snow falling into your barbecue.

Me, I was snug at home, and laughing like an evil person.

101/365:In the park

101/365:In the park, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

April 11th

I ride my bike through the park part of the way to the stables. This used to be a large alder forest, part of it is now protected- a swampy terrain with trees up to a hundred years old.

63/365: Zulka and Radesh

63/365: Zulka and Radesh, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

March 4th

The weather was so warm, I had to open the windows. Now, Radesh knows all about heights, but I'm concerned about Zulka and Oli. I watched them like a hawk. I think this year I will try to get someone to help me build a little fence around the windowsill, and see if that's enough. I really don't want to have to put a net over the window.

Oh, and they were watching the workmen next door cutting down some trees.

20/365: Snowy trees

20/365: Snowy trees, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 20th

So, even though I am trying to win a trip to the North Pole (your votes are welcome, by the way) it's not because I don't get to see any snow at home. Mid-deluge, winter decided to make a comeback.

I just happened to have a riding class today, and it's way out on the edge of town, right by the airport, where there's lots of wilderness. I'm happy I was up before the snow melted off the branches.

Some more photos from that day:

This is where I was glad to have my big tall wellies:



The quickest way for me to get to the stables is to take the bus to the airport and then follow a shortcut around the fence.



The Lodz airport is very small for a city this size, with only one runway and a handful of planes a day, so it's nice to catch one without planning for it.



Like I said...very glad I had my wellies.

10/365: The sun

10/365: The sun, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 10th

The choices were as follows: take pictures of the melting snow and the mountains of dog shit, or take a picture of the glowy sun.

I chose the sun.

356/365: Our Christmas Tree

356/365: Our Christmas Tree, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

December 22nd

We decorated the tree! Yay. I think that's really all I can say, yay yay yay. Christmas trees are one of the prettiest things in the world.

355/365: Christmas tree

355/365: Christmas tree, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

December 21st

Christmas trees are my job. When I was eight and we lived in the embassy, we had a fake one to save on cleanup, and it was my job to put it together. Then we went home- for a while, it was dad and me getting the trees together, but ever since he stopped driving and then sold the car, the task is all mine. I don't drive either, though...

When it snows, we don't ask anyone for a ride, I just go through the plot gardens and down to the skating rink with my sled:

They sell trees there every year. I bring it home...I set it up. I put the lights on. It stays like that for a day or so, and then we decorate it fully.

Then I go out three more times to get a second tree for the living room, and a couple big boughs of mistletoe. It's an exhausting tradition, but also a matter of pride.

(and it gets me away long enough not to have to do any of the stuff I really dislike, like helping with cooking and cleaning. I'd rather carry trees, thanks.)

340/365: Under the willow tree.

340/365: Under the willow tree., originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

December 6th

When I was still a teenager, someone, I don't much recall who, planted a willow twig in my parents' back yard. Everyone said it would never take.

329/365: Birch

329/365: Birch, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

November 25th

On the first snow day, there was a lovely sunset.

326/365: Monster

326/365: Monster, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

November 22nd

But he can't cross the river.

303/365: Lay low

303/365: Lay low, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

October 30th

The forest is dripping with gold. Yesterday, I walked through it and a doe ran past me. I didn't have my camera, of course, but it wouldn't have mattered. She was fast, limber, and vanished like a dream.

287/365:Morning forest

287/365:Morning forest, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

October 14th

A misty morning at the brink of autumn.

280/365: Bare

280/365: Bare, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

October 7th

Some trees are already naked...

Some are not:

278/365: Up there

278/365: Up there, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

October 5th

Lunchtime walk. Can't go very far, or I'll be late coming back to work, and my line of work is such that inevitably, when I am not there, I am desperately needed (when in turn I stay put, there is nothing to do all day). So I go to the nearby sliver of forest and after looking low, I look high.

274/365: Leaves

274/365: Leaves, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

October 1st

Since we work for the same studio, but on different projects, ManiaKovalsky and I started taking lunch walks together. On October 1st, this tree was the yellowest of all.

She also took a photo of me:

I would love to claim that I look so ragged in that picture because I was jumping on the train to Berlin to crawl around abandoned places that weekend, and needed to travel light, but to be honest, that's what I look like every day.