158/365: Bad day

158/365: Bad day, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

June 7th

Very bad, horrible, no good at all, punch-a-wall and kick-a-trashcan kind of day.

68/365: Spring nibble

68/365: Spring nibble, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

March 9th

Horseriding day! A big birch had just been felled so the horses got to eat the very best little branches from the very top of the tree.

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.

62/365: Sunny day

62/365: Sunny day, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

March 3rd

All it really was- a very sunny day in Lodz.

41/365: Tumbledown with new windows.

41/365: Tumbledown with new windows., originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 10th

A day of sunshine, as warm as spring. We hoped winter was over...we could see the blue sky reflected in all the dirty old building windows...

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.

212/365: My neighbourhood

212/365: My neighbourhood, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

July 31st

Particularly glorious in the sunshine. You can get anything you want on that corner- there's a daily market with everything from bread and eggs to beef and eggplants, there's a confectioner, a bakery, three tanning salons, six florists, a butcher shop, two pharmacies, two herbal remedy stores, two Asian take-aways, a watchmaker, a bookmaker, three 24h liquor stores, two electric supply shops, a gardening store, a fake flower shop, a scrap metal buyer, two cobblers, a photo print shop, a second-hand clothes shop, a jeans store, a discount tchotchke shop, and four or five little grocery stores which somehow still hold on despite the raging competition.

I love living here.

184/365: Sunset at home

184/365: Sunset at home, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

July 3rd

My windows face south- all I see outside is the courtyard, but the chimneys are always golden in the evening.

166/365: Morning

166/365: Morning, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

June 15th

The light is lovely in the morning, falling through the trees like through a colander.

163/365: The last bike trip

163/365: The last bike trip, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

June 12th

The twins had mentioned something about leaving, but no one took them seriously until they started packing. This was their last weekend at my place, and so we decided to take One Last Bike Trip. Basia was missing as she is in the USA studying and doing research for her new film, but everyone else was there: the twins, Asia (whom I have no pictures of), ManiaKovalsky, Maciek, and me.

We got horribly lost along the way and never made it to the forest or the pond we'd expected to find, but it was wonderful at 55 km total.

147/365: Zdrowie forest

147/365: Zdrowie forest, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 27th

"Zdrowie" means health, and it sure keeps me sane to bike this way every day, to work and back.

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:



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





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



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



It was a good day.

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.

93/365: Blessing the food

93/365: Blessing the food, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

April 3rd

Święconka is a Polish Easter tradition, where on Good Saturday we take a basket of food to church for a blessing. The most common traditional basket contains eggs, meat, cake, bread, salt and pepper, horseradish and beetrot sauce, and a sugar lamb. They represent all the food we will eat on Easter Morning, after the Resurrection. Children in particular like Święconka as they are usually the ones to carry a little basket. I still use the same basket I brought to church when I was very small, I wouldn't have any other.

(later my cat Radesh broke into the dining room and stole all the meat from my basket. Which is just as well since I don't really eat meat anymore anyway...)

86/365: Cranes on the river

86/365: Cranes on the river, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

March 27th

Across the river in Praga there used to be a football stadium. It was called the 10 Year Anniversary Stadium and had been built in 1955 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Poland's post-WW2 rebirth as the People's Republic. It was built from the rubble of destroyed Warsaw, rubble brought from the Western bank as the Eastern city of Praga had not been razed to the ground by retreating Germans- the Soviets were already there.

The Stadium was used well for its times, but by 1983 the upkeep was impossible. In 1989 the city decided to rent the disused stadium to vendors, and thus was born the Jarmark Europa. For years it was the place where you could get anything- from pirated films to smuggled cigarettes, moonshine, weapons...and clothes, lots and lots of clothes. It was dirty, dodgy, creepy, and absolutely wonderful.

In 2008 it was decided that the Stadium would be torn down and a new one built in its place, this time as a true national center for sports and not a black market. We will need a proper football stadium to host the UEFA Euro 2012.

People are skeptical as to whether it will be as functional as promised, or whether it will even be finished on time, but in any case the cranes look impressive, looming over Praga like that.

83/365: A walk with Guinness

83/365: A walk with Guinness, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

March 24th

Under some acer trees today. Walking with Guinness is most fun at this time of year, in early spring when the sun is out but not yet scorching, and the air is fresh without being chill. I always take my camera.

More photos from today:

67/365: In early springtime

67/365: In early springtime, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

March 8th

The sunshine was beautiful today. I went for a long walk with Guinness, and when we strayed off our usual path, we ran into several pigeoner's shanties that I hadn't known about.

There are a lot of them in this area- if the city ever expands and eats the fields, I will miss these tumbledown volieres the most.

63/365: Birches in Arkadia

63/365: Birches in Arkadia, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

March 4th

I've already put a picture of birchwood in my 365 this year, but the sun was so fantastic today I just had to do it again. Spring is coming. Despite this sunny proof there is no doubt we will have snow again this March, as previous years have proven, somewhere towards the end of the month. My mother tells me it was snowing on my birthday, 27 years ago, and my birthday is in March.

There is a saying that goes "W marcu jak w garncu", and I call upon it every year: it means "March is like a pot of broth", ergo there will be sunshine in March, and snow, and rains, and whatever you please save any semblance of meteorological sanity. Furthermore there will be no respite come April, as folk wisdom gives that month just as bad a reputation: "Kwiecień, plecień, bo przeplata, trochę zimy, trochę lata", which in English renders: "April weaves summer and winter together."

In any case, it is nice to see some sunshine, and the birches look their best when bathed in it. The Silver Birch (Betula Pendula) is the most popular birch in Poland, and something of a symbol for that; whenever I see white bark I know I am home.

Here are some more. From January this year, birches in winter:

A birch in autumn:

Birches in spring:

And birches in summer:

38/365: Pigeons in a row

38/365: Pigeons in a row, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 7th

I had to drop into Warsaw today. And it was very cold, and windy, as it tends to be on these wide streets built particularly for communist parades and tank advancement. Rather than serving you the usual landmark I snapped a shot of some locals loitering by the train station.

I notice something I haven't seen on Blogspot before: an 'add location' button. I like that. Though since I already geotag all of my photos on Flickr, I wish the information could just cross over.

Anyway, I tagged the picture. ;)