51/365: A feather

51/365: A feather, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 20th

A tiny feather in the snow. I wonder whether it was lost, or stolen.

Here are some more feathers; one in the grass...

...and one in the sand.

50/365:Word Canyon

50/365:Word Canyon, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 19th

In a room in the back of a little store selling religious items hides a fantastic bookstore...I brought home a Lexicon of Explorers, Paul Herrmann's "Zeigt Mir Adams Testament" or The Great Age of Discovery and Georges Blond's "Grands Navigateurs". I have too many books already, and no money at all, but honestly, who could resist?

49/365: Guinness

49/365: Guinness, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 18th

I'm visiting my parents in Warsaw again, and guess who's happiest to see me? :) All right, he doesn't look delighted in this photo but that was because everyone was eating soup and he was anxious to get the bowls for licking.

48/365: Pencils

48/365: Pencils, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 17th

Today wasn't the day for photos. Here's some pencils. A cop-out picture which I've been guilty of before:

47/365:City snow

47/365:City snow, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 16th

It is pretty, fluffy, and white when it falls, but it doesn't stay that way for long in the city. As seen from my third floor window.

46/365: Someday I will have real shelves

46/365: Someday I will have real shelves, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 15th

Another day at home. My knee doesn't hurt so badly that I can't walk but I want to give it as much rest as possible by staying home. I don't want the spring bike season to find me with an injury!

Anyway, this is yet another last-minute photograph of my place. I recently rearranged my sparse furniture and got rid of some junk and now I have, shock-horror, free space on my bookshelves (there is a third bookshelf on the other side of the room, behind the camera). I love books. These are almost all of the ones I bought myself, some which were lent or given to me, plus quite a lot of my childhood books.There are several hundred more of those back at my parents' house and it will be a long time before I move them all. I don't have a car- I've been moving over to this apartment via train for the last four years. (see how the room has changed over the years in the photos on the left)

Anyway, to paraphrase Terry Pratchett, a person who has enough shelf-space for all their books is not worth talking to. Ergo, I need more books.

Unfortunately, I'm unemployed right now, so I am trying to read what I have before buying any more. Right now I am very slowly making my way through J.M. Roberts' 'Short History of the World'.

45/365: Valentine's day

45/365: Valentine's day, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 14th

I gave my cat a Valentine. He loved it.

44/365: A postcard from Lodz

44/365: A postcard from Lodz, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 13th

My knee still hurts so I'm trying not to walk too much, which means no day trips to catch interesting photo ops. Still, I had to leave the house to go buy some catfood. This is the only picture I took today...it's surprising how many people haven't used their cars at all this winter.

I need to concentrate a bit more when I'm taking photos, somehow they all come out blurry these last days.

43/365: At home

43/365: At home, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 12th

I spent all day at home today, sorry, I don't have anything interesting to show you.

42/365: Pączki for Fat Thursday

42/365: Pączki for Fat Thursday, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 11th

This is a confectioner's stall at the market near my place. Normally the shelves are filled with different kinds of cakes- chocolate eclairs, honey gingerbread, puff pastries, jam buns...

But today, it is all pączki. Because today, my friends, is Fat Thursday, and custom declares that on Fat Thursday a person should eat as many pączki as they can. And then they should eat some more.

Now, there is a common misconception in America, I have noticed, about this traditional Polish dessert called 'pączki'.

First of all, we do not eat them on Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is the Tuesday followed immediately by Ash Wednesday, effectively the last day of the Carnival before Lent, but it is not a feast celebrated in Poland.

We do not celebrate 'Pączki Day', either. That is a Polish-American tradition.

At home in the old country, what we actually celebrate is Fat Thursday (Tłusty Czwartek). It falls on the last Thursday before Lent- almost a week before Ash Wednesday. In other words, today.

Second of all, they are not doughnuts. Doughnuts have holes in them and they are a completely different dough besides. And what you might think are doughnut holes are mini pączki, or pączusie.

Now, about the name itself. I have heard the word explained as 'packages'. Not so- the word actually means 'buds'. See the little tail underneath the 'a'? That makes an 'aw' sound, and the word is pronounced 'pawnchkee'. The confusion comes from replacing the letter with a regular 'a': 'paczki' are, indeed, packages, preferably wrapped up in brown paper and tied up with string. 'Pączki', however, are buds, such as you would see on a tree in springtime, and though the cakes named after them do often come wrapped in paper, its colour is waxed off-white, and the string is ribbon rather than jute.


Note also that the word is plural, the singular form being 'pączek' (pronounced 'pawncheck'). One pączek, two pączki. Of course it is only natural that the English language would add an extra s and adapt the word as pączkis. :) (the aforementioned 'pączusie' is a diminutive, and indicates the 'pączek' has been shrunk to cuteness.)

If all this etymology has made you hungry, you should feel justified in running out to the nearest confectionery shop and bringing home as many sweet pastries as you can carry. It is, after all, Tłusty Czwartek.

(photos from Fat Thursday 2010, 2009 and 2008)