Sunday, February 18, 2007

Paradise




Saša Šekoranja
Ilica 82, Zagreb. Saša Šekoranja
This florist is in my neighborhood. A crowd formed on the sidewalk, looking at this display. My guide book describes him this way: "Sasa is not so much a florist, but an artist who happens to use flowers as his means of expression. Beautiful, natural and unusual arrangements - very different to what is usually available.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Astonished

Just like every other Saturday at 3pm, today I walked over to Sedmica with the Weekend Edition of the Financial Times. I sat in the corner table with my back to the window, and my waiter came over. He said, didn't ask, "kavica" and I smiled and said yes. He came back with my "kavica" and a glass of water. He said (in English), "No sugar" (because there were none on the saucer and I usually don't take sugar) and I said, in Croatian, "yes, that's it," and smiled. He walked back to the counter, I enjoyed my paper and the music. A very tall man came in pushing a toddler sitting in a stroller. I've seen them here before, she's a little girl, this is her father, and when they come in, I hear lots of men greeting them with hello for the father and sweet things for her. About an hour later I walked to the counter to pay. The waiter was siting on a bar stool at the side of the counter, talking to the three customers at the counter. I couldn't find a space close enough to hand him the money, so I signaled to him that I would leave it on the table in front of me. I was really surprised when he said, no, it's ok, so I thought I misunderstood the language. I repeated my gesture, he repeated his. I smiled and said thank you. I left feeling so warm and happy. I felt like home. Maybe even for the first time.

Monday, February 12, 2007

"Socailist Textiles"


Ad for "Socialist Textiles" by the trzic factory in Slovenia (Svijet magazine, 1975)

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Something for you

I ran across this the other day. In France, there used to be jukeboxes stacked not with records but movies. Please check it out at this web site:
http://scopitones.blogs.com/scopitonescom/