This, in essence, is me

Just to keep the flow.

Yes, skiing week has ended, but that's not the only thing that went down the drain. A bit after a year our (rightist, full of bigots) government fell. If our politics finally manages to find some sense, we're not going to new early elections, but we might get a new (left-centre), maybe more normal governmental coalition. Well, it makes for some rather busy days for me. That, combined with brain functioning at some 75% (or less) power left my LiveJournal empty again. Oh, well...

So, back to this year's skiing. We didn't go to France as for the past few years. You can blame late decisions, lack of time, lack of money or some other mishaps. Ricky saved our arses this season. Iggy, Bert, Ricky and me escaped to his parents' house in Alpi Marittime, in Piemonte region of Italy. We were skiing in a smaller resort that spans in-between Prato Nevoso, Artesina and Frabosa Soprana. Fantastic snow and moody weather. Clouds, sun, fog, sun, snow, sun, clouds. We didn't stay the whole week; on the sixth day we decided to go to Genova (about a 90 minutes drive) and spend some days there. Snow followed us there as well and also Slovenia got a thick white layer so we stayed a day longer and then returned to Ljubljana... to a cold, dark, drizzly weather. Ok, Spring, now it's your turn.

I am giving you a few pictures here, the rest is flickr'd.

And now I have to see how many of 25 million posts I can browse through...


Boys above the valley.


Amazing nature. Snowflake zoomed in.


Good days.


Yes, yes, yes!!!


Sharp line of smog.


Time to go.


Ricky in front of us; time T.


Ricky in front of us; time T+90 minutes.


Almost all the way back to Ljubljana, where shitty weather insisted.

It was just one of those nights. I was clicking through files on my computer and found a long-forgotten folder with scans of some really old pictures. It was family stuff mostly, kids and stuff, but there were also some shots of my parents from pre-me area and also some from pre-Robert time. My parents married in 1962, mom was 18 and father was 20 then. Berti appeared in 1966 and I was there in 1970. While looking at those pictures, I was shocked how much style they managed to pull off while in their early 20's. I guess people were just more... mature and consistent back then if I compare them to me in my early 20's, let alone comparing them to kids today.

And they were so beautiful. And, of course, looking at those pics from half a century or so ago is painful. Time passes by.





( Old Gold Cut. )

So, as "promised"... new year has started and I guess that I return to LJ a bit. Yes, we left 2012 behind and entered in 2013. And what an entry it was... Forget frost and coldness and winter jackets and boots. Enter sun, short sleeves, snickers, sunglasses. And we weren't in Australia, darned. It's just the weather that seems to have gone completely loony this winter. Okay, we weren't in gloomy Central European, depressing, foggy Ljubljana, but about 600 km down the road shouldn't really make such a difference. Yet it did. Lovely Italian coast in Liguria (read Genova and neighbouring cities) offered a welcome refuge from life for a few wonderful days. Ricky is, of course, a perfect host as he is a perfect friend and jumping in 2013 was a real pleasure. Lobsters, trips, prosecco, endless fun hours of The Settlers of Catan included. And, Iggy has birthday on 1st January, so we just doubled good times.

So, let's do th capodanno outine once again, this time in pictures. I am giving you a little selection, a selection of some highlights with focus on people, much igger set, full of nature and such, is available on flickr, of course.

Auguri!!!



Iggy in Piani d'Invrea.


Berti, Ricky and Iggy in Piani d'Invrea.


Trying out a "model look".


Trying out a new underwater camera.


Ricky in Porto Venere.


Iggy and Berti in La Grotta di Byron in Porto Venere.


R&B in Porto Venere.


Flattering afternoon sun; Porto Venere.


Slovenians taking over Piazza de Ferrari in Genova.


Happy new year and Happy Birthday! :)


Thanks, Ricky! :)))))

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.
- Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

So, I guess, 21st can come any time now. :)

No comment.






 

Well, as far as my memory wants to browse through this depressing and heavy year, this has probably been of the most fun weekends. Most certainly so. Well, our annual-almost-christmas, read Wine Festival, definitely helped a lot. Andrea arrived from Italy on time, Marijana skipped this year's iteration, because she was busy, Ricky had afternoon meeting in Italy (and he doesn't care much about wine anyway), so this year it was Iggy, Berti, Matjaž and Andrea (and me, of course) and two other friends, lovely couple Nina and Dejan, joined us.
So Friday... We decided to be trendy this year, so - at least in the beginning - we tried to taste orange wines. I have to say it's quite an interesting experience to taste white/orange wine with intensity and taste of a typical red barique. Definitely something I will be coming back to. And then, when the night was becoming more and more blurry, I am sure we definitely tried a lot of other stuff. So when we came home (where Ricky waited for us with dinner), the evening just... exploded in music, food and more wine. And we rediscovered Wii.
Saturday... Ricky brought his a few weeks' old plan to life. He wanted to make tortellini. And he made them, oh how he made them. We (Andrea, Iggy and me) helped him and together we made a really great lunch, a perfect post-hangover soup with tortellini for the wine festival group. Needless to say, the group was a lot more quite the next day. LOL
And then a victorious Saturday evening. The choir Iggy is singing in took a part in choral competition and nailed it biggest time. And I was crying all the time, pussy me. But they were doing some Gershwin which I adore and they were bloody good and I was bloody happy and proud. So, yes, a total victory.
And today... good food, easy time, also some sunshine and some Wii and... it was a wonderful, wonderful weekend.

Away from life.

So, here you have a few pictures from, I could say, one of 2012 highlights and the rest is, of course, in a flickr set.


Orange Andrea and me.


Wine festival aftermath #1: Somebody was cooking, while others were singing.


Wine festival aftermath #2: Nina.


Wine festival aftermath #3: Dejan and Andrea.


Wine festival aftermath #4: Fly, Berti, fly.


Tortellini in the making.


Isn't it nice to have Italian friends?


Matjaž in the sun.


Iggy wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon! :)))