Pencils on the Wall

 Pencils on the wall of a passageway in Warsaw.

And not far away, a commune of bicycle lovers:

In green suburbia.

Jesus in the Cemetery

 

For a split second, while seeing this statue of Jesus carrying the cross in the corner of my eye, I thought that it really was Jesus present in the flesh, in an Eastern Polish cemetery.

Even when I look at the picture now, it looks incredibly lifelike.

Below, there is another image of Jesus, this time on the headstone of a grave:

And below, there is a crucifix which stands opposite a petrol station in a small, eastern Polish town:

New Boss Cat

 

From a distance, I managed to get a shot of the new boss cat in our garden in Eastern Poland.

Through the cat being white, my wife reckons it's probably a female (like the previous boss cat, Emilia, was).

Sundown at the Orchard Gateway

 

As can be seen above, sundown at the orchard gateway was a pretty sight.

Below, you get a peep inside the tomato greenhouse:

 And below, the doorway through the barn:

Into the Orchard

Getting into the orchard was no easy job as everything was overgrown so I had to cut a path into it:

And through it:

And at some point, I came across a load of hazelnut poles in the undergrowth:

There must've been about 150-200 of them, in total.

Kotek Watching the Swallows

Kotek watching the swallows fly in and out of a nest from the sink in the upstairs bathroom.

We always keep this bathroom window closed, of course, as the swallows' nest is on the wall directly outside the window.

A nice profile shot of Kotek below:
 

Another New Friend

 

Another new friend who we saw in Eastern Poland, a beautiful young Ginger Cat.

Can remember reading in a Preface to Lord of the Rings (or The Hobbit) that Tolkien viewed the hobbits as saintly people who had some of the features of a cat (e.g. brilliant hearing/listening skills).

Saving Trees from Vine

 

All over the garden, I had to disentangle invasive vine that was strangling the life out of quite a few trees.

After clearing the vine from a tall tree in front of the barn, Misiek's old barn became visible again:

All kinds of smaller trees were saved from the vine, but once or twice, a few big branches snapped off as the vine was being threaded out of them.

 The vine was also cleared from trees round the back of the barn:

 And from the well, near the house:

From conifers near the fence:

And conifers on the other side of the garden:

This was a much bigger job than anticipated.

Compost Heap in Order

 One of the jobs I set about in Eastern Poland was ordering the compost heap behind the big barn:

As can be seen above, the compost heap was being invaded by loads of stinging nettles, so I quickly started sorting this out:

After not too long, the area to the left of the compost heap looked a whole lot better:

But I kept some stinging nettles in place, as a horticulturalist once told me that in optimum amount, they're good for fertilising other things in the garden.

Summer Fog Festival: Fantastic Line-Up

 

As the t-shirt shows, the Summer Fog Festival was fantastic, with highly varied bands lined up next to each other.

Think it was a good idea to thread Polish bands into the nine-band line-up.

As usual, Riverside were great:

As were Collage and SBB too, of course. 

All the bands at this festival were great.

Good Food in Eastern Poland

Some good food I had in Eastern Poland starting with the wonderful courgette, potato wedges, red pepper, and olive oil meal below:

My wife's freshly-made bread:

Green beans for lunch in the gazebo:

Buckwheat in cabbage leaves:

And halloumi, potatoes, and green salad:

Sometimes washed down with a decent beer, like the one below (which went well with a pizza):

Service Station White Flowers

White flowers that I saw at a service station:

Not far outside Lublin on the way to Eastern Poland:

This was a nice place for a bite to eat.

Katowice Train Station

 Katowice train station was also quite pleasing to the eye.

Kind of modern-looking but still worth a few shots.

Even from the platform, there was something interesting to see:

Would have no hesitation coming to Katowice again for any interesting concerts at the Spodek.

Lola: A New Friend

 

In Eastern Poland, we met a new friend, Lola.

Lola was only a few months old but she was full of life.

Katowice City Centre

Must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by Katowice city centre:

The tall, Germanic buildings could be seen on many street corners:

 

The place was much better than I'd been led to believe.

The variety of buildings was pleasing to the eye:

You can just make out the Jehovah's Witnesses standing in front of the red building above.

And the most impressive building I came across in Katowice city centre would have to be the one below:

Not sure what the building is but it certainly caught my (camera) eye:

Wish I'd had a bit longer to explore Katowice city centre, to be honest.