Eastern Poland: Working in the Barn

Spent a lot of time in the barn over Christmas, chopping up old Christmas trees for firewood.

When the snow had cleared up, I was able to admire the area behind the barn which had been tidied up over summer:

Kotek's Chewed Box

Kotek has several boxes that he enjoys chewing around the flat, but this is definitely his favourite one.

Warsaw: The Stodoła Smurfs

Was down  near the Stodoła during the day on New Year's Eve, when suddenly on the pavement, I noticed there were smurf-type creatures all over the place.

Would love to know how the smurfs got on the pavement:

Chocolates from Berlin

Absolutely delicious, chocolates from Berlin that a friend got me, knowing that I have a sweet tooth.

Ate them all in one go, they were that good.

Finishing off Joyce's Dubliners

Currently in the process of finishing off James Joyce's 'Dubliners', being halfway through the final (and longest) short story in the collection, 'The Dead'.

One thing I really like about the collection is how Catholicism often atmospherically lurks in the background of the stories, as a kind of unifying contextual principle.

Before starting 'Dubliners', I'd read that Joyce had a kind of antipathy/distaste for Catholicism, but this never seems to have been overt throughout my reading of the anthology. Through internet surfing, I've just read that Joyce had a complex relationship with Catholicism, on one hand, having a certain distaste for it, while on the other hand, having continued to attend the Latin Tridentine Mass (plus the Byzantine liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church) as he valued its deep beauty.

Really like the way Joyce juxtaposes a tension between (Catholic) moral duty and the need to escape from imprisonment-type social situations in 'Dubliners'. For this reason, 'The Boarding House'; 'A Little Cloud'; 'Counterparts'; 'Clay'; 'A Painful Case', and above anything else, 'Eveline' are my favourite short stories in the collection.

'Eveline' is a deeply moving, four-page story with the central female character not being able to sail off with her lover for a better life in Argentina, because a strong sense of duty and promise to her dead mother, forces her to stay at home to look after her two much younger siblings.

Have a friend in county Cork who writes a lot of short stories, and I've kind of pointed him towards reading the 'Dubliners' collection, because I think a short story writer can learn a lot about his/her craft through comparing and contrasting the various themes, styles, and lengths of story at play in the collection.

My Mental Jukebox Part 18

'Red Barchetta', another tune from my favourite band Rush.

Finally, got round to reading 'A Nice Morning Drive' by Richard Foster which is the short story that appeared in a car magazine in the early 1970s that inspired Rush drummer Neil Peart to write 'Red Barchetta'.

Also read about Neil Peart and Richard Foster finally meeting up in 2007, a long time after 'Red Barchetta' appeared on the 1981 Rush album 'Moving Pictures'.

Warsaw: Jesus Christ Super Star Advertisement

Above, there is the Jesus Christ Super Star advertisement which seems to be dominating the metro line in Warsaw at the moment.

Below, there is an early evening scene from New Year's Eve with people making their way on the metro from Plac Wilsona to Bankowy for the big concert that was held there: