A Local Tragedy and a Trip To Hell

The story of the local tragedy:

They were a young couple, beautiful and vibrant. The aura of their happiness seemed impenetrable…unbreakable. No matter what the world threw at them, they knew they could triumph. Their love gave them a magical strength that seemed dead in the modern world, forgotten by the people that rule the world. Amidst of all this precariousness the couple decided that spreading their happiness is the best way to heal a broken world, so they decided to have younglings. When the young finally came, there was fortune enough to be shared with others. Maybe, just maybe they could infect the world with their joy and spread it. As vultures on decaying flesh soon usurpers were all around them waiting to feed on their happiness, to feast on their young. All it took was one moment of carelessness and the young were gone, nothing but a spot of blood to ever evidence that they were happier once. They were certain nothing could ever be bright again. Nothing would ever be right henceforth. However, the persistent passage of time healed the hurt and remade their soul. Not entirely, nothing could ever mend that hurt, but enough that they decided to try again. This time they felt no joy while expecting their young to come, but were instead petrified. The experience of the past loss just too fresh to completely surrender to the happiness of the moment. Again, the joy blinded them, the happiness nothing else but a deceitful veil against what is to come. They were certain that this time they were prepared, their home secure and out of reach of all the life-leeches that circled them before. This time the attack came unashamed and direct. The vultures had once already had their way, so this time they played no pretense. They showed outwardly their foul hunger. The couple tried to protect their young, but there were too many of them. There was just too much evil in this world to contend with. The couple´s love a meager branch caught in a hurricane of hatred. Finally and inevitably they failed. This time the repeated loss broke them completely. Broke them beyond any remedy. Soon they started to hate each other. The man left, gone forever. Lost to her. The lady stayed, her heart bound to the place where she buried her happiness. Just a memory, but enough to give her cause to persevere … or linger. She swims still in the same pond, alone and lost. Searching endlessly. There is nothing, nothing but the tears of the spectators that come every day to marvel at her sorrow and her beauty.

This is a true story of a swan couple that tried to have a family near our home in a small secluded pond. The litter, well, the nest was ruined twice.

With an effort to get off the melancholy train, I present some very nice photos of our trips to a Kingfisher trail and the Hell Gorge near Ljubljana and a Learning trail near the village Bevke. Lovely time that was on all occassions spoiled slightly by the discovery of those crawling creatures that seem to be everywhere lately – the ticks. We do try to like everything about nature, even the slimiest things like a leech, but tick are a hard swallow.