A POSITIVE WEEK WITH MICROINFUSION

(while I lagged in my laziness, taking my time writing this blog post, two thing happened – a war and I seem to be on my way to disability. I wanted to squeeze in this new development, but I think I will rather write a new post.)

Compared to the previous post I wanted to start off with a positive title and a positive narrative. There is nothing more positive than a positive walk in Ljubljana where you can see rare birds and even a group of deer sleepily grazing on the early spring grass. Or, maybe a positive outing in the valley of Tama, which is still covered with several feet of snow, while most of the country has already lost its white winter blanket:

But that did not happen this week. No, there were no walks on snow, no spotting of wild animals in Ljubljana. What was positive was our test for Covid… Again. The positive development of the week was that first my daughter tested positive, then my son and last but not least my wife and I went as a couple to get tested. (And she complains I never take here anywhere). With the whole family Covid positive the title of this blog spot seems more than appropriate. So it is going to be a not so positive blog post about a positive result.

Staying at home under a strict isolation, I came to realize that I like staying at home, resting, reading a book. However, our home has been plagued by very noisy neighbors. Therefore, next to a mild Covid inflicted cold, that offered slight headaches and low energy, the biggest headache for has been the constant thumping and rumblings and drumming, produced by the kind of people that do not wish to recognize that they live closely to other human beings. I noticed, especially during the epidemic, that people like to enhance the meaning of their rights and their own individual thinking while completely disregard that they live in a very populated community with other people who should have the same freedoms and rights and quiet. In the sense this has been our test in the epidemic of our generation – the test of our community spirit. Some countries got that and persevered. Some countries failed and most of the people are angry and scared or in some sort of feud with other people on the Facebook or with their friends or family over the vaccinations the Covid restrictions etc. And yeah, I count Slovenia into the latter group of Countries. It seems that everybody is so afraid of the intrusion of their rights that they have no problem stomping all over others’ rights.

Despite the abundance of time on my hands I managed without too much effort to mostly squander it on games and binge-watching series. The one thing that was beneficial in all the screen-time-waste-of-time was coming up to date with certain Oscar nominated films. I must say that it has been quite a ride. After seeing “King Richard”, “Tick Tick…Boom”, half of “Power of the Dog”, “Belfast”, the one film that will be etched forever in both our hearts will be “CODA”. Film which title is an acronym for Child of Deaf Adults is such a heartfelt feel good film with awesome actors and amazing story, that I cannot wait to see with my kids. This film showed me…or more accurately reminded me that there are whole worlds in our world that are invisible to us. Either we never come in contact with them – like the intimate lives of families with deaf members – or we try our best to ignore them completely – like the poor, the beggars, the homeless. Like the man that regularly sits in front of my shop, where I usually get my lunch and sells the magazine published by the homeless. I always say hello to the man, leave a coin or two every now and then. But I never stopped to talk to him. In one of the latest editions of the homeless magazine I read that his name is Dušan, that he comes from Maribor and that he has a daughter there who he hasn’t seen in an age. There is another man that I see almost every day in the part of the city where we live. I can only guess that he is a homeless man. He has a long thick beard, longer and thicker hair, falling over his shoulders. Both beard and hair are of the same silvery gray color with long lonely patches of black that seems to resist the grayness. He always wears the same dark blue winter coat, loose dark blue pants and for some reason he always wears only the Croc sandals, sometimes with but mostly without socks – even when it is freezing outside. He walks constantly, sometimes carrying a bag, sometimes something to eat, but he never sits, he walks and walks. Sometimes when I pass him I can see his bright blue eyes that infuses me with intense and unexpected sadness. I always prefer to look away. Some people seemingly have the ability to relay their loneliness and sadness through their eyes, making you avoid their gaze. It could be that, or maybe he just reminds me strongly of my father and the image I have of him in my head the last time I saw him by chance on a walk on the Polževo plateau. We talked briefly and superficially, exchanging meaningless kindnesses without really saying anything, but his eyes then conveyed the same sadness and loneliness as this mysterious man who walks our neighborhood.

Just so I don’t wrap up this blog post on a nostalgically negative note, I would like to post the most recent Micropictures, made by my wife and colored by me. I forgot how I enjoyed coloring them. It has been long overdue. Hope you enjoy them too.