After this negative title I feel I have to start with something more uplifting.
Yes, just kiss.
The 2022 has finally arrived. Let me tell you that everything is completely different than 2021. The world is cured of the awful Covid pandemic, we have all learned to get along again, people are smiling everywhere I look and embracing their friends in tight close-contact disregarding-exchange-of-germs embraces and most importantly our neighbors have gone from the most annoying neighbors to the most kind friendly and quiet neighbors anyone could every want to have.
And it only took one day to change all of that – turning our calendars from 21 to 22 is imbued with magical properties that yield amazing results.
While none of the things above actually transpired, it still remains just wishful thinking, it does not mean that the last month of 2021 wasn’t exceptional and terrible. It was, but everything else that could be deemed more important in terms of expecting a better 2022 compared to 2021, stayed the same. One thing that has changed though our neighbor from Polževo is no longer with us. Paule was a permanent and reassuring presence when we moved from Ljubljana to Polževo at the turn of the century more than 20 years ago. He is one of the first people I remember meeting on Polževo, and he was a good neighbor and a friend until he died very unexpectedly in December 2021. In my eyes, despite his years, he was a rock, salt of the earth kind of person. Strong and full of life and energy, always willing to help or to just have a nice conversation about mundane things. He tried to teach me chess which he was a master of and he even taught my son, when my son was competing in chess two years ago. He always greeted me and my family with a smile, when we visited Polževo and that smile will never welcome us again. I hope he will be able to rest wherever he is and I do hope heaven has good chess players so that he doesn´t get too bored.
PICTURE: A picture should be here, but instead there is only the-most-nostalgic self, after I just dived into the picture archives of our lives, trying to find a picture of our neighbor Paule on one of our many picnics, but could not. Instead, I have found decades of pictures of friends and events, some long forgotten but all cherished memories.
The other thing that changed is, my back hurts much worse than in 2021. None of my usual methods for keeping my back pain in check worked so far. And I tried very hard – even to that point, that my muscle tonus is better than it has been in a decade. That means I am the most muscular back pain-stricken person I know. But I don’t think they give out medals for that. If this is how 2022 is going to be, I am not looking towards the rest of this year with much enthusiasm or hope.
So, Happy New Year – let it be a cheer!!! and for those who haven’t celebrated it yet, I hope your new year brings with it something else than enhanced back pain.
While I sit here, massaging by back with tense therapy electrodes, I decided it might be a good time to share some of the more wonderful momenst of December 2021. Pain seems to be a good motivator for remembering pain free moments and trying to immerse myself into those memories to a degree where my back pain disappears.
Traditional holidays went by without too much fuss – Christmas was filled with family time and gifts, but this year we didn’t go all out. Instead we kept it simple and modest – but some gifts are a must. The most extravagant thing we did was making stuffed chicken and inviting my family over for Christmas day lunch. At least we were blessed with some snow in December.
Lets start with a tree, right!! 
Continue with a feast. 
Finish up with a cat with a big heart. 
And a hat. 
And another cake.
Big Snow man 
Small Snow man – tiny, really really tiny, but cute, you know, really cute.
The week following Christmas on the other hand, was full of adventure and fun and excitement.
As I had all the week off from work during the week before New Year, I tried to make most of it and I took the kids walking around the Cerkno lakes, which are intermittent lakes of great natural beauty and wonder. I haven’t been there too often, so it always feels like I am discovering something completely new. The kids enjoyed it, but not as much as I. Besides, my leg did not hurt me too much at that time yet, so it was easier to enjoy a longer walk than it is right now.
You can stare at the beauty… 
…or cereate a mistical ice shield.. 
…or find a water dragon cave!
Then we headed to the Cinema to see the long awaited Spiderman No Way Home – but when we got to the parking lot of the Cinema, we saw a long line that stretched from the entrance to the street, about 50 meters long. It was the direct effect of the requirement for every visitor to the Cinema to show a certificate that they have gotten the vaccination. Despite our disappointment, we decided to give up and go home. We saw the movie one week later in an almost empty Cinema hall – Because I got to see all of the Spiderman versions, this film hit a special note with me. I loved it so much I am unable to stop thinking about it. It is amazing that they were able to include different versions of Spiderman in such a way that it seemed premeditated. Tobey and Andrew both brought something of their own to the Spiderman and you could see it clearly when they were all together. Loved it. Yeah, that is me, having a fanboy freakout.
Another treat was the visit to the Koroška region, where we met our friends that live in Switzerland and haven’t seen them since Covid started. Just getting out of the foggy Ljubljana was worth the trip, but next to that the lovely Koroška gave us some of the nicest sights of the holidays. That and a whole lot of snow too.
When there is snow… 
…making a snowman… 
…is a must. 
Down was easy… 
…getting back up, not so much. 
Seeing the sun set over the Koroška hills and mountains was a very good ending to the day.
And now for the great finish. I am 41 years old and getting older has made me more squeamish and sensitive to certain things than I was in my 20ies. However, Gardaland at lake Garda in Italy was the amusement park that I always wanted to go. Listening to my friends that visited it when I was younger, describing all the awesome rides they experienced, it intrigued me. Because we are able to afford it and there was an opportunity to meet up with our Italian friends that live in Scotland, we decided to finally go for it. I expected to be scared out of my wits by the thrill rides in Gardaland. What I did not expect was discovering for ourselves (everyone I talked to already knew that, but for me apparently) a very beautiful part of Italy, which offers so much more than just an amusement park. Lake Garda is a natural wonder, surrounded by mountains and history that one can only marvel at. We will return there if we have a chance – if not for the crazy rides (although I am not going into the Magic House ever again), then to discover more about the Garda region. Like Verona for instance, where there is more to discover than just brass breasts of fictional Giuliette, who has been given a real fictional balcony that Romeo climbed in a totally made up story. Somehow it was necessary to build a balcony and name it the Romeo&Guliette balcony, despite the fact that these people never existed. While people storm into that courtyard to grab Guilette’s brests, I found Verona to be overcrowded, despite taking my breath away a couple of times, when we came to the riverside and the hills surrounding the city.
We started with a visit to Lake Garda. 
Saw this guy. 
Walked about, amazed that this is just a lake. 
Then we kissed a bit. 
Then it was time to get our freak on!! 
First almost puke! 
Some BDSM 
Horse riding a must. 
Making fun of historical figures 
And then some. 
Then we checked out some fishies.
Verona! 
City square! 
At the Colosseum. 
The sight that took my breath away. 
Some really nice details. 
The most famous fake balcony in the city. 
Fake brass boobs. Did not grab them.
After all of that we started the New Year with another trip – to Castle Snežnik, where next ot the wonderful tour of the castle we had an ice skating adventure on a flooded field adjacent to the castle that was frozen due to very low temperature. I am just going to leave it at that.
A castle 
A bear. 
Ice skating 
And then we were done.
No Comments Yet