Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Chocolove


Can there be a better way to express chocolove than by adding a love poem to the wrapper, so you can melt your heart while the decadence from inside the wrapper does the same in your mouth... Raspberries in dark chocolate were accompanied by the magic of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

I. "I thought once how Theocritus had sung..."

I thought once how Theocritus had sung
Of the sweet years, the dear and wished-for years,
Who each one in a gracious hand appears
To bear a gift for mortals, old or young:
And, as I mused it in his antique tongue,
I saw, in gradual vision through my tears,
The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years,
Those of my own life, who by turns had flung
A shadow across me. Straightway I was 'ware,
So weeping, how a mystic Shape did move
Behind me, and drew me backward by the hair;
And a voice said in mastery, while I strove; ---
'Guess now who holds thee?' --- 'Death,' I said. But, there,
The silver answer rang, --- 'Not Death, but Love.'


My twice daily walking path...


Sunday, September 23, 2012

Bright hippie-yoga-zen-garden of my new home


What to expect when your landlord is a lovely Brazilian vegan buddhisticly inclined yoga teacher? All of the following: plants, pots, Tibetan prayer flags, wind chimes, turtles and tortoises, outdoor fish tanks, flowers, patio with inviting chairs to lounge on and a large statue of Buddha to greet you. Melikes? Melikes a lot. :)

Friday, September 21, 2012

First encounters


Today I took a first stroll around my new neighborhood. I was flower-watching. And remembered why I love tropics - bright, vivid colors; ibises instead of pigeons (plus pigeons, but the gentle beige and delicate wood kind); flowers everywhere; ocean in back yard and warm breeze caressing the skin...


... plus the possibility of acquiring a new neighbor like this. :) 

77th Street



VERY fuzzy due to camera not really knowing what to do at dawn (5 AM, courtesy of jet lag) but captures my home street's last yard (the middle 77th Street sign) with N, S, W and E directions. ... and a guy who greets me upon arrival every time... have landed in private ommm-land :)

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Strolling around Tallinn and feasting with friends


Tallinn has turned into one of my favorite cities and the truth of the matter is, it has nothing to do with either childhood memories or national pride. It has everything to do with endless variety of restaurants and coffee chops and handful of Fabulous Old Friends who make everything taste twice as good, seem trice as pleasant and make me feel like a million dollars every time. I do not have many blood relatives, but I do have a Soul family. Big, welcoming, never judging and always loving bundle of peeps who I love dearly and carry with me wherever I go. Heart is an organ of something stretchy, it fits a lot. If you allow it to. :)

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Farewell stroll/dinner with Mum


One autumn day...


... is perfectly enough for all of the following: an hour's hike through city; a lovely lunch at Yacht Club with a friend; an even more lovely apre-lunch Tiramisu in Ammende Villa with the same friend; cross-city drive for amigo-exchange; dinner and a (very animated - see above) chat at Passion Café with another lovely friend; packing session at home, preparing for a journey home. You can mix in a hefty breakfast and random chats with Mum as well, and you'll get a Good Day. Again. :)

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Kitty-cat for Kai :)


Prairie into cattle heaven


These are the newest residents of our long-abandoned prairie land. At least this is how we called it in my childhood when playing in and around these wide expanses of thatch and unruly wetland grass. The times are changing and so is the prairie - now a home to growing numbers of odd long-haired and very friendly looking cattle. I, for one, love to look at those magnificent beasts roaming around without a worry in the world and even with trees for back scratching. There is, of course, an electric shepherd keeping them from wondering into someone's home but... One braveheart did break out today and was feasting on fresh green bushes to the great dismay of his mates. Goes to show that the saying "brave wolf has a fat chest" can be applied to cattle as well. :)

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Mumday (a.k.a. Sunday with Mum)


If you want to trick your Mum out of house on Sunday, you better make it worth her while. I attempted to accomplish that with donuts, Fuzzyhead cake and marinated fish sandwich. As they appeared in order Mum prefers and in cafés she likes, I think I succeeded in making it a good day.


Especially as we merrily walked it all off again, taking a lovely detour along the beach and past the most magnificent rowan tree in Pärnu county! Now, off to Bedwoodshire... :)

Thursday, September 6, 2012

One evening...


with one friend in One Café. Estonians never seem to run out of ideas when it comes to eateries - every new one pops up with its own style and grades of lovability. This one rates high on the scale of both, and boasts a most fantastic tagliatelle with sun dried tomatoes and basilica. A must go place when visiting Pärnu, and very easy to accomplish as it is literally beside the bus terminal. Bon appetit! :)  

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Nostalgia trip to Alatskivi...


Once upon a time when I was a little person, aged 10 or thereabouts, I spent two summers in a delightful little town of Alatskivi, once home to a great Estonian poet, Juhan Liiv. Days full of hikes to Deer Park, trips to cinema at Alatskivi Castle, parades around the flag and poetry eves at the old school house, nights full of tooth paste drawings on sleeping faces of unsuspecting "others", dances and night alarms come to mind when glancing back into the days of pioneer camps, ever so popular in Soviet Estonia at that time. And rightly so! I, for one, inherited some fond memories and one very dear friend. :)


And once in Alatskivi, one cannot miss the Kuningvere lake and the surrounding woods, so abundantly full of mushrooms, both edible and not so. :) We left with bag full of chanterelles. The last pick of this summer...