Even though we’re about halfway through January as of this writing, winter has been pretty modest for us in Wroclaw thus far. The temperatures have hardly dipped below freezing, snow is almost none existent, and I even rode my scooter to work a couple of times. In January! So today, on a tip from Ania’s…
Yesterday I learned that my cousin Piotrek had died in a car accident. A devastating news to my entire family, and especially so to his wife and his four-year-old son. Growing up in Poland, we were the three musketeers: Piotrek, Krzysiek, and myself. Three sons of three sisters, each of us born a year apart:…
1. Szczeliniec – The Table Mountains A week ago Sunday we took a trip to do some dog-assisted hiking to the highest peak of the Table Mountains. I say dog-assisted because Fado pulled us right up the 650+ steps it took to climb the scenic overview of the valley below. Partially because Fado just loves…
I didn’t post anything at all in December, not a single entry to follow up a really good seven-post month of November. So here’s a short update as to what was going on in December. Ania’s favorite season is indeed the Christmas season, and our home takes on a whole different decor during that time.…
It’s been two weeks since New Years Eve and I’m still trying to figure out how to write the very first blog post of 2017. On one hand it should be grand, something spectacular to set you, the reader, up for what’s to come later this year. On the other, with no grand subjects in…
Yesterday I officially became a godfather to my niece Emma. It didn’t exactly catch me by surprise as this has been three years in the making. After Emma’s birth my sister Kasia asked me to be the godfather, but due to us living on two different continents the scheduling itself turned out to be a…
When I was just a kid, my dad had a pretty extensive record collection. Or at least it seemed extensive in my child eyes. There were tapes, too. Lots of them. But there was this one album I was always afraid to listen to alone. Hey, I was just a kid, remember? Anyway, the album was…
All it took is one costume party for me to become Batman…forever! A couple years ago my friends from the said party gave me that photo for my birthday. Last week, I received some Bat accessories, too. My buddy Piotrek and Maciej brew a little hand made goodness in their basements, the results seen…
Today is my grandmother’s 80th birthday. We had a small dinner with family on Sunday to celebrate following a church mass in her honour. But it’s today, February 9th, that grandma Helga turns 80th. Happy birthday grandma! And many more to come!
Thanksgiving doesn’t really exist in Poland, which made our first Polish Thanksgiving all the more special. We did after all spend nearly two decades in the U.S., and are plenty thankful for the opportunities that time spent in America had provided us. So here’s to Thanksgiving, in Poland, circa 2 days ago of course. Thanks…
I stopped by my grandparents on Saturday afternoon and sure enough I was just in time for some sweet grandma baking goodness. My grandmother was in the middle of baking her signature “Rogailiki”, a Polish Croissant Cookie. Fresh from the oven, still warm as Ania and I stuffed our faces with them. Simply delicious. Of…
Sunday was All Saints’ Day here in Poland. It’s not that I didn’t fully appreciate that day before I met my wife Ania, but it’s mostly that I simply didn’t care nor understand that ‘holiday’ until I saw how much it meant to her and her family. I spent most of my adult life in…
It was about 35°C outside (95°F) when we went pumpkin patch photo shooting back in September in Camarillo, California. Real pumpkin patch, too, with actual “KEEP OUT” signs and all. It wasn’t our intention to raid somebody’s pumpkin field in search of cool photos, but it was our only option given that halloween was still…
Yesterday my parents had to put Oscar to sleep. He was with us, but mostly with my parents, for 10 years almost to the day. Recently he was acting ill and during a short exploratory surgery it was found that he had cancerous tumors on his liver that had spread around. He must have been…
San Francisco is the closest I’ve been to my sister since I left Los Angeles five years ago. So as soon as I learned of my trip I started thinking of possibly paying my sister and her family a visit, especially since I’ve never met my niece Emma who will be two years old soon.…
We took both of our chocolate labs for a hike on Sunday. Ours is of course the larger of the two, Fado, the 6-month old pup Rico was a loaner from Ania’s mom 🙂 I was actually pretty surprised to see the little one handle the hike like a champ. I was half expecting Rico…
It was a warm, sunny and gold October Saturday in Wrocław when we said our “I do’s”. Actually it wasn’t “I do” at all. In the Roman Catholic Church, which most of Poland subscribes to, we have to repeat full on phrases in the manner of “I, Sławomir, take you Anna, to be my lawfully…
The annual Castle Flower Festival was organized in the city of Wałbrzych for the 16th time this long Polish weekend and is still going on thru Sunday. It’s during this weekend that all museum-like rooms of this 12th century Książ Castle are beautifully decorated in floral arrangements, each room done with a different theme created…
Turning 32 was actually pretty great, and that’s due to a very cool surprise my girlfriend Ania threw my way in a form of a non-surprise surprise birthday party. No-surprise surprise…because at one point there were 16 people coming and it was very difficult to keep that a secret with all necessary preparations a day…
Winter in Poland is yet to show its ugly gray and cold self, but for the time being days here feel more autumn-like, and in some instances even spring-ish. Autumn, because with golden leaves everywhere it sure feels the winter is coming. Spring, because some flowers and trees already began blooming due to warm temperatures…
