Lest we forget…
“At the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month” In Flanders Fields by John McCrae In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place, and in the sky, The larks, still bravely singing, fly, Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the dead; short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe! To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high! If ye break faith with us...
read moreAll Saints’ Day & Day of the Dead
When I left Croatia on Oct. 29th, everyone was preparing for Svi Sveti/Dan Mrtvih (All Saint’s Day/Day of the Dead). Infact I had to go to the grave yard to say goodbye to my Aunt who was cleaning the family plot. I was told the best way to clean the stone is not to use detergent but to use steel wool. Who knew? Although when I went back to my dad’s there was a discussion as to whether this was correct… now Dad and Fran just sweep, so I am guessing my Aunt is right. November 1st is Svi Sveti/Dan Mrtvih (All Saint’s...
read moreTraditional Croatian Wedding
It is Saturday at 3pm and croatian music drifts up to my house… there is a wedding happening and the groom has just arrived at the brides house. In a procession of about 50 cars the groom, grooms friends and family have arrived at the bride to be’s house. The Croatian Flag is waving, carried by a groomsman, the accordion plays a traditional song, while everyone, and I mean everyone sings. Once the groom arrives at the brides house, he must ask her parents for her hand in marriage, then there are a series of cheers and then...
read moreOne little church
One of the hamlets in Lumbarda is Javic, and that is where my Dad grew up. The first house in Javic was bulit in the 1500′s and that property now belongs to my family. Unfortunately it is in ruins, but given the thickness of the walls, it is not going to disappear anytime soon…. I may still have time to renovate it! Once Javic had about 20 houses, they decided to build a church, which was constructed in 1900. And this is where I spent 2 days helping my Dad replace the old windows with the new windows he has built and is...
read more“My mum’s tomato sauce”
I found this lovely website that has so many Croatian recipes, amoungst other countries, and I thought I would share this vegetarian tomato sause recipe, as really there are few vegetarian dishes in this country… they love their meat! My mum’s tomato sauce OR Mamin sug od pomidora SOURCE: Mum’s recipe PREPARATION TIME: 5 – 10 min COOKING TIME: 30 – 40 min CUISINE: Croatian SERVES: 4 – 6 . INGREDIENTS Vegetable or olive oil 2 – 3 onions, finely chopped 2 large carrots, grated 2 yellow or red peppers, chopped 1 kg...
read moreWine Making: A Family Matter
Lumbarda has a population of about 1400. If all the vines grown in Lumbarda were divided across every man, woman and child, each person would have 107 vines to look after. Thats quite a bit of wine for such a small place. We have seven wine producers in Lumbarda who make wine on a professional level, what is lesser known is that many more households in Lumbarda make wine for their own needs and occasionally for selling… and whether you are professional or not, the whole process is a family matter. If you have never made wine then...
read moreTom Francesconi’s Tour a Success
Tom Francesconi‘s watercolour tour was a great success. We had some lovely weather, super food, lots of laughs and ofcourse days of painting. Korcula will never be the same! As I mentioned before, you can read our daily journal on our blog. I have written everyday for 10 days and added pictures along the way. Why not read about our group, see who they are and pretend that you were with us. We are excited to let you know that Tom will be returning in 2014! We are still sorting out the dates but I will let you know as soon as...
read moreDubrovnik – Sept. 10th, 2012
It was an early morning but everyone was packed and ready to go by 7:30am so that we could catch the 8am ferry. Our drive would be about 2.5 hours so we stopped half way for coffee at Bella Vista which, like so many places we have been, has a wonderful view over a bay. Tomi drove everyone to Dubrovnik and dropped them off so that they had 2 hours of free time to wander around before lunch. Sherry drove back to Cavtat with me, in hopes of meeting up with her husband, but Bill had already bought a tour ticket and had left by the time we got...
read moreKorcula – Sept. 9th, 2012
Today is the last day on the island and we are travelling to the back side of Korcula for a fabulous view of the palm lined road leading into the city. Tom did a wonderful demonstration and as soon as he was done Dee commissioned him to do another one for her, as the light had changed. Across the street from where we were painting, a lovely woman walked through us to go for a swim, claiming that this was here swimming pool. Afterwards she invited me into her home and up 4 flights of stairs to her back balcony so that she could cut us some...
read moreLumbarda – Sept. 8th, 2012
Today is Saturday and all of Lumbarda is picking grapes. We on other hand are going to Vela Glavica in Lumbarda where the main church is located. Vela Glavica has a wonderful view of all the Grk vineyards, which we learned last night, are only grown in Lumbarda. Tom situated himself in an olive grove for his morning demonstration, which actually took us all the way to lunch. Sherry’s luggage arrived! It was driven to Orebic, and just by chance Loris was over there so he was able to meet up with the driver and collect the luggage, which he...
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