Hail Storm in Zagreb Croatia- Guest Post
In my email this morning-
Dear Mom,
A hail storm broke out in Zagreb today and my friend Maja captured it with her iPhone from her 9th floor office. She was a little bit reluctant to be blogged, but she had this to say about the picture : “It looked so great and it made me so happy that I wanted to share it.”
And it reminded me of the sentence from the film “American Beauty” – “Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can’t take it, and my heart is just going to cave in.”
I think that quote is a great motto for us to live by. You and your blog do a great job reminding us all of the beauty that surrounds us every moment of every day, so I knew what to do with Maja’s picture right away!
Love you,
Matty
Thank you Maja for sharing your beautiful photograph of the hailstorm from the ninth floor window and thanks Matty, too.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Home
Michael and Murphy
Home Game Home Plate
Homes on Hillcrest
Steve and the Newpaper
Croatian Homes and Roman Ruins
In the Sun Room in Omaha
Beechwood Boulevard Home
Maura and Mark at Home Asleep
Christmas Home
At Home Before Church
She’s Leaving Home
Over the Top Home in Daylight
Running to Home
Neighbor’s Home in a Lawn Ball
I can’t believe it took me so long to start responding to the Weekly Photo Challenges. All those challenges unanswered.
This week is home. The WordPress Weekly Challenge allows me to go through some archived files and think about the theme.
What I’m drawn to. What caught my eye.
No shortage of photos to post for home this week.
When I drive into my driveway after work I feel I am truly home. What makes you feel at home?
The gallery option isn’t really cooperating for me today. (Ooops. I read in the article Are You Boring? Seven Tips for Knowing if You ‘re Boring Someone on the Happiness Project blog by Gretchen Rubin to never mention computer problems)
Laundry on Line in Croatia
July 2008 From the Archives
Plitvice Lakes- Waterfalls in National Park Croatia
Peaceful reflection in the National Park in Croatia-Plitvice Lakes
Summer 2008 from the archives
32 Years Later
Happy Birthday Matthew. Remember when we pulled off Interstate 80 on the way to NYC last August?
Here you are last summer in front of your first home in Clarion PA. The house we brought you to from the hospital, 32 years ago.
Of course I didn’t send a card, just like last year! So this is my birthday wish for you. A day filled with love!
You sure give all of us a lot of love. (Matthew’s the one who says about my photographing people, It’s annoying now, but later you’re glad)
Thinking of you today and everyday.
love. Ma
Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreign
The Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreign was enough to make me scramble- find Croatian photos from my trip visiting Matthew about 4 years ago.
Steel Making- Braddock PA
Edgar Thomson Plant United States Steel Mon Valley Works in Braddock, PA Shot less than two weeks ago
How does color or lack of it affect a photograph? What about cropping?
The five photos below are all from one master image.
Discovered the folklore of Joe Magarac, a legendary steel worker from Croatia tried to find online if that statue of a steelworker is supposed to be legendary Joe Magarac. Check out the article Folklore or Fakelore?
And I found a cool driving tour of the mills video from 1988
or see the Steel making process in this video
How Do You Feel About Eels?
My mother never cooked one. (she was from Durand, Illinois.)
I can’t remember ever tasting one. An unsophisticated palate or a cultural deficiency?
But I’ve been pondering eels for three days now-and all the people in my life have been talking about food and diets a lot. No one mentioned eels.
I was driving along in the car, listening to the radio and the voice of author, James Prosek, was talking eels and the fascinating book he’s written about them. I mean, this guy knows EVERYTHING about eels.
And I got to thinking how I feel about eels. The eating of them. When you’re driving a couple of hours, you think about all kinds of things. You’ve got time. And as I said it’s three days later and I am still pondering eels?
Now eels, their habits and lives aren’t something I’ve thought much about until I heard him interviewed. I found a link for Vintage Recipes for eel and the title Collared Eel isn’t something I’ve heard come up on anyone’s food blog recently. Maybe eel is part of your Christmas Eve dinner? Lots of Pittsburghers are talking about eating more fish cause it’s Lent. I’m thinking they’re referring to Fish Sandwiches, not eels.
Here is a photo I shot at the Zagreb Fish Market when I was visiting a few years ago. Some eels.
How do you feel about eels?
Here’s the book title
Eels: An Exploration, from New Zealand to the Sargasso, of the World’s Most Mysterious Fish
By James Prosek check out his website for more information on his art and writing.
See an EEL restaurant at a fellow blogger’s post here
Zagreb Fish Market
Woodcarver at Work in Croatia
People at Work series
I wonder what this job would be like? I wish I had purchased a wood carving but the one on display was so large. This is from a summer visit to Croatia. As I remember this village was in Istria but I can’t remember which one it was.
Before the Manu Chao Concert-Balloon Seller- Pula, Istria- Croatia
People at work series. From the archives. Outside the coliseum. There was a cool Roman temple of Augustus there I have posted before. Put back together like a jigsaw puzzle.
What do you think this job would be like?
Master Craftswoman of Crochet in Porec, Istria
Matthew Contributed to the People at Work Series
Photo Credit: Matthew S. McGrath
Porec, Istria, Croatia. Summer 2008. While visiting Matthew we drove to Istria from Zagreb and had many adventures. I bought the large pink doily and some of the little pieces for the women in my knitting group from the same timeframe. I declared her Master Craftswoman of Crochet and not sure if there are various levels but was thinking along the lines of say, Master Gardener. But then Master could sound masculine so added the Craftswoman part. Another post I will show you her kitchen that I photographed. She invited us in. I wish I had purchased a few more items when there. Photographed by Matthew S. McGrath. (I was in the original photograph but I cropped myself out!)
Weekly Photo Challenge: Textured
How something feels. Or looks like it feels. That’s what I teach the kids at school as texture is one of the art elements. Sometimes we rub a crayon on paper to capture texture, like the bottom of our shoes. Perused the WPC posts for inspiration and a lot of ancient stone walls, Roman ruins were possibilities from the archives. Murphy the airedale’s coat came to mind. I was in the Croatian files last night and found something from the Zagreb Fish Market. Then saw the breakfast roll. Remembering how Matthew went to the bakery and brought it back. Difficult to edit myself this late evening. Decided to add the poll today as I would for the Keep or Pitch blog (on temporary hiatus) Cast a vote- which photo exemplifies the Weekly Photo Challenge: Textured ?
Adriatic harvest.
Bumpy top breakfast roll.
Croatian Advertising
I had to look twice. Fortunately I was a passenger and could photograph it!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Path
From the smallest town in the whole wide world- Hum. Seriously. It is in the Guinness Book of Records. Hum, Croatia. Population 17-23 depending which site you read. The towns medieval gates are from the 11th century. My friend Dorothy Holley loved this photo. I took it when I visited Matthew Summer 2008. I have a print of it framed in my bedroom and from my bed I can imagine myself walking up the path, the pile of logs ready for the winter. Path brings to my mind the words beaten or dirt, a clearing in the woods or the bicycle path by the river, but I like this stone path. Looked up the definition and I think this photo meets the weekly photo challenge: path. 
(from the freedictionary.com ) -
the definition of path
z, päz, pths, päths)
Matthew and the Megabus
Picked Matthew up from downtown Pittsburgh tonight. He came from Columbus on the Mega Bus. I had not seen one before. Big and bright and clean. Dropped him in Regent Square for an impromptu School Reunion at D’s Six Pax and Dogz. He’s in town for 48 hours. Headed back to Zagreb at the end of his visit. World traveler. But the Mega Bus was a great deal. $18.50 one way from Columbus. You can reserve early and get real deals on tickets. Learning he was coming here just last night, I cleaned today and didn’t worry so much about the first day of school Tuesday morning.I think he’s planning to come to school and help get the two art rooms ready for the first day with kids on Monday. Matthew is the one who says to his friends when I was photographing them at his college graduation-”This is what my mom does. It’s annoying now- but later, you’re glad!” I tell that to so many people I photograph. IT is true
Remembering Joyce Brengarth Singh,Ph.D -”Farmgirl at heart.”
Professor, Social Worker, Psychotherapist, Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Friend. Joyce grew up on a honey bee farm in Boonville Missouri. These jars of honey were photographed at night in Croatia and are posted as a tribute and celebration of her life. Photographed in the town on Cres on Cres Island when I visited Matthew two summers ago. Joyce and her husband Bunt (Dr. Singh as well) were loving parents to both Mark and Matthew during their high school years and beyond. Thank you. Click here for newspaper article about Joyce’s life. After Monday’s funeral, her husband and sons, Prem and Davinder, will accompany her to her final rest in a family plot in Missouri. Mass of Christian Burial is Monday(today) at 10AM St Bede’s. Newspaper article is from Sunday.
Pollinators are so important. Jars of honey to remember Joyce B Singh.
Roman Temple in Pula, Croatia
Temple of Augustus built c. 2 B.C. click on the name for the history.
Put back together after hit by a bomb in 1944
Waterfalls in Croatia
Plitvička Jezera is a Croatian National Park with Waterfalls and Lakes
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