I don’t even know what to say about this. Only it occurs to me . . . . Have I possibly not introduced you to our pet bunny “Shoq”? Having introduced her here now, I have a deep suspicion she’ll take over this website as quickly as she took over Rilindja. Hmph. (BunnyBunnyBunny!)
Scott may have been first to the South Pole, and Cook to the North (Peary was such a Poop) . . . . But CATHERINE was the first to stand on Our New Stairs. Well, half of them anyhow. Those of you who know us will remember the Old Stairs. One of my favorite memories […]
This is Alfred’s Mother Sose, spinning Lesh (wool). I would just like to take this moment to officially express my gratitude and love, in case I haven’t been clear about it before. People here in Valbona are amazing. I arrived as a visitor one summer and simply refused to go away. Their response? They have […]
Okay – I swear to Zot i madh – really there are lots and lots of wonderful long boring peaceful days, when nothing at all happens and I just bake bread and read books and go for walks. But I haven’t mastered the art of taking good pictures of that yet! It’s this stuff that […]
Here is a picture I took on February 8th, in Tirana. A man died here during the January 21st Protests. Two days after his death, this corner was heaped with flowers. Almost three weeks later I saw this. Here’s something I wrote after Alfred and I were at the Protests . . . . . http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_6858.shtml
We are entering our fourth week with no electricity, which makes me realize how fast I adapt to things – oh, I don’t mean that as a self-congratulation – more like I get much too comfortable too quickly. It’s pitch dark at 4:30 pm, at which point Alfred and I take to opposite ends of […]
Bajram Curri, after whom the town is named, was a Kosovar who played some sort of large role (of which I am admittedly ignorant) in wresting Albania from the Ottomans. Unfortunately (fatkeqsisht), being Kosovar he was interested in reuniting Kosovo with Albania, which somehow brought him into conflict with King Zog. In 1925, he famously […]
Hi Catherine I wrote a travel reports of the my tour. Greatest hungarian motobike website. use this lajos
Just for the heck of it, here is a quick drawing I did recently of Pecmarres, the mountain to the south of Rilindja. I more or less got most of the trees in the right place, but ran out of time to capture what made the view incredible — the late afternoon light . . […]
Well, it’s summer in Valbona. A few days ago Alfred and I took a group of Austrian Hikers and botanical enthusiasts up to the Qafa (pass) just west of Maja e Rosit (Rosi Mountain). After climbing up through the beech woods, you hit these Alpine meadows which are a riot of flowers. A bit further […]
