Spring, proljeće, primavera, printemps, Frühling, .....

It´s spring in my garden! Look at the  marvels of the awaking nature:
My first crocus,

an

the yellow primrose still half under snow,

snowdrops on the sunny side of the garden

and the new life in buds waiting the right moment to burst out.

Here I´m again

It´s a long time since I havn´t wrote anything in my blog. Was it just laziness,  shortage of time, .... ? Anyway, here I´m again. I the meantime we had Christemas and New Yaer´s Eve, meetings with dear friends, presents and good wishes..... I presented my freinds with  self made gifts.

We relaxed in January. I read a lot and  Nina spent the first two weeks with  her  foster parents.  After she had returned to Zagreb, we saw together some ballets on my DVD recorder. She likes ballet very much but Nutcracker is her favorite.

And then the cold and the snow in February. For joung people it was a shock - they coudn´t remember the low temparatures and the bounty of snow we had in my youth. I was delighted by the winter of my joung years and out of joy I built  a masked snowman in  our  garden.

And the next day I made a new one - this time with flowers on it´s hat as anticipation of the soon coming spring!

Nina visited me yesterday and  added her little chap to my snowmen. I her sign language she said. "Mam, dad and baby".  In this way she expresed what she realy misses - her own  family. It made me sad.

Nina´s Birthday

 Nina was eleven end of Novebver but preparations for her birthday took place some weeks before. We did it together, Nina and I. 

  It made me happy looking at her smilig face as she  wrote the invitations for her teachers. As you already know Nina has no real home and we celebrated in her classroom at her school.

Just before the  party we decorated the classrom and the table for her classmates ( there are only five pupils in her class),  for other friends and her teachers.

 Finaly  it was time for the the birthday cake! Look at her face! How happy she is!

And the gifts.

 We all had  a happy time filled with many good wishes and tears of joy.

Creativity and good will

 can turn an old woman cap into a charming  hat.

Am I not wright?

Ninas Horsback Riding

 Last wekk I spent a wonderful afternoon - I accompanied Nina and her friends to a therapeutic riding lesson with KRILA.

KRILA is a non-governmental, non-profit humanitarian organization located in Zagreb, which offers therapeutic riding to people with physical disabilities. KRILA -- meaning 'wings' in Croatian -- makes this stimulating, safe and effective therapy available, to people with various disabilities from the greater Zagreb area. Their riding significantly improves their physical and psychological condition and enables them to participate in activities otherwise inaccessible to them.


The girls feel at home there and here they are preparing themself  for riding

Nina has chosen her favorite horse

It had to be prepared as well.

 

At last on the horseback.

Matea was frightend and the trainer tried in vain to persuade her to mount the horse.

But no chance, at last a substitute had to be found.

And after riding Ninas favorit  animal - the cat!

Ninas Jacket

It was a boy jacket with huge red lettering on the back bougth in a second hand store. Nothing for my sweet Nina! - It ought to be redone! After I replaced the lettering with a scene of a sleepy olt town, put a nice girl face on the front  Ninas "new" winter jacket is just perfect!

 

  That´s not my creation - I copied it from a fashion journal.

But this scene is absolutelly mine. Look at the fierce cat looking out for mice!

Rastoke, - a Paradisian Patch in Croatia

The other day I was invited  by my former fellow teachers to a day trip to Rastoke. It was a warm, sunny day and we were all under the spell of the enchanting beauty of nature. Look at it - try to imagine  the warmth of the sun, the gurgle of water and  the smell of the first autumnal breeze.

villa means nymph in Cratian!

That´s not a nymph - it´s me enjoying the beauty of  the day!