10 000 views

Holy hell. I just noticed that my blog has had 10 000 views. Like woah. Thank you to all of you who check in once in a while (even if half of these hits are from my mum checking up on me) to see what I have been upto and where I have wandered to. This blog started over 2 years ago with an inkling, an itch, a dissatisfaction of where my predictable life was going. To travel is to live, and each step brings a new direction, a new perspective, a new humility at how much there is still left to learn, see and do.

As Jack Kerouac put it,“our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life”. Thank you for walking it with me.

Then and now

When my dad came to visit me in London for a short time a while back, we thought it would be fun to go back to places he had been in London 48 years ago and re-shoot the scenes. Back then he embraced the opportunity to come here on a trip organised by the university he worked for, back then you could not travel without the state's permission and the group had a 'handler' for the journey. Because he seemed to have enjoyed Western culture too much on that occasion, he was detained from leaving Poland on the next trip my mother and father were to take together.

We reproduced 3 tourist scenes: Marble Arch, Piccadilly Circus, and waiting outside Selfridge's on Bond Street for a bus. There was one part of Bond Street we couldn't find, a somewhat family favourite of him crossing the street, looking all suave and collected in the city of flux. Perhaps one of you would know where it is. It was a good few days, walking through these places of memory with my dad, blissfully carefree and enjoying the freedoms that he did not have when he was my age.

Back to Motherland

A few weeks back I was lucky enough to see my mom after 10 months since the grand move to London. We met up in Katowice, and where I saw some rad typography (especially like the flag allusion on the blinds).

I ate some things I shouldn't have (they're called rurki, wafers stuffed with cream)

I saw the usual decrepit, soot-covered buildings that I see every time I go back to where I was born.

We went to a puppet show, where we were the oldest parent-daughter combo there.

 I nom-nomed on my bestest, fresh blueberries every day.

We also went to Górki Wielkie, where my mom reunited with old family friends she hadn't seen for 30 years. That balcony is their view of the mountains, enclosed with sweet grape vines.

 I came across some eye-brow-raising memorabilia and caved taverns in the mountains.

 In Poland I realised all you need is beer and God (and fruit juice).

And that you get soup in loaves of bread.

I walked in forests whose trees were getting ready for winter, reveled in the beauty that is Polish folk art, and ate mushrooms picked from behind our house. 

Back in Katowice, I also sifted through some old family photographs. Found some old ones of my sister and me, and my mom and dad looking uber-trendy with their shades. What a treat.

Sneaky sketches

Oh how I love to sneakily sketch people. And London's tubes and overgrounds are the perfect setting to indulge in this habit of mine.

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.

My thought for the day as my man and I brave the change and head to London today. Wish us luck!

Home sweet home

I have returned to my parents' home for a few weeks while I get my plans ready for my overseas adventure. Oh yes, haven't mentioned that yet. I am going away until further notice. The primary reason for the birth of this blog actually. Staying at home has been a reflective time, since it's the place where my first relationship started, and now it's the place I came to after my longest relationship ended. Funny that. It's a place for drawing, full of my mother's watercolours, snoozing pets, soft fabrics, a mix of African masks, Russian icons and Indian relics, collected over the years from my parents' travels, and a healthy population of rock pigeons nesting in all the possible nook and crannies available to them. A place that I will always come back to.

Getting to know you..

Let's start with a couple of things about me: I love fresh flowers. And have a soft spot for plots with happy endings.

I adore a boy that loves to play, and take outdoor showers.

 I have lived most of my life on a warm continent, even though I was born on a cold one.

But I've met some beautiful creatures as a consequence.