Spring weather is finally here and tomorrow is a holiday in Slovenia. April 27 it seems is the anniversary of when the people decided to rise up against the German occupation during WWII.

Yesterday I set out early and ran out to the Sava river to an area where I picked Morel mushrooms last year. There a re 3 places that I visited just over a week ago where I picked some small mushrooms and due to the steady Spring rains we have been getting there is evidence that there will be much more than last year when the Spring was quite dry. Almost as soon as I arrived on the trails I saw a morel in a new place and when I came to my usual places I saw some very nice large specimens. I decided to explore a few new places and in one of them I found 5 or 6 nice sized Morels hidden in the leaf litter. In total I found 150 g of mushrooms. I also picked some garlic leaf which grows prolifically in the woods too and I use instead of lettuce in salads.
Morels have a very nice flavour and I usually saute them with butter or oil and a few other veggies, they also go well in an omelet.

So on Thursday I went by train to Zagreb, I usually go on a Friday and the train was so less full going a day earlier.
On Friday I had lunch with friends and then we drove to Banja Luka, Bosnia. It was Good Friday or Veliki Petak in the Orthodox church and a group of around 13 of us got together for a celebration.
Saturday was a mix of light and heavy rain, but 7 of us went up into the hills and hiked 10 Km while also gathering some nice healing herbs and edible plants which were pointed out to us by a friend who is an expert in this field ( no pun intended ). We later had a nice lunch that included some of the plants we had gathered.
I had a little meeting with my friends from Sarajevo and it now looks like I will move there on the first weekend of May. So a new adventure is about to begin.

Yesterday I made flying trip to my place in Croatia. It was a beautiful day and I have not been there for about a year. There has been this pending problem with some missing tiles on the roof of the house and I finally replaced them, thus hopefully eliminating a water damage problem in one of the rooms. It is interesting that the tiles on the old house that are probably 80 years old at least are in good shape, but the ones on the new house that are about 40 years old are showing wear. As they always say they don't make them like they used too. I was actually only in the village for about 5 hours, but got to meet a lot of neighbours and some of them helped me do some of the work, I of course returned the favour. I also got some homemade cheese. I am hoping to make another trip near the end of April and this time take a few friends with me. maybe we'll spend the weekend.

Well it has been more than a week since I last posted and Spring appears to be upon us. I am still waiting to see the galleys for the Dilly and Dally books from my publisher, but I am assured they are on their way.
Just this last week I have been venturing into the woods near the river Sava to collect Cemaz leaves which grow at this time they have a mild to strong garlic flavour depending on the time of the season. I have been using them in salads, which I am eating a lot of now.
It looks like I will be in Ljubljana for a little while longer, probably until the beginning of May, but will keep you updated here.

2 nights ago I went to concert of Indian music. The performance was by a group called Desert Slide, which is actually Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and 5 musicians from the deserts of Rajasthan. I was lucky to see VM Bhatt perform in New York in the summer of 1995. The concert was in a small hall in Cankerjev Dom, Ljubljana and it was really wonderful. I would highly recommend you go and see them if you like Indian music and you get a chance.

Yesterday I made a visit to the Ljubljana Zoo. I have been here almost 3 years now and from time to time I have seen the signs for the Zoo. Yesterday was Spring like and seemed the right time to go visit the zoo. When I finished my college life and moved to London, I got a job as a gardener in the London Zoological gardens, so I have been a bit spoiled and didn't expect too much from Ljubljana. It is quite spread out and has a lot of trees, but not too many exhibits and a limited number of animals. I know that maintaining a Zoo is very expensive and Ljubljana is not a big city. They have a nice petting zoo for the children and there were a lot of families there on this day. There are also lots of play grounds for the kids too. I enjoyed the time I spent there, but it would be nice if they got more animals in the future.

A week ago I took a 12 hour overnight bus ride to Nish, Serbia. Arriving at 8 in the morning I got to visit with some friends on Saturday and on Sunday morning I ran a Half Marathon. The conditions were quite good, it was a sunny blue sky morning with a temperature around 6C. I managed to keep a fairly even pace, slowing a little late in the race and finished with a time of 2:29:08. Which was a little faster than my time of 2:29:36 last year.
I spent 2 more days visiting and took an overnight bus on Tuesday arriving in Ljubljana a little late after border problems for 3 passengers. It has taken me until now to recover from the 2, 12 hour bus rides and Half Marathon and feel like I am running fairly normally.

About 20 years ago a friend of mine whose husband had studied as a chemist, told me that he said that as we get older we have fewer colds, because the body has built up more immunity to them over the years. That what we do get is the newer ones. I guess it's the old, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger theory.
About 9 days ago I had a sore throat and the next day it developed into a persistent involuntary cough that has been with me ever since. At one point I thought it might be Whooping cough, but when I researched it didn't seem to be.After a few days it got worse at night when I got tired and in fact made it hard for me to sleep and would even wake me up during sleep. Some 6 years ago I had the same cough that was left behind after a bout of the flu, but something must have changed since based on the previous theory mentioned my body does not seem to be dealing with it quickly. Things are improving and I don't seem to cough as much and with some adjustments I have figured out how to sleep better with the situation. Last time it improved more quickly as the weather warmed up and that is exactly what has been happening the last week. My energy levels have been good the whole time and I have managed to run everyday.

The last few mornings have been quite cold in Ljubljana, -8C and -10C, so this morning it was almost pleasant to go out for my run and it was only -6C.
It has been sunny during the day for the last few days also and that has brought the temperature up to within a few degrees of freezing.

So there is about 1cm of snow on the ground the wind is gone and it is still -7C so when I went out for my run this morning it was nice and crunchy underfoot.My flatmate likes to put bread crumbs out on our terrace for the sparrows in the morning and I noticed that a robin joined them this morning. With the snow it had the look of a typical Christmas scene. The Sun is shining as I write this so I guess some snow will melt, but it creates a very beautiful picture.

I was supposed to go to Novi Sad this weekend, to an event that some friends organized. However the heavy snow that has been causing all kinds of problems in the south of Serbia switched to the north yesterday. So everything has been put back 1 week. I am not sure if I will be able to go then, but we will see how things progress through the week.
We have had the occasional flurry of snow here on occasion, but it has not amounted to anything until now. I woke up this morning to the sight of a light covering of snow. The temperature is still well below freezing so it should stay. Though it is not much to talk about.

I went to Zagreb on Sunday and it was snowing a little on the way, a little more so in the evening so that there was a light coating of snow on the ground.
Stayed with my friend Sead Sunday night leaving on the 6:50 am train Monday morning, when I got back to Ljubljana no snow. It is colder here than a week ago, but I talked with a friend in the Ukraine today and it is much colder there and a lot of snow. So you have to put everything in perspective.

I spent the weekend in Zagreb, it was really nice there especially on Sunday. I took the early morning train back to Ljubljana on Monday and went to a new book shop with a friend. While talking with the owners I got into a conversation about children's books with someone there, who turned out to be a children's book publisher and now says she wants to publish my books. I have a meeting with her on Thursday.

Cold one this morning, it was -5C when I went out to run and it had only got up to +1C by around 1pm. It looks like I will go to Zagreb this weekend, so we will see how things are there.
Hey I have been back in Ljubljana for a week now!

I have slowly become used to being back in Lubljana. It is colder here than it was in England and that is taking a little longer to get used to. I have managed to keep my running up and on Saturday I completed 1 year of running without missing a day. It has been quite a while since I did that, so I am quite pleased with myself. I think I am about 3 weeks away from making my move to Sarajevo, but there is no exact date set, so stay tuned.

My journey back to Ljubljana turned out to be quite an adventure. I was given the wrong information about the train to the airport and it turns out there wasn't one so I was unable to go and missed my flight. Then it turned out there were no flights the next day, so I had to book one for the following day. It also happened that the flight time had now been changed to 3 hours earlier and I did not have a train in the morning to get me there in time. So I had to get a train that got me in the night before and spend the night at the airport. Which apart from not being able to get much sleep was not so bad. The flight went really well and I was back in the apartment by 2 pm. I managed to get in a run, a little something to eat and some chatting with friends and then I slept really well.
It is colder here in the mornings, which I experienced on my 6:15 am run today. A few more days and I complete 1 year of running without missing a day.

Yesterday I took the train into Birmingham and my old running friend Abichal came by train from Bristol. When spent the day eating lunch, drinking coffee and talking about old times and times yet to come. This is the second year in a row that we have got together in this location. Is this the start of a tradition?

I have been in England for 11 days now, Christmas has come and gone and 2012 is just around the corner. This time last year there was snow everywhere and the UK was going through one of it's worst winters in more than 100 years. It has been very mild this time around. Even though I now live in the very beautiful country of Slovenia I always enjoy visiting my sister in the beautiful Staffordshire countryside.

I ate 3 snickers bars yesterday over a about a 12 hour period. My sister cooked me a nice vegetable stew for tea.
The weather is getting a little warmer at the moment and this morning I managed to buy my last 2 Christmas presents.