Velenje castle expo opening

It hooked me immediately - there was a buttons industry in the Šaleš valley exhibition by a young custodian wanna-be announcement - I was hooked immediately. My 2018 lent is no buying buttons for 40 days. Fuckidy fuck. There was a heavy snowfall in the morning and I woke from my nap after lunch heavily dizzy and nauseated. It's just the weather. It wasn't going to stop me.

    Hopping on the bus, less than an hour's drive and some new Pokemon found along the way, I marched uphill onto the castle where my grandmother used to play. It took me a while, because I read all the info posters along the way. I now know there is a starvation pit under the main hall in the castle. The castle itself is a quaint, curious thing, you can tell the people who designed it weren't sure if they want to be popular with their parties or effective against the Ottoman invasions ... I haven't been there in a while, so I poked around a bit. I found as far as the renovated tavern bit and renovated haberdashery. The expo on the buttons itself was cool, informative and there were cookies shaped as buttons, of course :D After an hour or so I rolled downhill again, back on the bus, to catch G before he leaves for work. The last photo is a massive statue of Tito, our once-was benevolent dictator, few of them still left in existence. His coal mining reforms led to great industrial revolutions and the economy boomed tenfold for these parts, the coal supplying the rest of Yugoslavia at the time. I thought it adorable the statue still stands. Usually they melt those in a hurry after regimes change. 

Tarps and tents and shelters oh my...

So, working on any project that demands quite a lot of cheer, planning on buying something truly magnificent for the fee is half the victory. Since I bought, tested and found perfectly satisfactory a single studio light (and the General bought me a few more, simple construction lights for 1% of the price, just as effective is someone holds them for me and moves as I ask them...), next thing at the very top of my list is an ultralight hiking tent. 

And here's the funny bit.

I've been looking through top10 lists and recommendations for months now. In fact, from the moment I saw the Gossamer Gear The One, I was hooked. And here is what I noticed.

See, this is a so called 'tarp'.

This is a 'shelter'.

And this is a fully fledged tent. 

.. Or, you know, this ...

 .. but let's stay realistic... This looks like, if someone is going to try and rob a tent, this would be the first one they go to ...

The curious bit is, though I love the idea of a tarp the most, I am simply, for some odd reason, too afraid to dive straight into tarp travel. Silly, isn't it? The thought of sleeping entirely outdoors makes me uncomfy. I didn't used to feel that way, I just grew into it. I want, if we're setting one up at all, a proper man cave. I wonder if that makes sense. Is it the snakes or the bugs or what? Could be mosquitoes and stuff like that. Or the feeling I'll be warmer in a tent or safer in a tent in a rainstorm. I just don't know. I only know that Gossamer The One, for some intuitive reason, though it isn't making any top10 lists, remains at the top and I am simply looking for a better option.

Things that catch my eye instantly are features, such as - how many ropes, pikes, poles and hooks do you additionaly requite to set the fucker up? Is there anything blocking the entrance? What does it feel like in case you have to spend all day inside, waiting for the weather to stop stressing? Does it weight around 600 grams? Is it seam-sealed? Does it blend well with the nature? How much of a nightmare condensations is?, etc ... So far this last bit is the only negative I can find regarding the One...

Shark week alert :D

LoL, our bodies. I'm dreaming I'm Claire Underwood from House of Cards, wearing a red dress. The husband guy gets shot and his secretary old guy and myself smear ourselves with the blood to fake ourselves being shot as well. The old secretary guy even kind of fakes getting between my legs to abuse my corpse before his time is up. I'm waking up slowly, the body constantly - constantly, sending me the : red alarm ... RED alarm ... which part of REEED alarm don't you get? :D

I haven't had my period in half a year, so right now I'm on my way to the bathroom, leaving a trail like I'm stabbed :D It's gonna be one of those that feel almost unnatural anyone can survive this. That said, body, dreams, thank you. The bed's been almost saved :D You did great.

I am in suuuuch bad shape :D Fat, slow, getting older by the minute … My ear aches, my ankle tendon won’t unclench, my knees are shit … The moment I decide to hike somewhere, everything starts to hurt. If I just go on a dog walk, then it’s perfectly fine. Or a five hour hunt. Or an hour one way to McDonald’s. But a small hike? I feel as if I’m about to come apart at the seams.

Today was a brilliantly beautiful morning – it wasn’t announced, so it pleasantly surprised me. G was away on a meeting and I thought: perfect weather to test my latest ‘overdoing it’ gift – ‘city crampons’. I grabbed the dog, packed some snacks and bought a warm vitamin juice, then offed to the most frequented hill in the area. Granted, most people drive right up to the edge of it and then drive back home once they descend, but I was fine warming up for those 20 or so minutes, listening to pompous epic music :D I didn‘t take the camera, because it was too cold. Didn’t play the wee Pokemons during, either :P

Such a lovely walk. Starbark sort of kind of helped to pull me up, as much as a beagle can drag a 200 pound meatball, and I had one trekking pole, since I lent dad the other. That was a good combo. When the north-facing parts of the path were slippery from ice, the crampons were awesome. I got up without a hitch and sat down to have tea, but the waitresses were busy with hundreds of other people, hikers and skiers. Way down was slightly more trying, because uneven steps of crampon-enforced shoes test your ankles further and mine are already touchy. I was super tired by the time I got down and after a while G came to get me. I told MyMaja how old ladies sped past me up and down, some literally jogging on ice – sans crampons! – on a 45 degree terrain, and she said – yeah, they always do that, everybody knows that.

So ye, I need to get in better shape. I need to do all those hikes I told everyone I will do two years ago. Following the discussions of FB groups, people venture out to such lovely places, so carefree. Just walk, explore, pitch their minute ultralight shelters, then carry on until they get bored, when they go home. I always go so desperately, planning so hard it brings me to nigh tears when something goes amiss.. Wish Starbark wasn’t as a neurotic dog – I’d love to have her along, but she won’t let me sleep outdoors and if we meet a dog out in the farmlands, it’s usually very unpleasant :/

Winter poems :)

Almost made it to Poetovia :D Almost! (Got snowed in :D )

We made it to the charterhouse... Hermes was signalling us hard - or was just messing with us - you never know with these little fuckers :D  First we stopped to help a woman, whose car got sent off the road and onto snow, and when the wheels finally touched ground a massive spray of muddy snow was sent all over the General. We drove on and saw another car in the ditch. It began to snow some more. We broke the exhaust pipe off the car (now sounds like a Porsche :p ), then finally decided to turn and go see G's parents. I took some pickies of the winter forest :D It was majesty. Once we got home, though, the sun of course began to shine and the roads melted. That's field trips for ya.

Taking it chill this week. G is on leave, though with him it's usually sick leave, as he is one of those alpha idiots who only get sick on leaves.. He's got the sniffles, but of course that's Man Flu, the only illness worse than cholera or ebola, so most of my plans to go hiking over snow-covered wonderlands have fallen through. He's studying, though, and from time to time he takes naps in hot boiling water in the bathtub while I read him Moomins. February 8^th is our national culture day, meaning all museums are free to enter and this time we’ve plans to go check out what Petovia lot have been up to. Rockstar is coming, too, as I think that was the first museum we went to together, some 11 years ago. He was, like, 8 or so :D Partially the attitude  got from the elder women of the last shoot has discouraged me, which is just as well. Winter is not for photos. I’m drawing on. Partially the attitude I got as feedback for the sketches has discouraged me from the drawings as well, but I have such big plans for the payment coming. I just can’t decide! What will it be? A glorious ultralight 1-woman tent? A new camera bag? The other half of studio set-up? Ahhh, so much can go wrong when you plan, so muuuuch! The bank across the street got robbed. I'm watching old silent movies. Like is as usual, bleak midwinter mode.

The dog’s a little sick, too. I think she ate snow and got a tummy ache. She seems to be getting better, but she’s still despondent, bordering on obedient. It’s scary. 

Petovia old castle museum, around a decade ago :D