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Probably the biggest holiday on the Polish calendar after Christmas is All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows Day and is followed by Day of the Dead, a day which brings back great memories of my time in Guatemala. It is the first of November, and is the craziest time on Polish roads as everyone travels to their family hometowns past and present to feast, and visit the cemeteries where they lay candles and flowers to wish their loved ones well and show that they remember them. Also, some people put candles on graves that are untended because the family has moved away, have all died, or maybe just do not look after graves.

It is now, to me at least, more than just a family time and very much a commercial venture. At the cemeteries you will find many people selling candles and flowers obviously, but you will also find snack and sweet stalls, grills, hot wine, almost anything that can turn a profit. I don't think these stalls are associated with the church but one would think as they are operating on Church property they would have to pay a fee to the church in the form of a donation probably. There is also something else odd that appears in supermarkets here, unfortunately I do not have a photo of it, but it is Grave Wax. A wax specifically made for grave polishing. The Poles love a good clean grave and some people even have their plots and headstones ready waiting before they have entered the ground so that they have a good position..... a little morose for me.

Someone knows we are home.

So we travel to the family plot

In the van so there is plenty of room for the candles.

Yes, it is also about showing off to the neighbours by buying a bigger bunch of flowers than them.

The colours are endless.

So a normally somewhat drab cemetery bursts with colour.

It is hard to get men to dress up in Poland, but they will always get organised for a religious festivus, Polish women on the other hand will put on make up and heels to walk the dog.

Candle number one of many.

The cemeteries are actually crowded and it can be hard t get a park on such a day.

But when it is sunny it is great to stroll, especially after we have just recovered from a bout of snow.

 

This year we went to a much smaller town where some distant relatives lay. It has a very pretty little church on the hill and the crucifixes stick out on the top of the slope.

But even here away from any major town there are plenty of flowers and candles.

The thing I have a problem with, is by buying all these candles and plastic flowers there is more rubbish that you can poke a bin at.

It is just wasteful and a really sad thing to see when the day is about rememberance even as a non-religious person I do not mind visiting someone in a physical sense to let you think about them somewhat. But the fact that people care so little about the environment to buy so much plastic and create such wastage really disappoints me. It would be nice to see the church push an environmental bandwagon one day......no?

Early buds of Spring

 Well, these photos are getting close to a year old, so I really should get them up to help us all remember the lovely sunny days there were previously. Not so much these cold and grey days now full of snow, and winds that make your eyes want to jump out and run away to the tropics.

"Wanna play? Try these claws on for siz"

"I dare you"

Hey Buddy

Apple Bud

Tree morse code

Pondering the days to come with leaves.

Please click Lichen, I am sure it is German for like.

Lichen the old days...

The little house on the prairie.

Come on Spring.... You can't be too far away!

The family visits the family.

Autumn, it is a time of many natural things in Poland. Changing leaves, berries, apples, pears and mushrooms to mention a few. Also, of course, it is time of rain. Which, in turn, helps the mushrooms.

Rainy nights

Rain is never too far away

But with rain comes mushrooms. So, when the family were here we decided rather than just eat mushrooms we would like to take them to pick some mushrooms in the area around Sokolka. The area is rich in beautiful forests, but everyone there loves their wild produce. So, you need to either get up early in the morning to beat them or you need to drive a little further away from town to find a good patch. As it was late in the season and also a season that had been quite dry, we didn't expect to find too many. But, you should always be ready to hunt mushrooms, foraging is a way of life in the East and it is a great way of life, of course, if you know what you are doing.

Of course not every fungus growth is edible this is probably a birch polypore.

Some are just down right dangerous like this fly agaric

Or this wooly milk cap

Sometimes it can be cold in the forest some homemade malinowka (raspberry liquour) is great to warm up. You drink it down

down

down

Suede Bolete, Boring Brown Bolete or Yellow-cracked Bolete an edible mushroom

Another fly agaraic, they do look pretty though, and I wonder where the smurfs are.

I think this is called a lilac bonnet

spidey world

These sulfur caps will have you pooping and convulsing at the same time should you be silly enough to eat them

but they are really cute.

So we came home with a decent hall for rank amatuers and one hardened professional. You can see some different boletus mushrooms like porcini, and bovine among others. Also, the large white one is a parasol mushroom which is great eating,

This is the parasol mushroom cut into large slices and covered in egg, salt and pepper.

It is fried on one side and flipped and fried on the other, in the end it tastes very similar to a schnitzel. very tasty.

preparing the boletus family for drying

a mottled boletus mushroom

peel off the outer skin before cutting it.

and slice away.

then lunch is ready.

afterwards it is time for dessert outside in the sun.

and a little silliness with maple seeds

everyone loves a laugh, even big uncle Tomek our mushroom guru

someone else just wants to be loved.

how to disguise yourself when picking mushrooms.

on your bike

it is all happy families after some mushrooms, food and exercise.