Wroom!

Although I'm not a fan of bikes at all (I love cars tho!), this one caught my eye on a parking lot of the company I work in. Don't be fooled, this chopper isn't Harley, it's a Honda. Having a Japanese chopper just sounds weird to me, doesn't it? Or maybe in today's world the Japanese have taken over Harleys in the race? They've already done that in car business - I hate to admit it, but my previous car, Japanese-made Mazda 6 ('03) had higher quality built - esp. the electronic parts, than my German-made BMW3 ('07) I have now... the Japanese have yet to get the addictive quality when driving a Bimmer, but... does anyone know about bikes? What's it like in your country? Who's winning the bike/car race there? I know Toyotas were highly recommended and quite overpriced in the US, but I'm guessing their Blue Book value plummeted now.






In any case, I'm impressed by the artwork on the chopper...

Photo family

I bought a tiny digital camera on Saturday, to accompany my large dSLR, and to stop taking photos with my cell phone. Here's yesterday sunset taken with both cameras.

First the baby Olympus X-930 showed off what it can do:



Then my old friend, Olympus E-500, took the stand:

Finally...

... the spring is here! Blooming tree in front of my apartment proves it :)

In my dreams...

... I'm right here, on the island of Pag, enjoying the view and light breeze on my skin...



... in my reality, I'm here:



... well, almost there. :) This is a part of the company I work in (this part is hot dip galvanization factory). Luckily, I'm nicely tucked behind my computer in a comfy office, in a building some 20km away from the galvanization plant in the photo. However, it was cool visiting the plant, watching the process and learning all about it. Btw, the photo was taken with my Nokia N78.

Macro: Droplet 2

I've been a busy bee this week, which means I didn't have time for new photos :(... so here's an older macro shot:

Medvedgrad

The fortress Medvedgrad, watching over Zagreb, as seen from inside its walls:

Warming up

Even pigeons know how to put warmed up asphalt to a good use... :)

Memorial for the fallen...

Next to the southern wall of Zagreb's fortress Medvedgrad there's a memorial for all the fallen during 1991-1995 war... seemingly random stone blocks seem to create Croatia's coat of armor, while the central area is reserved for the eternal flame.

Macro: Droplet

Peek-a-boo!

My mood

This is exactly how I've been feeling in the past week while fighting cold:



Btw, the photo is from Zagreb ZOO...

Luck of the Irish

Here’s a wish for a day that’s lucky all through from the likes o’me to the likes o’you. Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Mellow yellow

All shades of blue

A small fishing boat with the island of Cres in the background:



Acute cough is keeping me at home, so there'll be a collection of Pag photos in the next few days.

Macro: Ice

What a beautiful day

Snow melting, the sun warming us up, and this sunset... what a beautiful day!

Danger zone

With recent snowfall and more recent warming, icicles are everywhere and falling... walking in the city screams danger...

Are you lookin' at me?

A rock with a face:



Gotta love the human mind as it searches for familiar patterns everywhere...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, not snow AGAIN!!!!!!

I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick of the snow this year. It's mid-March and we got a foot of snow in Zagreb alone and it's still falling like mad! Apparently, storms like these in mid-March happened in Zagreb twice before, the first time in 1963. and the second time in mid '80s but that one wasn't as violent as this one and the one in 1963.





The rest of Croatia is not in any better position, especially the coastal part battling winds reaching 200kmph/125mph...

All that glitters..

... isn't gold:



I'm not sure gold could beat this view though...

A piece of a puzzle

This graffiti got me rooted in front of it for the good 5min. Why? Because the only recognizable letters were "R.I.P.". Obviously, it's dedicated to someone, but I couldn't decipher a single letter out of the jumble. This is just a piece of a large graffiti, but even here in the small piece, I should be able to find a letter. Can you find it?

Tough life

I've always been amazed at the resilience of plants along the Croatian coast. It's tough life, with summer droughts, strong and cold winter winds, and salt from the sea accumulating everywhere with the help of winds. In addition to all that, they seem to pick roughest spots in the area to grow:

Macro study: saffron

Chickadee

Apparently there's something incredibly tasty in almond tree flowers, because a whole flock of chickadees were on the almond tree, eating and only barely noticing my presence quite close by. This one gave me one quick look which is when I snapped the photo:



All other photos of him and his friends ended up something like this (I could open up an exhibition of chickadees' butt/tail photos):

Distortion

Until I get new Zagreb photos (it's raining cats&dogs, and probably soon it'll be raining cows too), here are new Pag photos I took over the last weekend. These are sea urchins, sitting on the rock, their image distorted by a small wave on the sea surface (urchins were about 1ft or 30cm below the surface)...

Leaning... Bonus trip photo: Heavenly path

Trees along the lake Jarun banks:



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Bonus trip photo: Heavenly path, covered with saffron flowers, some 50m further down the path from where I took this month's theme day photo:

Looking out...

... for his mate - goldfinches always make sure there is one or more of them on branches while the others search the ground for seeds. And they switch roles. This one was making sure hungry cats don't get any ideas (not that cats would have any chances of being close, we chase all them away):



Btw, this is a european goldfinch...

March theme day: Passageway

First one, a hallway at my workplace, right in front of my office. The cone was there to avoid two broken tiles (photo taken with my Nokia N78):



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Bonus March theme day photo - from the island of Pag (Olympus E-500, wide angle lens, taken on Saturday)... This is a path along the coast, all covered with saffron flowers:



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