Javorica

Here in Slovenia, at a small mountain village called Kanalski Lom just over the border with Italy, my hosts Andre and Larissa are renovating a small cottage and garden.
Andre qualified as a civil engineer but his life has been redirected by an encounter with Leukaemia from which he is supposed to be convalescing. He says he feels more invigorated getting up to start work at 6 and constantly on the go between his 5 ongoing projects. He is acting as project manager in the reconstruction of various buildings in the area, made more difficult perhaps by knowing everybody having been born and bred about 6 km away.
Larissa is a nurse who has been working with disabled children and is now going on to geriatric care for a while. She has no desire to work in a hospital, preferring like many of her generation to remain local, growing much of the food and hanging out with old friends even if that means doing with less money. Turns out she is the same age as Nandalie.
Slovenians have been charming and welcoming to me: we have not been able to visit any town without someone - often related to Andre - saying hello and stopping for a chat. All the roads are narrow, so locals do complain about the 60 seater buses that clog the roads and provoke German motorcycle posses.In high Summer there is an over supply of motorhomes and cars that result in a quick trip to the shops taking up to 3 times longer than in Winter.
We are at about 600m altitude and the nearest town with a cafe is Mosti na Soci, 400m lower and about 4km away. Village life is not centred on the church, although people have turned out for the Saint's day and are having a bit of a picnic. I took this shot because there is a man standing in the bell tower with a hammer: real man, real hammer and he bangs out quite a tune!

It must be a Slavic thing as, like Russians, everybody sinks shots of (frequently home made) schnaps at the slightest opportunity; Na zdravje!Read more