I grow up in Romania in the communist times. Back then, autumn was associated with making preserves, pickles of all sorts, making spreads for winter time. The whole activity used to start in August and end in October or early November. I remember our "closed balcony" having rows of shelves full of colourful jars of various colours and shapes. The staircase of the block of flats I used to live in was full of yummy smells ... everybody was cooking, this was normality. I doubt much of this is happening nowadays as buying ready made products is something many Romanians got used to doing but I might be wrong. I am sure in the countryside the traditions are preserved but maybe not that much in the towns. But my short message is not about the past but about the now. I've started to make zakuska only a few years ago ... out of curiosity, out of a longing for the taste it was so familiar to me and I missed a lot. Continue reading

Mid September and I've felt the need to take advantage of another beautiful autumn day! Yep! A walk by the sea early in the morning followed by a bit of intuitive drawing and working on a few more pages from my therapeutical workbook “Self explorations”! The question was related to... Continue reading

As the weather is so much gentler in England (after weeks after weeks of relentless heat), I am back again in my experimenting phase ... this time I ve made ... for the first time a whipped body butter ... it has lots of fascinating ingredients ... argan oil, Shea... Continue reading

I usually paint my journal covers .... late at night. My muse is really happy to join me in the evening ... over a cup of tea and the occasional biscuit of little bit of chocolate. In the little movie below you will see my cover no 9 and cover... Continue reading

Painting Buddha is a state of mind. Painting Buddha is a journey ... Painting Buddha is each time a different experience. I know this ... as I am walking Continue reading

2 years ago we ve been gifted 2 branches of a night blooming cereus ....a beautiful and interesting plant (the mother plant of the one we've been gifted) is coming from Grenada island ....little did we know that the plant will grow into a tree ...with such unusual, silky leaves... Continue reading

A brisk walk in the harbour just before the rain started ... so many gorgeous plants ... a few minutes of creativity unleashed and ... 15 minutes with my “Self explorations” workbook .. and a special journey down the memory lane ....fascinating how many memories came back to me connected... Continue reading

t's been a sequence of days, weeks and months ....in lockdown .... days seems to be the same ... but are they? Of course not ... how about documenting your morning activities for the next 10 days .. Continue reading

Musings from the garden ..... little did I know 4 years ago when I started my first class of wu dang tai chi that I will enjoy it and stick with it. Little did I know that once I graduated to the sabre form that I will enjoy it so... Continue reading

About Albania ......Memories ....are amazing .....they are collected somewhere in our mind and many times only a sound, a word, a smell, a person can bring them back to life .....this was the case yesterday when I was buying my takeaway coffee in the harbour ....Lola, the lovely waiter was... Continue reading

Back in my studio .... painting again and thinking about a line I read earlier today ..... “the universe is made up of stories, not atoms.” - Muriel Rukeyser of course I agree ... I do ... stories need to be told .... my painting goes through a light phase... Continue reading

I've never been interested in painting realistic paintings. It's just the way it is with me. But I;ve always been interested to see how would I tackle a normal (what is normal?) subject in my own style ... using strong colours and strong brush marks ... So here is what... Continue reading

Educate your eye, go to wonderful museums, absorb the magnificent culture that has been built up through the ages. Spend times in libraries, look at art books. Culture is the meeting of minds; when a spark is born, one man adds a pearl to the chain of another. Do not imitate but listen to the small voice which is your own and true.” - Beatrice Wood Continue reading

Once upon a time (about three years ago) I took part in a tiny, craft fair in a location recommended by a friend .... I decided in advance that for the first time I would present my own hand made soaps - and one of these was my own Aloe Vera soap. During the event, on a very hot weekend day, I kept asking myself why I had agreed to take part in such an event ... anyway ... I was going to have my answer in a couple of hours, just before the end of the fair.......... when an elderly, well mannered lady in a floral dress approached me ........and proceeded Continue reading

As you know, one of my favourite happy, peaceful ways of putting a nice wall between myself and uncertainty is by engaging with creativity. So I have been regularly picking up my journal and I have been allowing my hand to release my tensions through intuitive drawing.. and I am writing in my daily gratitude journal and filling in a few more pages from my creativity workbook...........But I have other ways as well of sealing myself off from the world for a time - yum yum, glug glug! Continue reading

For some months we are all going to have to change our habits - and that probably means that we could have a lot of time on our hands, time to watch the news feeds (please, dear L, NO) - or does it? The key, my mind tells me, is that in this interim period it will be good for us to focus on doing things (possibly alone, probably at home, maybe not) that we used to enjoy (pre mass TV, pre internet) or still enjoy (if we think about it) that bring smiles and a sense of positivity to our lives. It wasn't so long ago that using our hands and minds was what we all did in our spare time - would you believe it, but even in 1989 we in Romania only had 1 hour of tv per weekday night and 2 hours at the weekend - and no internet - so, what did we do then? Continue reading

What is actually this word ... GRATITUDE Gratitude … a word just like any other word … a label ….a convention …. A word we use often in nowadays conversations …. But … do we really feel it?…..a hard but very relevant question for today’s troubled world? The good thing is that this word starts to really, really come alive at certain moments as we journey through life. Most of the time this happens when we’ve experienced pretty challenging circumstances …..health wise, i Continue reading

We are living through quite challenging times ... fear seems to be distributed and promoted everywhere. They tell you to wash your hands as soon as you have touched anything or anyone outside the home, to use a hand sanitizer when you are out and about (and at home when you return). But what do you do when the shelves have been stripped, what do you do when the fear grips you that you can't protect yourself (and carrying a bucket of water and some soap around the town is only feasible for a window cleaner). Then you read a small, single piece of advice not to make your own sanitizer - because you might use too much of this or not enough of that. So you are stuffed! - t Continue reading

As promised in my previous blog ... here it is ... the recipe of a seeded bread which reminded me of times long gone .... 300 g mixed seeds (flax, sunflower, pumpkin, poppy seeds ... ) 100 g ground almond 50g chia seeds 50 g walnuts, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts (grind... Continue reading

It's a lovely, cold but sunny spring day ... the very first days of spring and boy of boy nature is coming to life in my part of the world. So good to see carpets of yellows, reds, violets, oranges and so many more shades in various corners of the town and gardens. So after a brisk walk by the beach I've decided to bake again(for the second time this week) ... a loaf of super seed bread. Let me tell you from the very beginning that ... I am not a baker, I've never been interested in baking before, but recently, because I need to go on a wheat free, sugar free diet I've decided to ... be adventurous, cook all sorts of unusual (for me) dishes. It is a great way to experiment, be adventurous Continue reading

verybody reacts differently to the trauma of being bullied. It can manifest on the emotional level (depression, anxiety, PTSD) and of course physical level .... in my case it was, high blood pressure, nose bleeds, severe insomnia, panic attacks ... and all of those were just the tip of the iceberg plus of course the impact on the family life. It is like a tsunami that never ends. The whole life is disturbed and the consequences can be long term and indeed they were. My daily 1 hour and 40 minutes commute was a nightmare as well and I was dreading approaching the office ... oh boy ... such memories .... I also remember how on - sadly - many occasions when the trains were cancelled or del Continue reading

Let's continue the story started yesterday ... in case you haven't had the chance to read it ... click here A few years ago, about 10-11 to be precise, I was bullied. I was just one of many civil servants bullied on a daily basis. What was different in my case is that I was one of the very few people who reported the case to the management and went through the whole challenging and emotional process of proving the case. Continue reading

Let me tell you something .... I believe in the Patch Adams (you might have seen the movies, go and get the book as well) theory of healing through humour. I also believe art in any forms heals. I don't speak from books or imagination but ... I've been there. I left a bullying environment 8 years ago and an article I came across earlier today made me dig through my blogs and decide to republish something I posted on this topic. It is clea Continue reading

Ok so another rainy day in Eastbourne! It is probably the wettest winter /spring already I've experienced since I came to England, years ago. It simply doesn't stop for more then a few hours and then, you really need to get ready, get dressed and sprint outside the house for a bit of fresh air, vitamin D and a brisk walk in between another stretch of rain. But ... this is another story for another day .... today we are talking about .. m Continue reading

What happens when a member of your family needs to change their eating habits? Quite a lot of things really .... We all snack ... salami slices, cedar cheese slices, French fries, chocolates, cakes, all sorts of crisps and other yummy things we are so used to having in the fridge that we don't even know how it is to live without them. Habits have very deep roots ... very, very deep. So .... overnight ... by, by salamis, by by salty olives and so on .... the fridge looks really empty and ... you have to start to rethink your eating patterns. Easy? Hard?... both! Continue reading