Betsy Devine: Funny ha-ha and/or funny peculiar

Fläckar är bra för livet…

Originally uploaded by JohanPez

When I was a little girl I longed to travel–and I still love it. I love meeting new people, hearing new languages spoken, admiring new wonderful things from mushroom dumplings to mermaids.

But oh! I’ll be glad to say good-bye to Swedish laundries, which have frayed all my sleeve-cuffs and thinned down my favorite old black pants until they just ripped straight across the now paper-thin seat…blessedly, on a cold day when I also had on black longjohns.

Laundry day here in Sweden is a much bigger event than it would be at home. In our Stockholm building, there are just four washers (and only two dryers), so everyone signs up for once-weekly, to do stuff all at once.

That means, when our day comes, I have, in a literal sense, almost nothing to wear.

Today, for example, my outfit was long underwear, dryclean-only jacket, and an insane pair of white denim trousers I still can’t imagine why I brought here from the US.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to order a whole pile more turtleneck shirts from Lands End to be waiting for me when I get back to the US next month. But if you happen to meet me between now and then and notice the slightly frayed cuffs on a shirt that I’m anyway wearing…blame Swedish washing machines like those you see in this picture.

They look very tough…and believe me, that’s just what they are!

Ciconia ciconia

Originally uploaded by namq

Frank and I went all the way to southeastern Poland to learn more about the roots of his Polish grandmother, in Babice.

Now, by way of email, news of Frank’s Polish grandfather just came to us! An independent Chicago researcher who studies Haller’s Army just sent us new details about “Jan Wilczek”–who was born (it turns out) November 15, 1892 in “Mikanow, Nowomieski, Warszawa.”

Now we have even more stuff to find out about, next time we go back.

Many thanks to Dr. Paul S. Valasek, whose self-published book about Haller’s Army we will definitely buy! The book doesn’t yet have a website of its own, but when that’s corrected, I will add that information to this blogpost.

Reindeer

Originally uploaded by Jom Manilat

Catching up on local news now that we’re back in Sweden–apparently we missed a protest in downtown Stockholm augmented by reindeer.

Reindeer-herding Sami have been hiking back and forth between winter and summer pastures since long before there were any “Sweden” or “Norway.” But now Norway has ruled that some Sami they’ve declared “Swedish” can no longer drive reindeer into Norway pastures that Norwegians say are “too far west.” (At least that’s what the Swedish news in English says.)

Whichever side is behaving wrongly on this should be very worried about getting coal in their Christmas stockings–I’m sure Santa Claus keeps careful watch of these reindeer!

Beautiful soup

Originally uploaded by betsythedevine

The beautiful red beet soup with mushroom dumplings is part of traditional Christmas in this part of Poland. In the background, you can see a plate of varied sausages, including kielbasa, which Frank’s Polish grandmother used to make.

Can you see that steam is rising from the hot soup? Mmm, making me hungry!

After the school festivities, Babice’s local hotel and restaurant treated us all to a Christmas dinner augmented by folk songs.

The hotel, whose food is delicious, is Hotel Plowiecki. The "l" in Płowiecki is a special Polish letter that has a slash through it; my keyboard won’t make it but I copied it off the Internet.

Frank’s family tree?

Originally uploaded by betsythedevine

Here, in beautiful Polish/Galician Babice, Frank is posed next to a tree that is next to the former homestead of his Polish ancestors.

Frank’s Polish grandmother, Francziska Zybura (her married name was Wilczek) was born in Galician Babice in 1902. After getting excellent marks in the local school, she left for the US in 1921.

I’m back now in Sweden but with severe Internet-lag, after four days in a charming Krakow guesthouse with wonderful beds but no way to upload my gorgeous photos. I will be posting the best of my Babice photos on Flickr over the next couple of days–for example, Frank’s Polish relatives, who look just like him and the photo of 13-year-old Frank his great-grandma sent home to Poland–not to mention the wonderful food there and amazing people we met.

The stories of who did what and how great it turned out can be found in the sequential captions of all those photos, so go there and read them!

Liffey Treetrunk

Originally uploaded by Cormac Phelan

You cannot fall twice into the same river, because the river is different every time. And so are you.

This river is not the river of beautiful Babice, the Galician village about four hours from Krakow where Frank and I spent a magical yesterday, visiting the school where his grandmother Franciszka Zybura earned excellent marks in the early years of this century. Many thanks to the friendly people of Babice and their talented children for a wonderful welcome, about which I plan to write more once I get to someplace where my own computer, and the 133 photos I took there, can connect to the internet.

Right now, this hotel computer and a search through Flickr for a photo both “autumn” and “river” have to be stand-ins. Thanks also so much to the Piotr Haszczyn, the correct spelling of whose name is in my computer and not this one, the talented rector of Babice’s primary school, who arranged all these very complex events that I should now be packing instead of blogging about!

Michael York Cracow

Originally uploaded by betsythedevine

So here we are in beautiful Cracow in Poland, shooting a film with Michael York…

Not really!

Michael York is in Cracow making a film on the beautiful Wawel hill, with castle and cathedral in the background. We happened by, midway between physics and travel, with the wonders of Wawel Castle in our recent past and the magic of Wawel Cathedral just ahead.

I couldn’t resist taking one photo–from a very respectful distance, I promise. This is a blow-up from one tiny bit of one snapshot.

I am so glad that Michael York’s life has turned out happier than that of his character in Cabaret, for whose foolishness I cried buckets, long years ago.

Pigeons with friend

Originally uploaded by betsythedevine

I was walking through Warsaw’s Old Town market square when I noticed a sudden flurry among all the pigeons.

One minute the pigeons, like me, had been randomly strolling the cobblestones, taking their time. The next, they were hustling and cooing and flying and flocking down toward the pump end of the square.

They had seen something that meant a lot to them–the slow approach of a pink-parka-wearing woman with grocery bag.

The birds flocked to her, she turned the bag upside down, and cobbles around her were covered an inch deep in bread crumbs.

The friend of the pigeons had turned up with lunch, one more time.

Lunch at the Pierrogeria

Originally uploaded by betsythedevine

Or should that maybe be PQ?

The root of Polish “pierogi” is “pir,” for festivity. Pierogies look like half-circles of dough because they start out as circles you cut with a drinking glass–then you fold each in half over some bulging lump of good filling.

People boil, bake, or fry these fat little dumplings in many different Slavic home kitchens.

Frank’s dynamic Grandma Wilczek, who grew up in Babice, made delicious fried pierogi every Thanksgiving. But Warsaw’s Pierrogeria goes way beyond Grandma, offering pierogi with every kind of filling from mushrooms and spinach to blueberries, raisins, and rum.

Yum. I really like Polish pierogies. But I’m afraid that if people keep taking me out to wonderful Polish restaurants, meal after meal after meal, I’ll look more like a fat little dumpling than I really want to!