It’s that time of year again! The mushroom fever here is contagious. I am still far from a wild mushroom expert, so I always run my acquisitions through my QC department (my husband, sister-in-law and mother-in-law). The two pictures on the left are of the same mushroom that we found in the forest (called a podgrzybek) and the one on the right my husband found on our property (called a kania). He found 17 huge kanias in the same area – it was amazing. We pan fried them for dinner and they were delicious. I didn’t actually find either of the mushrooms pictured above, but I never miss a good photo op.

It’s official! Jurek has his M.S.E.E.!!! (Let the job search begin – insert sound of gunfire here). The photo on the left is from the day of his graduation ceremony – we were in Poznan’s old town celebrating after the event. Neither of us look too happy, but don’t be fooled, we’re ecstatic! It was the only photo that we had together. It has taken us both a while for the realization to set in. We’re both nervous and excited to see what happens next. But we’re pretty flexible people so we’ll be just fine. The photo on the right is from a camping party that we had on our property. The party was special for us – since we got married in the U.S., we never got a chance to properly celebrate with all of our friends here. We had somewhat of a wedding/property-warming/graduation/farewell SUPER party. 40 people came from all over Poland, about 20 of which were camping with us. It all went so quickly and much to our dismay, we have few photos from it. Both of us thought the other one was documenting the party – talk about miscommunication! Thankfully, our friends had been taking photos as well, and as soon as I track some down, I will probably post more. No updates with Knitting or Illustration (bad Marska) but hopefully I’ll get back on those wagons soon as well.

I’ve finally gotten around to starting a new knitting project. This is actually my second pair of Retro Ribs. The first pair I intended to make for myself, however after my mom started referring to them as ‘her’ socks as I was making them, I didn’t have the heart to keep them for myself. It is entirely too hot here to knit wool – but I needed a small project to get me going. The pattern is Retro Rib Socks from Interweave Knits – Winter 2004. The yarn is Sock Garden by KnitPicks in Geranium.

In other news, we went to a free concert of Polish composer Piotr Rubik at Lake Malta last night. The weather was really hot even at 8pm, when it started. So we had a couple of beers to cool down and enjoyed the music. Then we went for a nice long walk home. I love summer night walks!

I was half way through this illustration before I realized where the subconscious inspiration came from. I recently saw the trailer for the new Adam Sandler movie "Click". I was about ready to scrap the whole idea – but I couldn't think of anything better. Despite the fact that I live without television, I remain victim of the media – ew. I guess inspiration has to come from somewhere.

This week's topic reminded me of the many dance recitals I had as a young girl and the anxiety that I always felt before a performance. I would love to take a few dance classes again, starting with tap dance – my all time favorite! My friends love it when I bust out into a spontaneous tap session – good times.

Another recent finger puppet creation for one of my little friends. I love knitting finger puppets, they're super fast and so fun to play with! I'd like a go at a full blown hand puppet. I'm been slacking in the knitting department lately. I have multiple projects for myself in the concept stages, the problem is that for some reason I have no motivation to make things for myself. However, when I think of a project as a gift for someone, I can crank it out like no tomorrow. I guess I just have to trick myself into thinking that I'm making a gift for myself. Problem is, it's not so easy to fool myself. Ha!

Anyone thirsty?

I survived the Polish Wedding Marathon and all I got was this lousy t-shirt … oh wait, no t-shirt. After nearly 4 years living in Poland, we were finally invited to a wedding. I had almost come to terms with the fact I would never get the opportunity to experience a Polish wedding first hand, only through reputation. After a scavenger hunt for an outfit to wear last week, I wound up with a nice skirt and blouse, a huge relief.

Disclaimer – the account below is simply from my own single experience at a Polish wedding. I, in no way, intend to generalize the traditional Polish wedding experience. I'm sure the customs and traditions vary from region to region as well as from family to family. In fact, one of my friends mentioned that in other areas of Poland, they celebrate the wedding for an entire week – even the thought exhausts me.

The Ceremony
Beginning at 6pm, the ceremony was nice and pretty much as I had expected. The only major differences were that the Bride and Groom (as well as their Maid of Honor and Best Man) were provided seating at the front of the church. They were permitted to sit while the priest gave his sermon, a nice gesture. During the ceremony, they sent around an offering plate to collect money for the church. This is something that I've never seen before at a wedding so it threw me off guard. I thought it a bit tacky, but not having attended a great deal of weddings, I have no idea if this is the norm, so I threw my hard earned zlotych into the pot. After the ceremony, the guests met the new Husband and Wife outside the church and showered them with gifts and well wishes. It's also customary here to give the new Bride flowers, and what beautiful flowers they were. After we made it through the mosh pit of guests, which might have been called a reception line had the people any concept of forming a line, it was on to the reception.

The Reception (AKA – The Marathon)
Now, I have heard the rumours about these Polish weddings, Vodka Dancing fests that last all night. And in some ways it was, but not as wild and out of hand as I had imagined it would be. The music was atrocious, had it not been for the forementioned Vodka, I wouldn't have found the nerve to dance to it. We spent a great deal of time dancing in circles around the Bride and Groom, with many trips around the reception hall in a conga line. I learned that the chicken dance defies all cultural boundaries. Which has led me to the conclusion that if we could only find a way to broadcast the Chicken Dance oom-pah song simultaneously throughout the world, we may have a chance at finally establishing world peace. The most important ingredient for a successful Wedding Marathon has to be the food, which was delicious and plentiful. Appetizers and drinks were omni-present on the table. We were served hot dishes every hour on the hour. Traditional Polish foods were served, Barscz (beet root soup), Flacki (chicken stomach soup – yuck – I couldn't bring myself to try this), duck, chicken, pork, steak tartar, and too many others to mention. All in all, it was a great strategy to keep us not only conscious but lively throughout the event. We got home around 5am – but the party was still alive and kicking when we left.

The After Party
The day after the wedding, there is another party. This one started at 4pm. We made a brief appearence. I think this party serves a tri-purpose, one, to get rid of all the left-overs, two for the people who were not brave enough to pull an all-nighter to score a piece of wedding fun, and three as bragging rights for the people who were brave enough to face the night.

All in all, we had a terrific time. Good food in good company.

Fun in the photo booth!

We have a bit of an emergency situation here. Jurek will be defending his Master's in a few weeks and we have a wedding to attend this weekend. Neither of us has anything to wear. Red alert, red alert. We spent the day searching for appropriate attire. Jurek scored a new suit, where I, on the other hand, had no such luck. I'll be back in the ring for another round though, most likely tomorrow (and throughout the week if necessary). I made the finger puppet in the photo for one of my many little friends. Nothing says fun in the city like a finger puppet.