Pump am y Penwythnos / Friday Five 30/03/18

O, yes, this …

Haha … after she’s finished at your end, send her over to me next. :smile:

:heart: :heart: :heart:

Were you ever about 3 days on the open sea at that weather and you couldn’t hope anyone would find you unless dead? Not that I experienced that but a friend of my father did and when they found him at last he was out of his mind for about two or so weeks … Not a pleasant thing at all and at the Adriatic sea it can be as rough as elswhere especially when “bora” the strong wind comes with about 200 - 250 km/h.

Did someone say “misspellings”?


Storžič 2,132 m - the view through my window (a bit zoomed in though).

Happy easter to all!

Now my bits and pieces:

1. Do you have any Easter traditions?
Well as many of you, we paint the eggs but for many years we tend to make things as simple as possible so our Easter Eggs are almost always more or less the same.


These are from about 2 hours ago.

We don’t do any Easter Eggs hunt and it also was never a part of our family tradition. Bringing presents (mostly chocholate eggs, real Easter eggs and chocholate bunnies) to kids was more of a tradition though.

The tradition in our family also was to spread the crashed blessed Easter Egg shells around the house in order that the snakes wouldn’t lurk around in the Summer. Thuis is also more of the common Slovene tradition aswell.

We also bake a dish called “prata” and consists of smoked cooked meat, old bread and lots of eggs all mixed together and traditionally filled into the pork colon (which stays in the water with lots of onion through the night so that it looses all that (possible) smell which could stil remain) and baked in the owen for about an hour on 180-200 °C. However we do this more modern way nowdays and all ingredients just put into baking tray which we put baking paper in and cover everything with baking paper also.


This year “prata” is the most delicious we had in a long time (shhh … we tried it already :slight_smile: )

And, of course, here’s the famous and indispensable “potica” which we rather buy than bake it ourselves.

On the Easter Sunday in the morning we have Easter Breakfast consisting of “prata”, smoked meat, Easter eggs and some grated horseradish all part of not just our but Slovenian tradition.

and in the afternoon we (usually) roll Easter Eggs. The game is played until eggs are so badly smashed that they don’t roll anymore and you can nothing else to do but eat them. Every hit is payed by whatever players agree on. Usually we play for small amounts of money (like 0.50 €) or beans or similar stuff. Whoever is hit by the particular player (playing is one by one) must pay one unit of agreed payement method to that one who hit them. So if the company is big enough one can possibly get quite a prize. :slight_smile:


You can do this outdors or indors, whatever you choose and according to the weather.

In general, there are some more interesting traditions going on allover our country, such as:

“sekanje pirhov”


There’s no English subtitles but you can see what “sekanje pirhov” is.

“strelnajne s karbidom” (shooting with the carbide)


and similar stuff.

2. What is the worst book to movie adaptation you’ve ever seen and which movie was much better than the book?
I don’t have the answer to this question though. Slovene movies are always very true to books. For the foreign movies I usually hardly know there was a book too or oposite way (apart from really famous ones like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings ets) and mostly if I read a book I didn’t watch the movie and oposite way. Reading the book I create my own movie in my head and I usually don’t want to spoil that.

3. If you could bring to life one type of fantastical entity, be it a fairy or a dragon, what would it be?
Night Fury Dragon

or Red Welsh Dragon

4. What can you produce from scratch? Whether it’s a wood carving, a cocktail, home grown cucumbers, painting, cake, piece of writing or the best barbecue for miles?
A lot of things and nothing at the same time. I actually agree with @Garys that “from scratch” probably doesn’t really exist at all. I make a lot of things though but nothing really that good to be really “proud of”.
I create music
I photograph, draw, make 3D renderings
I make animations and videos
I write poetry (of some kind …
I write a (highly fantasy) book in English
and I could go on and on … but nothing is as good as I’d like it to be …

5. Is there anything at all from natural world which has the ability to affect you mood in a positive way?
Nature itself in all beauty and glory but mostly scenes like this:

trying to capture them not really successfully though.

And a couple of Easter bonuses because it’s a long weekend…

6. Which is your favourite holiday of the year and why?
If there’s a word of Christmas, Easter and them alike, none actually. I love the Summer time though probably because it’s hot and as this is the time whe I have the longest holidays of the whole year.

7. What are you doing for the Easter holidays?
Nothing in particular as we were all ill one after another and now we’d just like to relax and do nothing for at least these 3 days as we don’t have Easter Holidays in our country what means I’ve worked yesterday too and Monday will be the only free day for these holidays.

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Also the thirty nine steps? Some book films weren’t so good though. I think the Jules Verne ones were good for their time.

I can’t think of any modern films that were better at the moment, except comic hero films, but in fairness, that’s not really a level playing field.

Glenda, my wife says that the Bridget Jones films were better than the books. Don’t ask me. :slight_smile:

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OMG, that’s a category 3 hurricane and must have been beyond terrifying!!! No wonder he was freaked out for weeks! I lived in Louisiana for several years, which is severe hurricane territory, and the one place you never want to be is outside, let alone on a boat. :scream: :scream: :scream:

But actually…

I was once becalmed (no wind at all, sea like glass) for four days in the Pacific Ocean between Los Angeles and Catalina Island. No other boat or ship traffic within view during all that time. Now that was scary.

Not that I’ve been on a boat in such bad weather that I was in fear for my life, but I did spend three days in stormy weather off the New England coast (the kind of wind that will lift you straight off your feet if you’re on land). I don’t know why, but I found the wind and the big rolling waves strangely exhilarating. The possibility of losing our mast, capsizing, or the boat breaking apart didn’t occur to me until later. Fortunately, we were properly hove to and able to wait out the storm.

It’s just my bizarre way of looking at things, I guess. The day I’m on a boat in a hurricane, I guarantee that I’m going to change my mind! :scream:

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The classic one with Robert Donat? (with a young John Laurie playing the jealous husband - in a scene not in the book - not like that, anyway :slight_smile: ). Yes, that was pretty good.

A lot of the old Hollywood “noir” films were based on novels. I’ve read a few after seeing the film, and I suspect they needed the livening-up of a film.

Oh, not a “noir” as such, but a later film, “Deliverance” was brilliant, and probably better than the book, which I only read afterwards.

Yes, but I still “hear” excitement in your post. You must be a grue adventurer what is actually perfectly fine. If such people as you are wouldn’t exist distant continents would probably never found and we might not know each-others. :slight_smile:

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Yes, that’s the one. We saw it in school, surprisingly. Also saw Lord of the flies and Animal Farm. I think I was about 12 :grin: Not sure how we got away with that. We had a trendy film club and a cool drama theatre.

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1) Do you have any Easter traditions?

Not really. We like to spend time with family and as many others, we exchange chocolate eggs. I used to decorate the house and prepare egg hunts for the kids and their friends, but the weather didn’t really allow it this year.

2) What is the worst book to movie adaptation you’ve ever seen and which movie was much better than the book?

As mentioned above, Peter Rabbit, though not meant to be a true representation of the book, would have made Beatrix Potter spin rapidly in her grave. I equally enjoyed the book and film of Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons - they’re both equally entertaining and charming.

3) If you could bring to life one type of fantastical entity, be it a fairy or a dragon, what would it be?

All kinds of Fairies. Though one of our very dear neighbours believes that they truly do exist all around us.

4) What can you produce from scratch? Whether it’s a wood carving, a cocktail, home grown cucumbers, painting, cake, piece of writing or the best barbecue for miles?

Portrait drawings
Authentic chicken enchiladas
A party atmosphere

5) Is there anything at all from natural world which has the ability to affect you mood in a positive way?

Birds, birds and more birds. Plus being on the common. Our cottage sits in the centre of common land in the foothills of Snowdonia. It is mostly open heath consisting of gorse, heather, many streams and some marsh. It is exposed to the sea with fabulous views over Caernarfon and Anglesey to the North-East and Yr Eifl to the South-West. The sheep roam free here, and sometimes the cows, it is teeming with wildlife and is shouldered by some magnificent hills and mountains. We are to an extent secluded and quiet, but not remote. The place changes dramatically with the seasons and weather and is the most magical place I have ever lived. Walking the common with the dog really feeds the soul.

And a couple of Easter bonuses because it’s a long weekend…

6) Which is your favourite holiday of the year and why?

The magic of Christmas, home cooked delights, log fires, warm port, glistening trees, beautiful music, family gatherings and excited children.

7) What are you doing for the Easter holidays?

On Easter Sunday we went to my parents’ house with my brother and his family. My parents are in their eighties and my mother is registered disabled. We arrived early and spent the morning cooking a slap up Sunday roast dinner with all the trimmings. It was a lovely day.

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If you could bring to life one type of fantastical entity, be it a fairy or a dragon, what would it be? Without doubt, the dragon in ‘Lily Quench and the Dragon of Ashby’ by Natalie Jane Prior. The first in a series of books about Lily, the last in the line of dragon slayers, and her adventures in fighting evil. Soon Lily and Queen Dragon form an unlikely alliance to save the kingdom from destruction and restore the lost heir, Prince Alwyn, to his throne. Lily won’t knuckle down and be a lady-in-waiting (her persistence is rewarded when she’s finally allowed to train as a knight) and the dragon won’t accept the fire-breathing stereotype. When she tells Lily that she’s expected to destroy rather than save, Lily tells her to “do the unexpected”, an idea that I think lies at the heart of the series and why I like it so much. I read the Lily Quench books over and over again with my children and we still remember all the characters very fondly.

What can you produce from scratch? Homemade dishwasher detergent. Cheap and effective.

What are you doing for the Easter holidays? In a few days, looking forward to going to Caerdydd with CACEN.

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