Family Ties

It’s Saturday again and the world is full of Saturday things – shops are shut, café’s are full, cars are being washed (it’s a guy thing) and washing is being hung – and there is a skill involved  there – clotheslines are on a pulley line system and usually a few floors up – drop your clothes and your pegs at your peril! (Side note – I like the way that the older lady across from my apartment discreetly hangs her ‘undergarments’ behind the large towels – so far I have managed to get ‘Dobar Dan’ from her (reluctantly) but love a challenge and won’t give up until I get a smile).

Anyway, I had made arrangements with my cousin Zlata to go to her house in Tucepi for lunch. As she speaks no English and negotiations were done in Croatian, I hope against hope that today is the day, and midday is the time.

Discovery 1: Taxis in the direction of Tucepi leave every hour on the hour. Perfect.

Discovery 2:  The one that I am sitting in (shared with a 93 year old man who speaks 6 languages and has travelled the world  - oh the stories he would tell) is the last taxi for the day. Buses? Mozda – maybe. Walking? One hour. That’s fine, do-able, of course, even in these shoes. Just follow the stari put, the old track around the coast.

I arrive with flowers and a smile, noting that the table is set for three, so I have the right day.

We start with a glass of homemade walnut brandy, vegetable soup (juha), roasted chicken and vegetables, and salad, homemade wine, kolac (cake) and dessert wine. The only thing not homemade was the chicken (if you know what I mean). Drago is the gardener, and he has been up in the old village working in the garden this morning. He is 80 and mildly diabetic.

I asked Zlata if their son makes his own olive oil and wine, and she shrugged her shoulders and said “ne, not the young ones. They have no time”. It’s the same the world over, these skills will disappear.

(Second aside – I was inspired by the walnut brandy on a previous visit and found out how to make it at home. Easy entertainment if you have a walnut tree (which I do outside my kitchen window in Auckland), and my friends enjoyed it.)

I walked back along the track road and arrived home laden with domaci vino (Drago’s wine) and kolac. The afternoon was hot and still so I headed to the beach, ostensibly to try and get rid of the obvious sunglass tan marks on my face, but hey, I know it’s not PC but I just like lying in the sun. Just let me have 30 minutes ok?  I will even use sunblock…