Easter around the world

Happy Easter
everyone
&
enjoy the photo story about Easter around the world below! :) 


Finland

Photo "Easter moon in Vantaa, Finland" - courtesy of Nina_999
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Ukraine

Ukrainian Eggs, Pysanky, created by me for 2008.

Photo "Happy Easter!" and comment above - courtesy of Tanya Zivkovic

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Norway

In my part of the world Easter has meant snow and minus degrees....Today it was sunny though! Hope you all have had a happy Easter :-)

Photo "My kind of Easter" and comment above - courtesy of umjens
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Italy

Photo "Easter is Coming ..." - courtesy of krisdecurtis
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Australia

The Sydney Royal Easter Show is the largest event held in Australia, and the sixth largest in the world. The first Easter Show was held in 1823 by the newly formed Agricultural Society of New South Wales, with the aim of encouraging the colony's rural industries. (Wikipedia)

I'm a little skeptical about the "sixth largest in the world" claim but anyway, that's what the Wikipedia entry states.

Photo "Royal Easter Show Fireworks" - courtesy of Christopher Chan
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United States

Easter sugar cookies with royal icing.

Photo "Easter Cookies" and comment above - courtesy of Fingers In The Frosting
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Russia

St. Petersburg's weather is really strange thing! This March the weather was very warm for this season — about +14ºC. But this Easter — here it is! — it's snowing and the temperature is about 0ºC!

Anyway, I wish to all of you very happy and nice Easter!

Photo "Snowy Easter" and comment above - courtesy of Victor Radziun
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France

I had a great fun making this "quick" cake. I made it for a teatime with my friends and our children. It's a chocolate mud cake (my first one, I wanted to try it!) with coffee buttercream. Yummy!!! I was also very excited with the idea of decorating a chocolate Easter egg, and now I want to do other ones!!

Photo "Easter Egg Cake" and comment above - courtesy of Fantasticakes
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Slovenia

Photo "Sopek" - courtesy of Francelj.
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Photo "Pirhi oblečeni v vrečevino" - courtesy of OŠ Mirna Peč (Students of primary school in Mirna Peč.
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Photo "Drsanke" - courtesy of OŠ Mirna Peč (Students of primary school in Mirna Peč.
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Photo "Pirhi od tašče" (Mother in-law's Easter eggs) - courtesy of nelit


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Flying School Bus - Humpback Whale Breach

Flying School Bus - Humpback Whale Breach
Originally uploaded by mikegrace78

On Valentine's Day (February 14, 2009) a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) visited Slovenian sea. It was first spotted near Koper by a diver who followed the whale on his boat - all the way to Izola.

These giants usually live in large seas and they rarely wander into Adriatic. The last time one has been seen in this part of the Mediterranean Sea - was 6 years ago, near Piran.

"The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a Baleen whale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from 12–16 metres (40–50 ft) and weigh approximately 36,000 kilograms (79,000 lb). The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is an acrobatic animal, often breaching and slapping the water. Males produce a complex whale song, which lasts for 10 to 20 minutes and is repeated for hours at a time. The purpose of the song is not yet clear, although it appears to have a role in mating.

Found in oceans and seas around the world, humpback whales typically migrate up to 25,000 kilometres each year. Humpbacks feed only in summer, in polar waters, and migrate to tropical or sub-tropical waters to breed and give birth in the winter. During the winter, humpbacks fast and live off their fat reserves. The species' diet consists mostly of krill and small fish. Humpbacks have a diverse repertoire of feeding methods, including the bubble net feeding technique.

Like other large whales, the humpback was and is a target for the whaling industry. Due to over-hunting, its population fell by an estimated 90% before a whaling moratorium was introduced in 1966. Stocks of the species have since partially recovered; however, entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with ships, and noise pollution also remain concerns. There are at least 80,000 humpback whales worldwide. Once hunted to the brink of extinction, humpbacks are now sought out by whale-watchers, particularly off parts of Australia and the United States." (from Wikipedia)

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Long time - no see

I owe you all an apology - for not posting anything in such a long time. All of a sudden I got so busy that I hardly had time to sleep... :)

Let me share with you what I was up to:

• I finished this page about two beautiful vacation spots in pristine area of Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains - wonderful place to unwind, relax and breathe deep the fresh mountain air - and even more so if you appreciate freshly baked  goodies like famous muffins and coffee from well known Mercier's orchard shop nearby. Take a look for yourself by visiting Blue Ridge Log Cabin Vacation Rentals
  
  
• If you're concerned about the quality of the air you breathe inside your home - there are affordable  natural helpers out there - to get that part of your house cleaned up. Check them out at Best Indoor Air Cleaning Plants
  
  
• And my biggest, most challenging and most time consuming project in the last two weeks was designing this new Inspirational Art Gallery for the highly reputable, well established website. The first author featured is a very talented professional photographer from Slovenia, Borut Peterlin. The feedback he received for his photos during the first day after the gallery went live - was simply outstanding. But why am I even talking so much? You must see these art pieces for yourself! Visit  Borut Peterlin - Portraits of the Artists

And last, to bring up some nice memories of the fun past events of the season 08/09 at SNPJ Lodge 778, here's the photo of musicians - every one of you should easily recognize... :)

Photo of Walter Ostanek and Bob Kravos playing at SNPJ Lodge 778 on January 31 of 2009 - courtesy of Nick Dudish

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Big thank you to Nick Dudish for helping me out with the photos of events!

Catherine F. - I didn't forget anything I promised to you.

Richard L. - I have a CD for you - with the music that will melt your and your wife's heart.

And just so you all know, I have plenty more photos and videos of this season's events that I haven't published yet. I promise to use all the good ones in the upcoming posts and some new pages.


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