30 Minutes in the life: November 2022
Posted on December 5, 2022
We are a week behind but that happens when our due date falls on Thanksgiving weekend. We are flexible and I am thankful.
I decided to head back to our Macedonia trip for this months 30 minutes. There are so many images and I feel like I have not had time to focus on editing just lately. Hopefully the new year will bring about some changes and I will renew my focus on going out and getting some images again. Its’s been a rough 2 years but we had really good news on Richard’s health and getting the no cancer detected was a huge huge relief for all of us. Today’s time is all about Luka and his baptism.

Confession time. These photos are salvaged as best I can, but I want to share them because this was one of the main reasons we were in Macedonia. The first was to be part of Amy and Daniel’s second wedding, the second was to meet his family, and the third was to witness Luka be baptized.
Daniel’s family is Orthodox Macedonian, and so Luka was baptized in the Orthodox church. What I will say is that I did not understand a word of it, but I could follow along with the actions and I had done some research on what to expect.

When we arrived at the church, I thought that we would be going into the church, however, that was not the case. The family was ushered into a small room across the lot where the baptismal font was. The room was not well lit and I did not have a flash. My camera has been pretty good with low light but it is a fine balance between grainy ISO, and low speed. Some of the images, Luka just moved to much, and I got too much blur. In addition when I decided on what lens to take for traveling I took the 70-300mm and the 17-40mm. Neither were the best for such a small room. The other issue I had was the colors on the walls were the same as the skin tone and it was just too much. In addition there were no open windows, no fans, no air conditioning and it was 105 F. These African have got so used to air conditioning over the past 20 years that not having it is not fun.

This is the tones for all the images and it was just too much for my eyes. So I shifted to black and white. Hopefully things will be a little bit better.
When Amy and Daniel decided to go back to Macedonia for their second wedding reception for Daniels family, they also decided to have Luka baptized at the church his mother attends in Vinica, St Arhangel Michael. The church is situated close to where Daniel’s mom lived and short walking distance from the hotel we were staying at. Churches in Macedonia are not the typical large churches we see in the USA. Perhaps in rural areas they would be similar, however, size wise it was very similar to the church I grew up in in South Africa. This was only the second time I have been into a Macedonian church. I found one about an hour from where we live and we attended a Christmas service one year. What I did find then was that they used a lot of incense, and I was struggling to breathe at the end of the service. This time that was not the case.
While we were waiting on Daniel and the priest, we went into the tiny room. Below is Luka with his baba (grandmother).

Once the priest came in the ceremony started. From what I have seen and read incense is involved and it appears that the purpose of the incense is to offer prayers . Incense is made up of a mix of spices and gums which are burned during services to produce fragrant smoke. Grains of incense are put on burning charcoal in the censer with a prayer, “We offer thee incense, O Christ our God, for an odor of spiritual fragrance. Receive it upon your heavenly altar and send down upon us, in return, the gift of your Holy Spirit.”

In Macedonia, and from what I can see, the Orthodox church is fairly strict on the godparents. The godparent must be an Orthodox Christian. Typically from what I understand there is one official godparent (kum – male) but there could be a female as well (kuma). I read that generally the kum serves as the best man at the wedding and then the godparent at the baptism. In this case Daniel’s best man Zlatko, served as Luka’s godparent as well. During the ceremony, the Kum is the person holding the child to be baptized, not actually the parents. Below Zlatko was presenting Luka to the priest



There was a lot of reading done from the bible and since it was all in Macedonian, I did not understand a word of it.

Then Luka was strip down to his birthday suit and was anointed with oil in various places on his body. In the Greek tradition only olive oil is used. I am not sure if it is the same in the Macedonian tradition, but the reason for using Olive Oil was interesting.
“The reason Orthodox Christians use olive oil is biblical and dates back to the time of Noah and the flooding of the earth. In essence, God was baptizing the earth with the flood.
After forty days, Noah sent out a dove that came back with a twig from an olive branch. The olive twig was a sign of mercy from God that he had saved Noah, a believer. Just as the olive healed and soothed Noah during the baptism of the planet, Orthodox Christians use the olive oil as a sign of grace to the newly anointed.” (Orthodox Baptism FAQ).



Not sure that Lukie knew what was happening but he had drops of oil all over him. I read that the priest would cut off 3 strands of hair, which would represent gratitude to Christ (again the Greek interpretation) but I cannot recall that being done and if it was, I did not get any photo’s.
Next he was off to the font to be baptized. Again from what I understand the priest covered Luka with water 3 times to represent the three days Christ spent in the tomb. This also represents Christ’s baptism, death and resurrection. He is wrapped in a towel and handed back to the godparent.



Once Luka was dressed Zlatko, as his Kum, was handed 2 candles. There was an interesting procedure of walking around the font, and at certain point bowing. I have no idea what the symbolizes. In the Greek tradition is symbolizes a dance of joy. But this looked far more serious a happening. Another webpage I read mentioned that they walked around the font 3 times and this was supposed to signify rejoicing with the angles in heaven and the other Christians present at the addition of one more member to the flock of Christ.

I also have no idea what the flowers symbolized.

Beyond that there was more readings from the bible, and a fidgety little man.


And then it was all done bar the picture taking.









Just when I thought we were done, we were ushered over to the main church where the priest entered a side door, and walked through the back and came out another side door. I cannot remember if he did it more than once. While that was done, I just got to really look around at this ornate and beautiful church.


And that was Luka’s baptism. It was a beautiful event, and I was glad to be a small part of witnessing this event. The day was not over, but that is for another blog. From the church we headed out to Daniel’s home for a short while before heading to a restaurant along a river where the family gathered to celebrate his baptism. This included aunts, uncles, and cousins of the family.
Thank you for joining us, 30 Minutes in the Life is a circle blog and we have some very talented photographers in the group. I always love looking at the sneak peaks and I cannot wait to see the rest. Take some time to follow the links and see what Lupji of Lupji Photography has for you this month, and I look forward to seeing what he has to share.
30 Minutes in the Life: October 2022
Posted on October 31, 2022
I am interrupting the Macedonia blogs to cover our newest event. Our baby boy turns 1. Where did time go? 2021 was a crazy year, and I really thought things would slow down a bit this year but they have not. We are rushing to Christmas like we are on a bullet train. Life has it that virtually all our birthdays fall from September to November. It as busy and sometimes expensive couple of months if you add Christmas into it. However, it’s really hard to not spend money on our little monkey. One year ago we looked at this tiny face and fell in love. Suddenly a year has passed and so many changes have happened in this little man.

Amy had decided to do a Wild One birthday party theme and so I said I would make the cake. Please note that I am not a baker and I have never made a birthday cake before but I planned to challenge myself. What I discovered is that working with fondant is fun. It is like playdough for adults. Baking on the other hand is not that much fun. I hate it when you buy brand new non stick pans and they end up sticking and the cake breaking. I also learned that rolling out fondant and covering cakes is not that easy either. I made plenty of mistakes that I could fortunately hide under a bright blue waterfall. The fun part for me however was making all the creatures and their bits and pieces.
Lesson learned – do not ever use glitter fondant again. It does not set. I made the elephant and lion using a glitter fondant. The lion landed up in the garbage bin and I used the elephant on one of his smash cakes. Oh yes, he had two. One for the day before his party as Amy had friends come down for the weekend to celebrate his birthday but were unable to stay for his party. I can safely say he was not too impressed with the smash cake idea.

I started out with a concept (excuse the animals but I knew what they were). I had searched through a number of ideas. Loved the idea of a waterfall. Decided a hippopotamus would languish in the bottom pond and a gator in the upper pond. I had this wonderful idea of palm trees holding up a happy birthday banner. That said the trees looked great but the fondant never set and so in the end I cut the happy birthday off and ended up stretching it across the waterfall.
Next came the actual animals. As I said making them is like playing with playdough and following a lot of tutorials. First I made an elephant (who never hardened), then a giraffe. Then I made the hippopotamus and a zebra. After that I made the lion. I was never really happy with him. I made a leopard, who was a touch too orange, but it was only after that, that I found color mixing charts. I am holding onto those because this cake making story could become addictive. Just close your eyes when you add up the costs.
The monkey was fun and adding the banana’s seemed to make him so much better. Last but not least I wrapped a snake around a candle.






The grass was made in a mold as were the butterflies. Each rock was a blend of colors to make them look more interesting. Flowers were made from tools I purchased or by hand. Below is the final result.


Our little man turned one today. It has been a year of abundant love, baby giggles, sloppy open mouth kisses and those heart warming cuddles. Oh, but how my heart smiles when I think of all those wonderful moments. Even yesterday we sat and he would giggle and I would laugh and then he would giggle again. My heart just melts.


Amy had created a beautiful setting for his birthday and we got to barbecue and enjoy lunch while Luka was actually sleeping. He did sit a the party table for a while but got a little cranky.


When he woke up it was cake time. We got to sing happy birthday and he got to wonder what the heck we were all doing. Amy & Daniel got to celebrate him too.


Then it was time for the smash cake (number 2). He did not seem too interested in getting his hands dirty. He pushed at the zebra a bit before granda came along and showed him how to get his hands deep in the cake. The look of horror on his face at his dirty fingers makes me laugh – get it off, get it off!!! 🙂 🙂



Last but not least he got to tuck into his presents, or rather his mom did. I look forward to the age where he just rips the paper off to get to what is underneath.

He was certainly spoiled by all and we were tripping over toys everywhere. Roll on Christmas when he gets more toys. I remember that feeling of having way too many toys. I have tried to limit mine to educational toys and clothes but there is just so many cute things out there.
Next stop is Halloween, and Luka will be Peter Pan, Amy is dressing as Wendy, Daniel is dressing as Captain Hook. Cameron and Kathryn are John Darling and Tinkerbell. Cody and Carter, the service dogs are dressed as a crocodile and a skunk. Yours truly is dressing as Smee. Hopefully we are going to have fun with this.
Then we are into November, and Richard and I share a birthday, and I am going to attempt to make a topsy turvy cake. I am not holding my breath on what it will look like but I have been reading up on how to make them
Then it is Thanksgiving and a weeks vacation. Then 2 more weeks of work and it’s Christmas and 2 weeks of vacation. We are excited to have Daniel’s mom join us for Christmas this year. Finally the embassy has opened up again and she was able to get her visitors visa. It is hard to believe how quickly 2023 will be here. But since this blog goes live on Halloween, it just leaves me to wish you all a very spooky night and enjoy the fall weather, I know that I am.

Thank you for joining us, 30 Minutes in the Life is a circle blog and we have some very talented photographers in the group. I always love looking at the sneak peaks and I cannot wait to see the rest. Take some time to follow the links and see what Kristina of Hello Olivia Photography has for you this month, and I look forward to seeing what she has to share.
30 Minutes in the Life: September 2022
Posted on September 26, 2022
For this month’s 30 Minutes in the Life, I am going to continue to share our trip to Macedonia. This is more than 30 minutes but I am sure the bloggers will understand. Once again these photo’s are a mix of camera pics and cellphone pics. Often it was hard to maneuver a camera in such tight spots. Added to that was the red and green reflection of the awnings.
In fact, today’s share is the whole reason we went to Macedonia. As I mentioned before Amy and Daniel were married in 2018 in a very small wedding in our back garden. Daniels family was unable to attend. So it has always been Daniel’s desire to go back home and have a reception for his family and friends. Today is Saturday in our time away and it is the day that the party will happen.
The way I understood the traditions, Daniel said that in normal situations, the groom would go to the brides house early in the morning and steal her away to his home, where there would be celebrations before the actual wedding. Of course, Amy’s home is a long way away from Macedonia so there was not stealing the bride.
The wedding party was split into two events. The first would take place at Daniel’s mothers home. When we arrived in the morning they were busy setting up the awnings and tables and chairs. There were two huge shop fridges outside filled with soda, water, beers, various forms of alcohol and their national drink, rakija.

In addition they had hired traditional Macedonian musicians to come and play music. One of the instruments looked vaguely like bagpipes

Poor Lukie was not quite sure what was going on. He had never heard such a loud noise before. But before long that little boy was the life and soul of the party and was past from one person to another. Here Daniel tried his best to block at least one of his ears.



It was good for Daniel to be back with his family and friends. He thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the celebrations. His two best men were awesome and really helped Richard and I to fit in. Both of them spoke English well and so we were able to communicate a learn a little more about Daniel.

As guests arrived, Luka got to meet and greet everyone of them. This event was relatively small, about 50 people who were either family or very close friends.

Bride and Groom are expected to dress up, but with temps of 105F, I suggested to Amy that she wear the dress that she was originally married in, and change into her new dress at the venue for the actual wedding reception.

Luka got to meet Daniel’s uncle, who seemed to fall in love with him.

Daniel’s mom went to so much effort to make not only this party, but also the wedding reception as special time for Amy and Daniel. She was so grateful to have them there to celebrate with.

Luka seemed to enjoy getting a little closer to the musicians.

Once or twice I ventured inside with him just to cool him down in front of the fan or to let him rest from being passed around. But before long he was back outside again.

This picture melts my heart. In the beginning of 2020, I was not even sure that Richard would be alive to see this little man, let alone get to enjoy every moment he can with him. I am so grateful to my God that he is. I am grateful that he was willing to travel that far to be a part of this event.

For these two special people, this three hour event was just the beginning of what would be an amazing day. It would also be a very long day. Look out for the evening part of the celebration in the next blog.
Thank you for joining us, 30 Minutes in the Life is a circle blog and we have some very talented photographers in the group. I always love looking at the sneak peaks and I cannot wait to see the rest. Take some time to follow the links and see what Kristina of Hello Olivia Photography has for you this month, and I look forward to seeing what she has to share.
Kocani, Macedonia
Posted on September 13, 2022
We had climbed Vinicko Kale, and now it was time for us to head to Kocani for the afternoon. Kocani is about 15 or so minutes from Vinica and we had the most interesting ride. When we got to the house, the car was already decorated in wedding finery in preparation for Saturdays event, and the main reason we were in Vinica. While everyone was working on wedding plans, Amy, Richard, Luka and I were playing tourist.

Kocani, on first impression, is much larger than Vinica. Reading about Kocani that impression was confirmed The population is almost 3 x more than Vinica, the number of people living there is around 28 000. The population is made up of about 90% of Macedonians, 5% Roma, 3% Turks, 0.5% Vlachs (I added a link because I have not heard this terminology before), 0.2% Serbian, and 0.1% other.

I noticed a lot more apartment complexes around the town.

The Kocani River runs through the center of town and creates a beautiful river walk. One block of buildings back from the river is a peaceful outdoor entertainment area, coffee bars, restaurants, shops, and a children’s play area.

I loved this – Life is too short to wear boring clothes. I also think life is to short to not be exploring everything around us. There is a whole world out there.



Below, the story of our vacation. Carrying the stroller up and down stairs, hills, walkways etc. Luka did not complain at all. I let them do the carrying and I took photo’s lol.

I loved this image below of Marilyn Munroe on the walls of what appears to be a restaurant in Gadsby style.

We were heading to an Irish Pub that Amy had been to a couple of times. The look was somewhat Irish but the beers and menu were not. We had the standard Macedonian beer Skopsko IPL. One of my favorite finds was the beggars in Macedonia. They came with four legs and were all feline. There is a huge population of what I assume are feral cats and they are the restaurant beggars. I loved them.




I got to chat with the waitress at the restaurant. She was an English teacher but she said there were no jobs so she was working as a waitress.


When we were leaving the Irish Pub I spotted this church in the distance and asked if we could make our way to it. Little did I know we were going up and down hills again.

Below is one of the views of the housing in Kocani. We walked the streets to the church because the sidewalks have cars on them.

I was fascinated by this tree growing up the wall of this shop. Turning around to take a fuller image I realized that this was a grape vine that had grown up the side of the building and the leaves and grapes formed the awning.


Back up hill and making our way to the church I had spotted. Like Vinica, I saw piles of wood stacked against walls and houses. This wall is the external wall to the church.

Church St George, is situated just outside of the main riverwalk area, slightly up on the hill. I could find little information on this church but from what I did find it was apparently built in 1915 on original foundations.

Church St George, is an orthodox Macedonian church. I loved the design of the building with stone and plaster and traditional red style tiles on the roof. The grounds were immaculate, and we were able to walk around without anyone stopping us. We did not, however, go inside.




One of my favorite things that I saw in Macedonia with the churches was that quite often there were miniature replicas in the gardens.

Lastly we stopped in at Restaurant Kaj Pace for a late afternoon meal. We were all hungry. This was a great restaurant, some of it undercover and some areas had a more garden feel. My favorite part, I have to confess, was that the wait staff moved a giant fan over to us. Phew, with 104F temps we were dying. That fan was a blessing.

Of course, it was back to beer again. For food we ordered shopska salad which is made of cucumbers, tomatoes, mixed in olive oil and covered with a salty cheese, not unlike feta but looked very different. This appears to be a staple salad in Macedonia and we would eat it many times in the days to come.

Amy also wanted cheesy chips, which sounded great. The first taste of the chips was a bit of a shock as the cheese was salty. Amy tells me there is two types of cheese in Macedonia, a gouda type cheese which they call white cheese, and salty cheese. In addition we shared ribs as well which were excellent. What I loved about eating in Macedonia was that we could order a number of plates of food, and all share that food.

We headed back home in the wedding car, to a wonderful evening of meeting new family members, Daniels brother, sister in law and niece. It was a great day, busy with the climb and then the tour of Kocani. It felt good to stop and chat and learn a bit more of our new extended family.
Heading back to the hotel and the air conditioning, we took a little bundle of love along with us. Luka was dealing with a heat rash and Amy thought it would be good for him to sleep in the cooler temps. I made him a bed on the couch and placed chairs along the edge so that he could not roll out. He slept like a log, through the whole evening.
Saturday is going to be a busy day. Rich and I took Luka for a walk in the lower side of Vinica, then we got to celebrate for 3 hours at the house, before heading to the wedding venue. If I thought Friday was a long day, Saturday was going to be even longer.
Vinica, Macedonia, Hiking to Vinicko Kale
Posted on September 9, 2022
Today is Friday, the second day of our trip. The family is busy getting ready for the events that will take place on Saturday. Today Amy is going to be our guide and show us around Vinica. This morning we are going to walk to Vinicko Kale.
I learned about Vinicko Kale some years ago when Amy took some of her photography students up to the ruins to do light painting one evening. She also has a photograph of herself taken standing in part of the ruins and honestly it looked like she was standing in the map of Africa. So many overlaps to our growing up in South Africa and what we saw in Macedonia, although I will say I never spent time in ruins in South Africa.
Vinicko Kale sits above the village of Vinica. I am a bit of a romantic, with an appreciation of a blood thirsty battle. I love reading history of the Scots. Stories of the way they lived, and the battles that took place fascinate me. Stories such as Troy, 300, Braveheart, King Arthur, I love them all.
So when I think about Vinicko Kale, I think about a fortress built to defend a city. A beacon on a hill in a country where life could be threatened at any given moment. I think about men and women, living through these times. And I think about how much of a privilege it is for me to walk through these ruins and ruminate on life gone by.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, most of the walk was uphill. Aside from a short detour downhill to get to the road that went up to the ruins, it was an uphill climb. And I confessed, I am unfit!. I come from a family of asthmatics, and while I do not have asthma, this kind of exertion honestly makes me feel like I do. Add allergies and altitude and my breathing is the pits. So along the way, I would stop and take photos of the scenery, and the flowers and catch my breath. We passed some stairs and I gave thanks that we would not be climbing those but rather walking the road.

This was where we were heading – up to the ruins of Vinicko Kale. Reaching the top we were rewarded with the spectacular view of the town of Vinica. I mentioned previously that there are about 10, 800 or so people living in Vinica. Walking around the town, I would not image that many people, but the view from here makes it much easier to understand those numbers.
To be honest I wish I had a drone. What we saw is not the full picture of the ruins, they are far bigger. Vinicko Kale is situated at an altitude of 400m. The ruins themselves are about 250m x 150m, and spread across the hillside and onto the surrounding hills.


So what is the story with Vinicko Kale. According to what I have read, Vinicko Kale was discovered in 1954. Around 1978, 5 fragments of terracotta Christian icons were discovered. These icons dated back to Neolithic times, and through to the Middle Ages. This has sparked a real interest in the ruins.




The findings of the icons has sparked archaeological excavations since about 1985. What was found was the history of these ruins which they believe began around Neolithic times and stretched through to the Middle ages. It appears that various identifying features were found in amongst the ruins, such as “benches”, plumbing installations, walls of what appears to be a church.

There was a great site on the web that gave a lot more information on the ruins than I had found. You can learn more if you go here.


I read a number of sites that mention tombs and the excavation of a female tomb. In the excavation process they found glass and bronze gilded bracelets and bronze rings. Some of the icons found appear to have been mounted of the walls of tombs





Looking from where we stood, I believe we could see the town of Kochani, which we would visit later in the day.


As you look over the town of Vinica, the church that you see in the middle, is the church where Luka would be baptized on the Monday.



Above the hill of Vinica, and in fact many towns that we visited stood a tall Cross. Macedonia is made up of a number of religions. Most Macedonians traditionally follow the Macedonian Orthodox Christianity. However, the Albanians, Turks, & Roma are typically Muslin. One of the observations that I saw was there were many small Orthodox churches, and there were also many mosques. Since I managed to get a photo of the cross from the ruins, I opted not to climb another hill just to see the cross.

While we marveled at the beautiful ruins, this little man slept through. I was so amazed at how well he adapted to the busy schedule that we had. He was a real trouper. And his baby jogger was the best investment Amy made before traveled. Oh and the cheap octopus like battery operate fan that she could attach to his stroller to cool him down


Heading back down, I thought Richard and Amy would take the road. I optimistically thought I would take the stairs and meet them as they came around. But no they decided it would be quicker to carry the stroller down the flights of stairs. Below is an example of just a short section of the stairs heading up and down the hill, if you opted not to take the road up to Vinicko Kale.


Heading back into town, I was dragging, simply turning around and taking photos along the way. This always happens and before I know it Richard is way ahead of me. Amy is like her father. They do not walk slow. Me on the other hand, I want to take in what is around me.
One of the best moments of this morning, was right before I headed up the short hill back to the hotel. I was taking photos, and these two men below asked me to take their photo. I do not know them, I could not speak their language other than to say hello, but I got the message that they would like me to take their photo. These are the moments I love. They are spontaneous, they are moments that bring joy.

Vinicko Kale, in my mind, was the first line of defense for the ancient dwelling place. A place where the hustle and bustle of people made the fortress a thriving place of industry. Lying on one of the busiest economic roads, Vinicko Kale would see many travelers, and perhaps many who would want to subdue all and take over the fortress. In my mind, battles took place, and men and women rose up to defend, but, of course, that is all in my mind.
If you find yourself in Vinica, definitely take the walk up to Vinicko Kale, embrace the ruins of history, allowed your mind to imagine what it was like back in the day. Then go down to the village and enjoy the history that is found within this town.
Next blog we head to Kochani, a slightly larger town than Vinica, which was about 15 minutes away from where we were.
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