Photos taken by Raoul Pop
Over the course of a few days, I recorded macro footage of flowers, then picked the best sequences, edited them and set them to a nice, soothing soundtrack. The end result is this — a short video that should get you nice and relaxed. It goes along nicely with my video of garden insects, also filmed in macro mode.
You can see the video at blip.tv, Vimeo and YouTube. There are a few photos that go along with this as well.
In March, we crossed the Carpathian Mountains in the county of Harghita, Romania, as we drove from the city of Bacau to Medias. The route was scenic and there were lots of beautiful places to stop and admire the view. Snow still covered the mountain peaks, and it covered the ground as well at higher altitudes. The roads got pretty bad at times, as is quite often the case in Romania, but they were fairly decent about half the time, which is something — for Romania. At any rate, the places we saw are among the more beautiful in the country.
I recorded a short video clip as we drove through the high peaks of the Harghita Mountains, and stopped in various places to take photographs. The video clip is embedded below. If you’re reading this on my feed and it doesn’t show up, then you can see it in my Video Log set.
The white line you see at the top of the abrupt mountain slope above isn’t a lens aberration. It’s snow. It covers the other side of the mountain. The visible slope is too abrupt and windswept for the snow to keep, so all that’s left is some dry brush and a few trees.
Here we begin to approach the tops of the peaks, and snow is more abundant.
The road hugs the mountain side closely as it curves upward. I love the wooden fence alongside the road, it’s so well suited to the place.
A small mountain cabin holds onto the top. It leans to the left, either because of the settling of its foundation over the time, or because of the strong winds at that altitude.
This is the road where I recorded the video clip you see below.
This mountain brook wound its way through a conifer forest. I think its color is either given by the mud in that region, or by iron ore deposits in the brook bed.
Here’s the video clip, recorded from our car, while driving.
See this video at YouTube or SmugMug.
While traveling through the southeast corner of Romania one day, very close to the Black Sea, we decided to make a stop on the beach between the seaside resorts of Saturn and Venus. I have fond memories of these places, as my family and I vacationed there during my childhood.
This particular beach where we stopped had a wide swath of sand accessible from the main road. Since it was still spring, and still quite cold and windy, the beach was deserted. During the tourist season, cars aren’t allowed to park on the beach, but when we arrived, nobody seemed to mind — nobody was around to mind things, anyway. So we pulled our car right next to the sea and spent a bit of time walking up and down, breathing in the fresh sea breeze and taking in the scenery.
I recorded a short video clip, and took some photos of the beach and of my wife. I had quite a bit of a throat cold at the time, so you’ll hear a pretty hoarse voice on the video’s audio track. You can also see the video below, or in my Video Log set at SmugMug.
See this video on blip.tv or at SmugMug.
Installed and used the SimplePie RSS plugin for WP on my regular site at raoulpop.com. Its name is somewhat of a misnomer. It’s neither simple, nor “easy as pie” to begin with. Sure, after you check the documentation carefully, a light goes on in your head and you realize how to use it, but there’s a learning curve. I do agree, however, that the things it lets you do are quite nice. For example, I used it to rewrite my SmugMug recent photos feed and show only the thumbnails of the latest 10 images uploaded, each linked directly to the original image. I really like the result, but it took a bit of figuring out.
There’s a dessert in Romania called “clatite”. It’s similar to the French crepes, but the dough is prepared somewhat differently, and a clatita is also smaller and usually folded differently than a crepe. Some translate it into English as pancake, but that’s not it either. They’re definitely not as thick, the dough is different, and they’re not left flat, but they’re folded or rolled up. What can I say — they’re a food unto their own. This is how they’re traditionally prepared.
I’ve recently had some of the best clatite ever, at a little restaurant which I believe is called “La Patronul Meu”, in the city of Mangalia, which is a seaside resort in Romania, in the province of Dobrogea. I didn’t jot down the name, forgot to take a photo of the restaurant’s exterior, and didn’t take the receipt with us when we left, but I’m fairly sure the word “Patron” was in the restaurant’s name. It was next to a Pirate-themed restaurant, near the docks.
These clatite were prepared with peach jam and topped with raspberry jam. The dough was just right: not too crisp, not too soft, and they were exquisitely delicious. If you’re ever in Mangalia, stop by this restaurant and order some; you won’t regret it. Here’s what they looked like.
And by all means, order some of the other food on the menu, too. Mmm, mmm, good, and the service was friendly and prompt.
Raoul Pop 
