Rambling....

Hello,
I have been back for so long, rushing to do a million things it is hard to remember I was away.
Stuff is happening on all fronts

• Workshop I am working super hard to train office staff up to more responsibilities and get them out of my hands. This is proving successful but it is time consuming and demands a lot of interruptions for me as i check and we have little quizzes to see they got it.
• We are also writing up an instruction manual for every procedure. Technically I think they call it KRA. This means the person assigned a job knows exactly what is their area [recently 2 someones who were jointly assigned a task both said the task was not their responsibility!! nearly had a fit. one is no longer with us [same comment heard in too many areas] second person is big part of these training and documentation sessions. Hope to be able to get him up to speed and keep him. Attitude is important. We can encourage but ultimately everyone makes a choice about their behavior.
• Most days I feel so blessed to work with a gang who make very positive choices everyday to approach our workshop with enthusiasm and bring positive attitudes to the gang and learning new things
• Much work with running an order is now farmed out around various people in the workshop, via our tablet system.
• BUT getting an order on the tablet system takes a lot of my time. I have to check format [I have been quite a demanding pain asking clients to very carefully follow our system and we are by and large starting to line up]. I then need to check there are no changes to our sample sheet reference system and it is good to go to tablet system
• once on tablet system.... meterage is worked out, fabric in stock checked or more ordered. Designs by design/colour/blockprint is packed and sent off to colour unit/ blockprint studio/ cutting room/ machine room/ stitching Ladies for hand stitch AND finally checking room for checking/ironing and listing to go. Many garments actually go through all those areas ALL THOSE AREAS.... on their way to dispatch. Can you see why I get twitchy trying to set up a system???
• writing it all down makes me feel like yes, there is a lot going on and I am not a whinger, just busy and so thankful the team is picking up so many elements of the mix.

That is just the homecoming :)

Where I want to have my head is actually the why of why I was away. 

Hah?

Romania and research.... immersed in all of the above I almost lost the feel for it and then yesterday downloading photos and it came swooping back to me and also reading a friend's blog.
Yvonne and Peter were married at our house in Pushkar more than 10 years ago, we felt like old mates when we first met and have become so over the years. They are presently in Romania visiting many of the places I loved and it has been fun to look over their shoulder.
as Yvonne wrote yesterday I feel like I have lived here before. Yes I felt so at home.

Where to start?
a jumble of impressions.
millions of churches, some postage stamp size were the most lovely, warm, welcoming and filled with beauty. Others, a few - nah- filled with their own importance.... but my general impression was of warmth and lifting your heart to higher things through the beauty.

Painted Churches of Romania

Romanian embroidery

Like the world over craft and traditional culture is being lost in a modernizing, urbanizing world. Romania though has many who want to reverse this. In Bucharest I met a warm and welcoming group of women who for about 6 years have been meeting regularly after work to sit and learn and so stitch their own traditional blouses. Many did not know the first step when they started, they have a weaver they buy hand woven cotton from, they have invited people from all over Romania to teach them the stitches and patterns. They learn and share and are so very welcoming to those with interest.

So inspiring. In the far north traditional costume is still a big part of life especially when going to church or for  auspicious days, you see lovely outfits just wandering down the road.

I was driving on my journey so my eyes took in so much it was impossible to catch as a snap. Many times I had to tell myself  "The road!!!"

From Painted Churches to graffiti; art abounds all in the cause of telling various stories. I took a wonderful urban tour and through graffiti caught up on lots of recent history and issues of modern Romania. Well presented and again that word- inspiring, I believe this will be part of a great introduction to the country when my guests arrive.

Definitely felt like I was in Middle Earth some days.... towers, forest covered mountains and narrow green valleys, it was all wonderful.

 Loved driving along a magical valley filled with a pine forest and signs noting bears, wolves, wild boar and maybe lynx were also around.
Should I include notes on what to do if you meet a bear in my tour notes- would people be excited or turned off?
Population is actually doing well, trees are being cut down though and so space is dwindling... bears have wandered into Brasov looking for a feed.  Wow.

 Churches again- big ohh wow so many times, so many varieties. This one was at Rogov and extra special.... got to be there to soak up the atmosphere I think, you'll get it

 Kitsch is an important part of the culture, even a museum in Bucharest dedicated to it. The museum is actually very insightful in their notes and sets a good grounding to help understand a number of things you see along the road.

Summer and fresh homemade lemonade abounds. delightful.

Food is danger, danger.
Why because it tastes so good, yes it is aimed a someone who works hard all day in the fields, that is the danger of it. The waistline will take a flogging.
Romanian pastries are a field of research in themselves and all delicious
same shops have Romanian pretzels, again different to other countries and extremely moorish.
Romanian coffee- delicious to go with above.
Telemea, the simple everyday cheese and many other varieties - delicious.
Polenta served with many meals- never liked it much when I have done it, here, yum, suspect being fresh maize from local fields and probably butter is what does the trick.
Eggs were farm fresh once you hit the country....
home grown bacon and homemade sausages.... trout, duck...
Fresh fruit, cherries falling from trees everywhere...
Moldova [on the east side] every house was covered in vines.... and from this comes local delicious red wines and white wines. My taxi driver in Bucharest told me how he and his mates visit family in Moldova in autumn and crush the grapes together then set to ferment, taking the final product back home later.
Ohh and PALINKA goodness me. Goodness me, my mouth is on fire just remembering. Families gather around grandma and help brew this fire water. It is a homemade spirit, visiting in the country you are offered a snort on arrival and more is consumed through a dinner.
Amazing... the good stuff can leave your mouth numb but in a good way. Amazing stuff.
There is a whole political story behind it and beer and communism to learn about along the way.
It like the Romanian heart, it still flourishes today even after all the country has been through.

 Amazing scenes deep, deep under the ground in a salt mine. Middle Earth, I tell you!

 Locally woven rugs.
Now it is summer looms are packed up because everyone is out working in the fields but beautiful rugs can still be found.

 Traditional costume. The blouse. BEEAAAUUUTTTIFUULLLLLL.

 Green, green, green. Fields, forests, valleys and might mountains. so many shades of rich peaceful green.
Truly a place to treasure.

Hmmm just my kind of place. Loved it, the warm welcome from people and so many layer of history.

So many more stories I collected of Dacia, Romans, Romania, Wallachia, Carpathian Mountains, Transylvania, Hungarian people, Transylvania, Communism..... all so interesting.
Ohh and Vlad was there... the real Vlad is so much more interesting than the story written abroad.

My favourite drive music when I am alone is to sing Rocky Horror Picture Show, it keeps me awake. Ask Praveen he has suffered through it in Australia.
I did sing it driving through Transylvania but felt a little weird and Mrs Google of GPS fame kept shutting it down, so mostly I traveled with the sounds of silence.

There is a lot to enjoy, yes we start with textiles and craft but culture and arts are special to us too, and Romania is so rich and diverse.