Yup, I agree. Things that are common to me, and wouldn't bother searching for my camera COULD be interesting.
I know...when I was in Asia, I would take pics of just about EVERYTHING.
OK. When I see something, I promise to take some pics.
:)

I really don't know what to say regarding the lack of gardens, people interested in things like flower gardens, cottage gardens, rockeries, etc.
Maybe it has something to do with the past? Ex- communist country?
But what about before the regime?

It was always my biggest dream to start a botanical garden or something, but the money is lacking

The trend now is to buy a small lot (like 500-600 m2) and build a biiiig house on it and have no room for anything else... maybe a little patch of grass, a couple of rose bushes, some tuya or some evergreen shrubs...and voila! they have a beautiful garden. But if you turn around too quickly, you bruise your elbows against the house walls

In villages around, well, people do have somewhat bigger gardens, but they mostly focus on veggies.

It's the same in a lot of places, that thing with the huge house on a tiny, no-room-to-turn-around lot in the city. Sometimes it has to do with the value of the land for housing and, odd as it may seem to those of us who love to grow things...some people have a different focus, though we can't understand it, or necessarily value it. Then too, gardening is a luxury for many...the focus being just on the struggle of daily living. I would identify more with the villager who is growing vegetables in order to have enough to eat, then learns that there is value in growing for beauty also.

My husband loves seeing me bent over an empty planter with plants ready to be put in for 4 reasons:
He knows where I am.
He knows I am not at a shopping mall
He knows there will be another pleasant planter to look at when he walks thru the cement patio.
He knows I am doing something that makes me happy

I grow and care for my succulents and not much else. Once a neighbor seeing my collection, asked me, "You can't eat them; What's the point?" Guess he's one that doesn't see value in growing for beauty.

Well, I think many men see that as part of their role in providing...more interested in providing food than in general growing, but often that then slips over to growing ornamentals also.

Yeees, I agree. Food is just a little bit more important than succulents, tulips, roses...

But.... in Romania there is something weird going on.
OK... land is expensive (to us, cause to most westerners it is the cheapest in Europe, probably).
But... if they can only afford to buy a tiny lot (usually they go in sizes of around 500 m2 some a bit bigger) my question is... where do they find money to build a huge house, with 2 stories etc. And usually there's a nice car in the yard.
By nice I mean a jeep, big truck. WHO would need a huge car to ride those 5-10 km into town where they work ???
Someone came to visit my city and asked "WHERE are the mountains??? ... it took me a few moments to get the joke... HE saw so many cars usually used when going out in nature, on mountain roads, etc....

OK. I'm diverging... the point is people always want more than they can afford. Very few Romanians don't have a bank loan on their back. (Myself included!)

BUT... also there's so many of us boasting a nice car, worth thousands and thousands of euros, but still living with mom and dad and being in their 30s.

ANYWAY. I am always amazed at the silly things I see around me

fixpix said:...ANYWAY. I am always amazed at the silly things I see around me

Ok Calin. Then you are off the hook on having to take pictures of that silly stuff around you...

HEHEHE... but I WILL take some pics :D

It is not just there, these silly things that you speak of.

Here one is often required (by a bank) to build to a certain size and value in proportion to the value of the land. That can account for a certain amount of the huge house / tiny lot thing. Then too, there has always been a certain amount of supply and demand for land in cities, as seen by the large number of apartments / condos / flats....and there are those who prefer living in such cities / structures because their focus in life is on other things..by choice or by necessity. We usually build or remodel and when it's time to sell, there is always someone there to quickly buy because they do not want the big, over built houses and that's mostly what they find in the areas that we've lived in and we do see a scaling back, a backlash to these large houses.

Our world is changing, has changed and we see it in the upscaling of our wants / needs. Things are not so different there as here....I'm amazed at the siz of the vehicles around me...lol..huge....who needs it? And yet...yes, my husband has to have a Jeep Wrangler...does it ever go off-road? No. Terrible gas mileage also.

I've spent the last 30-some years living in an area of wealth and while there are many gardens and gardeners, as mentioned, it can be a great luxury for many people.....with money many desires can be indulged. We've recently moved to an area of great beauty, but also of much poverty. The changing lifestyles and upscaling of our desires can be seen here in houses built in the 30's, 40's, 50's. We're renting a house from the 50's while we look for property and the contrast is easily seen. Very small bedrooms, one bath and a kitchen sink the size of a dishpan...lol..standard to the house I grew up in when I was quite young. An acquaintance recently went back to the area he'd lived in as a child and said that he was surprised by how small the houses were.

I'm very happy to be living now in an area with no Ferraris, Bentleys, Porsches and facelifts...there are not as many gardens, but the beauty here more than makes up for that.

And I'll just add to Sherry's great experiences and observations that there are so many houses that have cars that don't fit into the garage because of car size or because of the "stuff" that people can now afford to jam into this now "storage" garage.

Your well written and honest views on your world have been both entertaining and shown wit Calin.

It has made me realize how different and similar our worlds really are.

Keep up the good works, and I will be looking forward to your new pictures Calin. Even if its of beautiful Romanian mosses growing on the side of old beautiful buildings still surviving, or historic ruins you might pass on occasion should you hit the countryside. Silly huh?

You live in a world full of history, and I know you know where to find the beauty. Every day you look out your window you see it! Whats it like up close? What does your grocery store look like?

You are rare here. We would love to see your world. If you ever chose to start a new thread here, (and of course share updates inclusive of your succulents and other plant developments and new views from the window as the seasons change) it would definitely be watched by me! ( and many, many others of course!)

"Calins World!" How did you come up with the name fixpix? I always thought you were someone who fixed pictures! Ha! (Like Graphic work)

Thank you guys
I promise to "entertain" you once in a while.
:)

But for now, at least, you can do a bit of googling

"casa taraneasca cu pridvor lemn" to see some of traditional houses. Many will be churches, though.

Let me find one I would love to have of my own
I'd love one of these, but well, a bit renovated.
http://blog.asociatia37.ro/wp-...
or this one... which is I think a "museum" now...
http://www.infotravelromania.r...
or this one
http://img.carpati.org/users/g...

Well, you got the picture!

My "username".... we have an expression "Fixpix!" meaning something like "no value, worthless" something like that.

Those cottage were fascinating Calin. I especially liked #2. I could live there! I wonder if Casa-D. is like a guest house or servant house behind the big one? I guess you'll have me researching Romanian country houses now!

xipxif. Lets reverse that meaning!

David turn it around!

Thanks for the links...yes, the cottages...just what I like, get hold on one of those and do a litle renovating...think of all that you could plant there.

XIPXIF... heck, how am I gonna pronounce that ???

:confused:

it could be pronounced "ZipZif"!

Actually since fix and pix sounds like ficks and picks, it could be prounounced, 'Skipskif"! Ha!

Oh how people like to complicate the easy things in life!
You have no idea how hard it was for me to learn English. But now I consider it quite easy, and used to tell this to my students.
Romanian, aaah, another story!
The only easy thing is "we read what we write" ...