Nesting House Martin pair and baby birds-pictures

I'm following a breeding House Martin pair from the beginning of June. They built their nest in the window opening of my neighbor, at the 4th (the last) floor. I tried several times to take some photos but they are just flying in circles and are afraid to come to the nest when they see me in the window.

I decided not to stress them too much but now that the chick are so big that they could fly away any moment, I decided to insist with the photos. Besides my big hart, I admit that I had another reason to delay these photos: I usually get so involved when taking pictures that I forget to watch my steps and often step in unpleasant things. This time it was a 15 m high step but the photo session ended without acrobatics.

Here are the photos taken with a trembling hand:

"There are three of us, but I'm the boss, at your left."
Two House Martin chicks in the nest
Their black head and upperparts are hard to distinguish in the pictures because of the shadow on the wall but their pure white underparts are quite well visible.

"I'm not ugly, I'm hungry and you scared my food away with your stupid camera."
House Martin baby bird with wide open beak
Here is the entire gang calling loud for their mom.
Picture of House Martin nest with three baby birds
O.K., I'll try from inside the room. I'm afraid of heights anyway.
As soon as I left the window, one of the adults landed immediately at the nest.

Though the picture taken from indoors is not clear, you can see a wide open baby bird beak at the right of the adult bird.
House Martin bird feeding the chicks
Another unsuccessful shot taken during nest building, in June. It was almost dark outside.
I admired their art of nest building, from several layers of mud, reinforced with grasses, hair and various soft materials.

House Sparrows often try to take over the nest during construction, sometimes with success.
Once the nest is complete, the entrance at the top of the nest is so small that the sparrows cannot take over.
House Martin -nest building on a window frame
In turn, House Martins would wall-up House Sparrows by closing the entrance of the mud nest with the intruder inside, an old legend says.

Have a look at the colorful greenfinch, in breeding season.
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Watermelon street vendors-pictures

New watermelon supply is arriving at the street corner.
Watermelon street vendors come to us from over 500 km, from the south-east of the country.
They have a very harsh life, practically living and sleeping near their watermelons from early summer till early fall.

This year they will have a very low profit, if...
Supermarkets are loaded with watermelons at a very low price (30 cents/kg), almost for free. I have a hunch that this price has something to do with the exploding watermelons back in May, when Chinese farmers applied a chemical growth accelerator on watermelons, causing them to explode in the fields.

While these people were unloading two trucks full of watermelons, I tried to capture one flying in the air.
Watermelon street vendors-unloading watermelons
I asked this vendor for permission to take a photo and she was so kind and happy about posing for me that she even insisted to reward me with a cantaloupe melon, for free. I still don't understand why.
This was the first time in my life that I took a photo of someone, no questions asked.
Proud watermelon vendor-portrait
Cantaloupe melon on the table
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Bon Jovi in Bucharest-July 10th 2011-videos

For the first time in Romania, Bon Jovi offered an unforgettable show in downtown Bucharest, on Sunday evening (July 10th 2011).
The show started as announced, at 8:00pm, and the song that kicked off the show was "Raise Your Hands," followed by "You Give Love a bad name."
"I hope it is hot enough for you," said Jon, promising to rise the nearly 40 degrees of the thermometers even more.

Here are a few videos already uploaded to YouTube.

It's my life-Bon Jovi - Bucharest July 10th 2011


For 3 hours, the over 55,000 fans from Romania and several neighbor countries (Bulgaria and Hungary) listened to the band's most famous songs, an amazing setlist of 19 songs and 7 encore.
It was the best show of the year, people say. The fans were singing together with the band, dancing, shouting and wishing Happy Birthday to Richard Stephen, "Richie" Sambora, the longtime lead guitarist of Bon Jovi, who turns 52 today, July 11th 2011.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICHIE!

Have a nice day-Bon Jovi - Bucharest July 10th 2011


Judging after the 3 hours length of the concert and the many encore songs, it was difficult for the Bon Jovi rockers too to leave the audience but they promised they'll come back sometimes.

Living on a prayer-Bon Jovi - Bucharest July 10th 2011

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Bon Jovy in Romania-2011 European Tour

In a few hours, Bon Jovi will perform for the first time in Romania, today, on July 10th 2011.

To the requests of Romanian fans the rockers added Romania to the list of destinations of their 2011 European Tour.
After a career spanning over three decades, the band is performing live for the first time in Romania, Greece and Turkey.

Tens of thousands of fans are waiting for the gates to open at 4:00 PM, in a 37°C terrible summer heat.
Quantiq and Stillborn bands will open the concert at 6:20PM. We are awaiting Bon Jovi to perform after 8:00PM.

The band will spend only a few hours in Bucharest, leaving the town right after the concert, to their next destination, Düsseldorf.

It's my life, one of the well known songs of this legendary band:

Update:

See some new videos from this concert in my next post!
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Colors of change-new restaurant in my neighborhood

Thanks to developers and planners making big money, our neighborhood is invaded by an avalanche of new, tasteless buildings.
Also, more and more of the old residential buildings with beautiful architecture are getting new owners lately.
Either the old owners die out or they can't support any more financially the costs of such a big household.

With the new owners come the new make-over and the change of destination too.

From the distance, I saw this beautiful old house, painted in the "colors of change" and a flag flying on the top of it, so I wanted to have a closer look.
Old building with new make-over
Guess what, it's a restaurant. It's red, so what? It could be worse, like pink.
Don't get me wrong, I like pink flowers or pink pyjamas but with buildings it's something else.
New restaurant in the neighborhood
The front yard looks very pleasing too with minimal but satisfying outdoor furniture and a little fountain close to the entrance, creating a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere.
The part I don't like is the "sad looking" frame containing the menu and the prices, right at the main entrance but I understand that they have to attract new quest somehow.

Surprisingly, there is no loud shouting music, making the neighbors lose their minds along the street.
Old fountain in the front yard
Back home I've browsed the web to find out more about this place.
People say, it's a classy restaurant with good music, excellent service and acceptable prices (for the rich).
Well, I'm not rich but I might try it out one day...
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