Mitenska

Some of you may (or may not) have been wondering what, or who, 'Mitenska' actually is. 

It actually came from Janusz (the Polish cleaner) at the museum where I used to work. He was one of the cleverest people I've ever met and he spoke very quickly and eloquently in heavily-accented English. Once he knew about my Polish connections he was very keen to talk. One day he came into the office and commented on my 'typing gloves' (see this post), pictured above. He told me that the Polish for mittens is 'mitenska'. My mum disputes this but anyway... I liked the word and it was an easy choice for a blog name in that nobody else has already used it.

Plus, it sounds Eastern European and I like that too.

I'd sometimes sit outside on my break with Janusz while he chain-smoked his roll-ups and slowly turned his moustache yellow. He liked talking about Poland and went back often to see his family. When he came back he always brought me a bottle of fire water Krupnik, a honey liqueur my mum and I drank on visits to Krakow. It's very effective as a night cap although I have to dilute it with hot water.

In other news, my hellebores and rhubarb have decided that life is worth living after all. The freezing weather has been replaced with dark skies and rain. Joe and I have been out in it today. The gloom didn't lift until tea time but I captured the moment when the clouds started to give way to a bit of brightness.

And now it's weekend. Lots of lovely things to do.