Jakubowizna, apple-blossom time again

Apple-blossom time in Jakubowizna. The sublime time of year. Heavenly. Skies that hark back to another place, another time, the seasons at their annual zenith of beauty. Young orchards in bloom.

The old orchards are put to the saw, yielding place to new. Fruit trees are good for nine or ten seasons, and then must be replaced. The cutting down of this orchard has created a new vista across to Chynów station, just around the corner.

Having learned to differentiate the notions of 'pleasure' and 'joy', I am now interested to finding and making repeatable the joyous experience. Seeking that which to a high degree of certainty will yield a subjective conscious experience of joy. But can joy be replicated? Is it not an emotion that only works if it is spontaneous - a surprise? I can report that today I have found what I was after. Sunny day, apple-blossom time, the peace of Jakubowizna - joy that transcends mere contentment.

Meanwhile, my Mazovian acre, untended since the lockdown began - indeed, since last autumn, is left to nature (below). The sunny afternoon is but a foretaste of heaven... Wildflowers in abundance under trees in blossom.

Below: off for a walk around the manor. An old orchard with young trees, under an azure sky. So perfect. Fingers crossed for a good crop of apples this year.

Where the streets have no name - other than this one. For some strange reason, this, the only named street in the village of Jakubowizna, is ulica Grochowska - after Grochów, the right-bank district of Warsaw? Or did a Pan Grochowski own land around here sometime? Or has someone appropriated an old sign from somewhere else and fastened it to a fence here?

The pines grow wild and tall and sublime, bathed in the late afternoon sunlight. Hardly anyone around. Peace.

Below: house in Grobice, the village just to the north of Jakubowizna.

There's nearly an acre of land up for sale right now, just a few doors up from my place. I don't know what Covid-19 has done to the market right now, but on the basis of what I paid for a plot half this size last year, given that this one is overgrown with trees and further away from the asphalt and amenities, I'd suggest that 60,000 to 65,000 złotys (£12,000-ish) would be a fair point around which to bargain. As my builder said to me before starting work on my remont, it's cheaper to buy a plot of land and build something new than to renovate an existing house.

This time last year:
Busy doing nothin'

This time six years ago:
Springtime pictorial

This time seven years ago:
Kitten time!

This time eight years ago:
Warsaw - Centrum to Jeziorki by train with super-wide lens

This time nine years ago:
Loose Lips Sink Ships - part II

This time ten years ago:
Jeziorki in the infra red 

This time 11 years ago:
Some rain, at last!