It's Tuesday...Where Are You?

I'm always in the middle of several books, so I decided to "go" to Montenegro this Tuesday. The time is early 1900's, before WWI, the place is in what was the wild borderlands between Turkey and Montenegro. The book, "Land Without Justice" by Milovan Djilas is a beautifully written autobiography. He describes how his father moved to this area of Montenegro when he was released from jail. He had run afoul of a local Prince and was allowed out of jail if he would renounce revenge. At that time, blood feuds were still a powerful force in the culture.

"The land had to be cleared, and a house had to be built. Father at first erected a sod house, just a place to lay his head. For years, frugal as he was, Father saved, and, when he had something, built a solid house of stone, two stories, like the houses in his old home. That house stood, and stands, in the middle of the Podovo bluff, a very windy place, but with a commanding view.

Father's main concern was that his chimney be seen from everywhere around, from all the roads and hills. But Mother, who worked around the sheep and the house, had trouble with the wind and cared little enough for the view. She always cursed Father for building the house on just that spot. Though she was right, we children were truly glad to be able to see the house from afar, on a hilltop, no matter where we were coming from. Sturdy and gray in the middle of the bluff, it greeted us from a distance. There it lay on the green meadow between the Tara and Stitara Rivers, among the crags and hills, waiting to give shelter to tired and frozen travelers.

It seems impossible in life to have something both useful and beautiful. So men are divided. Some are for the useful, some for the beautiful. I placed myself on the side of beauty."