A place called Bradet

When I was small, my mom was assigned to work in a small village in Arges county, Romania. She was to work as a doctor and also be the director of a hospital in Bradet, a position she held for a few years. Even though I was only about 5-years-old at that time, and even though the rest of my life I grew up in cities, those years in Bradet turned out to have a really significant effect my life. I think that they gave me my love of natural surroundings, and eventually pulled me back to farming and the land.

We visited Bradet when we were in Romania this past October. Not much has changed since 40 years ago, so the girls were able to see it more or less as I knew it.

This is the river,Valsan, in which I spent countless hours playing with my sister and friends.

My grandmother, Bunica, would come with us sometimes, and taught us how to braid a type of grass that grew on the meadows by the river. We used to make decorations out of it. The grass still grows and I was able to show the girls a little of what I remebered.

 They braided the grass into head bands

This is the little bridge I had to cross every evening when my mom would send me to the village to get some fresh milk from an old man with a cow.

Valsan river and the hospital on the right. The hospital served a much larger region than the small village of Bradet. People came from all over the country and spent time here to recuperate from their ailments.

 A village water well

Typical village house gate

 One of the meadows we spent much time playing on

Village house

 Hay stacked to feed the animals through the winter

Peace