Malgorzata Ksiazkiewicz

My name is Malgorzata Ksiazkiewicz.

I was lucky to have spent all my life in Sopot, where you need only twenty minutes to get from the beach to moraine hills covered with beech.

Parks along the Baltic Sea, picturesque tenement houses in various architectural styles (from classical to secession), naturally divided city, where “Upper Sopot” is calm, nestled amongst wooded hills and “Lower Sopot” – the noisy one, full of young people and tourists, with beach and the seaside; make this city very special place in the world.

My earliest memories are about feeding and watching the birds by the kitchen window with my father. This is when I got my first bound in linen book “Ptaki Polski” (Birds of Poland) written by J. Sokolowski. It helped us recognise all the birds we were watching then.

Most of the holidays, we used to spend in Kamion village, on the river Rawka. It was a special place with its orchards, gardens, fields, forests and children’s favourite – the river. Weirs, tire-rafting, when the current was faster and mummy was shouting: “Get out of the water!”, when leeches seemed to be attacking us but had never been seen – we firmly believed in places where these monsters just waited for us.

In my childhood days no one stayed at home at their leisure times. Whenever possible, we got outside – anywhere including whole village with surrounding fields and forests.

Walking with Gran, I learned about different mushrooms and herbs she used to collect and dry. She explained the world to me and the harmony between life and seasons.

Nature still is my passion, makes me calm, curious and emotional. And it gives lowliness.

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