Last Day of August

How did it come upon us so quickly. Seems like summer began a moment ago, and now it's moving along. I'm just hoping the lovely weather will stick around a wee bit longer.

I still have these great plans to write posts at home where I can add photos, but after being out of the house for 11 or so hours everyday, I tend to be pretty vegetative in the evenings, and weekends have this way of disappearing just about the time I get settled in enough to want to be productive. So there were several photo worthy summer events, as well as a few remaining Czech pictures that I want to post, but they'll have to remain delayed gratification issues for now.

I guess all I really have to say is that life remains in the works. There are so many plans and ideas swimming around that it's hard to catch my breath long enough to get any of them done. Suffice it to say, we seem to have survived the slow summer, and are hoping to see things pick up as vacationers return, and people suffering from the doldrums of the return to Oregon's prolonged rainy season seek us out for some retail therapy ;)

How Cool Can 80* Be???

Portland is going through a touch of a heat wave these days. Fine by me, but the natives are grumbly. You'd think 300+ days of gray, drippy, depressing weather would be enough for them, but apparently that is not the case. After two days of weather over the 80* mark they start to let me know how unfavorable they find the temperature.

Having a shop that sells chocolate, and also caters to an older set, running the air conditioner on these toasty days is essential. Now, I will admit that temps over 100 can be a bit much, but it's still a far cry from the intense heat in Redding, CA, or the extreme humidity in Hong Kong. All the same, I've enjoyed telling the people who have commented on how nice and cool it is in the shoppe today, that I have the thermostat set at 80. Guess it just shows how relative things are...

We're hoping to do some deep cleaning here at the shoppe this weekend, which will no doubt make us even more thankful for the cool breeze. We want to get things looking all nice and fresh before we load the place up for the holidays. Guess I'll be pushing for the blessings of commercialism this time around...like I said, it's all relative.

Closing the season

So I have some new pictures to put of the garden and also of Marianske Lazne in the fall, but I took some at the end of summer, before my trip to Germany, and I wanted to put these up as well.
I'm far from what anyone would ever call a gardener. Unlike my mother, playing in the dirt has never been something I found real joy in. Sure, I like pretty flowers as much as the next girl, and fresh fruits and veggies are pretty spectacular, but I don't know much about the process of creating them.
When I was growing up I had one plant that was mine. It was a funny long vined sort of things with short pokey green leaves that sprung out on all sides. I'm sure that Mom, again, would know what it was called, but I don't remember any more. I thought it was pretty special to have a plant that was mine, but I'm not sure I was ever the one who watered it. When I was older I moved on to Cacti. Definitely easier to keep up with. And I had several plants that stuck with me through my years in Czech. I did a lot better keeping them living than the bonsai tree I bought in HK that died within the week because I didn't realize the required daily watering. Although the pretty peace lily that Crystal gave me for my birthday my first year here acquired bugs that caused the flowers to stop producing until about the time that I passed the flower off to Karina. Ah well. It was fun while it lasted, and at least I didn't kill it.
I do remember Mom sometimes commissioning me to water the flowers in her beautiful flower boxes in Horse Creek. I'd sometimes help her weed for about five minutes, and I could only handle the watering because I knew there would be trouble if I didn't get it done. But, like I said before, it was far from being a passion of mine.
I've discovered, however, that what I do like is seeing the beauty in the garden and photographing it. Doesn't have to be done quite so often as weeding and watering, and has a more lasting result. So, without further ado, I give you some pictures of the garden in late August.




As you can no doubt tell, I had trouble deciding which of the photos was the best. So I just put them all in pretty much. I was fascinated by the grape vines and also the apple trees. Everything so fresh and green and growing. Love it!




The cottage continues to progress as well. Mark and I went to help out with it on Thursday last week and I was impressed by how much it is changing. I'll be sure to put up some more photos when I move on to the fall photo shoot next time :) Until then, I'm dreaming of warmer weather and trying to survive the chill. See, I sent all my sweaters to the states already, and don't really have the room to go and buy any new ones...such is life.

Wake Me Up...

When September Ends...hahaha. It seems it's come to that. Quoting Greenday of all things. But also stating a fact. September is rapidly coming to a close, and most of it has been like a dream. A strange dream full of children and noise and a mix of languages that still has my head spinning a bit, though I've been back in Czech for several days now.
I won't bore you with all the details. As it is, I got a wee bit behind in the quest to journal every single hour of every single day of my life (far too big a task to really take on) and it's more of a mish mash of events by this point. Games of Skip Bo and a game like Sorry. Being the captured "princess" tied up with a rope. Hide and Seek, a game that definitely transcends language. And collecting treasures from the ground. It was three weeks in another world for sure. While I can't say that I ever gained the status that Uncle Mark has (nor would I ever attempt to since he's so amazing with the kids) we did get to the point where they accepted me as a part of the crew.
Kids are kids in any language. It was really great to have the chance to get to know them a bit better. To play their wild games and learn how to decipher something of what they were saying in German. Really tested my skills that are rather rusty after a number of years I don't really want to mention since my high school classes ended.
Besides all the time spent with the kids, once they were in school Mark and I also had some chances to explore the town of Weiden. It was about a 4 KM walk into town, but the weather our third week was so fabulous that it was well worth walking there and back. We enjoyed wandering around the old parts of town, as well as the great McDonalds coupons that we got. They made me think of Hong Kong but they didn't have any seaweed flavored Shake Shake fries here. Although there is something called the Nurnburger that has little bratwursts in it. We weren't too keen on the idea of trying that, so we stuck mostly with Big Macs :)
So here are some views of the lovely town of Weiden. Mark even got into the idea of me being a poser and took some fun shots :)






On one day Mark and I also went down to the little airfield in Latsch which is really close to the little village we were staying in. We had a great time watching the gliders flying and enjoyed a helicopter flight lesson in progress as well. It was a fun day and I even got a few fun photos in as well.




And the last set of pictures are from the little village of Neunkirchen where we were staying. It's a pretty little quiet place and we really had a good time there.




The tree in the middle picture was the source of the nuts in the picture below it. The girls were very excited about these nuts. They had Mark throw a stick up at the tree to get them down. They rained down around us, the thick green casings falling off and the nuts spilling out everywhere. Apparently in Czech you can sell these to farmers who feed them to their animals, but in Germany we only collected them and made our own little animals out of them using toothpicks. Unfortunately I forgot to ever take a picture of our creations, so you'll just have to use your imaginations. It's good for you after all :)
And now, the truly last pictures are for Rowan. A little tribute to his love of big machines. Let me just tell you, this was a serious beast.


The time spent with the family was definitely well worth it. Now it's time to see if we can really get the ball rolling so we can head to the US. Hopefully even by the end of October. That's my dream at least :) We'll have to wait and see...

Positively Ducky!

I was in the park in the central part of town today. There is a fountain in the middle of the pond, flowers all around the edges. A bench or two here and there. And today, a whole lot of ducks. I was sitting reading Dostoyevsky, eating a chocolate chip cookie from the other day. The ducks were going crazy. They all appeared female, but I think a lot of them were just young so they might still change. They kept diving under the water, and then popping up in different places, an underwater sort of tag. It was hilarious to watch them in their antics. Bit too cold for me to think joining them would be pleasant. And the water a bit to green...
Earlier, walking close to the stream that wends through town, watched two fish trying to avoid me. They're gray, and would blend in so well if they just held still. And don't know what they have to be afraid of. No one fishes in this stream. But they flitted so I caught them in my eye. And then they hurtled themselves all in a rush, one after the other, over a little water fall. Whoosh! Whoosh! Then no more fish.
There used to be a gold fish in a pond. We bonded in a sense. Or maybe I just liked him. I'd look at him every time I walked past. He'd try to hide from me. I don't know how he ended up there. He was all alone, but seemed to run the place. Made it his home. Maybe transplanted from a home pond. Maybe jumped the falls from some place higher up like the ones I watched today. But he's gone now. I don't know where too. There has been so much rain this summer. Maybe it was just too much for him to stay.
Kelly told me that her father has a little pond with gold fish in it. In the winter it freezes over, fish and all. In the spring it thaws, and so do they. Just like that. Something...something...Cryogenics. Hmmm...it starts with fish I guess.
And Dostoyevsky continues to deliver. Really packs some punches. Makes me think. Human nature. Things about faith. I shared before from page 47. Now on to page 155

"For even those who have renounced Christianity and attack it, in their inmost being still follow the Christian ideal, for hitherto neither their subtlety nor the ardor of their hearts has been able to create a higher ideal of man and of virtue than the ideal given by Christ of old. When it has beenn attempted, the result has been only grotesque."

What a powerful statement. One to take to heart. One to really consider. Christ is the ultimate ideal. There is no better, no more worthy example for people, be they Christian or otherwise. But sadly, there is such a lack of really conforming to the mind of Christ on any level, in any sphere. And yet when we study Him, when we see what He was really like, how can anyone not be overwhelmed by the goodness of Him? Not long to have something of His heart inside? Still I fail, fail, fail.
So many thinks to think. How have I managed this little life. This little snippet of time in which I have time to think, to contemplate, to bask in the beauty of literature. Believe you me, taking on Dostoyevsky for fun is not something most people have the time or fortitude to do. But it is making me think, and I do have the time, because that just is what I have right now. I know it's fleeting, even while I don't know how long it will last, so I need to take hold of it and make something of it and all of that as well.
And now up past page 110 of my writing project. So maybe there is some reality in the myth of childhood dreams and I'll produce something. And I've at least amassed a small international following, faithful enough to buy something if my name is on it, or so they've said from time to time when I bring up the fact that I write. And at the moment it's true. I do write. But still hard to say what much it will come to.
I also spend time doing pointless sort of searches. There are those addictions like facebook that are so easy to succumb to when one has time.
I found through a friend's page (and an actual friend at that, not just an acquaintance or someone I knew once when I might even have been another person entirely myself) a link to a list that talks about things that let you know you're an English major. This April marked the 9 year point. 9 YEARS!!! 9 years that have come and gone since I ceased to be a practicing English major sitting in a classroom of peers and dissected literature and felt the rush of knowing and discovering and informing others of the rightness of my particular opinion. 9 years, and yet I looked at that list and with more than half of them I nodded my head. And with many I thought, how could someone NOT feel or know those things. Like the differences between there, their and they're.
Then I thought of things that would be on such a list if it was talking about knowing you're an English teacher. Like when you use "use to" and "used to" which sound precisely the same when spoken. Or what phrasal verbs are an exactly why they're so confusing to language learners. I could go on and on, but Katcha needs to go out, and I don't mind. I've been sitting here awhile as before I started this post I added a good ten pages to my story. Memories of writing 3 massive papers in one day because my computer was accidentally murdered, after the only time in my history that I actually wrote papers early. (sigh)
And so adieu. And off to walk the dog.

So comes September

It's September...and I'm still in the Czech Republic. Not teaching mind you, just being here. It's kind of eerie. Today I was out walking the dog and watching the school children. It seems almost wrong to be here and not be teaching. But that appears to be the way things are, and now that my employment visa is finished there's nothing I can do about it. I now have up to three months in the Shengen Zone as a tourist before I must return to the US. Hopefully I'll be home before then, but it all depends on how quickly we can get the visa process finished up.
For the time being, however, I'm trying to make the most of things. The weather, which has been grim for most of the summer, has not improved. Surprise, Surprise. But such is life, and having lived in Oregon for a number of years you'd think I'd be well accustomed to this way of being.
This past weekend I didn't travel very far away physically, but I did take a journey back in time. I went for Karina's birthday party on Friday night, and stayed through for the celebration of the Waldstein Festival on Saturday. Last year we were totally out of town and missed the whole thing, but all my other years I've had a chance to at least enjoy a portion of this blast from the past.
The highlights this year:
1.) I've never been a big sausage fan. For those with any sort of background on my life, my food picky-ness is, well, epic. I'm the girl that people dreaded having to feed because you never knew what I might do. Not to mention how my poor dear mother felt putting up with me. While I did manage to put away 8 hot dogs in one sitting (not my finest hour!) anything more "interesting" than a hot dog and it's mysterious composition has caused me to turn up my nose. This year, however, I decided to be brave and join the crew in tasting "Certik" (pronounced Cher-teek) on the recommendation of Caleb (for those who know him.) This particular sausage is long and thin and totally black on the outside. It is wrapped inside a large potato pancake that has first had garlic ground on top of it. Fortunately the inside of the sausage was not black, and the taste was pretty innocuous. Needless to say, I still don't really want to know what it was made of, or why it was black in the first place, but I got the whole thing down with the help of a giant Czech pickle, another thing I had to get used to at first as they taste more like a cross between a sweet and a dill pickle from the US.
2.) The battle! Unlike two years ago when they constructed a make shift bridge to battle on, this year it took place in an old overgrown soccer field. It was a lot easier to see this time and I even managed a few good pictures.



3.) The pottery in the market was fantastic. Unfortunately, at this point in time the last thing I need to be doing is buying something big and fragile to try hauling back to the States. Fortunately, Karina bought something, so I could at least rejoice in her pretty new blue mug :)
In all it was a fun weekend, and included seeing lots of friends that I don't see much of anymore now that I live a whopping 30 minute train ride away. And, of course, they'll all be a whole lot busier now that school is back in.
Of course there are other things I've been doing to occupy my time besides the weekend travel. I've been taking pictures of mushrooms of course. Not that I've really changed my feelings about mushrooms, but there are so many different kinds here and I'm pretty fascinated by them.




To my knowledge, none of the above photographed mushrooms are edible. I think it's funny that the red ones are sort of the definitive image of a mushroom, and yet they're very poisonous. I just always picture a cute little forest mouse sitting under them. Guess I wouldn't want to eat the mouse either...
These little beauties, on the other hand, are most definitely edible.

I whipped up these delectably delicious cookies yesterday and the whole family has been enjoying them. Good to know I can still make the classics. I made Mac and Cheese last week as well. Nice.
On a final note, I've also been taking some serious time to work on my literary achievements. Not only have I been reading a lot, but I've also been writing and have made it past the 100 page mark! Pretty impressive since I couldn't even begin to tell you the last time I did that. Not since High school when I actually managed to complete two novels. So perhaps the old dream is not as dead as it may have appeared for several years...it remains to be seen if anyone will want to actually read it, but there's always hope. So while everyone else is heading back to school, at least I'm finding some way to make myself useful, or perhaps it's better to say, to keep myself busy...

Small Obsessions...

Recently I've become a bit fixated on DM. I don't know what it is about the place that draws me. Something about those rows of colorful cleaning products and beauty supplies. I can just wander around the little store here in Marianske Lazne for ages.
I first went in a couple weeks ago looking for toothpaste, or maybe just a place to pass some time. A place outside the cold rainy weather that has been a blight on me most of the so called summer.
As I walked the aisles it just felt so fresh. Everything was so new and bright. It's amazing the power of marketing as well. I found that I wanted to put these things in a bag and carry them away with me. Somehow just possessing them would bring a little bit of that purity and newness into my life as well.
I'd been in other DMs in Cheb and the like, but there was something about this one that just made me want to stare at the products, to run my finger across the plastic bottles, to try for a hint of the perfume on the testers, to ponder what it would be like to use this, that or the other thing.
I ended up there long than anticipated because there was no one to let me back in the house, so I figured I might as well. I ended up creating a little wish list of excuses to come back to the store, and finally left with the toothpaste and a bottle of lychee-watermelon energy water. Unfortunately it tasted more of artificial watermelon than of lychee, and I can't say it gave me much energy, but it was worth a try.
Several days later I was back. This time to stare at the bottles of nail polish on the wall. I have four or five bottles of polish that I've been carting around the world with me for quite some time now. It's mostly for my toes. I started painting my toe nails around the end of high school. Generally, I've stuck to really mild colors. Silver, opalescent pink, lavender, and one type that perfectly matched the carpet of my apartment (almost called it a flat after so many years...) in Albany. I think it has something to do with the fact that I've looooooong hated feet in general, and my own feet in particular. By covering the nails in something light and peaceful it helped to negate some of their ickyness, at least on the surface and to casual observers passing by me when I'm wearing flip flops or sandals. But last summer I had a pedicure in Pasadena and opted for a lovely shade of blue. It inspired me. It somehow made my feet stand out as something other than my feet. Not anything beautiful or particularly likable even, but at least less repulse than usual. I'd tried a dark blue that I had with me about a month ago, but it was a bit too much. It needed a subtler touch, so I spent a considerable amount of time perusing the shiny glass bottles of vibrant colors, looking for just the right one. In the end, I did find a nice sparkly sort of turquoise-ish blue. The funniest bit is that, when I went to show it to Tammy this past weekend, she had bought the shade lighter that I had also been going back and forth between. Who'd a thunk?
The weather has been extra bad this week, temperatures only going up to the low teens (which would be like the lower 50's) so I haven't been back in a while. I've pretty much decided my next purchase will be some sort of cleansing mask. It's rather hard to decide on the best one with my language skills, but the desire to somehow do something good for my skin is prompting me to head back to that lovely store...
(Note: you really should check out the link. It'll take you directly to photos of the type of store in question and you can enjoy that brand new feeling too :)

Sunny Summer Holiday Weekend Continued...

The boat ride really was just the thing for this day. It made it feel all the more summery, even though I couldn't tell you the last summer boat ride I went on. Well, maybe I can, it was in Alaska, but a very different place for sure. We managed to get a spot out in the sun, which was okay for one direction only. It was sweaty hot, but personally I rather love that. As you can see, Kelly and I were both quite pleased with our choice.
The views were super nice for the most part as well. I was so impressed with the castles and the natural scenery. It was strange to imagine how different it all must have looked when the water was 40 meters lower. But it's definitely spectacular as it is now.




So as you can see I started with Orlik and then ended with Zvikov which is the next castle we went to. Along with all these breathtaking views, we also saw a rather startling amount of nudity. You know, just so we would remember that we're in Europe and that things are just a bit different around here. Craziness.
Anyhow, Zvikov castle is more of a ruin, but it has undergone some repairs and was really incredibly beautiful. According to legend, this is where the Czech Crown Jewels originally resided before Karlstejn castle was built. So it has a rather important history. However, later on it was largely destroyed, especially when a large portion of the castle fell into the water. It was cool to wander around in the partial rooms that are not just openly outdoors and to imagine that these were once the royal chambers.
The castle was a self tour and they allowed photo taking inside so I have a lot of pictures. There was even a wedding photo shoot going on inside. Very magical sort of place to be certain.




As you can see, I was particularly taken with the arches. They were so beautiful. The last photo in this group is of the outdoor area that used to be inside the castle. It must have been incredible when it was complete and in use.
I was definitely a bit snap happy at this place :)

This next set of pictures are from the inside. They are trying to preserve the original artwork. A lot of it is just in fragments, but in some rooms they have done really amazing work.



Then we moved outside and checked out the towers and views. There are two towers that are still standing. One is a whopping 3 1/2 meters thick! That's a lot of rock. The other one was quite short and they aren't quite certain of the purpose because it's mostly just hidden amongst the trees.


We wandered around a bit more, both inside and out before heading to the boat for the return ride to Orlik where we planned to catch the bus to Pisek.


That last picture was taken by a very dirty slimy lake, but the trees were so pretty that I just couldn't resist the picture in the early evening light.
Well, I'm afraid that's all I have time for today, so I'm just going to have to wrap this up another day. And so the weekend continues almost a week after the fact :) It's a weekend that just keeps on giving, which is a good thing because the cooler temperatures and gray skies have thoroughly sunk in once again.