• Summer,  Thoughts,  Yearly Recap

    At Summer’s End

    Someone recently asked me “What did you do this summer?” and when I told them, they proceeded to sort of frown over my answer. Better put into a metaphor: This summer was like having a best friend come to visit for three months, but finding that you don’t get along as well as you always have, and when they leave, it’s sort of on a weird note and you don’t quite know how you feel about it, compared to their previous visits. Our holiday in Croatia in early-mid August was really the only concrete thing or the easiest to mention, but this summer was more full of small moments of…

  • Daily Life,  Eats,  Herbalism,  Recipe,  Summer

    Three-Day Seasonal Eating Menu: Late Summer

    Here in South Bohemia, like many other parts of the country (and maybe where you live, too), we are lucky to have a bounty of gorgeous vegetables in season this time of year. Five or six years ago I subscribed to our CSA (community-supported agriculture) vegetable box which is usually only available about May-late October, and it has provided us with such delicious organic produce over the years, some vegetables that were totally unknown to me before coming here. (Achocha? Kohlrabi? I had never eaten both in my life!) In between boxes, I’m always at the bi-weekly farmer’s market picking up eggs (especially), fruit and whatever else looks good or…

  • Daily Life,  Lifestyle,  Minimalism,  Summer

    Upgrade Season

    The end of summer is always upgrade season for us kids. It’s usually the time of the year that we come back from whatever summer adventures we’ve undertaken, walk in our house and say man, that table’s got to go or I can’t believe we still haven’t got that print framed. You see, we’ve lived in a furnished flat since the beginning of 2013. Most of our furniture is used and loved hand-me-downs (which I am so, so grateful to have been able to use!) or just whatever furniture that friends of ours don’t want anymore. Because we never knew how long we’d stay, I’ve always been reluctant to purchase…

  • Summer,  Travel,  TravelTips

    Croatia in a Pandemic Summer

    Hi, friends. How have you been enjoying the summer? It’s funny that the biggest hindrance to writing new posts these days involves the photo part — uploading them from my finicky phone (or rather, from my new phone to my finicky old computer), editing them, rounding other random snaps from Google Photo. It’s 2020 – you’ve got to think there’s a better way? (or likely there is, and I’m far too stubborn) But regardless, here we are! We spent much of August in Croatia this year. Like many who were able to travel this summer, I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to post about it on social media. In…

  • Daily Life,  Lifestyle,  South Bohemia,  Summer

    The Saturday of Summer

    July, my favorite month of all – the Saturday of summer! It blew in with a flurry of gatherings, barbecues and a spot of camping at a lake (Lipno, naturally) at the beginning of the month. Camping in Europe has been… interesting. This was our third camping trip here in Central Europe and I have to say, I really prefer American camping a bit better! Usually for tent campers, you get literally just a patch of grass on which to pitch your tent and nothing else. No picnic table or fire pit unless you go to a campground with a bit more of a bougie situation. Also, we don’t have…

  • Life Abroad,  Summer,  Thoughts

    This Fourth of July

    As we moved from the United States to the Czech Repubilc, I assumed we’d be trading one country’s national day for another. Turns out, which is not altogether surprising if you are familiar with Czech/Czechoslovak history, the Czech Republic doesn’t exactly celebrate their national day – there is none of the fervor that is associated with American Independence Day. The history of the 20th century has made things a lot more complicated. There is Independent Czechoslovak State Day (October 28th) when Czechoslovakia declared their independence, maybe the closest thing to Independence Day there is here, but also Restoration of the Independent Czech State (January 1st), when the Czech Republic as…

  • Czech Republic,  Daily Life,  South Bohemia,  Spring,  Summer

    Late Spring / Early Summer

    Happy happy summer! I’ve been celebrating the arrival of this ever joyous season with cafe days, double scoops of ice cream, trip planning and rediscovering the joy of reading outdoors in the warm, sun-filled evenings (above) when we are lucky enough to have them! It comes in such a short window every year that I sort of forget about it until it happens. There’s been a literal stack of books I’ve been trying to get through as a part of two book club (“reading circles”) I’ve been participating in… reminding me how nice it would just be to pluck a book from the shelf and read what I felt like.…

  • Summer

    Adventurings, 2.0

    Well, this was a long time coming. I have been on Tumblr for over seven years. How?! Mostly because I’m super stubborn, but I finally had the wherewithal (and most importantly, time) to switch to something a bit better. And I’m (begrudgingly) typing with capitalization; something I had shunned at the time that this blog was born in 2012 and had to keep continuity with (once again: stubborn). But here we are! Hoping a bit of change will inspire some creativity and turning to writing here rather than social media in the next year. So please excuse the mess over the next week or so while we get things organized…

  • Summer

    at summer’s end

    it’s time for the round-up of that season i hold so dear. watching summer fade at this time every year makes me feel like saying a sad goodbye to a best friend and a “see you next year!” what did you do this summer? i spent the first half in south bohemia, went to karlovy vary at the end of the school year, teaching barely over a week of summer camp, then flying to canada and the united states for the other half. we spent a full month in my home state of washington, over a week in michigan, and even a couple days exploring vancouver. it was just about…

  • Summer

    the difficulty of switching gears

    the other day i was running a few errands. picking up some brewing equipment (for what hopefully will be my new everlasting supply of kombucha), stopped at the shopping center to pick up some bottles, then headed back home. a few blocks from my door, we came across a new little hole-in-the-wall greengrocer’s and i stopped in and got to chatting with the new owner who had just moved her shop in while i was in the states. she was so welcoming and gregarious, it just made me happy introducing myself to another friendly face in the neighborhood! it couldn’t have come on a more perfect day when i felt…