july, lately

at the beginning of the month, we returned from vary and i dove headlong into a one month yoga challenge with yoga glo* (#globlockparty !) with my newfound free time, as well as seeing what delicious meals i could cook up from our july vegetable box and visits to the farmer’s market.

right now in south bohemia, apricots and cherries are still having their day, whereas it’s just starting to be berry season – bilberries have been sighted out in force and the season’s first blackberries, as well. i feel it’s a bit too early for blackberries – i’m holding out for some august washington berries, myself. they gonna be good.

then summer camp started, and ohhh lordy, it was a year like never before. much less stressful than last year when we were in the thick of our visa troubles, but this year, we had different struggles. one by one, our campers were coming down with a mysterious stomach bug. by the end of the week, campers were falling away left and right (with a few unfortunate episodes involving transportation and mass sickness which i shall not regale you with in detail). the funny thing was, our theme this year was “survivor”. sometimes life is stranger than fiction.

the sunday before our next week of camp, i started coming down with the bug and had to sit out a bit of the next week to recover. i’m just so glad our plague never reached the week two campers and that i was the only instructor to fall ill. it could have been far worse.

even with illness hanging over the middle of july (fever + july heat = nope), we still had some beautiful times, especially on the river with the children in nearby český krumlov. we took these big wooden log rafts from voroplavba that come manned with oarsmen and guides. it was such a cool and unique way to see the town that made me kick myself for not having taken to the water there earlier! 

honestly, krumlov gets a bit of a bad rap these days for the amount of tourists snaking through its thoroughfares. however, if you know where to go and which streets to avoid (there are only a few!), you can still enjoy krumlov like a local and find some really beautiful, lesser-trampled places. it really made me think of it in a new way. 

(above – not a bad place to sit and have a cappuccino, right?)

we are getting ready to head to north america here in a few days and will be home enjoying a washington and michigan summer until september, however fear not, i will have some posts and photos coming in the meantime, including, adventurings’ big 500 post… post! 

what am i looking forward to? revisiting vancouver (haven’t been in nearly a decade!), beach walks every day, forest bluff walks as the sun sets every evening, the smell of cedar, warm ripening berries, island life, that sea smell, street fairs, being with family and dear friends, all the seafood, lake swims, thrift-shopping, pints of ale with fish and chips… i couldn’t be more ready at this point.

have a beautiful rest of july and i’ll see you in august!

* if anyone wants to try a class of the challenge, please let me know and possibly i can send you one.