our little household

although i often scheme and dream about being back “on the road” (which we actually will be doing for a month this summer!), i can’t say enough about how much i love our little home here in south bohemia, a dreamy, slower-paced corner of the country near rivers, farms, and forests. i love our beautiful altbau-style building and flat that was actually built by my landlord’s grandfather in 1913, exactly one hundred years before we moved in. i love our big heavy wooden table, our kitchen full of light. our balcony, which i am dying to spend more time on and really create a special space with more plants than ever this year. this is a wonderful place for us to call home. if you listen hard, you can almost imagine the tappy-taps of a little doggie on the hardwood floors (hey, it could happen! especially in the very dog friendly czech republic).

i’ve discovered that having a home base vs. being constantly traveling is important to me, but one that is in the middle of europe? an ideal situation. a place to come back to. a community to call our own; people to call our friends. we’ve now grown fond of our adopted city. no longer do we wish to live in a major metropolitan city or in another country. this one suits us as perfectly as i could hope for.

so here we are in mid-march, the last official weekend of the winter of 2016 (a pretty mild one at that– we only had two weeks of snow, and february regularly saw temps of 10°C!). and although i’m okay with winter taking its sweet time (if it has to… i guess), i am so excited for the warmer breezes, the spring vegetables, the farmers’ markets, the lighter evenings, the first trip to baumax for gardening supplies, that first day where we can fling open all the doors… even the balcony one! the adventures we will have.

every other week, i have a terribly busy monday/tuesday situation that involves me running around like a crazy person from here to there, starting early and working until late. so i’m finally getting around to realizing that the investment of a sunday afternoon can make all the difference on a busy start to a work week. as a freelance teacher, sometimes you have unexpected two hour blocks to have a leisurely tea in the living room or fit in a yoga practice. but sometimes you’re just “slamma-jammed”. so why not make it easier on yourself with a little preparation?

today i baked this lovely lemon chia-seed loaf, inspired by this recipe. i’m not really one for large quantities of mak (poppyseed) but i love me the nutritional punch of the chia seed, which has only just this year flooded into more and more potraviny (mini markets). it used to be that you had to think about bringing them in a suitcase from the states, now i can get them so many places!

the citrusy, zingy flavor of this loaf is delicious, and a cake on the counter is really, the ultimate sign of a happy, having-it-together sort of household. it will nourish our little family of two through the busy march days, but also remind us that spring is coming. your move, spring!