-
happy september, indeed! + bake along #1 (biscuits)
well, we’ve made it to six years in europe, y’all. i don’t know how it happened and this year, it was certainly against all possible odds, but it did. that’s right! our major visa issues have been resolved thanks to the wonderful people we know here in budejovice and apparently, they are the right sorts of people to know. i am ever so grateful. i’ve heard about others in the same situation as us not having quite the luck we did and that it had been the end of the road. but for us, not today. cynthia and alex are going to keep this crazy thing going into year seven.…
-
chilled to the bone in třeboň
i have rarely felt as cold in my life as i did today. ohhh, that brutal winter temperature chilled me right to the bone, i’m sure.it seemed like a good idea to go to třeboň for the afternoon to go swimming at one of the famous spas, but when you go back into those freezing temperatures with damp hair and not the proper under(or over) garments, perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea after all. it was nice, at least, to have a wintry walk through trebon before stopping for chlebíčky (open-face sandwiches) at a café. after returning back to budějovice, i pretty much felt like i might die. just the…
-
the art and balance of treating yourself
i’m still figuring this ish out. it may seem like i’ve got it all handled, but it’s been and continues to be a process. learning how to budget for two people on teacher’s salaries has been a slippery slope, but i’m finally grasping it. then add a dog into that mix (ohhh, so that’s where the extra cash for the past few months has been going…), and a five week trip back to the u.s. this summer (across four different states), and well, there can be complications. i think i’m getting the hang of it, though, and our “seasons of poor” have been less and less frequent as i learn…
-
the glorious oncoming of may
i always adore the beginning of may. even moreso this year. i know i may have been gloating a little about our summer-like weather on april first, but trust me, i got my comeuppance, because it snowed last friday. all over. big dumpings. and it wasn’t okay. we opted out of this year’s boat trip because of it (of course, the most hardcore went and survived). after stumbling through the frigid last week of april, i just couldn’t get my ire up and was so glad to see the end of that month. we diiiid squeeze in a fun date night that night at fancy schmancy u solne brany which…
-
bohemian forest, pt. II
three years ago, we spent our annual easter trip in šumava national forest (also known to german speakers as böhmerwald, bohemian forest). it was a simple hiking holiday where we stayed near lake lipno in a cheerful pension with a terrace and was so sore from all that wandering. isn’t it funny that sometimes the simpler trips can turn into the best ones? we’ve been talking for the past three years about what a nice time that was, and so thought it was time to reprise it this year. šumava is a big place. it is a huge protected forest area extending from the south at the austrian border near…
-
prague soul
i don’t normally take a week off for spring holidays week, but man, i think i might have to start, ‘cause we’ve just been having so much fun lately. (also, let’s be honest – nobody wants lessons that week – holidays here are serious) we went to prague to pick up my mother-in-law from the airport (kicked off with a long chat over flat whites at costa) and spent such a lovely time immersed in all the things that make up this great city. we wandered old town square at night and watched the “morality play” with the rest of the tourists. night is really the time to go! i…
-
hi, september
there is nothing more invigorating than being away on a long trip and then getting to come back to your lovely home and cook, clean, read books, garden, run out to the drugstore (like i was doing here, above) and do all of those boring household things that are suddenly anything but boring… in the beautiful warm weather which is most decidedly still summer. our adopted home of the czech republic always smiles upon us after we’ve been away every august; i have no idea why. maybe it’s trying to win us over again after we’ve cheated on it with some other country. but we always come back to you,…
-
may: friday things
hey friends – hope you are having a beautiful may! i always enjoy this birthday month and finally shaking the winter cobwebs away, preparing for the fun that will come with spring… especially more travel opportunities, heh. we enjoyed a gorgeous weekend in prague (above, on kampa) to celebrate my birthday but honestly, i’ve been finding that most of the action is right here in south bohemia lately. hoping that in june we’ll have some time to steal away for some adventures. so! here are a few memorable moments and some things i’ve been into this past month. 1. boat trip! i’m not exactly a boating novice (i wrote about our kayak…
-
So, You’re Going to Prague? (A Mini-Guide of my Favorites)
prague is now europe’s fifth most visited city as of 2016, surpassed by only london, paris, istanbul, and rome. so chances are, if you haven’t already been, you might be planning on going to prague soon, especially since summer’s coming up. i get a few emails and comments about what to do in prague, and man, that’s a hard question to answer in an email, let alone a comment! so! consider this post my e-mail to you about my favorite things and places to visit in the city. this is by no means an exhaustive guide (hah) but rather just my favorite places that i’ve been to loads of times and like…
-
spring around here
officially, spring has sprung and since easter weekend, we’ve had a handful of gorgeous warm days here in south bohemia with highs above 22ºC! (although you wouldn’t know it by how bare most of the trees here still are!) i’m still not quite used to this continental european “spring”. it seems to come in mid-april, still with bare trees sometimes, and by early june, we are blasted with either heat-wave temperatures (or rain and floods, depending on the year). spring is a blink-and-you-miss-it affair, unlike western washington with our first cherry blossoms blooming in late february! i’m really trying to get into it this year, though… embrace those mild temperatures…
