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august in berlin, week three
in the last full week in berlin, i started to get a little frazzled because we had by that point finally decided when we were going to head back to budejovice – we had to be back by the end of august to temporarily renew our visas, so the end was near, as it were, and there were still (as ever) far too many things on my wish list. there is something about this city that makes me want to be out every day, doing as much as i can, going as far as i can… but i had to learn to let it be and relax a little bit. …
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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.…
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august in berlin, week two
happy september (aka “back to hogwarts” day), friends! i am relishing this anything-but-lazy saturday morning, planning to tidy a bit, do my first bake along with this year’s great british bake off which just started this week, and finally, some work continuing my german studies. in order to finish the current textbook i’m revising and working through by the time i start again with my lessons, i’ve calculated i have to do one textbook unit every three days… challenge accepted! so it is “back to books” a bit this month for me. anyone else going “back to school” somehow? continuing speaking about august in berlin experience – catch up on week one here.week…
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august, lately: the first week in berlin
phewww. what a month! i didn’t have time to write this past month (save for that one post about traveling with your dog – check it out if you missed it!) because from the beginning of august, i was immersed in a berlin-language study-do all the things whirlwind! i left my inbox almost fully unattended until i couldn’t possibly put things off any longer while we were away for most of august in berlin, i working on my studies and alex starting his next writing project on his pretty portable olivetta lettera (above) he dragged all the way from budejovice in this sweet little kollwitzkiez flat that i termed “the treehouse” because of…
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summer reclaimed (& this month’s travels)
i have a lot to say lately, it seems! so far, this has been, by and large, a good summer. but the day after the solstice, i found out some immigration news that has made me become an incredibly stressed person for the next month. i was able to mitigate this stress while on vacation in france by just sort of hitting pause and enjoying the holiday we had planned for so, so many months. that’s the thing about worry: it’s stupid. either you can either do something about it, or you can’t. if you can do something, do that thing. if you can’t, don’t worry. especially when you spend…
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cardamom oatmeal with roasted plums (recipe!)
we had a particularly dreary winter this year. it was long. it was neon grey (am i in seattle?). it was cold. it was a bit lonely. so upon the first of april, the earth woke up. immediately we were launched into one of the warmest and sunniest springs i’ve ever experienced. because of how warm and dry it has been for the past four months, our growing season here in south bohemia was accelerated and everything started ripening extremely early. my tomatoes were ready to eat in early july! squash is already in season, for example. one fruit that i always associate with autumn here in bohemia is plums.…
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postcards from arles
bonjour… from the czech republic. i wanted to share with you a little more of our recent trip to provence, and then i realized that i had so many photos of arles in particular. this picturesque city really seemed to merit a post itself. we started our trip by renting a car* at the marseille provence airport and heading straight to arles. i had originally hoped to see a handful of little towns on the way up north to our cottage in the drôme but arles turned out to be enough as it was. this lovely and very historical city (a great stop if you are into roman ruins sites in southern…
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provencal vacation + our cottage
why, hello there. i think this is the longest i’ve gone without a post in the six year history of this blog. that’s owing to a culmination of a very busy june calendar, finishing the end of the school year and the fêtes that go along with it + visa stuff + a long-planned ten day vacation to provence! believe it or not, i was on the computer, only ten minutes until we had to go trying to get a post out, but it would’ve been all rushed and harried and no one wants that. plus, we didn’t bring any computers with us! so there you go. i know i…
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at summer’s end
i love the annual tradition of doing these summer’s end posts – i think they’re a great way to catch readers up on what’s been happening lately around here as well as a good time for reflection. normally i would do this post right before the official start of autumn, but let’s face it: autumn has come early this year. last year we were graced by record warm temperatures and a beautiful indian summer (babí léto) which brought with it many september garden parties, beer garden nights, and hikes well into the autumn season. this year, as if like clockwork, autumn graced us on the first day of september –…
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discovering (more of) oregon
i have severely overestimated the amount of downtime i would have on our big trip back to the united states this summer. i had quite enough last summer in iceland, isolated on a farm with no means of transportation in borgarbyggd (west iceland) and only my own two feet to explore the hills and tiny nearby villages, but this summer has been a different story altogether and so different than my trip home two years ago. then, there was a real abundance of time, but i’ve had to be so strategic with what i do each day or how many people i can visit over the past almost five weeks.…
