Off to Eifel...

remembering our Halloween anniversary and trying to move on.

Lahamaide: Promenade de la croix philosophe

There was not much of an opportunity to philosophize as the guide pamphlet suggested. Maarten, traditionally obsessed with corn cobs collecting, cut his fingers with a sharp-edged corn leaf.




Then this black and white icy eyed cat followed him all the time and "creatures of the night" were waiting in the woods.
Also the sky was cooperating very well ready to swallow us whole.



No idea what was wrong with the cows mooing very loudly.
Were they haunted too?

Over the language border

This trip between the rivers Dender and Mark is another walk crossing the language border for several times.






Maarten was too tired after his adventures with Beavers the previous day and considering the length of this trip we were not able to take the detour to the local nature reserves.



Maybe next time.

Maarten the Forest Gnome

I couldn’t help but share how autumnly Maarten looked when I picked him up at school on Friday afternoon.





It’s a great idea to get your face painted, right? However, it’s far less fun to get clean again.

Back to plants

I'd like to share notes from my herbalist classes and I'll be posting them on THIS BLOG.

Le Sentier de l'Etrange

Even though you can walk this trail in any season I was saving it for October, as the month of Halloween.





I found the idea of walking through the rural countryside decorated with relief depictions and sculptures of witches, goblins and all kinds of monsters pretty suitable for the spooky season.




A local artist Watkyne combined in his work the lush hilly landscape with its legends, folklore and traditions.





Our adventure started in the hometown of Agatha Christie’s fictional detective Hercule Poirot, who supposed to be born here on April 1st 1850.
Maarten wasn't really interested in Hercule so he ran ahead to meet the "real" monsters all ready to fight them with his stick, hook and rope.


Just around the corner in a narrow alley we came across the first ugly witch Eul Pichoure crouching down she would pee on you for a 50 cent coin.





When we left the village another blue witch showed us the way around to the edge of the corn field.





Also the woods were inhibited by the most exciting strange creatures.






Even the picnic stools and table were ready to run in case they got scared or frightened.







As there was all the time something bloodcurdling to encounter Maarten was truly shaking and gasping with excitement talking without stopping loud and besides in English!




Through the woods, meadows and small hamlets we met many bizarre characters, colorful animals, devils, witches, dragons, a leaping werewolf and even a grey ghost of a donkey whose braying startled us all.



At first I was hoping for a foggy day to add to the eerie atmosphere but you won’t hear me complain about this warm and sunny autumn day.

Postcard collection

You shouldn’t forget to take your postcard collection with you!

Then we got the heavy dish detergent box from friend’s attic.

My first thought was, they should have already thrown it away or burned it.

But back at home when I cut the string and opened the box I became greatly thankful that they have kept it all those years.

This old cardboard box was filled not only with my postcard collection but I also got back a very precious family correspondence. I found letters and postcards from my grandparents’ time, letters from my friends and even my very first love letters and poems that I forgot they existed!

All this had been carefully hidden away for years.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of internet and quick e-mails but somehow I regret that nowadays we don’t write letters and don’t send postcards to friends like twenty years ago.
We don't have time for that.

Mushrooms anyone?

Since yesterday I can add another noble activity to my daily schedule.
Fighting mold!

I dearly hope we will soon move out of this creepy place before it will kill us all!

Plzeň/Valcha September 30 – October 3

A couple of months ago, I tracked down some of my long lost colleagues/friends that I used to work with and contacted them.











Thanks to one of them, last Friday I got together with at least two dozen of my ex-colleagues I haven’t seen for 15 years!
It was such fun re-connecting with friends from past I've lost touch with.

It was just like old times.


I move a lot but through the years it’s always been a wonderful experience to get together with my childhood friends.
This Saturday, 80th anniversary celebration of Sokol Valcha was a perfect opportunity to meet up again.

To sum up I spent these past few days and nights laughing, crying, catching up with each other’s lives and remembering our days together.


So much fun!
Days of sheer bliss.

(pics courtesy of Mak and Lenka Lukášková )

Knabbel-Babbel

coming soon