Halloween

Podzim je moje nejoblibenejsi obdobi a samozrejme ze od dob naseho pobytu v Kalifornii slavime kazdorocne Halloween.
Bohuzel o poradnem pumpkin patch nebo o bludisti v kukurici si tady jenom muzeme nechat zdat.

Maarten primo sili s vyzdobou, nad posteli mu visi pavuciny s pavouky ve vsech barvach (krome tech zivych teda), tradicne s tatou vyrezali Jack-o'-lantern, ktery to letos, asi kvuli vysokym teplotam, bohuzel moc dlouho nevydrzel.
Dynova polevka, teda pochutnani pro carodejnice a strasidla zahustene syrovymi pavucinami se tesi velkemu uspechu v nasi rodine, takze uz jsme ji spolu s Maartenickem vycarovali uz nekolikrat.

Tzv. "kijkdoos" (krabice, do ktere se kouka) mela letos u nas premieru. Maarten vyrobil hned dve, nacez se pak v noci bal a mila carodejnice musela z krabice nadobro pryc.

Podzimní vysvědčení

Monolog nad Ptákem Loskutákem (díky Ivet!)

Ten ptacek kouka tak smutne.
Vzdyt ma dirky, vidis, ty zizaly ho prokousaly.
On je spapal a ony mu vykousaly to brisko, ma dirky, aby on svitil.
Dokonce ma diru I v zadku od ty zizaly!

Me se ten ptacek nelibi, protoze kouka tak smutne.
Kdyby tak nekoukal, tak bysem ho mel rad.
Vzdyt ma vlasy a ptacci nemaji vlasy!
A nozky ma obracene, krivy!
A ocicka ma na sobe a kouka jako rimpuch!
?
Rimpuch je jako nakej tukan.
Papal prvni zizalu a ona mu ukousala brisko.
Tuten taky vypada jako nakej monstrik!
A on jeste sedi a on neumi sedet, jenom stat!
Ptacky nemuzou sedet! Jenom s nohama dovnitr a ne s nohama venku, jako my sedime na zidli!
A jeste nema dokonce kridla!
A ma nakej hloupej ocasek, protoze ocasek ma jako nase vlasky a je to jako naka kytka.
To jo, jen se podivej!
Dokonce ma velikansky oci!
Ten ptacek je, aby moh’ vyhanet zlodeje, protoze je tak strasidelnej a to by zadnej zlodej u me neprisel.

Dienen vogel daar van mama is dom! Zo dom als een puntje.

~ Maarteníček Nejlepší

Plzeň 20-23/11

I kdyz me tradicne pred odjezdem chytla panika, (navic umocnena lamentovanim nasi mami, co vsechno se me po ceste muze stat, a zrovna ted!) stalo to vic nez za to!

Horsi byla osobni konfrontace s misty z casu minulych, kam jsem mela prilezitost se konecne podivat. Do mistnich lesu, kam jsem kdysi utikala pred denni realitou.
Musim priznat, ze to bylo celkem bolestive a zrovna kdyz se me hlavou honily ne zrovna prijemne vzpominky, ozval se nade mnou datel. Zkousela jsem ho vyfotografovat, kdyz nahle zazvonil telefon: “Mami, kde jsi a co tam delas?”
I kdyz datlik byl samozrejme ty tam, byla jsem tomu hlasku z telefonu vdecna, ze me vratil zpet do reality dnesni, mnohem prijemnejsi.

Achtmaal

Sea pearls, sea hearts or nickernuts

As some of you might know I’m not a big fan of shopping in general but I do love junk shopping! Not for the bargain but for the thrill of the hunt! And I also like the idea that there is a story behind every item.

The other day I came across this necklace.


At first I thought it was made out of some special kind of buckeyes, probably originating in Africa. This assumption turned out to be completely wrong. After doing some research on the internet I discovered that I should be looking in a different part of the world, particularly in the Caribbean and Florida Keys.

Even though they usually look like large seeds or nuts and they are often called nickernuts, they are from the bean family and are not nuts at all.
They come in many sizes, shapes and colors.

Their life begins in a tropical rain forest where they fall into a stream or river and are then carried out to sea where they may float great distances before washing up onto a beach. Then the beachcombers collect them and make them into jewelry such as my necklace.
What a journey!

Ptáčíčí

S podzimem se tlaci priroda dovnitr naseho obydli. Kdo nas navstivil, vi, ze to vzhledem k stavu tohoto staveni neni zase nijak prekvapive.
Po vsech tech svinkach, uchavcich a zabach byl tenhle ptáčíčí docela vitana zmena. Nakonec se schoval za radiator a nikdo uz ho nenasel, takze jsme radeji par dni netopili.

Brugge, Ghent, Bredene-aan-Zee

How sick can people be?
I try to understand that they don’t like the idea of moving to Angola themselves and I do respect their opinion, and OK, they may keep telling me daily how awful, that they would never go, what an horrible idea to do so.
Foist guilt upon me for taking Maarten into such a dangerous country, but please leave him out of your lament!
Why would you even kneel down to him and ask questions such as “Do you enjoy moving to different countries all the time the same way as your mom and dad do? What about your friends you leave behind? Don’t you like your current school?”
Speaking about school, Maarten loves his new teacher! He could use a little more challenge as he used to have back in California. Those two years here in the Flemish preschool were rather a step back as they only started reading and writing again this school year. That’s the difference between the American and Belgian school system and, ooh well, of course because Maarten was attending our amazing Montessori preschool in Dublin.
It's not surprising that he is again enjoying his school work so much. He is eager to read and write all the time instead of playing! Honestly, I didn’t expect him to be that brave at school considering his reckless and fidgety character but again his teacher seems to be very happy to have him in the class.
Luckily, she is joking with Maarten about his moving to Angola all the time; she would lock him in the closet to avoid his departure to protect him from being eaten by the crocodiles. Needless to say, that Maarten and the whole class enjoy the game tremendously.
Maarten, naturally, has a solution for the future. He is going to make a plane out of cardboard boxes and juf Nele and all his school friends will simply come over to visit him in Africa.


Anyway, we are obviously saying good bye to Belgium.
We had such a beautiful warm weather last week, unbelievable how lucky we were particularly because Rob could finally take some days off.
Same way like in California we are trying to catch up visiting places we still haven’t during our Flemish stay. So after 14 years we went back to Bruges and discovered again for us new hidden picturesque and romantic places and ancient streets. Even though it is only 10 minutes drive untill last Thursday we haven’t visited the beautiful historic downtown of Ghent! Shame!


Luckily Maarten had a day off from school on Friday so we could head for the beach. Right, Maarten would swim no matter the temperature but I wish I brought my swimsuit as well! It was so hot! Even the sea water was very agreeable.