Nové Hrady

The monastery of Nové Hrady is still functioning, slightly unusual in this post communist country. You can join the monks for lunch if you like, or even stay the night.
We tried the lunch option, but failed to realize you had to make a reservation (or at least let them know in advance). Oh well.

It was a beautiful and peaceful place.

The town of Nové Hrady itself is named after the new castle (I actually figured this out myself, woohoo! we can pretend I'm learning Czech). This is the old castle entrance.

I just liked this house, it used to be a smithy.

Here's what the old castle looks like

the view back towards the monastery

The back side. There was one impressive moat around this thing.

The new castle is now actually used by the university as a biophysics institute.

They've kept up the grounds and it is rather lovely

Hugo had fun sword fighting trees

Not your standard university setting, no?

Finally, on the way out of town, we came across this old glass works factory. Quite a bit prettier than your average factory don't you think?

Hluboka happenings

So, I know I haven't been posting very much. And you are all thinking how exciting it must be to be in the Czech Republic... but honestly, all I am doing is working. Except for my moments with Hugomonster.

There were more deer outside my window yesterday, this one came really close.

We've had pretty horrible weather, but it can sure be pretty when the sun is setting.

Sigh...

So, in my absence, Rinley apparently mopes in the sun all day. They can't get him to come inside until he runs out of sunlight to lie in (ie the shadows go beyond the fence). He is doing his best to dig up all the moles in Dad's yard, weeeee. I miss that boy (and my Des too). Travelling is fun and all (though does this count when all I'm doing is working?), but I sure miss my little ones.

Birthday Boy

So, just like last year, I arrived just in time for a birthday. This time Hugo is 2. Yikes!
on a side note, look what I saw outside my bedroom window this morning
The little man is a ton of fun. He somehow seems to remember me. Teta teta! (auntie auntie!) He's teaching me Czech, albeit toddler version. My vocabulary has practically doubled, though that isn't hard if you only know 5 or 10 words to start with.

Karluv Hradek

I'm back in Czech! and the Hugomonster got BIG. He is a total ham and his grin is entirely contagious. More pictures to come of the kidlet of course, but first...
When I arrived, Hugo was explosively energetic, and I had a 3 hour train ride to walk off. So... Dasa took us to Karluv Hradek, a ruined castle nearby. It was a hunting retreat for the famous King Charles (ie the Charles bridge in Prague).
More importantly now, a great place to explore!

Day on the boat

So Dad put me to work on Saturday, doing firewood. Oddly enough, I actually had fun. probably because Charlie came and helped with his tractor and got me out of all the super hard stuff! In reward, Dad took me out in his boat on Sunday. I hear about this thing all the time, so it was fun to actually be able to experience it with him. Love you Poppa!
We took a tour of Portland and the Willamette River

Poor Rinley didn't like being tossed about so much.

Our upstream most point was the falls. I've seen them from the road of course, but they sure are impressive from below. That water boils, and the sea lions are everywhere (smart little buggers, to the fishermens chagrin)

Just below the falls are some interesting looking old industrial buildings. I think it was a paper mill.

Pretty, no?

Quick trip home

I drove up to Estacada last week so I could leave Rinley with Dad while I went off to Czech. It was so nice to be able to go home in the midst of all the chaos I'm going through.
I took a 'quick' walk down to the creek. It turned into a rather difficult trek because a ton of trees fell down in the big snow, and the salmonberries filled in the rest.
But it was still lovely down there.

I saw a lot of animals on my way down. This little snake was sleeping in the sun.

and Rinley dug up a mountain boomer! The poor little thing blundered about for ages before finding a new hole. It even ran in circles around our legs for a while. Amazingly, Rinley left it alone once I told him too (boy did he watch it intently though). Wish I got a better picture, but it's hard to do!

The little creek that borders part of the trail also made the journey interesting. It got a little crazy over the winter I guess, and washed away half the trail. weeee

While salmon berries make life difficult at times, they have pretty flowers. and they sure are good to eat!

and this little thing is one of my favorites

It forms these dense thickets that are wonderfully soft. even if they do hide all the treacherous terrain.

I survived!

I survived my dance performance!! I must say, it was one of the scariest things I've done as of yet. Yikes! The first night, I couldn't even smile on stage because I was shaking so much my lips wouldn't move. Definitely served the purpose of distracting me from school, rather too well actually. But hey, I did it, even had a little bit of fun, and didn't fall over on stage!

Here is Rinley helping me practice

Emily made this hairpiece to go with the dress.

Jenise got these pictures from the Saturday performance

Dress Rehearsal

I have a full video of the dress rehearsal. It didnt go very well, and my hair and makup isnt done, but it is the full dance with the lights and all, so... Eventually, I will get a copy of the official video and try to post it, but it may be a while, so this is what Ive got so far.

Performance night

This is the second half

Katherine snuck a video of my performance on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately her camera ran out of memory. It is actually kind of funny where it shut off. She managed to get most of it, but the stupid thing shut off perfectly in time to miss the two most dramatic parts of the routine, the lift and the dip. Oh well.....

This is the first half