Happy New Year

What is going on here

Full of expectations, the baby Jesus, who brings presents in this country, coming soon, we made gingerbread cookies and drew Christmas dinky cards and made ornaments and decorated the tree. We danced round the tree after we embellished it with our aged ornaments, a dash of spontaneous happiness, as if it was the Christmas eve already.

Mittens

I knitted them. I am happy about them. They are big but that does not matter to the little guy. A good thing about knitting them was that I figured out the pattern. Well, except for the fact that they are too big. The yarn: the leftover from the autumnal sweater and that came from here. I think I had Castanas.

So much cuteness around here. I am still delighted by the play the kids performed for their parents today at the little Christmas party in the kindergarten. It was A Journey to Betlehem. Oh, the teachers, they had it so nicely prepared, the narration, talking, playing, singing.

We read Six Bullerby children now before bed. It is so positive and happy and it makes the l. g. happy too. He wants to do stuff like they do and sometimes he acts like them and I pretend I don't notice.
 My own adult life is less interesting. Apart from the fact that I booked a hotel in Verona for our winter tour in February.

Devils all around

The little guy had to stay at home today, there were supposed to be devils around at kindergarten today and he was scared to go. I do not blame him. And it does not help to tell him that they are normal people in costumes. The St. Nicholas and the angel are ok but the devil is too much. Poor kids. For a little sweat something or a little tiny present they need face up looking at the devil sticking out his tongue at them and they must say a little rhyme or sing a little song or just to prove that they have been obedient and good all year. What a non-psychological approach. Or is it?

So the little guy had it good with me at home. Lot of playing, watching, playing and watching.

Climbing the volcano

České Středohoří, pretty nice, cones like the one in the picture all around, former volcanoes, run down places, former chateaus, present ruins and houses that never change an owner. (When I was younger I used to like it, I felt like I discovered the place, like an adventurer on the road. Now I think of it more as an illustration of a present state of this country. It has been running down.)
But back to the beauty of decay and nerve calming autumnal walks. Enjoy both.

What on Earth...

 

I proudly say I am 40 today.

Litoměřice an bloc

The little guy built a city we were going to from the blocks. Oh, yes, it is basically the way it looks.
So I started tumblr, just pictures, like other tumblrs of that kind. You can follow me. I am a railway station, a kind of bohemian.

 

We put up a pretty nice exhibition for my husband, my husband and I. I am content. It is quite large, 30 pieces. If you are in Litoměřice, go have a look, Galerie Ve dvoře, till the end of November.

The last pic, a stone head in the portal of the house.

All of this I would like to have

 

I am thinking of sewing something nice and for me. If I finished translating the titles for the book today I might have some spare time tomorrow morning and then I can get on my hobby. But I probably won't have finished. So instead I am looking at this blog for some inspiration in interior design. And picture taking. Skipping the people there.

Grave in the chateau church

Another weekend in the country. We went to a small town with a Renaissance chateau, three mums, six kids. I was sick and just held together. I am still sick and at home, laying in bed. It feels pleasant, actually, despite the weakness.

Mushroom pickers

 

 

 

I regenerated. I did not think about work for five hours. More pics on flickr.

Květa

 

There is this cool book illustrator who does a lot of stuff apart from books which she is known for the most. Here I snipped few pictures of her paper work, a kind of similar in spirit to what she does for the books. The only problem is that adults like the illustrations more than kids. They are worth looking anyway, check the link for images.