Visiting Karlstejn, my beloved childhood castle

Today our merry party decided to drive over to the 13C Gothic castle Karstejn.the parking lot is at the bottom of a hill and the castle is 2 km up.Our merry party decided to take the horse and buggy up, but I always feel uneasy about poor horses pulling buggies all day, so I decided to walk.We had a bit of a race with me hoofing it up the little streets.In a very short time I saw the castle. The first glimpse is always so breathtaking for me.Karlstejn was the king's summer castle. Can you just see him announcing to his court, "alright everyone, gather the troops, we're making a move to the cottage for a few weeks!"Up higher and higher I went and the castle got closer.Whew, bit of a workout.But finally I made it to the castle gates and walked thru.Our merry party was nowehere to be seen, so I walked over to the well tower to have a look.Do you see that spec of light? That's the water level 78 meters down.But the view from here is amazing. I walked all that way.I must say I felt a bit smug having to wait there for another ten minutes.But finally every one got together and off we went because we had 10:35 tickets for a tour.We were told there would be about 800 stairs! So we were brave and set off and I started taking my usual photos...and our guide announces, "no photos inside the castle please."Well, if you can believe that!Like I listen!I took a few secret photos, which may or may not look that great, but at least you get the idea.This photo is of some 14C frescoes in the church room of the castle. The photo is a tiny bit blurred and not quite right, because I took it behind my back.I actually love taking photos like that. Most were of my back and hair...lol...but some did work out. Here are medieval frescoes and my messy bun.Here is a remnant of an original medieval arch. It's possible to see some ancient glazed pottery still decorating it. It was shiny green in its day.This was a stronghold and the crown jewels and crown treasures were kept here for years. The castle walls are 7 meters thich and proved to be impenetrable thru many wars.Here are some more frescoes. There are a lot of angels and stars and blue on the walls and ceilings.Here is a 16C painting in the gallery room of the king, Charles IV ministering to his subjects and giving alms to the poor.A little passage off the church room is the king's private prayer vestibule.The walls are inlaid precious and semi/precious stones.And if you think that's amazing, wait...This is the chapel room.There are 129 paintings of saints and world rulers of the day here and the ceiling is all gold and silver and highly polished gilded mirror glass in the center of each star.The walls are inlaid with more precious and semi/precious stones held in gold, and the original window remnants show polished precious stones made up the "glass".I saw yellow and purple and white polished pebbles (possibly amber, citrine, amethyst, quartz etc..) woven together with lead like a beautiful tapestry.Oh I hope you get the idea, with my miserable clandestine photography, of this exquisiteness of this chapel. It's almost too much for the senses when one is standing in it.Too soon it was time to wind our way back down the 800 wooden and stone steps.(Whew, medieval servants must have been really fit!)One more look up at the towers,Out thru the old gates,And off we go.

Visiting Svata Hora (Holy Mountain) a 16C pilgrimage site

Down here on the outskirts of Prague, in the central Bohemian region, is an ancient silver mining town called Pribram.Above Pribram is a mountain, and on that mountain is a 16C Baroque complex of buildings which serves as a holy pilgrimage site to the Virgin Mary.It's not much of a mountain as far as my West Coast mountains go, it's more like a hill. But a good hill. A holy hill...an eminence! Yeah, that's it, an eminence.It's a fair bit of a climb to get to the top of this eminence, but then, what good pilgrimage comes easily?Happily, the climb is past beautiful meadows full of wildflowers.Being at the top, at the holy site, is breathtaking...even for an agnostic like me.Inside, the complex is cool and beautiful.There is a long and amazingly painted arched corridor to walk all the way around the inside of the complex, with flights of stairs leading to several chapels in the central area.The whole place is adorned with life-sized stone statues.Many of them gilded.It's beautiful to touch the 16C stone. It's so warm in the sunshine.Angels are everywhere. Flitting past the virgin Mary, fluttering across ceilings, cascading down walls.And inside the chapels are treasures of silver and gold.

Out of Prague, in Dobrichovice with friends

The rain came at night and I rented a car and headed out into the country.Just to have fun on the roads, I prearranged to hire a BMW series 3, little zippy thing, however, the car reserved was (apparently similar) a BMW series 4. Are you kidding me? it's like an anti car. It's a slow plodding diesel which cuts the engine at every stop only to restart it when the gas is pressed. There's got to be a way to bypass that!Anyway, complaining aside, here I am at Helena and Zdenek's home for a couple of days. Lucky for me, they allowed me to use their home as a home hub and dump most of my luggage here while I go where I like.They live in central Bohemia beside a beautiful river called Berounka.We walked across the river and into the countryside yesterday under those wild skies. Happily the rain kept away.And walked up to visit the old Dobrichovice castle.The castle was quiet. Too early for the restaurant to open for supper, and just post a weekend national theater performance.Some musicians were playing in one of the kitchen rooms.In the castle courtyard the princess was just taking a post performance selfie.I found a little staircase beside the old mill house and walked down......right to the river.Isn't this a beautiful photo? A peony escaping its compound. Being here back in my home country, simple images like this one evoke so much feeling.Then back across the river to Helena and Zdenek's.That's me, Miss Forgot the Ponytail Elastic! At least my hair is a bit shorter than the usual two feet.As we were walking I talked to Helena about the fantastic little elder flower fritters my grandmother used to make. Back in her garden, Helena decided to make some for me and showed me how my grandma would have made them.She started with a bunch of clean and washed elder flower blossoms clusters.Four eggs, about a hand full of fine ground flour, and some salt were mixed lightly together.And then, only the blossom side was dipped into the batter and straight into the frying pan with hot oil.Like this!Had an AHA moment!Then Helena took some scissors and clipped the longer, tougher stems off and flipped the fritters only once.Oh my gosh you guys. The most amazingly good fritters.I'm going to have to draw some of these blossoms in my July travel journal.Have I shown you that journal yet?I will next post.Wonder where to today. :DMuch love from your wandering friend over here. ;)

Finally! After a whirlwind night of flights, I'm home in Prague.

Hi everyone,well, that was a night that never was!Vancouver to Heathrow...where it was very hard not taking a taxi straight to Oxfordshire......but then I did get on that second flight to Prague.arrived late in the European night.and then today, a morning walk into Prague.Naturally I stayed all day.I stayed all day beside my river,beside the ochre walls and under the red roofs.I took the tram all over. Walked under every spire.The tourist season is in full swing and the common streets are CRAZY! Hating it so much and I've gone out of my way to find small alleys and streets no one knows about and therefore no one is using!Yes, I do have the advantage of knowing this town.And, oh my gosh guys, I spoke Czech all day! I am fluent, but years between visits and I get rusty. You know, like the Czech word for dusty, and the phrase may I have the bill please. Oh it's the little things. And then the person tells me and I do a forehead slap! Duh!So I'm home now. I'll stay for a month, but have things to do.My plans are to visit friends, retrace my family a little, meet long lost cousins and, most importantly for this trip,take my aunt Vera's ashes to Austria.I've had my dear aunt with me for six years now. (only child syndrome) It's time.I've decided that she was the happiest ever when she lived in Austria and loved being there the most. I've decided that the old von Alemann family crypt, where my grandparents are, wouldn't be good for her. I mean, when I see her I see her being in the air like the sound of music girl. She loved the alpine sunshine. She washed her face with the morning dew and collected wildflowers and painted meadows on her canvases. The ground is no place for a Bohemian like my aunt. So I've decided to take her back and take her to the alps. Happily, my mother agrees.Today, as I walked across St Charles Bridge, I touched the little brass dog for good luck and silently wished for health and happiness for my family and loved ones.And today is my little Isla-la's 5th birthday, so I picked up a little something special to bring back to her.Well, here my month in my old stomping grounds begins.As soon as I get into some stable place I'll buy myself a bunch of these flowers. Might take a while...lol...because you can keep the Bohemian out of Bohemia, but you can't keep Bohemia out of the soul.Will post very soon.(Actually should have a sign around my neck which says, "danger photographer at large!")

Art in the Garden weekend the recap.

Hello everybody.What a weekend it's been and what a work up to the Art in the Garden show!It's been a fantastic few days, mixed with hard work and exhaustion, and a couple sushi suppers. Come, I'll show you how it all went.As late as Friday afternoon, the day before the expected 300-400 people came for a visit, I was still picking up weeds and leaves and bits of stuff, cleaning and filling up the waterfall, putting things away and bringing things out into place.As I complained to my friends on FB, I took the glass from my tea caddy trays and into the kitchen to wash them, and, as everything was all soapy, the bottom glass slipped out of my hands and crashed into my stone sink, upsetting four vintage and heavy ceramic ink bottles on the window ledge, which crashed on top of and around the tray.Well, my hearts stopped, but, miraculously, nothing broke! Not even a chip! Can you believe it?By the way, are you my friend on FB? If not then friend me. :)So, after a few deep breaths, I opened the garage-studio, parked my sports car against the doors, moved tables and chairs around and put my big oil paintings on the easels because I thought it might be nice to have people wander into the studio.And then I did what every artist/gardener would do the day before a major outdoor art/garden show, I cleaned up the entire inside of the house!I know you can relate. ;)And then I painted well into the evening till I felt a bit calmer, and went to bed.Saturday morning dawned sunny and warm and some more flowers started to open. It's been such a late spring that most of my late May flowers are still in very tight buds, but some are making up for lost time, so I'm happy about that.I put my paintings on the big studio table,hung some more paintings around the garden, and opened my sketchbooks on some stands and shelves so people could have a mooch thru them.I brought out my vintage tea service and some old tea pots. I love serving tea in real tea cups and saucers, and ages ago bought these for use when there are big crowds. I also bought some crispy coconut cookies. Just the thing for a little pick-me-up in the heat.And then it was noon, and, with Chloe's help, we opened the garden!Morgan took up a favourite position. She was funny. All weekend she made the rounds to people she liked. Everyone loved seeing her.And loads of people came. About 200 each day.And my little birds flew out with their new owners.People enjoyed the garden. Some walked thru and sat for a bit, some sat in the cool studio, some came to see the rescued 100yr old grape vine or the rescued peonies, others came to see the art or listen to the concert.The concert was amazing. This beautiful girl, Feona Lim, played and sang on both days.Feona was accompanied by this beautiful girl, Jill Russell.I loved it so much.Everyone stopped and painted a little something on our interactive canvas.Young and old, everyone really loved sharing a little of their art and left a mark.Here are some close-ups. I love the pink baby squiggles. There were a couple little guys here who could barely reach!Here is the full canvas. Amazing, right?Well, the weekend just flew past! Before we knew it, it was 5:30 pm Sunday night, the art in the garden weekend was finished, and some friends stopped by for a visit.So we sat for an hour and chatted and cleaned up and moved things and watered, and then we went out for late sushi......while the garden bloomed on.

Oh busy, busy. Catch up long past due.

Hello everybody.Oh my gosh time flies!This weekend is the annual Art in the Garden tour and my art and my garden are on the tour again.And this year, our spring is so cold and wet, that I'm afraid not many flowers will be in bloom!But the cold wetness has made for a lush and green garden, so that's good, and I've been planting up the pots with some colourful annuals.Also, in the middle of the garden and painting craziness, Kerstie and Adam came down to town for the long weekend.I'm so happy they did because it will be my last time seeing our little ones until September.We had the best time playing all weekend, and Kers and Adam gave me a hand completing some garden projects and for that I'm grateful.Kerstie helped me build this fantastic bench for my Art int he Garden show. Last summer I bought two old school chairs thinking that the bases would be great for a bench, and Kerstie helped me made my vision a reality. We all really love it.On Sunday, everyone went their separate ways, and I drove up to the cabin for the day.I drove up to take the linens back, (so they wouldn't be here all summer), but also to check on the place, check in with my neighbours up there, and just basically make sure everything is OK for the summer.Everything seemed to be just fine.The snow pack on the mountains is still great so it looks like there will be loads of water this summer. Good because the pond which thinks it's a lake will stay full and lush.I walked out on to the meadow and found a surprise. An apple tree!No idea how it got there, but isn't it exciting?So by about 5pm, I locked the cabin and headed back down to the city.Oh, I also cut an armful of wild lilacs and brought them with me.Lilacs grow really well in that semi-arid region. Must remember to transplant some to the pond.Do you like lilacs? I love them.Then we had one more day together and Kers and Adam had to drive back home and I must hit the garden and the art for one final push before the weekend show.Are you local? Come visit some private gardens and come visit me! :D

Hello from Sunday night, and Happy Mother's Day to all who nurture and love

Hello from Sunday night everyone. I hope everyone had a lovely day, and all the caregivers and nurturers and all those who are in a position to love another, I hope you all had a wonderful day. And for the other, pray I hope this post will lend you comfort.For us, it was a beautiful Sunday.Finally!After days and days of rain, the sun peeked out. You know, it feels like we went from winter to summer in a weekend. I'm just two weeks from the open garden Art in the Garden weekend and am thinking that perhaps there won't be any roses this year. What an odd spring it's been.But today the hummingbirds were displaying, and the swallows have returned, new little goslings were everywhere, and eagles were soaring high in the sky in pairs.Chloe and I drove out to mom's, picked her up and headed to the old fishing village of Steveston to meet Jonathan, Chantal and our Megababy Asher for lunch and a walk. I had forgotten to pick up a chest pack from the closet which I bought online for the sole reason being us visiting this fishing village, but I was certain I would be back soon with it to complete the fishing experience.We had lunch in our favourite fish and chip restaurant and walked the boardwalk into the old fishing village and then just sat on the pier and talked.So there we were, four generations talking in the sunshine.Such a beautiful day.PS. Chloe bought me a new camera for mother's day. It's a little polaroid camera and we had so much fun taking photos and trying to figure it out. I'm excited to take it to Europe and be able to put some of the photos in my travel journal.

Birthdays and art

It's been a long standing tradition with me and my children to make gifts for friends' birthdays. I think it's a much lovelier thing than buying something mass market at some store, (unless of course the gift you buy is a handmade something special), so when Chloe was invited out to her friend Nicole's birthday, she thought long and hard about something special.Nicole is a climber and outdoor girl and loves mountains, so Chloe painted this beautiful painting in the middle of a vintage teak tray.Isn't it lovely?After it was dried and cured, Chloe protected it with varnish so it can be used and it will last.It was my friend Dalyce's birthday this week too.I painted this little robin on one of the 1912 dictionary pages with the word "read" on it. I liked that page for her because Dalyce owns Booklovers, the used book store we love so much.Another little piece of art, I rescued a vintage handmade quilt form the thrift store this week. It's the softest cotton in the world with these perfect little squares and a beautiful pink and white ticking on the back.I washed it today and hung it outside to dry and then kept running to grab it before the rain cloud and re-hung it after the cloud passed. Marathon drying!Then I sat down for a little rest and some kombucha in this glass. One side has a sign which says Impropaganda, and the other has this slogan:I love this glass. It makes me laugh.Anyway, I sat at my dining room table and made all kinds of lists of thing which need to be done in the next two weeks. Whew, tired just thinking about it and thinking that the work to be done on those lists leaves very little time for art!But I wanted to show you one more thing I did this week.I made myself a little travel journal/sketchbook for June in my home country, the Czech Republic.I chose a bright yellow book called The Scent of New-Mown Hay, carefully took almost all the pages out (kept a few front and back pages), and glued in a bunch of signatures (page bundles) made from random paper and some Alphonse Mucha postcards I brought from Prague.I glued two ribbons for book marks into the last few pages along the spine and hung an ancient lead fish from one of the ribbons.And then, just for fun, I painted the first page and my old friend the house sparrow.I love this little bird and paint him often. I love that he lives with me in Vancouver, Oxfordshire and Prague.This page contains all sorts of symbolism for me and is the perfect way for me to begin my summer.

Hello from Sunday night and the Opus outdoor painting challenge

Today was the Opus Art Supply outdoor painting challenge day and I must tell you that I've been painting up a storm lately for the Art in the Garden show May 27th weekend, and painting plein air all day was something I really didn't feel like doing today, but the great guys at Opus convinced me to enter and so I did.And then thought, why do I have to do a painting when there are so many different arts? Since the rules were to register and pick up a 8" x 10" canvas or watercolour paper, instead of doing a painting, I decided that I really felt like doing was a lino cut. I haven't done a lino or stamp cut in what seems like forever, so I was really looking forward to it.Each Opus store has a sort of city corridor designated where artists can set up and paint, and, since last year I was painting in the forest, this year I thought it might be fun to paint at the beach.Today was the most beautiful day down at the beach. There were all sorts of boats at work and play,The seals were out sunning on their rafts,And dandelions were blooming in the land not yet designated for construction.I decided that maybe I would like to do a lino cut using the dandelions as my inspiration.The most wonderful thing about today though, was that Chloe decided to join me in the painting challenge.So we set out all our supplies and got to work.I'm not really a printmaker and so not really proficient or even very familiar with lino cuts, (I only know the basics), but soon I had a design drawn out on paper and transferred to the lino. Then I took yellow and white chalk pencils and drew out the positive/negative areas. (So i thought...lol)Those first few cuts are always so nerve wracking for me, but soon I figure out what I think I'm doing and get into a rhythm.We were in good company. All along the grassy area were other people taking part in the challenge and lots of people walking by stopping for a chat.It's lovely to have strangers stop by and chat and ask questions and reminisce about their last lino cut experience. Usually that turned out to be high school! But almost everyone said they loved their lino cutting experiences and wished they could do it again, and then asked tons of questions. I'm so happy that I could answer, show my supplies, and encourage people to take it up again.And so Chloe painted and I cut, and before you knew it, it was 2pm! And our pieces had to be handed in by 3pm! And I hadn't even made one test print!It was obvious to me that my lino cut design would take several more hours to complete the way I envisioned, and so I scaled back my design a little bit and, at 2:20, pulled the first test print on a spare piece of paper.I was really happy with the test.So I inked up the lino cut with a nice, generous amount of ink, and printed two prints on the watercolour paper I was given, and chose what I thought was the better one.And there we have it. At 2:40, we had our pieces ready for the display.So we packed up all our gear and drove the three blocks back to the Opus store.Then we signed over our pieces, they were hung on the display wall, and we mingled with the other artists.We met several friends who also took part and it was lovely catching up.Look at all the beautiful and diverse art people made today. I was so thrilled to see that whole families participated. I think that's a wonderful way to spend your Sunday and I felt so lucky to have Chloe with me. :DMy camera was super low battery, but I still managed to get these two photos of our pieces hanging on the display wall.And there you have it. A lovely Sunday and a lovely memory now on display on my mantle.Thank you so much guys at Opus, thank you for putting on this great community event.

The ARC Gloria visits Vancouver

Last night was the first of our Friday night market evenings at the Shipyards and I heard a rumour about a tall ship, so I decided to walk the 9 blocks to the docks and see for myself.Yes, there were three tall masts towering over the food trucks at the market!And then, down at the pier, look at that!It's the Armada de la República de Colombia (ARC) Gloria.I walked across the little bridge spanning the space between land and ocean...Looked down at the pylons,And to the west to the setting sun,And came right to the ship. Right to the glorious figurehead at the prow.There was a happening on board. There were ladies dressed in festive costume, and the crew was either in bright white or white and navy dress.I loved the hundreds of brightly coloured flags all across the ship,As well as this enormous Colombian flag flying off the stern.I don't think I've ever seen such a huge flag!The breeze was catching it and whipping it onto the pier and back out over the sea, much to the delight of small children who loved being so close to the material and tried to get in the way and touch it.This of course brought on much anxiety in parents who could see a possible future of having to jump into the ocean to save their child as the flag casually tossed them overboard!All over the ship were smartly dressed people.On the deck was a buffet of sweets.And a bar was set up in one of the life rafts.And a crowd of people were gathering on the afterdeck.I walked to the end of the pier and looked at downtown.And looked back to the market, shipyards, and the mountains with the last of the rain clouds from this pineapple express weather system.Then I walked back to the ship and stood for a while listening to the Colombian national anthem being played and sung. Then the Canadian anthem. Then a priest spoke a blessing in Spanish. I imagine it was a priest and it was a blessing, because he said words like Dios, Padre nuestro and Santificado. Then bagpipes and drums played Ave Maria.After the bagpipes I walked off the pier, stayed at the market listening to the evening's live band, and people watching for a little while, and then decided it was time to walk back home.One more look at the Gloria and up the hill I go.I think I might come back for a second look. :D