Sunday, September 23, 2012

Czech Indian summer and waiting for a paddling boat.

dear scattered sisters ,

Let me start this post with a song ,

A song from my heart , LOVE

The czech Indian summer is slowly coming to an end. My summer shoes and sandals are lined up to be packed into their little winter cupboard and the many knitted shawls and scarfs have come out to play their favourite seasonal game of lets wrap Jessie up.


 This is a photograph of my friend and I waiting for a paddle boat on the last day of summer.
Other than paddling I have been doing puppet shows all around the country , in a castle , in the mountains and on the square where I live in Prague. Here are some photographs of my puppet show in a bread bin, that I performed yesterday.






 This is a bundle of flowers in the mountains , imitating the colours of the czech Indian summer.





This is a summer sky in the mountains. 




The apple orchard. 





 A little mountain hut.




Enjoying the last days of warm evenings where one can sit outside with friends eating red lentil suprise !



 Will post soon !
Lots of Love ,
S3

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Negative energy and a rabbit in sheep's clothing.


Dear sisters, 
Negative energy was stirred by a neighbor brushing past. After I cheerily said hello – I had my  head buried in our letterbox,  I heard a whiny  – “Oh you live here? Well introducing oneself is obviously a thing of the past”.  
This is the neighbor that repeatedly screamed at Allard through the phone a while back, applying her own special social skills,  complaining about the dusty footprints on the communal stairs.
Even though I should know better, especially after spending time communicating with the landlord of our  rental house or more precisely his wife; she wrinkles her mouth in disapproval when you speak with her  - I am always surprised by people that choose to go through life like this.
A week ago, I had the official walk-through of the rental house – several unpleasant  e-mails had already been fired at me, as I tried to get clarification as to what needed to be done to get our deposit back, which they refused to give.  Instead, they brought a bailiff for ‘documentation purposes’. I had brought our project manager, for moral support more than anything – and we basically stood to one side discussing our weekend, as they did not talk to us, but instead, in silence, took pictures of everything, and I mean every little corner of the house, click, click, click, as if we had criminal intent and they were going to prove it.
At one point there were four people standing in an empty echoing room, three tapping their feet in silence, as the wife took her time to write the long list of complaints.  It would have been funny, if it wasn’t so draining.  We are still waiting to hear what they plan to do with our deposit of two months rent, but a complete renovation seems likely.
On the new-house front, we are happy in it, unfinished as it is. Having space to move is relaxing, after all. The first batch of empty moving boxes have been picked up, giving us more space. Now I wait for shelves to continue with the other hundred, still full but tucked away for now. I am itching to get into the seven-year-old boxes, mainly because I am convinced much can be jetted, as we say.
After a week of sending messages to my builder, asking him kindly to return (his reply each day was that we was very tired), he returned with his men; six of them in one go at first, the radio blasting along to keep them motivated as they sawed and hammered, and me sitting in a corner of my own house, running to  neighborhood cafe to use the toilet. The six soon fell down to none without warning, but, now they have returned once more, as they please. And we are just happy with each advancement. "Oh, you placed the towel radiator in the bathroom today?" Eternally grateful. As financial bonuses, pleadings, moving dates, puppy deadlines and female charm have had no effect, we just keep smiling.
With the kids back at school, I sit behind my screen once more. It looks as though normal life could be imminent. Once the sawing stops, maybe.  
But, oh wait,  a new puppy!
I have been smelling of dog for three days now.  He is here; one of  the non-smelling (don't believe it) and hypo-allergenic kind (no, not the same as Obama).
Labradoodle Bali, eight weeks old, joined us three days ago and I am in the happy transition between “how am I ever going to get this puppy toilet-trained” to “how the $#**! am I ever going to get this puppy toilet-trained”. We have our moments together, when he lies under the table, resting his head on my feet, as he does now,  happy to be close to me, but then there is the never-ending, not yet functioning rest of it. The children are estatic and I haven’t experienced this much spontaneous hugging in ages, so Bali is a winner. As with most things in my life, I will just muddle along, until it sort of works. The sleepless nights bring back memories of  days, moving from one head-nod to another.  


What a joyful bundle of farting fur, Bali is. From now on, we blame everything on the dog. Although I am not sure we weren’t in fact sold a wild-eyed rabbit in sheep’s clothing, as the above picture proves.
Undoubtedly you will hear more of Bali. I can't guarantee you won't.
With love, S1



Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Doors and wires and a bit of summer too


Dear sisters,
  

I sit in our new apartment filled with buckets of paint, tools and bags of rubbish to be picked up tomorrow. Light comes from spare bulbs dangling from freshly carved holes in the ceiling. Somehow we have to move in here this week. We have managed to postpone the move by one more day, because a bathroom, doors to rooms and running water are useful for general living, yet still lacking. The doors in question stand in formations in my study, freshly sprayed, like an art installation.
I am waiting for the Ikea-assembly-men to finish erecting our Stolmen walk in closet, which they didn’t manage to complete yesterday, because it is hard and I am glad I don’t have to do it myself. Still, something is not right in this set-up; me sitting here until late at night- it is presently nearly midnight - waiting in an empty house, sitting at our incomplete kitchen island, because the assembly men walked off for a few hours on undisclosed business yesterday, but we have long passed rational decision-making or complaints; as long as they finish tonight. I still believe in the miracle that everything will come together by 2100 hrs tomorrow. I will believe in it, until it really is too late and I stand in a bedroom still wet from the paint, no curtains hanging in front of the window, to lay my weary head. I don’t mind; the worst will have passed. A few paint fumes and a little peaking by the neighbors will not deter me. 



Anyway, I am listening to This American Life through my i-phone, so really it is quite peaceful, but a sofa would have been nice.
And now a picture medley of the week in Normandy, called "Why are you so happy. S3?"
















Love S 1

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Il neige a Liege

 Dear sisters ,

Am like a happy golden green orange beatle with a dash of pink , levitating all over the place.
From Prague to Brussels in a comfy car listening to Jaques Brel singing " IL neige a Liege"
just as we were passing Liege, amazing.
We also saw six parachutists in the sky , one of which was falling a bit faster and had an extra blue parachute extended, hope he/she is alright
Saw three wind proppellas lying down on carriages, they were as big as whales , white and smooth.
And this is my new favourite band called

 Little dragon

The video is quite funny , reminds me of being single , happy, free and hopeless (joke)  !






Ok that's all for now.
Take care ,
Love
S3

Friday, July 27, 2012

Different hues of blue ....green, pink, orange and blue







A bit of blue to cool us all down. Here in Prague it is simmering. A heat wave has covered the valley.
Im hiding in my happy cave sending out colours to you all. 
Lots of Love ,
S3

Walking

 






 Dear sisters,

Here a little collection of passers by in London town , as I walked from place to place , bus to underground. There is more to come !
S3