Springy

Oh I would love to be as flexible as the green lady here


and lean as the etheric muse (who is getting rewarded by kiss on the top, without the top)


or feel free as this gentleman, to leave the office responsibilities behind to the wind


and to the pigeons to deliver it elsewhere ...

Another Week, Gone so Fast ...

We celebrated the fabulous weekend weather with a first official 2010 Sunday trip, we went to the Unicorn Winery we discovered in the fall (and it happened to be our last fall trip too). We tasted many many wines, but we brought home, just like the last time, only the Traminette (and some table Blush).


Nadherne vikendove pocasi jsme oslavili prvnim oficialnim nedelnim vyletem roku 2010, byli jsme na vinici Unicorn (shoudou okolnosti to byl i nas posledni podzimni vylet). Ochutnali jsme mnoho druhu vin, ale domu jsme privezli, stejne jako posledne, jen Tramin (a taky stolni Blush). Zajimave bylo zjisteni jak velmi se lisi chut ryznych rocniku jedne odrudy, Tramin z roku 2007 byl sussi a s prichuti citrusu (jak to nazvala pani majitelka, a tak to mam ja radeji), rocnik 2008 byl mnohem sladsi, kulatejsi, ale chutnalo nam tak jako tak.

It was interesting to find out how much the Traminette taste changed by year of harvest, the 2007 year was more dry and citrusy (as the owner lady called it, and that is my preference), the 2008 is much sweeter and somehow rounded, but we liked it anyway. We went there with our friend P.


and ended having dinner of simple food and wonderful(!!!) beer (Bell's Two Hearted Ale) in the nice little restaurant The Light Horse in Alexandria. Oh, the night was so warm, it was so very nice to feel that after all the cold and snow this winter ...

Na vylete jsme byli s kamaradem P. a den jsme zakoncili jednoduchou veceri a vybornym pivem v restauraci Light Horse v Alexandrii. Noc byla tepla, bylo to moc prijemne po te letosni studene snehove zimne. A myslel si to i nekdo dalsi - pryc s vanocnimi stromky !


And somebody out there thought so to, away with x-mas tree already! :)


I have seen this running fireman on the spike of old fire station, the year on front claimed 1774 ...


He was probably rushing to downtown, to the House (of Representatives, as I was told), to extinguish heated debates on health care reform, which was finally voted in, late night on Sunday (I have not really expected it will be),


I hope it will make life easier for many people.


I have met this curious character circling the plaza before The White House on Monday morning, I wonder what were his issues, I did not dare to ask ...

Toho beziciho pozarnika jsem videla na spicce stare pozarni zbrojnice, tabulka na zdi hlasila 1774. Asi bezel dolu do mesta, do snemovny reprezentantu, uhasit ohnivou debatu o zdravotni reforme, ktera byla pozde v noci v nedeli konecne schvalena (ja jsem to teda necekala). Doufam ze to usnadni mnoha lidem zivot. A tenhle divny chlapek krouzil po placku pred Bilym Domem v pondeli rano, copak mel asi na srdci, neodvazila jsem se ho zeptat ...

And of course, I had to document the season progress...





It is amazing how fast it goes ...
A samozrejme jsem musela zdokumentovat propukani jara, je uzasne jak to jde rychle ...

Feeling Lucky

Spring is here, no doubt, and I managed to finish my wreath just in time for St Patrick Day. The body is braided from pieces of flexible vines growing all over in the forests here (since I have not found any willows as was my original plan), the flowers are part crochet, part embroidered on the felt. Hm, I probably should have used a bit more starch to keep them in less wilted shape, but it will do for now.


Jaro je bezpochyby tady, a ja jsem i stihla vcas dokoncit muj venec pro den Sv Patrika. Kostra je spletena z pruznych vetvicek "lijan" ktere tady vsude po lese rostou (kdyz uz jsem nenasla vrbu, jak jsem puvodne mela v planu), kvety jsou z casti hackovane, z casti vysivane na filcu. Hm, mozna jsem je mela vic naskrobit, jsou trochu povadle, ale pro zatim to snad bude stacit.

All our bulbs are shooting above the ground now, like little green soldiers, I am so looking forward for the colors. I have forgotten all about what & where I put exactly so it is my personal suspense, for a moment, to wait for them to show up. I found this lovely arrangement in front of one flower shop downtown (just preview, before our own ones come to bloom).


Vsechny nase cibulky uz vyrasily listky nad zem, jako mali zeleni vojacci, moc se tesim na vsechy ty barvy. Je to docela napinave cekat na to kde se co obevi, uz jsem totiz zapomela co a kam jsem presne zasadila. Tohle hezke aranzma jsem obevila pred jednim kvetinarstvim dole ve meste (jen predobraz tech nasich, az zacnou kvest).

The only flowers in bloom right now are humble pansies, they are always the first (and last) to appear and brighten the gray city walks. They are quite ordinary flowers but I am always thankful to see them.


V kvetu jsou ted jen skromne macesky, ty se objevi vzdycky jako prvni (a posledni) a prozari sedive mestske chodniky. Jsou to jen obycejne kvitky ale ja jsem vzdycky rada, ze je zase vidim.

And, I have seen THE midlife crisis car for my dear W. (in our office garage). The owner usually drives Bentley and I only have heard about this one from valets, I wonder what made him break the habit yesterday ;)


A taky jsem videla Auto pro W. krizi stredniho veku (v garazi u nasi kancelare). Majitel obycejne jezdi v Bentley a o tomhle aute jsem jen slysela od chlapu co tam parkuji, zajimalo by me co ho primelo zmenit zvyklosti prave vcera ;)

Birdies

It was very bird-y day yesterday. I had time to go for a longer midday walk than usually, all the way to to mall park pond, the home of a flock of ducks. There is about dozen of them and we shall see bunch of little ducklings soon from now I guess. This couple was napping peacefully when i got there ...


Vcerejsek byl ptaci den. Mela jsem v poledne cas na delsi prochazku nez obvykle, dosla jsem az k rybnicku v parku na promenade. Bydli tam hejno kacek, tak deset dvanact, a myslim ze brzy budou i kacatka. Tenhle parek si zrovna daval odpoleniho slofika, a tahle zase dostala chut na neco k snedku. Ty kacky se vubec neboji pozornosti, dokonce pro me i pozovaly :)



and this one was ready for some snack :). The ducks there are not scared of human attention at all, they would pose for me to make sure i got them right.

Than I have seen the three little birds (sparrows?) sitting on the tip of hedge bush, just like in the song ...


all puffed up since the weather was still on the gloomy side. I bet they are much happier today since the sun finally appeared (we had a very rainy weekend, there is some record water flow on Potomac and Anacostia, as I heard on the morning NPR).

A pak jsem videla tri male vrabcaky (?) na spicce ziveho plotu, jako v te pisnicce, byli celi nacepyreni, trochu poprchalo. Vsadim se ze dneska je jim veseleji, konecne se ukazalo slunicko (po dlouhem dstivem vikendu, rano jsem v radiu slysela neco o velke vode na Potomacu a Anacostii)

Upon my arrival home, I finally met one of the neighbor's chicken, walking cheerfully in our yard;


and it was a fine white exemplar. We keep hearing the rooster in the morning, for sometime now, as a "warm" reminder of the Kuai vacations. As W have put it, now we are officially villagers!

No a kdyz jsem dojela domu, potkala jsem sousedovic slipku, vesele si vykracujici na nasi predzahradce; a ze to byl pekny bily exemplar. Uz nejaky cas slychavame po ranu kohouta, je to takova "mila" pripominka dovolene na Kuai. Jak poznamenal W., jsme ted oficialne vesnicani!

Almost There

The weather last week(end) was so very pleasant and inviting for outside activities, no wonder I gave in to the calls of the Garden-Sirens again(!) and got some more bulbs and seeds. Although I got much more reasonable and realistic having the last season experiences, I would like to think :). So here are the current winners of the what-to-grow-this-year contest :




Pocasi bylo po cely minuly tyden moc prijemne, primo vyzyvajici k venkovnim aktivitam, neni tedy divu ze jsem se zase nechala zlakat volanim Zahradnich Siren a poridila jsem dalsi cibulky a seminka. Po zkusenostech s minulou sezonou jsem vsak mnohem rozumnejsi a realistictejsi, aspon bych si to prala :). Takze predstavuji prozatimni viteze souteze co-budeme-pestovat-letos" :

It was little overcast today but still very warm, so I walked a bit for a lunch and had a Devon&Blakely's crab soup in the Lafayette park cross street from The House. While sipping the delicacy I noticed that some magnolia(?) and cherry trees are ready for the spring parade too.



Dneska bylo sice trochu zatazeno ale porad dost teplo na prochazku a obed (krabi polivka) v parku naproti Bileho Domu. Zatimco jsem usrkavala z te pochoutky od Devona&Blakelyho, vsimla jsem si, ze par stromu okolo, tresne a mozna magnolie, jsou uz taky skoro pripravene na tu jarni paradu.

And as a final proof we are almost there indeed, small crocuses I planted last fall into the newly reclaimed soil strip in the front yard just started to bloom - the first brave ones of the hopefully survivived bulb lot.


A jako dukaz ze jsme opravdu skoro na konci (zimy), krokusky, ktere jsem zasadila pozde na podzim do noveho zahonu v predzahradce, prave zacaly kvest - prvni statecni z mnoha doufam stastne prezivsich cibulek.

Patterns, Textures, Colors

Quiet bright early morning in the park,


long shadows cast over still frozen pond, wild goose quacking in distance; they started to gather for big move to the north I think. I actually have seen them resting on ground, but I did not dare to get too close since dogs would have gone crazy :).


Tiche, zarive rano v parku, dlouhe stiny pres stale jeste zamrzly rybnicek, nekde v dalce kejhaji divoke husy, zacaly se asi pripravovat na svuj severni tah. Pak jsem je i videla odpocivat na zemi ale neodvazila jsem se moc priblizit, to by pesani urcite v klidu nezvladli.

Snow finally melted to the point I could walk on my favorite forest path; I have seen the fine wings of some kind of fungi, growing in the lines following the rotting wood ligaments,


it looked a bit like flocks of butterflies (I wonder if one can eat these).

And I saw some interesting color combination; the greenish lichen spots on rough bark facing the north, and the rich reddish browns of rotting wood (it reminded me about the charming animated game "Samorost" (Driftwood in Czech).



Snih konecne roztal do te miry, ze jsem mohla projit svym oblibenym lesnim chodnikem, cestou jsem videla jemna kridelka nejakych hub rostoucich podel vlaken parezu, vypadalo to trochu jako hejna motylu (zajimalo by me jestli jsou jedle:)
Taky jsem videla zajimave barevne kombinace: zelenkave lisejniky and temne rezavohnede odstiny trouchnivejiciho dreva. Stromy v parku jsou vysoke a stihle (jsem ostuda, neznam jejich jmeno), ted jeste muzu obdivovat jejich eleganci na pozadi jasne oblohy, pozdeji na jare mi ten obraz zacloni listi. A ta svetle seda vypada s blankytnou moc hezky, rada bych tu kombinaci nejak vyuzila (premitam o novych barvach pro obyvaci pokoj).

The trees in that park are tall and skinny (shame on me, I do not know its name), I can admire the elegant curves of the trunks against the sky now, before the leafs blur the view latter in the spring. And the light gray looks so nice with the sky blue! I would like to use this combination in some creative way (coming soon, I have a new colorway for living room on my mind for some time now).


And I found a planetary model of some far far away solar system, made of squirrel's breakfast leftovers :)


And I got a jumbo heart for my W. That is my favorite way to start a day.


Pak jsem jeste nasla planetarium vzdalene slunecni soustavy, rozvrhnute ze zbytku veverci snidane a velke srdce pro W. Tak tohle je muj nejmilejsi zpusob jak zacit den.