Out We Went

It was eventful week (at least for our standards). On Friday we were invited to the concert given by Lithuanian pianist Edvinas Minkstimas.


I cannot even remember when I attended a piano concert last time, and I have to say, after surviving the first half hour of Schumann without move (not problem of the performance but rather of the hardwood benches, with emphasis on "hard"), I quite enjoyed the rest (shorter pieces by Chopin, Debussy, Piazzola and Liszt). The concert took place in giant rich St. Luke catholic church in McLean in VA (judging by the reception afterward). They have a very unusually looking organ there,

I never saw horizontal pipes before, we may come back here to hear it one day. I was driving on G.Washington Parkway to get there, I do not think I ever been there,

I stopped at one of the overlooks just when the sun was going down, it was before the storm and light was almost like in the old masters paintings.
The weather was sunny again on Saturday morning, so I took dogs to Wheaton, it was suddenly very bright green there;

the leaves here always appears mysteriously overnight, one day there are naked sticks and the next day everything is green :). And the azaleas are in full bloom now, it is very pretty in our little suburb neighborhoods, looks like every house has at least one of them in the garden.


I got an office baseball tickets for yesterdays game of Nationals and Rookies (we lost), but it was nice warm evening and the seats were quite good so I could actually see the players faces, and they served a good draft beer so it was overall pleasant event - and I finally started the sleeves for my mom's stained-glass cardigan.


When I was driving to work today and they said it is April 21, I had a feeling that somebody I know has birthday today, and when I got to talk to my mom she said grandma would have been 90 today. I am thinking about you often, babi, and I am so thankful for all the crafty things you taught me. Speaking about which, I finished blanket for my friend E. baby girl who was born just last Tuesday.
It is made of Malabrigo lace merino, yellow and greenish (knit in two strands), about 4 skeins, in simple fir cone pattern with crochet scallops on edges. Hope the baby is not allergic to wool:)

Garden/Life Journal

I planted some new additions to our very bare terrace garden this weekend - orange yellow tea rose and couple of strawberries, pink bleeding heart, columbines, dianthus and ground covering blue and white blooming little patches.


This part of garden is very shady (only 2 hrs of sun at closest-to-the-house spots) and moreover the soil there is bare clay (I try to improve that with bags and bags of compost every year), it was quite difficult to find anything which would tolerate such bad conditions - so far, the survivors include only the hellebore, astilbes, hostas and ferns (and there is as well rose, yarrow and sedum in the sunny corners), well we shall see how successful I was this time. These are leftovers of cheerful orange tulips, big white lilies (bloom time in June) and white clematis living in the happier sunny backyard corner.


And of course I got too inpatient to wait for tomatoes seedlings to grow so I got two little of Big Girl(s) early fruiting variety,


just in case the seeds never start (shall the frost come again, I will make small plastic greenhouses around them). Than, just because I had no more space anywhere else, I made a new row for gladiolas and shady flowery mix


I got it in WHF, even though these mixes never quite grew for me before, but I remain an optimist, the new place is nice flat spot with good soil). On the "house" end of it, there are the peonies; I thought they died, but they surprised me and came back, even the red one I planted from bulb last spring and which never even sprouted. I got the other one, the whitish pink one, in the pot late last summer and than it got some white mold all over and leaves died out. I love peonies, my grandma used to have big pink bushes in her garden, I can still remember the nice smell ... The white one is ready to bloom soon.

The new flower bed mirrors the tulip stripe on the other side of front yard; to replace the spring bulbs, I sewed in the sunny summer flowers mix (from the same source as the one above) and poked in some ranunculus here and there, may be I will add gladiolas too, just to keep the symmetry going :).


Our little cherry is all blooms this year (planted in February 2009). I am curious how many cherries will birds actually leave for us (last year we shared with W. literally just 1 fruit).


I am ready to cover it with the net if I see them wingy creatures getting too close to it :)

We had some in the seventies-eighties warm evenings recently, I just love to sit in the front porch after the dusk, with glass of wine, with the neighborhood quieted down, with only the birdies chirping the love songs, and imagine how beautiful it all will be six weeks from now,:)

Oh, and on Friday I had amazing opportunity to see DC from, at least for me, very unusual perspective, we had small grilling party with my office friends at one of the Pentagon city roof tops right above the famous shopping mall. And I think I found where did they got the NCIS opening picture from (before the collage that is).



. . .
A tragedy happened on Saturday, polish president and 95 other people died in the plane crash on the way to the peace making ceremony in Katyn. I do not know anything about politics in Poland, but I can imagine what would be the reaction of Czechs if something like that happened to us (well, omitting the basic human feeling of sadness for the lost lives of course). Hm, it is somehow strange it happened there, of all places, like the insurance that past shall never be forgotten ...

Che(e)rryfull Times

The DC cherry festival peaked this Easter weekend (I have not made the rabbit, it is challah bread creation from store, I liked the idea),

but unfortunately there was no time for us to idle around, we had to remove a giant rubble mountain from down hill backyard and drag down more building material from HDP (W. is getting very familiar with that place). So all I have to show is what I snapped during my lunch walks (it is pretty all the same).

Thanks to unusually warm weather, we opened the patio season with the ham dinner on White Saturday,

and that was the day when the future started - W. received his long awaited new toy. It was so warm outside we could stay for the light show.


I started as well my serious gardening; I cleaned all flower beds and vegetable stripes, than I sow some lettuce, spinach, pees, tomatoes and peppers (the last two I am trying directly outside this year, I may use the old framed window as greenhouse should the weather get colder again), and some poppies and bachelor buttons. I am trying again (!) some summer bulbs - freesias, gladiolus, babianas and hostas. I was not very successful with those last year but I could not resist the pictures on the boxes when I saw it in store; I am trying more shady spots and will water them regularly so, hopefully, we shall see some blooms in June. The tulips, on the other hand, are spectacular, it was well worth the fall effort.


And we had a visitor on Sunday morning, he was having breakfast on the tree cross the street,

we hear him often from the forest behind the house but I have never seen him so up close.

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!