Monday: Meet Bill Clinton

Do you know who this is? Do you know how I managed to get such a close-up photo? It's that time again. Actually, it's a bit early for that time again, but South Carolina is a politically powerful state because it votes early in the nomination process. The party primaries in South Carolina follow those in Iowa and New Hampshire. This year, the primaries are so early because the bigger states like Florida, Michigan, and California moved theirs to an earlier date oddly, to compete with the early primaries in the little states (Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire. With Bush's unpopularity, it will be interesting to see what happens in this very Republican state.
So, I met Bill Clinton. I listened to his speech (he uses words like "obviate"--the kind of word that the current President couldn't spell even with it right in front of him), and he seems to me more genuine than any Republican candidate I have ever known. I like Bill. I always have. But, I still might not vote for Hillary. We'll see. I am what is known as a Yellow Dog Democrat. That means I have very strong party loyalties: I would vote for a yellow dog if he were the Democratic candidate. I guess it is like my mother-in-law says, "You can't beat out of the blood what's bred into the bone." Bill. sigh. My hero.

Time to Carve the Pumpkins

Actually, I think it is past time to carve the pumpkins into Jack-O-Lanterns for Halloween. I like to carve them far enough in advance to enjoy them some before I put them out on the porch at night. This year, as usual, we all went for impromptu, hand drawn designs of our own rather than using pumpkin carving templates. Last year, I used a template. Pumpkins in the stores this year range in price from $2.99 (about 60Kc)at Wal Mart to $6.00 (about 120 Kc) for smallish ones at grocery and home improvement stores. None of the pumpkins at this price are nearly as huge as the one we got at a Brno florist's for 50 Kc. A pumpkin of that size here would be around $20 (about 500Kc).


Yesterday evening we went to a church for what they call "Trunk-or-Treat", trick-or-treating in the church parking lot. Members of the congregation park their cars in the lot, open the trunks or hatchbacks and stand around for children to come by and say "trick-or-treat." Traditionally, Halloween trick-or-treating was done on Halloween in one's own or a nearby neighborhood. We knocked on the doors of strangers, said, "Trick-or-Treat", said thank you and went on to the next house as fast as we could. In our case because we lived so far out of town, we went to my grandmother's house and trick-or-treated in her neighborhood.Sometimes, there were so many children participating that it was possible to go to the same house twice without getting caught. These days, however, there are quite a few conservative Christians who believe that Halloween is some form of devil worship,and some take a very hard line against any and every thing Halloween. To avoid giving the devil his due, many churches here now offer Fall Festivals to compete with Halloween. It is already the case that in the public schools here that there can be no images of witches or black cats at Halloween, that Halloween can't be called Halloween (it's Fall Festival) and that the holiday's official colors have gone from the traditional black and orange to purple and orange. Lord only knows what will become of Christmas once those conservatives learn the pagan origins of December festivities. It is a good thing Bram goes to an excellent International Baccalaureate school, where they can say the Pledge of Allegiance and learn about other religions of the world, and learn to respect and tolerate them all. Reciting the Pledge is not allowed in the public schools Here's why. This is thanks to the mongers of political correctness. At Bram's school, they can celebrate Halloween and Christmas, and Easter too and call the celebrations by their right names. And when the Hindi, Jewish, and Moslem children want to share something about their religions, they are encouraged to do so. It is a shame that in America this is now a privilege that one must pay for.
We had a great time at Trunk-or-Treat. Most of the people giving out candy had decorated the backs of their cars, and a few even wore cotumes themselves. It was especially fun to see the very young children in their costumes going from car to car to get their candy. Some of them were too small to say, "Trick or treat"! There were even girls dressed as witches, though they were in burgandy and purple rather than predominantly black costumes. Bram went dressed a huge sack of potatoes, and no one was the wiser to the connection of this costume to Brambory Den. By the way, Happy Czech National Day!

Halloween-- The Stuff

Here is a list of the available Halloween items at Wal-Mart: Halloween greeting cards (with and without sound effects), CDs with scary sounds and music, lots of Halloween candy, costumes and masks, decorated paper napkins, cups, plates, decorated plastic cups, plates and cutlery in orange, black and purple; party favors including, though not limited to plastic spiders, ghosts, witches all on rings or separate, pop-up goblin heads, pencils, erasers, pens, with and without "toppers"--little things that you can stick on the top of your pencil-- slinkies, snakes, skeletons. There are hair bows, earrings, t-shirts, underwear, panties, and thongs(!), pajamas, real pumpkins, artificial pumpkins already carved into jack-o-lanterns with electric lights, and uncarved ones, plastic bowls and tubs in varying sizes and shapes which are to be used for serving candy, bobbing for apples, cooling drinks, etc. There are also "belly washers"-- large plastic bottles of artificially colored sugary drinks which have large plastic or rubber caps in various shapes, cookies and cookie cutters, cakes and cake pans, cupcakes made and decorated for Halloween, cupcake cups and orange, purple and black icing, the usual cookies, snack cakes and breakfast cereals colored and packaged specifically for the season. There are also a large number of large inflatable yard decorations, windsocks, door decorations, and sigh, candles in various sizes,shapes, and scents, in oranges, browns, blacks and purple.

Halloween Has a Website

Halloween has a website. Now that Halloween is the second most popular holiday for decorating, and the 6th most profitable one in the United States, that should surprise no one. It's Halloween.com. I think that just about anything you would like to know about this particular holiday can be found here, including the history, costume ideas, printable activities for teaching about Halloween, screensavers, masks, costume ideas, Halloween jokes, crafts, decorations, and stories. There is a link to how to carve pumpkins which include ideas for pumpkin carving, among other rather odd and funny things. Unfortunately, the link to the design templates page wasn't working, but you can find plenty of other sites by searching "pumpkin carving templates" on Google.
Since it is so easy now to learn all about Halloween online, I will limit my posting to what it looks like here.

Czech This Out

This is turning into a nice week. Bram has been steadily working on a project for school which he will finish tomorrow, a full 5 days before it is due. I have baked two cakes in less than a week (and three in less than two weeks). Friend Lenka has mailed me Becherovka, which should be arriving soon, and today has been the best day so far. Thomas and Bram and I were unsuccessful in our search of the thrift stores today for dinosaur toys, but we did find a bommerang and a glass pie dish. And we went to the Spartanburg International Festival, where Bram discovered an unknown talent for cricket, and we found CZECHS! Well, they are Americans now, but they were all born in Brno. I took a few photos of a few of the displays, so you can see what good ambassadors for the Czech Republic this family is. I realize that my great fondness for all things Czech could cloud my judgment in such matters, but I am sure that the Czech tent was the most professional, most thorough, most interesting and attractive booth at the festival. Do you know how I can say this? It was always the most crowded, of course! But honestly, maybe it was the charm of the Czechs who created and tended it that drew so many people.

Holiday Creep

Holiday creep. No, it isn't an especially festive version of a weirdo. The term officially refers to the habit of retailers to increase the time for selling seasonal or holiday merchandise so that they can make more money. You know it already. I am told that in Brno, Olomouc and Prague, merchants are already filling their stores with Christmas decorations and merchandise, and here I can tell you that the stores are full, and I mean full, of Halloween candy, costumes and decorations, and have been for the last couple of weeks. Halloween is another four weeks away! And next to the orange and black, the ghosts and goblins and jack-o-lanterns and witches they are beginning to add the red and green, the Santas and elves and candy canes of Christmas. I don't know where the stuff for Thanksgiving will go, or what that "stuff" might be. Turkey cups? Pilgrim pants? These days, when I hear "holiday creep", I don't think of it in the sense of a lengthened buying season, but as gradual infiltration of holiday icons and decorations into more and more products. I am used to the M&Ms (candy covered chocolates like Lentilky) changing colors for Christmas, Easter, and Valentine's Day, but now they are not only sporting Halloween colors (orange and brown, for candy), but little Jack-o-lantern faces,too. And I'm used to the cookies and cakes that come in orange and black for a few weeks, to the and the sudden availability of orange plastic wrap and cutlery. This isn't such a big deal, really, but now I really must protest the preponderance of Halloween icons on underwear. This is a fine example of what I call "holiday creep-y".
I kid you not. Here is the selection of ladies Halloween panties which are still available at Wal-Mart. They were all sold out at the Dollar Tree. They must be immensely popular; it has only been a few days since I was in and saw them the first time, and now, as you can see, there aren't even any orange and black Halloween thongs left! That's okay, though. I am not sure that I could endure the jokes from Thomas about pumpkins and black cats, anyway. See those catchy little phrases printed on the panties? I'll be discussing that phenomenon with you later.

Fresh Bread and What I Love about the South

I went out this morning to buy coffee and bread and I had the good sense to go to Publix, the grocery store chain whose motto is "Where shopping is a pleasure." Who knew that grocery stores had mottos? I wonder if they have a flag, too? Any way, I am happy to report that this Publix makes bread fresh, from scratch, not just daily, but several times a day, and that this store is just 6 minutes, by car of course, from my house. The baker was very friendly, offering suggestions for the breads I might try I order to satisfy my craving for rohliky. In the less than 3 minutes time we talked, I learned her name, where she is from, her own preferences for bread, her favorite hard-to-find dish (saganaki, Greek flaming cheese) and where I could get it, and that I could look for a Chicago bakery that bakes Czech bread from which I might order some. Amazing, isn't it, that strangers should learn so much so quickly? In the South, this is quite ordinary, though it is less common than it used to be. Encounters with strangers which last longer than the obligatory "Hey" quickly lead to "who are you, where are you from, and who are your people?" And if we don't get beyond the initial "hey", we still speak to that same person every time, almost, that we see them, even if we see them several times a day. It is what I was taught was "being friendly" and "mannerly". It is just plain rude to pass a stranger without some courteous gesture of acknowledgement. You don't have to speak, but you should at least smile a little, nod your head, or if you are a man, touch or tip your hat.
Children--- good, Southern children are also taught to address their elders with respect; this means, saying "ma'm" to women and "sir" to men. Bram was resisting this lately, but when I explained to him that it was as much a part of his heritage and who he is as Babicka, "Dobry den" and removing your shoes in the house is to the Czechs, his response was to answer me with "yes, ma'm." He hasn't missed it since.

When I went out to my car, I was happy to learn that good old southern chilvary is still something I can see every day. I found that some other Southern women had reared their sons in the Southern tradition when two men came from different directions to offer their assistance to an old woman who was having car trouble. They approached us, one smiling, the other touching the brim of his cap, addressed up both as "ma'm" and assured the woman that they would take care of the problem for her. I think Southern men should tip their hats and speak, say "ma'm" and "sir", open doors for women,and offer their help to anybody who seems to need it. And the rest of us should offer our help to anyone who seems to need it, especially the old and the very young. It isn't a rule. It isn't a law. It is habit. It is who we are. There is a slogan you can see on bumperstickers, caps, and tee-shirts sometimes: "American by birth. Southern by the grace of God" I rather like that. Yes, ma'm. Yes, sir, I do.

Drive-Up, Drive-Thru, Drive-In

One very big difference between the US and all of Europe is the abundance of fast food restaurants from which we can buy and consume food without ever getting out of our cars. The variety of food from these places isn't all that great: it is usually food which most people think of as typically American: burgers, fries, hotdogs, and milkshakes, fried chicken (KFC). There is also Mexican convenience food (tacos, burritos,etc), which is not now thought of as typical American, but which I suspect certainly will be soon, and a few such establishments that serve fish. Now that so many Americans are morbidly obese from consuming large amounts of typical American fare, all of these fast food establishments also offer salads and diet drinks as part of some show of being attuned to the health conscious.


Nearly all of these restaurants (I can see my French teacher shudder every time I use this word to describe these places) have what is called a "drive thru." There is a driveway alongside of the building which leads up to a large menu board. You stop at the menu board, decide what you want, speak your order at the speaker in the menu board, drive around to the drive-up window, pay, and pick up your food. You don't get out of your car; you don't unbuckle your seatbelt; you don't give the cashier a tip. Then you drive happily away, more than likely, consuming your meal in the car as you drive.
A drive-in differs in several ways from a drive thru. One, even if you wanted to, you could not choose to have your meal inside the restaurant, though you might choose to sit at a table outside. There are many many menu boards, each of which is located next to a parking space. The method of ordering your food is the same: you look at the menu, decide what you want, then tell it to the speaker. In a few minutes, a server will come walking or skating out to your car with your food. You pay either with a card and use the menu board, or you pay your server. Either way, you eat your food in the car.
There are a few places which serve food with just the drive-up window where you place your order, pay and get your food, but not many. These days, drive up windows, without fancy menu boards are more common at banks and pharmacies, and even package (liquor) stores than restaurants.

Bags Packed for a Guilt Trip

Children have a way of rewarding a parent in the most heart breaking way sometimes. The tea olive and gardenias that I planted and have nurtured for the last five years and have been ignoring all summer are now overwhelming me with their glorious demands for attention.The blossoms on the tea olive are so dense and their scent so strong that it is nearly suffocating on the porch and you can smell them all through the house. The gardenias, not to be outdone, are blooming again, too. I certainly don't deserve such sweetness from my yard these days, after neglecting it for the last 12 weeks. But here they are, my little children, presenting their negligent mother with flowers and sweet perfumes.

Gardenia Tea Olive

Augusta Arts Festival

Festivals are pretty much the same sort of thing whether you are in Austria or Czechia or here. Most have tents with or without stages, food, and music and dancing, and maybe some art and arts and crafts. The Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival that we went to this past weekend to read our stories had it all. As with many festivals the purpose is to celebrate and to showcase local culture, and because of the fairly large immigrant populations in Augusta, it has the flavor of both an arts and crafts fair and international food and music festival. The cost for admission is just $5 for the entire weekend, and this entitles you to peruse the artists' tents, enjoy the music and dancing at four or five stages, and to buy food from the 30 booths offering food from 35 different nations. This availability of such a great variety of cuisines is one of my favorite things about my own country as is the fact that we all exist peacefully together. It is also, dare I say it, heartwarming that many of us also take great pleasure in learning about those who aren't at all like us. So, we watched a lot of Irish performers and some Indian dancers, ate a whole lot of good food, and Bram and I got henna tattoos.