Community Garden Plots

Not everyone likes to garden and those who do tend a garden like it for differing reasons. The yards around the houses here on the island are about the same size as the house gardens in Zabovresky, and like in Brno, there is a community garden with plots that residents can rent by the year to grow vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs. The plots are about 4 meters by 8-9 meters. They are not separated from each other by fences and don't have building structures on them, but there is normal garden architecture like trellises for running vines and espaliered fruit trees, wood frames for raised beds, and scarecrows and decorative statues like gnomes and saints and frogs. No one here camps out in the gardens, though there is a little area called "Palmetto Room" with barely functional tables and chairs tucked just inside the little wood at the south end of the garden. I have never seen anyone in there. My parents have two plots this year. For them, the sole purpose of their garden is to grow food to eat now and to freeze for the winter. Others rent their plots for fruit and herbs and/or flowers or to have a quiet place to sit. One woman even plants a 'memorial garden' in honor of her mother, though much to the chagrin of my own mother and of others, the daughter never harvests the vegetables. So for her, I suppose, the pleasure is in making the garden, tending it, and accepting nothing from it. On the way to the garden last week Thomas suggested that you might enjoy some photos of the community garden here. Since I derived so much pleasure from going to the gardens with Lenka in Brno, I agreed. So, here are a few images for you.

A Noticing Trip

Before we saw the headline in today's paper announcing a 60% decline in sea turtle nests on Jekyll Island, Thomas and I spotted a turtle in the canal when we were returning from the garden. We fetched Bram from the house and spent a long time doing some noticing from the footbridge. "Noticing trips" is something we have always done with Bram; it involves going outside and and paying attention to what we see. Thinking about it is a must. Talking about it isn't necessary, nor is the sketching that usually follows it, but what is the value of joy if it can't be shared?
This morning we were all heartened to see how abundant and healthy the life in and around the canal is. We watched the giant bullfrog tadpoles, which Bram says are "the wonder of [his] world these days" and tiny minnows make rings in a reflected sky, listened to the sounds of breezes and birds and bees and to the intermittent bellowing of a lone bullfrog, out of sync with the other frogs who won't "sing" until dusk. "He's got jet lag," one of us said, as a jet took off across the field. As the morning heated up, we saw more and more dragonflies, in electrified blues and chili pepper reds as they skirted the banks and rode swaying reeds. I guess most people would call this kind of experience "enjoying simple pleasures," yet neither the things we saw nor the pleasure we took in them were 'simple.'

Are You HOT?

At time of posting CURRENT TEMPERATURE = 30 Celsius, HUMIDITY = 75%, HUMIDEX = 41 Celsius

No, this isn't a question about your looks. I am quite serious here, though I have seen the temperatures from Central Europe and I already know the answer. It has been as hot in Brno lately as it is here, in South Georgia, and I am a bit worried about how my friends are managing. The Heat Index makes the temperatures dangerous even for those accustomed to such weather. So for the benefit of my dear sweet ones from cooler climes, I am going to share some tips for keeping cool. I grew up in middle Georgia where the average highs for July and August are in the nineties (usually 30-35 Celsius) and it is almost always humid, too, which means that it feels a lot hotter than it actually is, so I am used to the hot humid weather (and actually like it). Our house wasn't always air conditioned, nor were the schools I attended for the first eight years. Only a few of the buildings where I attended college had AC, and the classrooms which did had such noisy window units that they had to be turned off during class. None of my grandparents houses were air conditioned, and when my great grandmother who died at age 98 in 1999, her house still had no AC. My point? I am born and bred to manage the heat, and since some of my Czech friends were kind enough to share with me the lowdown on staying warm in the cold and snow to which they were born and bred, I am returning the favor, by offering my advice for surviving the heat.

1. Move slowly. Do everything slowly. There's a reason why a southern accent is called a drawl, and the hot temperatures here have a lot to do with it. We even talk slowly.
2. Drink lots of cold water, and avoid alcohol and caffeinated drinks, since they tend to dehydrate you.
3. Use an electric fan. Fanning yourself with a hand fan will only increase your body temperature.
4. Get wet. Wipe your face and arms, and whatever other parts of you that you want to, with a damp cloth, take a cool (not cold) shower, go swimming.
5. Freeze partially filled water bottles (neperliva works best). You can sip the cold water as the ice melts, and while you are waiting for the ice to melt,
6. apply the frozen bottle to your wrists, forehead and neck. Or just wipe the condesation from the bottle and use the cloth to wipe your face, etc.
7. Wear thin, loose-fitting cotton clothes, put your hair up ( I like to keep my wet), and do without the jewelry.

Yard Saling (Sale-ing)

This is a post about a very common weekend activity here which my parents call 'yard saling.' Basically, it involves one family or group of persons placing all of their unwanted personal possessions outside their house, into their garage and/or driveway and yard for other people to come by and peruse and to buy for ridiculously little money. The first time I heard them refer to their hobby of going to garage sales as 'yard saling,' I got a sudden image of both of my parents standing like surfers balanced on their boards, arms out, hair blown back from their faces, and I had to smile. When my fellow countrymen and women decide to rid themselves of the their current collection of capitalistic excesses, they often hold a garage (or yard) sale. Whether it is called a garage sale or a yard sale usually has little to do with whether the goods are sold from the garage or the yard. It's purely a matter of personal speech habits or whatever happens to be on the available store-bought signs.

To hold a yard sale, one goes through one's personal possessions and chooses what one no longer wants, places an advertisement in the local paper, places prices on stickers on the items themselves or on signs on the boxes or tables that hold them. ANYTHING can and is sold at yard sales. I have seen eyeglasses, paint, toilet plungers, tools, motorcycle parts, make-up (ick), dishes, building supplies and bikes, old family photos(!), medicines, and once, groceries! Prices are extremely low, usually from as little as 10 cents (about 2Kc) to just under $20 (500Kc),except for some furniture or autos, depending entirely on the whim of the seller. My parents once bought a good car for my brother for $100.


As all of these sales begin early usually on Saturday mornings at 7 or 8, it is important to get an early start to catch the best bargains. Mercifully, how one dresses for this actvity is unimportant. In fact, casual and unkempt is the norm, and it is not unusual for women to go without their make-up or for anyone to be still clutching their morning mug of coffee. It is interesting to see how happy it makes some people to get rid of their junk and how equally thrilled other people are to pay for it, and to watch all of the people involved. As they say, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." We went to eleven such sales on Saturday and among the things we returned with were some 'silk' flowers, a cashmere sweater (for 50 cents--10 Kc), some books, and a pair of crutches which were Bram's purchase. He likes to play on them. Go figure. When we returned, I gathered up a few bags of my own things which I will donate to Goodwill. Even though I could make a good bit of money if I held a yard sale of my own, I confess that I am both too lazy to do the work to have one. But after reading that the average profit for a one weekend yard sale is about $600, it is very likely that I will soon find a way to overcome my laziness. I would be thrilled with half that. Who knew my junk might be so valuable?

The 4th of July

Being Strange in America

Yesterday, I had one of my more normal days since we returned from Brno a year ago. 'Normal' for me here means, pretty much, waking early, and racing through the day trying to see just how much I can accomplish by bedtime. I made the beds,took Bram to his day camp, stopped by a store where I chatted with the cashier, a complete stranger, about cleansers. I listened to Spanish language tapes while I scrubbed the bathrooms, repaired the slow drain, replaced two shower heads, did 6 or 7 loads of laundry, cleaned the rugs, the porch, and the kitchen. In the afternoon,we went downtown to pay the car taxes on our 10 year old little Toyota and ate in a sidewalk cafe. Later, I cleaned the carport and driveway, pruned some shrubs, supervised the hanging of a new clothesline, and put away some of the dry clothes.

And so begins the being strange in America. The temperatures have been in the mid 30s here with about 80% humidity, and I am determined to make it through the summer without the air conditioning. And I am not using the clothes dryer, either, for most of the laundry. There is nothing wrong with our a.c unit, and our dryer is not broken. And this makes us strange. The general attitude here is that only poor (or strange) people do without these things. What makes it even more perplexing to our neighbors, who walk past our house and peer with pity on their faces into our wide open windows, is that we are choosing to live this way. Again today, we filled the clothesline with laundry and used the fans, and sweated a bit. I had coffee for breakfast, a kid meal from Burger King for lunch and rice for dinner. A little later I will have an American beer (go ahead, feel sorry for me with no pivo. I do.) and maybe, like yesterday, I will drink it without saying how much I miss Brno or complaining about how awful my beer is (though I am sure that I will think it and pity myself for the lack of my Czech friends).

I like the summer. I like the heat and the humidity and being outside, letting the outside in. Maybe I even like to sweat, though here I must be careful not to smell of sweat, since that, too, is a hallmark of the poor and of the strange. And when I was in the Czech Republic, in one of the coldest wettest winters on record, I loved the cold and the snow. This too makes me strange, at least here. Today, like yesterday, I feel as I often felt in Brno, both at home and homesick. And this, these days, is what passes for normal for me-- being strange, in America.

Why is Ray Charles here?

Why have I posted a video of Ray Charles singing "Georgia" here? "Georgia" is the official state song of, you guessed it, my beloved home state, Georgia, perhaps the only place I love more than Moravia. It was written by Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael, but Ray Charles, a native Georgian, made it famous. It's a lovely song. Just play it, and listen while you read.
Are you surprised to learn that Georgia has a state song? Then perhaps you will also be surprised to learn that every single state in the US has its own set of state symbols which includes not only its very own song, but also distnctive flag, official seal, bird, flower, tree, and animal. Most states also have an official state fossil. Learning all of the symbols and history of one's native state is a part of every elementary school child's education. No kidding! It's part of the Official Curriculum.
We Southerners can be quite sentimental about where we come from. Here in South Carolina, natives often display an image of the state tree for SC, the Palmetto, just about every where--clothes, shoes, cars, jewelry, towels. At my childhood home in FORT VALLEY we had Cherokee roses in the yard. I have planted Carolina Jessamine because Bram is growing up here. My great-grandmother had a whole garden of Camellias, the official flower of her home state, Alabama. And I have those, too. Maybe this fall I should plant a Cherokee Rose.

Birthday / Father's Day Weekend

Saturday was Thomas's birthday, and because Bram liked being awakened by singing on his birthday, Bram and I woke Thomas by singing 'Happy Birthday' to him. The truth is that Thomas woke up when Bram and I did and had to be cajoled back into bed for a later awakening with our singing. After a breakfast of French toast with a candle on it, and a trip to the library, we had what we like to call "Video Fest". We watched "The Thief Lord" and Jurassic Park","Take the Lead," "Hitcher," "Deja Vu" at home, then "Shrek 3" at the theater. (only Shrek and Deja Vu were tolerable) Thomas opened his presents . And somewhere in here we had meals, but we can't any of us remember where or what-LOL.

On Father's Day, we wasted no time with singing, but served Thomas his coffee, and later in the afternoon, whisked him off to restaurant/family fun place, Mr Gatti's, where, in the presense of more than 70 signs--click here to test your English instructing us what to do and not to do, we ate pizza, pasta and salad between our trips to the gameroom, where Thomas got just what he asked for for his Father's Day: watching me and Bram 'hunt, shoot and kill' all manner of sea creatures and dinosaurs. Total haul for the weekend for the Birthday Boy: 1 t-shirt, custom painted by Bram, 2 design markups (1 each by Bram and me) for the cover of his next book, a 2G flash drive, pens, papers, and clipboard decorated by Bram, 8 cards (5 pop-up cards made by me and Bram), 8 books, money, and a very nice drawing of a battleship by Bram. He got books and money from his mother and brother, and money from his in-laws. I say he had quite a nice weekend, wouldn't you?

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

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I had been thinking about writing about immigration this week, but I'm posting this instead. Hope you like it!