The ONLY Sensible Thing

We went to the video store yesterday to check out a little entertainment only to find that our beloved source of movies is going out of business. We have been paying about $15 a month for what amounts to a subscription for the privilege of checking out unlimited DVDs (3 at a time, we chose the cheapest plan). It was cheaper, by two thirds than basic cable TV and the quality is a million times better. So, it isn't a happy thing for us. I insisted that we do the only sensible thing; drive straight to the grocery store to buy ice cream! A half gallon (about 2 litres) of all natural butter pecan for me, and birthday cake flavor for Bram. Thomas opted to just share ours. I had to try Bram's since I am such a big fan of birthday cake (Really. I insist on it at least 3 times a year). Birthday cake ice cream... . Well, I am happier now. To be honest, though, I have to admit that my having a happiness may have more to do with our coming to Brno than with the ice cream. Can you say, "non-refundable flight tickets"?

Is Your Mailbox Lonely?

Or is it just quite crowded with mail you don't want? We've successfully stopped just about all of the junk mail that used to fill up our mailbox, and now except utilites (gas, electricity, water), and cable internet and insurance, we hardly even get any bills anymore. As enamoured as I am of the internet and the ability to stay in constant contact with many of my friends, I rather miss 'real' mail now that I get only about a half dozen letters a year. There is something very gratifying about getting a handwritten letter from someone. Holding the paper and seeing the ink of feelings and thoughts from one heart and mind to another makes the whole communication more intimate and somehow more real. It's quite gratifying to hold in my hands a missive from a friend. And when I get a card or letter, I get the added pleasure of deciding whether to delay that gratification. Should I choose to set it aside, I can revel in the anticipation of opening and reading it. It assumes the status of a gift. And who doesn't love presents, right?
At postcrossing.com, you can sign up to send and receive postcards from random 'postcrossers' from all over the world. It isn't the same as getting a letter from a friend but it beats spam in your email and junk mail in your mailbox. And maybe it will appeal just a little to the romantic in you, the idea of a card chosen for and written and addressed to you from a stranger a quarter or a half way 'round the world. Even if it doesn't, the cards are nice and the stamps jsou hustá.

Easter Monday

I was a little unhappy to have missed the things I wanted to do on Easter, but Lenka came into the kitchen Monday morning to ask if I wanted to color eggs. "An Easter do-over?" I asked. She reminded me that Czechs celebrate on Easter Monday. I began to cheer up a little, and after I realized I hadn't missed my chance to get my Easter beatings, I cheered up a lot. So, here is the photo of the eggs that Lenka showed me how to color and decorate with onion skins and leaves, and to shine with a piece of bacon. And after dinner, we got our Easter beatings with the pomlasky.

For all of you non-Czechs, pomlaksy are braided switches which the Czech menfolk use to beat their women on Easter Monday. Don't gasp. It makes them healthy and beautiful all year (and apparently, excellent cooks).

Angels

I have been thinking about how much the responses of the people who helped us reflected their own perceptions of our situation. A couple, a woman and two children stranded by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere (Okay, so it wasn't nowhere, just 30 km to the nearest town) to most is just a spectacle, to some, an annoyance, an unwanted view from their front window. But to a few it is a sign that something needs remedying. Janet stopped to offer help. One couple out of a few hundred stopped to ask if we needed anything. Three (or more) patrol officers came to help, made calls and arrangements. And in the same spirit, this couple,

John and Gail Rose, of Oakwood Grove Baptist Church, requested the use of their church van and insisted on driving us ALL THE WAY HOME, to Spartanburg, to our house. They refused payment and offers of dinner. We learned that this is something that the Roses often do for stranded motorists. Sometimes--often, they arrange transportation for the people who are left after a car accident. Those without the friend or loved one they started the journey with, sad people, grieving people, broken people. John and Gail are people who see where help is needed and provide it, kindly, generously, asking nothing in return.
Now, I wonder, how many fewer hurt or broken people there would be in the world, how many fewer fights and wars there would be if our better nature ruled as it does in all of those who did their bit to help us?

Knights in Shining Armour

Okay, so maybe I am being a bit dramatic here, but how can I resist calling these North Carolina Highway Patrol Officers anything less heroic? Trooper McLeod arrived smiling and apologetic, though the fault of his late arrival was mine, not his, and quite happy to help us get out of our dilemma. He began to arrange transportation for us and for our vehicle. The tow truck that came was the one up in the rotation, not his personal choice (I asked). He called his boss, Sergeant Ledford who also came to help carry our bags and all of us, and while we waited around, Officer McLeod provided pleasant, interesting company.
At the Patrol Station in Clyde, we met Trooper Feinberg, who was equally kind and good-natured, and who had also arranged for us to be taken to the Asheville Airport to rent a car to get home, but when our ride arrived, we got a wonderful surprise.
It may be that it is just a part of their duties to be solicitous and polite to stranded motorists, to do more than just stare as they drive slowly past, to do more than throw up their hands and say, "It's Sunday," but I doubt it. Whether it is good breeding for which I should thank their mothers or good training for which I should thank their teachers, I was grateful for it. They represented both their state and my country well, I think. Lenka was impressed, too, I think. I know I was.

Good Samaritan

Of the many cars who went by us, only this woman and one other young couple in a hot blue Mustang did more than just slow down to stare. This woman (Her name was Janet, no kidding) stopped, asked if she could help, made phone calls to try to help, and once our help was finally under way, she stopped back by to ask if we were okay. It was clear from her behavior that what she saw was clearly a group of people in need of some assistance, and her breeding or her natural inclination, or both, was to try to help.

Not a Part of the Plan

The engine is blown. The only help offered by the people residing at the house we ended up in front of was to tell us to move our car and to inform us that we wouldn't be able to get any help on a Sunday. Oh, during the more than two hours we were stranded, he and his kids and wife did take a little time out to stand around and stare at us. Did they think we did this on purpose or for fun? Were they too Yankee to have been bred well enough to be kind? Have they had so many motorists stranded in the road in front of them that they've gone quite tired of helping them?

The tow truck driver charged us $250 to tow the van to the dealership, and though we all felt that this was a bit extreme, we paid it. There were other things, by other people, which made it not so bad.
On a positive note, Lenka's daughter and my son behaved exceptionally well; they were calm in the car, entertained themselves entirely, and though they must have been as tired as we were of sitting by the road, they didn't complain even once.

The Plan and What Went Right

First, take the kids to meet the Easter Bunny and to go egg hunting at the university: This went well enough. They examined the hiding field, discussed their mutual goals, planned their strategy, found 40 plus eggs, and divided them fairly without so much as a frown of disagreement (and people say only children are spoiled and don't know how to share).

Next, get on the Blue Ridge Parkway and see fabulous mountain views like this one
And this waterfall.

Next, find a nice hotel with balconies and flowing water in Cherokee, North Carolina. Visit the Cherokee Museum and the Oconaluftee Indian village. Oconaluftee was closed for the season. But the Museum of the Cherokee Indian was very good, with enough reading and visuals and artifacts to be informative and interesting. Please note that this museum, built, maintained and operated entirely by Cherokee, is NOT called the "Museum of the Cherokee Native American."

Day Trip One

Here, it is said that a friend will help you move, but a good friend will help you move a body. When we had the very excellent dinner that Lenka cooked for us last night, Thomas and I decided that a friend will buy you lunch. A good friend will cook for you. An excellent friend will travel 5000 miles to cook for you in your own home. Seriously, eating Czech food makes me feel happy and loved, and having someone prepare Czech cuisine for me makes me feel very special indeed.
Today, I took the girls to Chimney Rock in North Carolina for the day. We had the delicious lunch that Lenka had packed for us, which included sandwiches made with some of the pork roast that she had cooked for us last night. We took the Outcroppings Trail, about a 30 minute hike plus some few (hundred? thousand?) stairs up to the top of the Chimney, and back down again. We hiked the Skylane Trail (about an hour and a half) to the top of Hickory Nut Falls, which as you can see from the photo, is way higher than the Chimney, with both fantastic and a few scary (for me) views from near the very top of the mountain. The weather was cool and very windy, for the most part a good day for hiking. There wasn't the excitement of our previous trip, and I think that we were all glad for that.
What was especially nice for me were the conversations that Lenka and I had in the car and while we were hiking. In fact, I am sure that this was my favorite part of the trip. It's rare, for me at least, to find someone so open, funny, and sympathetic who isn't afraid of laughing at herself or at me, whose response to my sharing something is to share something of her own.

They're Here!

Lenka and Anicka arrived from Brno a week ago. Since they got here, I have been very busy showing them things. Shortly after this photo was taken in front of the oldest residence in Athens, Ga, we headed farther south to St Simons. What is normally about a 6 hour trip by car, (the only way to go, of course, for those of us who don't have horses or planes) took us 12 hours! After running into a huge rain storm outside of Commerce, we found ourselves trying to escape bad weather as we went. From store fronts darkened by a power outage, we drove through traffic lights swinging nearly horizontal in the wind to Athens. We finished up our chili dogs and chili steaks at the world's largest drive-in, The Varsity, just as skies began to darken. We stopped in Bishop to look around at some funky sculptures. As you can see, Lenka took a particular liking to the big dinosaur. We passed through Madison, where the ground was white with small hailstones and stopped in Milledgeville for a quick walk through the campus of my alma mater, Georgia College and State University. The skies were the least threatening ones we had seen all day: the sun was even shining, the flowers and tea olive were blooming on campus. Nothing gave us warning of what happened ten minutes later.
As we left Milledgeville, it began to rain again, then to hail. Small hailstones quickly got larger, until finally, my poor little car was being pelted with baseball-sized hail. I phoned my mother to ask her to check the weather radar. She very calmly said, "You're in a tornado. They've already evacuated the college. Move south as soon as you can." I must say that both Anicka and Lenka were very brave about it. And my brave little Toyota now has a good many new dimples.
Once we were at the beach, the weather was wonderful, though a little bit windy. Lenka and Anicka spent their days at the beach and biking around while I rested. And on Tuesday, we all went to Jekyll Island to Driftwood Beach.
We toured the buildings and grounds at Hofwyl Broadfield Plantation and headed back home, this time without free samples of some of the worst weather that the South has to offer.