The Wealth of Czech Culture

In a handful of weeks, our family of five will be taking the giant leap across the Atlantic to settle into a new life in Prague, Czech Republic. We are all very excited about the adventure that is sure to come with life in a new country and a new continent. In addition to the endless physical preparations, we are doing our best to prepare ourselves from within, as well. This week, we went through cultural training, which not only gave us points of cultural differences to prepare for, but also introduced many wonderful aspects of Czech life to look forward to living and experiencing during our time there.

Since I really didn't know much about Prague and Czech Republic until recently, I’d like to share a few key elements I find interesting.

The Czech Republic is a beautiful, modern country about the size of the state of South Carolina with a population of roughly ten million. The Czech Republic has been a member of NATO since 1999 and of the European Union since 2004, and is bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the East, and Poland to the north. Though the region thrived as an intellectual European center prior to 1948, the government fell to Soviet rule, and Czechoslovakia endured communist regime until 1989. In 1993, Czech Republic and Slovakia split into their respective countries. Amazingly, the Czech people have only been without communism for only twenty years.


Prague, the main Czech city, has long stood as a cultural center for much of Central Europe, hosting artists and musicians and intellectuals for decades. One of my personal favorites, Antonin Dvořák, musician and composer of the New World Symphony and many Slavonic Dances, lived near Prague in the late 1800’s. Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart resided in Prague and found tremendous inspiration there. Today, opera, ballet, and symphony perform regularly in breathtaking opera houses.

Prague is also well known for poets and writers, including Franz Kafka. And since original buildings exist throughout the city, Prague is known for its wealth of architecture: Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, Cubist, Renaissance, and Art Nouveau. On a practical level, the city's beauty is everywhere, brought to life in weathered plaster buildings, cobblestone streets, and brightly-colored geraniums planted in quaint windowboxes.

With castles and music and arts and natural and societal beauty, our time in Prague is certain to be a culturally decadent experience. As a writer, I know the rich surroundings of Prague and Central Europe will have a profound impact on my life, my living, and my art.

So much to learn, so much to enjoy, so much to savor and pass on … looking forward to the upcoming years of experiences in Prague, Czech Republic.

Looking forward to sharing it with you …

Enjoy Summer! -Jennifer

Winds of Change

True to form, these last couple of weeks of vast change in our personal lives, I have been finding refuge in small spurts in the backyard. I’ve always been a backyard girl, excited about plants and animals that live there. Considering that the clematis and climbing roses have created a breathtaking paradise just outside our back door, recently I’ve spent a larger quantity of time outside than normal. It just so happens that an amazing phenomenon has been taking place. Not only have the tiniest birds in the avian world taken up residence in and around our yard, but the Ruby-throated hummingbirds have become a ubiquitous presence throughout every moment of daylight—even at 5:30 am. The garden fairies are out in full force now, rain or shine.

Before a friend gave us a hummingbird feeder several years ago, my husband and I had lived much of our lives in the Midwestern United States without ever even encountering a single hummingbird. Given their size and speed, hummingbirds are difficult to watch or even notice. But with a feeder and a garden blooming with hummingbird favorites, we now have such a steady stream of hummingbirds flitting about that it’s not uncommon for a hummer to come up for a personal greeting. Armed with my digital SLR camera, I have been hanging out near the hummingbird feeder to catch a shot or two.

Each time I actually capture a good photograph of a hummingbird, I rejoice! It’s not easy standing hidden and still for long minutes waiting, and hummers may be one of the fastest moving targets imaginable. BUT, I do occasionally catch a couple of good ones … I’d like to share a couple with you.

Every year, we have a juvenile male hummer take up residence near the feeder, and literally try to guard the feeder from any other hummers. Whenever another hummingbird comes into the vicinity, the high-speed chase begins. Funny enough, he chit-chits at me so as to scare me away as well, and if I’m lucky enough, he’ll do the famous hummingbird dive-bomb, too. It’s amazing that the tiniest of all birds have the largest personalities! So, as I caught this photograph of the mature male Ruby-throated hummer, the guard must have been sleeping…

The hummingbird in the next photograph was enchanting—completely unaffected and undeterred by my presence. I’m judging by the shortened tail and fluffy feathers that this one is a juvenile—I think it’s adorable!

Finding perspective while the winds of change blow through can be difficult. For our family, in the midst of an international move, looming change blows in like a gale force. Nothing seems as if it will stay familiar. But in the midst of unfamiliarity, many things stay the same—Nature. The sun rises and sets. The flowers bloom and the grass grows, regardless of what our schedules say. The birds fly and the sky blazes in impressive colors and shapes, unswayed by the craziness of our lives.

Solace and peace isn’t easy to hunt and find, but it certainly can be experienced by sitting back for a while, catching a breath or two, and enjoying the creation around us. Through the winds of change, I’ll be catching my breath in the backyard, camera in hand, catching more joys that fly.

The Adventure Called Life

“Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing [at all].” –Helen Keller

Last week, my husband and I had the immense privilege of traveling abroad to Prague, Czech Republic, a sweepingly beautiful country in Eastern Europe. We knew the trip would be an adventure, but in every way, our experiences exceeded our expectations. Of course, as travel and change are sometimes difficult, on our first day in Europe last week, our oldest son broke his arm in the States. Thankfully, our son received good care and is on the mend, but with that situation combined with our lack of internet access, last week’s blog did not get posted … perhaps later on this week.

To share, a few highlights of our time in Czech Republic:

With grand Prague Castle perched high above the Vltava River, even a single glimpse of Prague is impressive. On one warm day we were there, we walked the Charles Bridge among tourists and street vendors, took in the sights, and watched the colorful rowboats out for evening river rides. The Prague Castle dazzled us at night as its illuminated reflection danced across the Vltava, as we strolled along admiring the scene from the other bank.

History and romance reign in Prague’s Old Town, with cobblestone streets and open squares and cathedrals and monuments and quaint shops and open-air restaurants. Inspiring architecture and rich tradition saturate the ambiance in Old Town, showcasing the musical gems of opera and symphony, religious landmarks with centuries’ old spires and stained glass, and historical sites such as the Old Town Square and its Astronomical Clock circa 1410.

A city with a high “green” ratio, Prague boasts many forests and parks and public gardens to visit, creating a pleasant balance between buildings and nature. Outside Prague, countryside stretches over rolling hills patched by crops and lined with waving crimson poppies. Beautiful!

Though the dominating language in Czech Republic is Czech, the people were welcoming and kind, and we found many spoke some English.
This summer, we will be relocating to Prague for an expat assignment for my husband’s work. During last week’s trip, we accomplished the objectives of finding housing, investigating the city, and registering our children for school. We are all excited to set off on a new adventure in Prague!

Life can be viewed through various lenses. But, as Helen Keller famously noted (quoted above), life really only sings when it’s seen through the lens of possibility. Whether it’s moving across the world, or walking across the room to make a new friend, our lives are completely made up of our choices -- choices toward or away from adventure. Looking at life through the lens of possibility, life can be a daring adventure. Here’s to squeezing every last drop of life out of today, and every day … to the Adventure called Life.

Catching Joys

Every evening about this time last year, I caught a Wow sight from my kitchen window.

Golden light drenched patches of our backyard, creating pools of beauty where the setting sun mingled with indigo shadows in a final play of Nature’s evening art. Daisies, birdbath, light, stillness—everything contributed to the dramatic beauty over ten minute spells last spring. I looked forward to watching it again this year.

This May, though, the scene happens to be quite different. Not only is the birdbath broken and lopsided, but the daisies surrounding the spot are only halfway in bloom this year. Unfortunately, other plants crowded the daisies out. The Wow sight is nothing of the same this year.

Isn’t that the same with life, though?

Occasions when time is sweet never seem to last, do they?

Time moves, today becomes yesterday, and yesterdays become memories. Time never is the same. Change, however, is inevitable, certain. Tomorrow will be different than today. Today will never be the same again. Wow moments strike once, maybe twice, then flutter away changed forever.

One of my most treasured friends has a wonderful saying:

Catch the JOY as it flies!

The joys in life may be fleeting, but they can be enjoyed, thoroughly, if we are open to them. Perhaps we can be aware of joy as it flitters by, and capture the delight accompanying it, to savor and remember and share. Like a vibrant butterfly, perhaps we can find life’s fragrance in the recognition of its uniqueness and in the celebration of the moment’s beauty. Catching the joy as it flies.

This year, the scene might be different, but it still is beautiful—everywhere, in different ways, if I just look for it … and catch the joy as it flies.

A More Beautiful Place

A few years ago, we enjoyed a summer vacation in Maine, the camping kind involving a tent and hiking boots. Since it was not the first time we’d traveled around Maine, we had an idea of what to look forward to—the rocky coastline, the sleepy clapboard villages, the saltsprayed restaurants serving mouthwatering blueberry pie and to-die-for lobster, the lighthouses marking way to safe harbors, the wildlife and wildflowers and pristine wilderness. Maine has a way of stealing a heart, or at least capturing the wild at heart. And so, we ventured back to Maine for another summer vacation not knowing we were in for more than we had imagined.

That summer, not only did we see a Bald Eagle and a moose in action close range, but we again explored the majestic Acadia National Park and dug up even more hidden treasures. There, beside a tiny village on Somes Sound, we happened upon a breathtaking field of lupine. For moments standing in the lupine meadow, I realized that the natural beauty would stay with me forever. The photographs I took (including the one above) stand to remind me of that day.

Afterward, a dear Boston friend gave us a remarkable picture book entitled Miss Rumphius, written and illustrated by Barbara Cooney, which won the American Book Award. The story contained within the book, with its gentle images and serene cadence, is hauntingly beautiful, another reminder for me of the lupine meadow.

In the book, Alice, the main character, sits on the knee of her grandfather, who tells her of three things she must do in her life: travel to faraway places, live beside the sea, and do something to make the world more beautiful. As a result, Alice Rumphius makes her way through life … and eventually discovers her own way of making the world more beautiful. Full circle in the end, as Miss Alice Rumphius, now old, tells her young niece of the three things, they look out on the surrounding Maine hills covered with lupine meadows, all which started with a single seed scattered by Miss Rumphius.

It is amazing to imagine, with a world full of people rife with gifts to share that life would be much richer if we were to open up our lives to impacting the world for good. I’m perpetually inspired by World Vision (http://www.worldvision.org/) and their work on behalf of the extreme poor in the world, and more recently by Michael Hyatt (http://michaelhyatt.com/) and his traveling companions just arriving back from a trip to Ethiopia. Certainly traveling to faraway places has a way of opening our minds to more than just ourselves and our hearts to helping others. I find vacations by the sea to be unsurpassed, and would love to someday live with the waves crashing at my doorstep. But truly, finding our unique place in the world, finding the place where we can share our lives and experiences and gifts with the world around us, opening our minds by experiencing faraway places (whether it is around the corner or around the world), that is the place I think where we begin to make the world more beautiful, the sum of all three, the point, I think, of Miss Rumphius. Perhaps by offering our lives to help others, we can truly make the world more beautiful. In my mind, nothing can be more significant and worthwhile than that …

… It all begins with one small seed.

More Than a Hill of Beans

It doesn’t seem that long ago, coming home from the hospital in Metairie, Louisiana, with our firstborn—a truly memorable experience. The gracious night nurse had just given me a crash course on caring for a newborn … not just any newborn, but my own. It didn’t take long to realize the meaning of the new little life depending on me. Diaper changes, feedings, and all-nighters followed by all-dayers proved to be much more challenging than I had imagined it all to be. Soon, I realized, it adds up. Caring wholeheartedly for someone else takes a toll on the caregiver, on the mom. It wasn’t long after that I realized the best gift coming home from the hospital would have been something unexpected, but entirely needed—a prescription for weekly, or even daily, guilt-free personal time for the mom.
An interview I read in the USA Today (click here for link) with Marie Osmond, mother of eight children, was along these same lines—that women, moms especially, rarely take care of themselves. One of Marie’s sons said to her, “Mom, we think you're beautiful no matter what you weigh, but we want you to start taking care of yourself. ... We want you to be around for us and for our kids, too." Such truth.

The longer I’ve been a mom, the more I’ve realized the intensity of the need for time to care for myself. When we give, we also earn the need to replenish. It doesn’t matter if the replenishment comes in the form of an undisturbed hour to soak in the tub or daily time to unwind with a walk or a run, but caring for ourselves, in general, is often difficult to justify. There is always another meal to prepare, room to pick up, bill to pay, or dish to wash. But we need time away from drudgeries like clothes ruined by the errant crayon melted in the dryer. We, as human beings, need time and investment in our health—more than an occasional check in a box to say that we are worth more than a hill of beans.

When we invest more than the tired minute at the end of the day in ourselves, we’re able to gain balance, restore or gain personal health. Even more, when we allow ourselves time to reflect and sort the healthy from the harmful, and let go of those things pinning us down under the weight of an oppressive past, we begin to feel a change, a positive awakening to something full and vibrant and real—something authentic. There is nothing more valuable to give to our spouses and children, to the world around us, and to life and living, than an unhindered, authentic love coming from the depth of personal well-being and health … beauty and love at its best.

When we care for ourselves, we care for our families as well. When we invest in our health, we invest in the health of those we love as well. When we continue to learn, exercise, laugh, and enjoy life, we also help those we love to do those very same things. We want the best for those entrusted to our care. Maybe by beginning with something as innocuous as prescription for spending intentional time remembering our own health, we can remember that our health is important, too.

This Mother’s Day, give the gift of encouragement and empowerment to someone you love (even yourself!) so that she may take another step toward becoming all that she can be. It just may be the best gift ever.

The Garden Fairies' Return

Outside the doors, the world is changing, greening, coming alive. I love spring for so many reasons, but probably most for reimmersion with hope. Where the world was dead and ugly now is verdant and full of life, and beautiful. The bouquet sitting on my table as I write is bursting with fragrance and bloom—tulips, jonquils, bleeding hearts, and Poet’s daffodils. Ah—Spring I love! A photograph …

Even more exciting for me than the flowering is the return of the hummingbirds, my Garden Fairies. Yesterday, I spotted my first male Ruby-throated Hummingbird at one of my feeders. And, as every year’s first glance, I stared in shock and wide-eyed wonder at the tiny sparkler hovering about the gardens. Beautiful!

In the peak of their season here, our yard swarms with hummers, which I love more than can be described in words. They are magical to me, fantastic glimpses of impossibility overcome with beauty. I won’t go on and on – check out http://www.hummingbirds.net/ for migration routes, photographs of the different breeds, and every other hummingbird fact you could conjure into question. One amazement to me, as with the amazing migration of the Monarch butterflies, is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird’s migration—most of them apparently migrate to and from Central America by leaving at dusk and taking a nonstop five-hundred mile flight across the Gulf of Mexico. Incredible considering each hummer weighs less than five ounces! So, to these flitting miracles, I look forward to being dive-bombed while out in the yard in the early hours—won’t be long.

To set up your own hummingbird feeder, find one easy to take apart and clean, and with bee-guards at the ports. Mixing nectar is simple, and needs to be done about once a week: 4 parts water with 1 part sugar, heat water and stir in sugar, cool and add to feeder. Depending on the outdoor temperature, feeders need to be maintained regularly by cleaning (don’t use soap on the feeder), and replenishing the nectar.

‘Tis the season to enjoy the everyday miracles outdoors! Enjoy … JK