Bird on a rock at Holmes Beach, AMI, Florida
The Plan for 2018
This picture was actually taken in late 2017 on Anna Maria Island and seems to be a nice idea of Florida, particularly during an unpleasant and overly long cold spell.
January is passing with two notable birthdays, as is quite usual, Nancy and Morgan. The latter's birthday will be celebrated at the new ice arena in Wesley Chapel and may be documented separately.
In February we will receive three visitors from Hruba Skala for a ten day visit. During the visit, Jacalin and one of the visitors will run in the Tampa Half Marathon and both ladies are training for this on a prescribed basis. A few days after the visitors return, we will celebrate Jacalin's birthday and a couple of weeks after that we will depart via Zurich for Prague. After arriving there, we hope to pick up a new car in Turnov having, hopefully, sold our car in the USA; it is difficult to keep a car idle for eight months a year in our absence.
As soon as possible in April and the ensuing months, we will continue our English 'lessons' and enjoy the friendship and hospitality of our village neighbours and our 'pub' next door.
In May we will have a visit from our good friends for many years Ginny and Bud Roemhild. Even though they live only three hours away in Ponte Vedra Beach, we have failed to keep in touch on a regular basis, so we are looking forward to catching up on a lot of news... it will be the second time that we have had the pleasure of their company in Doubravice.
We don't expect Nancy, Bryan and the girls to visit this year and we look forward to Jacalin and Phil's visit in September again, maybe for a visit to Slovakia to the White Tatra Mountains.
And after that we will start decommissioning the house and garden for our return to Florida just before the mid-term USA elections.
As of this writing the Czech Republic is in the throes of the second round of presidential election voting, which seems as contentious as the 2016 elections in the USA. Those who have a keen desire to see the Czech Republic continue as a sovereign nation, not a puppet of the European Barons, will vote with their heads to re-elect President Zeman; those who vote with their hearts will vote for his opponent, evidently a helpless puppet of the Eurocrats and the dreadful Soros. Our opinion is fairly clear... Zdenka was contacted by the editor of an online news site ePortal.cz and her article was published on January 25. If you can read Czech the article is to be found in the PDF file below.
And that was plan!
January is passing with two notable birthdays, as is quite usual, Nancy and Morgan. The latter's birthday will be celebrated at the new ice arena in Wesley Chapel and may be documented separately.
In February we will receive three visitors from Hruba Skala for a ten day visit. During the visit, Jacalin and one of the visitors will run in the Tampa Half Marathon and both ladies are training for this on a prescribed basis. A few days after the visitors return, we will celebrate Jacalin's birthday and a couple of weeks after that we will depart via Zurich for Prague. After arriving there, we hope to pick up a new car in Turnov having, hopefully, sold our car in the USA; it is difficult to keep a car idle for eight months a year in our absence.
As soon as possible in April and the ensuing months, we will continue our English 'lessons' and enjoy the friendship and hospitality of our village neighbours and our 'pub' next door.
In May we will have a visit from our good friends for many years Ginny and Bud Roemhild. Even though they live only three hours away in Ponte Vedra Beach, we have failed to keep in touch on a regular basis, so we are looking forward to catching up on a lot of news... it will be the second time that we have had the pleasure of their company in Doubravice.
We don't expect Nancy, Bryan and the girls to visit this year and we look forward to Jacalin and Phil's visit in September again, maybe for a visit to Slovakia to the White Tatra Mountains.
And after that we will start decommissioning the house and garden for our return to Florida just before the mid-term USA elections.
As of this writing the Czech Republic is in the throes of the second round of presidential election voting, which seems as contentious as the 2016 elections in the USA. Those who have a keen desire to see the Czech Republic continue as a sovereign nation, not a puppet of the European Barons, will vote with their heads to re-elect President Zeman; those who vote with their hearts will vote for his opponent, evidently a helpless puppet of the Eurocrats and the dreadful Soros. Our opinion is fairly clear... Zdenka was contacted by the editor of an online news site ePortal.cz and her article was published on January 25. If you can read Czech the article is to be found in the PDF file below.
And that was plan!
Download File
1_25_2018_zpa_eportal_article.pdf
1_25_2018_zpa_eportal_article.pdf
The Year In Review
Beautiful Millsatt See
One of Z's school mates from Vrsovice travels frequently to Millstatt am See in the province of Carinthia in Austria. Over the years he had shared many of his pictures. As we thought about where to visit during Jacalin and Phil's annual visit to Europe in September, we thought about Millstatt and Z found a promising looking villa for us to repose in. As the time drew near for our visit, the weather forecast was terrible, with monsoon rains and cool temperatures. I was all for cancelling the visit, but the forecast slowly changed and when we got there this was the perfect view that we enjoyed every morning. Millstatt is about seven hours and a bit from Hruba Skala. The road system in Czech Republic has not yet embraced a motorway link to Linz, and the Austrians have not connected Vienna to the motorway to Brno. Once one reaches Linz, the roads improve and the scenery is spectacular as one heads west and south.
Before we left in late 2017, we had planned for Jana, Jitka and Milan to visit us in Florida, during which Jana joined Jacalin for the Gasparilla Half Marathon. It was a new experience for Jana to run on level ground, of which there is none in Hruba Skala. The rest of their visit was wonderful and after they returned, we were in our countdown to departure for Prague vis Zurich.
As usual we spent the first three months of the year in Florida celebrating birthdays, etc and trying to complete the sale of our non-SUV, but otherwise excellent Skoda Octavia Scout, purchased only a couple of years previously in Prague.
Our friend Pavel Dumek from Autostyl told us that his boss's SUV was going to be available and he would arrange to sell the Octavia. Thus we landed in Prague, were met by Pavel and about 90 minutes later the navigator lady directed us right through the middle of Prague's afternoon rush hour. Not pleasant. But we arrived more or less on schedule in Doubravice for the first of our monthly dinners; this one was hosted by Jana and Tomas who live about 100 meters down the street and attended by our next door neighbors, Iva and Jirka Falta and the Simek's from Hnanice.
Before we left in late 2017, we had planned for Jana, Jitka and Milan to visit us in Florida, during which Jana joined Jacalin for the Gasparilla Half Marathon. It was a new experience for Jana to run on level ground, of which there is none in Hruba Skala. The rest of their visit was wonderful and after they returned, we were in our countdown to departure for Prague vis Zurich.
As usual we spent the first three months of the year in Florida celebrating birthdays, etc and trying to complete the sale of our non-SUV, but otherwise excellent Skoda Octavia Scout, purchased only a couple of years previously in Prague.
Our friend Pavel Dumek from Autostyl told us that his boss's SUV was going to be available and he would arrange to sell the Octavia. Thus we landed in Prague, were met by Pavel and about 90 minutes later the navigator lady directed us right through the middle of Prague's afternoon rush hour. Not pleasant. But we arrived more or less on schedule in Doubravice for the first of our monthly dinners; this one was hosted by Jana and Tomas who live about 100 meters down the street and attended by our next door neighbors, Iva and Jirka Falta and the Simek's from Hnanice.
The pictures below show some of the main events of the year, but not in any sequence:
|
One of the monthly dinner gatherings
Haley tormenting her grandfather The family gathering on Anna Maria Island for Thanksgiving The visit of Ginny and Bud Roemhild The village cycling expedition Another of the monthly dinners Setting off from Zurich to Tampa Friday evenings at the 'Pub' Dinner in Frydlant with Lucie, Vasek, Jacalin, Philip and us A nice evening by the lake in Millstatt A nice evening at Doubravice 38 Dedo and Morgie study the news after breakfast on AMI |
Swimming people at AMI
Crafting people at AMI Teaching Dedo to try to smile Lunch in Ford's Garage A trek through Morris Bridge Park Half Marathon survivors Doubravice 38 Straz 2018 The new carport Somewhere in Millstatt The Romantic Hotel U Raka in Prague Five images for a birthday in Lutz Two pics from AMI |
Activities in 2018 in Hruba Skala
Contracted Projects
Car port
Drive way area for car port
Demolish Kopanina fence and install white painted concrete posts
Sloped path from garage to top lawn for machines and bikes
Roof on pool pump house
Machines and tools
Apple HomePod
Skoda Kodiak AWD
Thule hitch-mounted 2-bike rack for Kodiak
Weather station mounted on pergola
Kenwood kitchen center
Kenwood mixer
Sub-zero freezer for garage to replace old refrigerator
DeLonghi coffee grinder
DeLonghi Expresso maker
Fein MultiTool and accessories
Better tires for K’s e-bike
Multiple sprinkler heads and soaker hoses for irrigation
Solar lamp for car port
Projects
Car port
Drive way area for car port
Demolish Kopanina fence and install white painted concrete posts
Sloped path from garage to top lawn for machines and bikes
Roof on pool pump house
Machines and tools
Apple HomePod
Skoda Kodiak AWD
Thule hitch-mounted 2-bike rack for Kodiak
Weather station mounted on pergola
Kenwood kitchen center
Kenwood mixer
Sub-zero freezer for garage to replace old refrigerator
DeLonghi coffee grinder
DeLonghi Expresso maker
Fein MultiTool and accessories
Better tires for K’s e-bike
Multiple sprinkler heads and soaker hoses for irrigation
Solar lamp for car port
Projects
- Window shutters on four windows; seven to go...
- New table top for lower patio table
- Floor for pergola (from old fence)
- Re-finishing all outside furniture:
- Original patio table
- Love seat and footstools
- Memorial bench and table
- Four benches for lower patio
- Original large acacia outside chairs
- Large 3m x 1.2m teak table
- High patio table
- Square patio side tables/benches
- Small patio benches