Well I'd hoped to be welcoming you to a little slideshow of the rest of my photos from my trip to Tábor, but things quite got away from me this week and instead of composing this diary on a proper computer, I'm putting it together on the ol’ little laptop.
Anyway, I've got a few photos that for some reason the laptop has decided that it can open without any problems and I'll be passing those along in a bit.
But first, the usual statement from your stubby-tailed friend, that open means open. Anything you wish to bring to the comments section is welcome. Vent, rage, squeal, rejoice, share, sell, promote … whatever. It's all good. And I suppose a bit of a preamble about my week is in order too.
On Sunday I spent the day running around with Mrs the Werelynx and #2 Son. The lad needed to get out shopping for some furniture for the apartment he's begun renting this month. So because he'd gotten a couple of gift certificates for his birthday, there was a long trip through the labyrinth of IKEA where he picked out a table and four chairs for a pittance and a few odds and ends like a little trash can and a drawer tray for his silverware. Then we went to two other stores looking at mattresses and hunting for a little desk he could perch his laptop on and a long cabinet under a yet to be purchased television. Then another stop to get some varnish and brushes for the table and chairs.
Both Monday and Tuesday were pretty well taken up with visiting Fabulous Mother-In-Law. The Alzheimer's hasn't quite taken away her ability to live by herself, but she needs folks checking in on her daily. During our visit on Tuesday we took a long walk together. There's a beautiful little strip of woodland near her apartment and we hiked up the hill and into the woods. There were lots of flowers to admire along the way to the woods and plenty of feathers and moss and boulders to admire once we were there. After an arduous climb she decided that she wanted to visit the local graveyard where her family plot can be found.
I'd kind of counted on her wanting to visit the graveyard, I'd not counted on her deciding to go there after we'd already had a reasonably long hike in the woods. I was prepared though. For some time I'd been wanting to refresh the lettering on the gravestone of her family's grave and had thought to take a little tin of email paint, a brush I wouldn't miss and my Swiss army knife. While Fabulous Mother-In-Law wandered around reading the names on the other graves nearby and remembering names and faces from her childhood (according to her, the whole neighborhood where she was raised is there), I quickly put a fresh coat of paint in the worn grooves of the letters.
Wednesday was a bit of a crazy day. I had an appointment to see my allergist for a check-up and got to play a little game where by inhaling through a tube I made the sun rise. Then by exhaling, I helped a little girl fly across a body of water. She ended up trapped in the rain clouds that were somehow higher than the sun if I blew too hard. She flopped into the water and refused to hop out if I blew too softly. I think it was something like my eighth try before I blew steadily and gently enough to get that thankless little wretch safely across the water. I'll take the victory, but it wasn’t my proudest moment.
I don't have problems with my breathing. I do have problems with that little girl.
After my doctor's appointment there was still enough time for me to stop by my bank and ask what all the fuss was about. As a foreigner and long-term resident I get to enjoy the whims of the current Czech government as they create their own innovative banking regulations. So there was a need to photocopy my passport again and a need for me to write a declaration about the nature of my meager funds.
That taken care of, there was still time to grab a quick bite to eat at a little Chinese restaurant before getting to my afternoon English tutoring session and then back home for an online lesson.
Thursday was another run across town to take a couple big boxes and a couple small items of furniture over to #2 Son's apartment in anticipation of him moving in on Monday and then Mrs the Werelynx and I drove across town to pick up Fabulous Mother-In-Law, drive back downtown to watch a mildly wounded #1 Son's hockey ball team win their match 4-2, and then the four of us headed out of the big city for the wild foothills of the Giant Mountains— where I'm now sitting and writing to you.
And that's why I didn't get my homework done.
You see, last week I'd planned on reformatting a bunch of photos of and around the lovely Czech town of Tábor. This little laptop can't handle photos in RAW format for some reason, but my big beast can and did— but my software couldn't handle the giant files in big batches, so it was a slow slog in my spare time and then I concentrated my efforts on the reason for me being in Tábor at all that weekend— to take photos at a friend's wedding. Anyway, I wasn't about to share a couple hundred photos of my friends all dressed up, and among the rest of the photos there were only a few shots that the laptop managed to open properly today and allow me to edit them down to DK friendly dimensions.
And here they are:
Tábor is a town that was built by the Hussites in 1420. The General of the Hussite forces was a brilliant, innovative and controversial strategist named Jan Žižka. This plaster statue of him by Bohumil Kafka was made as a model for the larger-than-life bronze statue that stands in front of the mausoleum on Vítkov in Prague.
Setting up before the wedding. This fantastic hall is part of the Hussite Museum on the main square of the town.
I cropped this out of one of the RAW photos, so it's a bit distorted. Wanted to give you a peek at the set-up on the table with the lovely mix of spring flowers and roses, the marriage license and pen, the bible and aspergillum (that little brass thingy next to the bible is used for spraying holy water) and a neat little wooden tray with an infinity symbol motif on which the wedding rings rested.
And what’s any selection of wedding pictures without cake?
The wonderful, winding maze of tiny cobbled streets that make up the centuries old center of the town.
The neat little church nestled against the town's fortifications where the Old Catholic priest who performed the ceremony has his regular gig.
A gatehouse and the tower Kotnov are about all that's left of a castle that stood here until a fire in 1532.
From the “small square”, a peek at the front of the Church of the Birth of the Virgin Mary.
Thanks for stopping by.
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