The writing was engaging, but I didn’t love spending time with the main character at first, and her personality seemed a little hard to pin down. That, however, turned out to be the brilliance of the book. Stick with it. The reward is well worth it.
4.5 stars
I would definitely read more by Gail Honeyman.
Since I posted last, here's a photo log of important spring developments:
April 17: Tulips and other flowers planted by the city on the side of the road
April 19: The local arboretum
Where this:
Becomes this:
April 22:
April 25: Canola fields that one week drew no attention at all and by the next week were startlingly yellow.
We had a really warm three weeks or so and then the forecast called for snow. It tried a little in town, but I suspected the snow might be having more success in the mountains, so I looked at webcams. Yes! On March 27, my work scheduled suddenly got shortened, so I ran home, packed, and caught the bus to the highest place I could get to quickly: Tesák. I expected a dusting in the slightly higher and more sheltered villages we passed. Nothing. I really expected to see a bit of snow as we began climbing toward Troják. Nothing until right before the ski area, where the coating was light and patchy. But by the time we got to Tesák (only about 100 meters / 300 feet higher), I saw this:
And it just got better.
On the wind-blown ridges, the snow was far deeper than I expected. Since the only footprints before me had given up and gone back, there was nothing to follow and I got seriously off the trail a couple of times, where I sometimes broke through drifts up to mid thigh. I really wished I'd packed slowly enough to remember my gaiters.
Some views from ridges:
Snow goblins:
Pretty bark:
The stairs of the viewtower:
I really wished, at that moment, that I'd packed slowly enough to pack my snow gloves. But I hadn't anticipated this much snow so they weren't pressing on my mind. It was super windy, and the stairs were snowy and possibly icy, and I knew I would have to hold the railing to feel safe. But...the railing was snowy.
If I held it with my cloth gloves, they'd get wet and I'd be miserable the long rest of the hike. So I took off my gloves and did it barehanded. I only got about two-thirds of the way up before I knew I needed to head down before they got too numb to function. I still got good views:
I spent a few minutes in the outhouse (the only place protected from the wind), drying and warming my hands before I put my little gloves back on.
The rest of the hike was beautiful, with the snow in the foreground and the green valley below. And then the perfect end to a spring hike:
I recently had an hour between my train and bus in Polička, so I went exploring, having no idea how cool the historical center of this little town was. So, yeah. Europe's not awesome or anything. And it's not like I'm a fan of old town walls.
An aptly named rock formation near Vsetín, Czech Republic:
And the formation from the other, mossier side:
Rogue bits of snow, still hiding out in the shade (picture taken Feb 28, after a big warm-up):
