First Hedgehog of the Year!

 I've been here since the end of July, and last week I finally saw my first hedgehog!  It was the middle of the day.  I was on the bike path by the river.  I heard a noise and there he was, just off the path, nosing around energetically in the fallen leaves and grasses.  I watched him for a long time, taking a bunch of photos.  He wasn't afraid of me.  I even touched him very gently and he didn't seem to mind one bit.  A few people came by and I'd point him out.  Some were like, "Nice," and watched for 10 seconds before continuing on.  Others were like, "I have hedgehogs in my garden" and didn't even slow down.  But I probably watched for 15 minutes.  

A very happy day.

When I told my students about it, most of them laughed at my enthusiasm and talked about how hedgehogs had fleas or how you see the pests everywhere.  One claimed that a hedgehog had attacked her chicken!

But I still think they're adorable.    

Czech mushroom schnitzel

If you read my last post, you know that on my short hike yesterday, my friends and I found four entire edible mushrooms (I've been on hunts where we find hundreds, so this is laughable for many Czechs, but I was still happy)

These are "bedla" mushrooms, and normally you'd harvest them when they were bigger, but I'd had such little mushroom-hunting success that we picked them.  My Czech friends confirmed their edible-ness, and advised me to make řízek (snitzel).  Snitzel is something breaded and fried, generally pork or chicken here, but it's also common to do it with bedla mushrooms.

My friend gave me this recipe:  mix an egg with a little milk, salt and pepper.  Dip the mushroom caps in the egg then in bread crumbs.  Then fry it.

I found a recipe online that recommended three steps of breading:  First, flour with a little carraway (kmín).  Second, egg beaten with salt and pepper.  Third, bread crumbs.  I opted for this version because, while I was pretending to be Czech, I might as well add kmín, the most Czech of all spices.  

DELICIOUS! (though I'd use less oil next time)

This is a before and after:

    

Lukov Castle, Czech Republic

Yesterday some friends took me to Lukov Castle in the Czech Republic.  Not so long ago it lay in ruins.  History lovers restored it enough that now it's just half ruined.  Very cool.  Perhaps my favorite type of castle.

There are a few small exhibitions, and otherwise you can just wander around the grounds and take in the views:

Here I am at the top:

And my friends at some fun nearby rocks that you can climb around on:

The leaves were changing colors (not as beautiful in the pictures as in real life, of course):

And we found four edible mushrooms (not an impressive haul by Czech standards, but still cool):

A review of my story, "The Lighthouse Keeper," in Reactor Magazine

I just stumbled on a review of "Must Read" short stories from November last year.  And my story's there on the list!  

Read it here:  https://reactormag.com/must-read-short-speculative-fiction-november-2024/

Trains USA vs Europe

One reason I love Europe: Compare these train station departure boards.

This is from Flagstaff Arizona, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Arizona, population about 78,000.

Yes, you read that right. There is one per day eastbound, leaving conveniently at 5:37 am. There is one per day westbound, also at a super-convenient time. Want to go north or south? Too bad.

Flagstaff is, sadly, the city with the best train connections in all of Arizona. Tucson has three per WEEK eastbound and westbound. The Phoenix metro area (capital and principle city, population about 5 million) doesn't have any train connections. Not any (unless you count having someone drive you into the middle-of-nowhere train station at Maricopa in the middle of the night three times per week--about a 50-minute drive from where I lived).

Compare that to Dresden's second-biggest train station's departure board:

Yes, each of those tiny lines in each of those six columns is a train. Some don't run every day (only weekdays, for example, or only weekends), but most are every day. Okay, that's totally not a fair comparison, I hear you say. After all, Europe's way better set up for trains than places like Arizona, and Dresden's population is about 565,000.

Okay, so look at Bystřička's departure board.

Bystřička is a small village in the Czech Republic (population about 1000) where the fast trains don't even stop. And it's like a 15-minute bus ride (and yes, the buses are frequent) to either Vsetin or ValMez, where there are more train connections. And it STILL has about 25 times more connections than Flagstaff.

I love Europe.

Waterfalls in the Jeseniky Mountains, Czech Republic

 In August, I stayed a few nights in Kouty nad Desnou, in the Jeseniky Mountains.  It was a little ski resort area, but in summer it's a hiking and biking paradise.  My first afternoon there, I thought I'd just take a little hike to a waterfall I found on the map--not even one of the two recommended on the tourist brochures and signs.  And this is what I found:

Then, the next day I hiked to Borový vodopad on the way to Praděd, Moravia's  highest mountain.  

The pictures really don't do these cascades justice, but here's an attempt:

A few more pics from the hike, including some of the local traditional woodcarving:

Cool bit of trail:

Very fun day.  It turned into about a 16-mile hike (25.7 km) with about 3400 feet total gain (1041 m).  Of course, that includes a long-cut when I got a little lost.  However, I took a longer route to Praděd than you have to (Kouty nad Desnou to Borový Vodopad, then up Divoký Důl, then the red and green trails back down to Kouty).  I think, overall, if your goal is Praděd, I would recommend my route from last time years ago:  take a bus to Červenohorské sedlo and then walk the red trail to Praděd (9.3 km / 5.8 miles).  It has some beautiful ridge sections with great views (and not as much elevation gain as my route).  When you're done, you can retrace your route or walk 3.6 km (2.2 miles) down to Ovčárna and catch a bus back to wherever you're staying (though plan ahead--depending on the time and where you're going, that might take almost as long as hiking back)

Misty Hike in the Czech Republic

Above the clouds:

Then, descending INTO those clouds:

It all felt so mystical and adventurous.  And so very, very beautiful.

I love Czech nature.  

Kayaking on the Morava River

I'd been scheming to go boating on the gentle Morava river in the Czech Republic, but I wasn't sure if it was going to come together.  It did!

First step:  camp in Moravičany so I can get a nice early start.  Some views from near my campsite:

Second step:  Rent a kayak and gear (I rented from Tydra, but there are various companies)

Third step:  Paddle, drift, repeat.  Portage around the weirs.  Paddle, drift, repeat. For 28 river kilometers.  Enjoy the greenery and the wildlife (lots of good birds, some fish, a snake, two fighting hares, and some not-shy nutrias)

Fourth step:  Learn better kayak techniques.  I have more experience with canoes than kayaks, and very little river experience (mostly lakes--and seas), and I didn't have the BEST control of the kayak.  So I exerted more energy than was necessary.  Before my next Morava boating, I'm going to figure out better strategies...or maybe I'll convince a friend to go with me and rent a canoe instead.  :)    

The Adventures of Marshmallow, part 1

Before I left home, one of my students gave me two little cat figurines, because she knew I'd miss my cats, and since I couldn't take my cats with me, I could take these.  I was so touched.  I left one to console my mom and brought the other with me.  Mine's called Marshmallow, and here she is, hunting mice at the Convent of St. Agnes in Prague:

Hanging out at a park with a view of the city:

Enjoying the scenery from the train on the way to ValMez:

More of Marshmallow's adventures later.  

Prague--a Great Welcome Back to Europe

I'm behind on my postings of my return to beautiful Europe, so here are a few pics from my first day in Prague:

Prague Castle from across the Vltava:

My first Czech food--the most delicious halušky I've ever had:

Some nice vaulted ceilings:

  Creepy statues:

And fancy facades:

Plus a guy playing absolutely beautiful music on glasses of water:

And, of course, Charles Bridge at night:

Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals, by Laurie Zaleski

I really enjoyed this.  I sometimes wished it were a little more about the animals and the running of the Funny Farm, but the family history/autobiography was really well written and powerful. 

And now I want to plan an entire trip around visiting the Funny Farm.

I picked this randomly off the library shelf because I love animals, and I'm so glad I did.  I did the same with another book about a bird sanctuary once, and it too was one of my favorite books of the year.   

Rating: 4.5 stars

Vanishing Treasures; a Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures, by Katherine Rundell

 

Very well written, very interesting.  I loved the weaving of biological facts with the myths we've developed around these creatures and the history of our interaction with them.

But…it's also profoundly sad.  I hope it helps change some people's minds about what we're doing to this planet and her inhabitants, and I hope that changing of minds leads to action.  Half the proceeds go toward charities working to push back on climate change and environmental destruction. 

Rating:  4.5 stars

Stranded, by Melinda Braun

 

I enjoyed this.  I'm a sucker for man vs nature and working-together-to-survive books, and this delivered.

I did find a lot of things hard to believe.  [MINOR SPOILER ALERT]  One of the major ones was the issue with directions.  It's like day 8 or something.  They're intelligent, with some outdoorsmanship between them, and they've had several days with at least partial sun, and they're all like "I wish we had a compass to figure out which direction is which."  And I'm thinking, um…look at the sun!  No, it won't give you an exact direction, and a lot depends on the season, latitude, etc., but if all you want is—for example—to head eastward to eventually run into a road or something, the sun will give you a pretty good clue.  But none of them even think about that?  And the solution they eventually come up isn't hugely more accurate, so why on Earth does one character keep asking the makeshift compass holder if they are still going east, when I get the distinct impression the compass holder is actually leading them south?  Can't the others tell, more or less, if they're going generally in the right direction or not?  This was a major plot point, so it really bothered me.  [END SPOILERS]

A lot of other things stretched believability (the cliff thing, the wolves, etc), and the characterization could have been a little deeper, but it was a fun read, a good adventure, with the situation getting worse and worse. The writing was smooth.

[SEMI SPOILER ALERT]  And I liked the way it didn't go all fantasy but stayed grounded.  [END SPOILERS]

Recommended for people who don't mind a bit of unbelievability in their survival stories. 

Oh...and I like the author's name.  :)  

Four Stars

My tribute to the North Rim

I am devastated by the loss of the Grand Canyon Lodge and all the other buildings destroyed at the North Rim by the Dragon Bravo fire.  We don't yet know how the forest itself has fared, but I don't think it looks good.    

I am so, so thankful I was able to backpack Rim to Rim this May for the first time.  See my earlier posts for the first three days:  

Here are a few pictures of the North Rim as it was.

The lodge:  

The hiker campground:

Sunrise and sunset views:

This squirrel:

These fossils:

These caterpillars:

This happy version of me cold, and way too early: