A little reflection and a lot of adventures

It has been several weeks since we posted and perhaps it is time for a little reflection. We learned a week ago that a friend and fellow antique dealer passed away suddenly. He was 67 and had recently retired. He had just returned from spending his first winter as a "snow-bird" in the south. He had promised to come and visit,....With Ken's birthday a week away, and mine just past, it made us reflect on what we are doing and how glad we are that we threw caution to the wind and started this adventure. I have been reading the Czech writer Milan Kundera "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and found it very appropriate this week. Kundera talks about how making decisions can be difficult because each event is a one time event. There is no rehearsal and no chance to "try it again." Because of that we have no frame of reference for our decisions and are often left to take chances. With the dollar falling in value and our house sitting, unsold, the chances that we took seem overwhelming some days. But what is the other option? Not an option at all! We are so glad to be here and to be using every day for a new adventure!

Ken and I try to take a little road trip every Friday and explore a new town. Imagine our surprise when we got out of town and discovered that the Czechs have matched Ken's yellow bench with fields and fields of electric yellow flowers. It is amazing. They are everywhere and stretch for miles. You look across this beautiful landscape that is green with spring and there sitting in the middle of it is an amazing intense yellow field. After a little research we were able to discover that it is Canola, for making oil. But what a beautiful spring color!
On Sunday we visited a little village near here that has a palace. Unfortunately the palace belongs to the village and so there is little or no money for the restoration. During communism, it was used as a home for handicapped children. Today the city has restored two of the rooms and recovered some of the paintings. There are 82 rooms in the palace and a hugh formal garden, woods and ponds that are in serious need of restoration. This is a picture of a neo-gothic greenhouse. As we were leaving, the ticket taker/tour guide/local historian asked us if we would like to buy it. It's only 3 million dollars and that includes all of the paintings, furnishing and grounds. Ken thought it would make a great art school or art retreat. Any of you interested???

Today we went to Moravska Trebova. This is a wonderful town that we first visited in 1993. At that time the local palace was in shambles and most of the town in sad repair. We went there because of the local church that has Baroque (1600) frescoes( paintings) on the out side of the church. You can see the frescoes in the background of this photo.
We went to the city palace and discovered not only had it been restored, but it was now possible to tour some of it. We had a wonderful young woman who gave Ken and I a great tour of this late renaissance castle. She spoke a little English and with our little Czech it was a marvelous experience. We were there for almost two hours, while she shared with us the secrets of the palace. Another great day!
We will be returning to the US the end of May for about three weeks and I know we will not have time to visit all of you. I guess that means you need to throw caution to the wind and come and visit us!!!